By Juiching Wang,
School
of Music Arizona State University
| Introduction | Wayang Kulit | Ways of Seeking Gods | Conclusion |
In ancient
time, a King of Java, angry with a disobedient son, decided to send him into exile.
He took him to the south part of the kingdom, and told this son to depart
forever. When the boy had vanished over the horizon, his father drew a line in
the earth with his finger to mark the frontier separating them. The waters of
the Java Sea and Indian Ocean joined there, and the island of Bali was born. Panthou 1978
Geographically
speaking, this legend has its truth because Bali and Java, separated by a
three-kilometer strait today, used to form one land. This “chosen land of the
gods”(Panthou1978: 4), approximately 300 square kilometers with a population of
about two million, is east of Java in the Indonesian archipelago (Ornstein
1980: 179).
Tied to
Java closely since the ancient time, the most important cultural influence of
the Balinese therefore came from the Javanese whose culture had been thoroughly
penetrated by Indian religious thoughts (Ornstein 1980:179). Hindu-Buddhist
character was imported to the island of Bali when the Islamic powers began to
invade Java. It was during the year of 1450 that the proud kingdom of Java, the
Majapahit dynasty, collapsed. Members
of the Hindu-Javanese nobility, artists, and priests gradually fled to Bali.
From then on, the island of Bali became the refuge for their religious beliefs,
and had reserved most significant features inherited from East Java. According
to Miettinen, “contacts with Islamic Java were few,” therefore “Balinese
culture was able to develop its intrinsic features” without being disturbed by
outside influences (Miettinen 1992: 110).
Although being
influenced by the Hindu-Buddhist beliefs to a great extent, Balinese culture
has rooted their religious philosophy in animistic beliefs. A great amount of
myths, which most of them are of “indigenous origin” and many are “derived from
the Hindu-Javanese classical literature,” are deeply embedded in Balinese daily
life (Hobart 1996: 137).
Hindu
originated epics, the Mahabharata and
the Rayamana, are two main sources
associated with Balinese traditional cultural development. The stories of these
epics provide the people concepts such as their relationship with gods, the
caste system existing in their world, and the ethical behaviors they pursue. It
is also within the frame of these two epics that the Balinese created their
indigenous characters and philosophical thoughts to indicate how to maintain
the balance between the universe and the individual.
The Hindu and animistic elements shown in this unique
belief system built by the Balinese have interwoven with each other for
hundreds of years. They became so intricate that greatly influenced the process
of art making and its outcomes, including architecture, sculpture, painting,
textile, music, dance, and drama. Based
on the belief that the Balinese distinctive cultural phenomenon is a result of
the coexistence of two religious philosophies, Hinduism and animism, I will
discuss how specifically this coexistence appears in the performing art of
Wayang Kulit, the shadow puppet play in this paper.
In Indonesia, the shadow is animistically considered
to be a “kind of intermediary between the visible world” and the “unseen realm
of the spirit” (Reed 1986: 2). People of the “abangan” culture in traditional Indonesian society who follow
the “ritualistic-polytheistic-magical
religious pattern” (Geertz 1960: 268), believe that the souls of their
ancestors would be “brought to life as shadows” to give them advice and guide
them in a supernatural way. This communication between the dead and alive has led
scholars to believe that the wayang kulit originally was set to serve a ritual
function (Reed 1986: 2). The earliest evidence is a record discovered in
Central Java indicating that an “existence” of wayang performance in 907 AD.
The performance was given as a ritual dedication for the gods of the local
monastery (Holt 1967: 128).
Not until the 11th century did the royal
inscription Prasasti Anak Wungsu in
Bali mention a wayang performance (Hobart 1996: 144). This inscription shows
that the wayang performance might have reached Bali between the 11th
century and the Hindu-Javanese’s exile in the 14th centuries.
Consequently, the performance and function of wayang kulit in Bali may have
shared most of the significant characteristics the Hindu-Javanese had developed
in this art in the past.
The performance of wayang kulit, both in Java and
Bali, consists of several elements. According to Hobart (Hobart 1996: 144),
these elements, which are “deeply rooted in myth and poetry,” include the dalang (the puppeteer), the stories, the
puppets, the music accompaniment, the stage setting, and the performance
itself. During a performance, usually in the evening, the puppets are projected
to a white screen, where they are manipulated by the dalang in a flaming light
of a coconut-oil lamp (Hobart 1996: 145). The plays, drawn from numerous
sources, are generally known stories modified from the episodes of the great
Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana (McPhee 1970: 148-149);
however, some indigenous folklore created by the Balinese are always included
in the episodes. The music ensemble, gender
wayang, which provides the accompaniment for the theatre, is never absent
from any performance. All these elements of wayang performance interlock
closely with each other and have their essential roles to play in order to
complete the offering to please their gods and ancestors, as well as to provide
entertainment for the people who still live in the world.
These elements have been closely interdependent with
each other in the wayang performance; they somehow reflect the communal style
of living in the Balinese society, which an individual has his primary position
to a village banjar or the temple
system. As a miniature of the cosmos,
the wayang kulit implies the order, the harmony, and the balance in the
universe.
To study the religious philosophical thoughts, the
Hinduism and animism, as well as the interactions between these two components,
I will examine the elements that made up a wayang kulit performance, and
provide insights of how both components of Hinduism and animism coexist in the
performance of wayang kulit, symbolically.
Dalang
In
the performance of wayang kulit, it is through the dalang that the audience is “transported to a world not subject to the
conditions of ordinary life” (Reed 1986: 2). Therefore, not merely a puppeteer,
the dalang’s multiple roles in both the world of wayang kulit performance and
the society of a real life make him indispensable to the Balinese. He may be a
priest while practicing the benediction before and after the performance. When
he employs various voices to represent the different characters of the puppets
and transmit ancestors’ thoughts to the audience, he becomes a shaman or a
mediator between human beings and spirits. He must also be a musician in order
to direct the gamelan group to accompany the theater. No matter what function
he serves, performing, teaching, or practicing the white magic, he must possess
knowledge of literature from the Hindu epics and be acquainted with the temple
festivals, rites, and Balinese unique calendar. Thus, from the animistic point
of view, it is believed that good dalangs are to be “entranced” so that they
have “such powers of concentration and strength” to conduct various events in any
single performance (Geertz 1960: 269).
Commissioned by sponsors, either the temples or
households for special events, dalang, along with four musicians and two
assistants always travel around villages to give performances. The sponsors may
request a story regarding things they celebrate. However, they seldom know what
the dalang will play for them since they all believe that the performance is
actually controlled by the gods, and that gods will inspire the dalang through
their different ways. One way, which reflects the animistic root of wayang
performance, is that the dalang has to test his breath to “help him decide how
to perform a story” (Reed 1986: 3). He has to test his breath twice, first as
he leaves his house, and then again when he arrives at the sponsor’s place.
Reed describes this process:
He
exhales sharply, and notices which nostril is most clear.
If
the breath from the left nostril is stronger, there will be a lot
of
fighting and action in the story; if the breath from the right is more powerful,
the story will favor intrigue and philosophy. (Reed 1986: 3)
However,
if there is a strong difference between these two tests, he then has to pay
more attention to “other factors.” These may include the dinner conversation he
has had with the sponsors as well as other people, and the mood of the audience
he has observed, as suggested by Reed (Reed 1986: 4).
Although most stories of the wayang kulit are based on
the Hindu-epics, dalang, who has profound knowledge of both Hindu and Balinese
myths and philosophical thoughts, may, according to the context of the special
events, compose a play of his own to please the gods and sponsors. Thus, an
accomplished dalang is always the one who skillfully composes his own subplots,
“while adhering to the mythological framework” of these Hindu epics (Hobart
1996: 145).
At least three languages are used in Balinese wayang
kulit. A blend of Sanskrit, and Kawi,
the old-Javanese (Brandon 1970: 31), of priests and scholars, is used in
narrative passages and is sometimes sung by the main characters (Reed 1986: 5).
The purpose of High Balinese is to translate the main characters’ lines. Also,
the characters of the lower caste, mostly the clowns, speak the low Balinese to
each other. It takes years of practice and experiences so that a dalang can
alternate languages of different levels fluently on the stage. In order to keep
up this fluency, the capabilities of literary, dramatic skills, and spiritual
knowledge are highly demanded in training a dalang.
Lakon, the plot or story of wayang kulit performance, means
“the course of event or action” (Miettinen 1992: 82). There are hundreds of lakon in the repertoire of wayang kulit.
Based on the Hindu epics-the Mahabharata
and the Ramayan , and some other
indigenous tales, the lakon serve as
guidelines to the performance. The information a dalang may obtain from the lakon includes “lists of scenes and
personages” (Miettinen 1992: 82). The descriptions of the action in the actual
play, however, are not available from the lakon.
It requires a great extent of improvisation and it is always the dalang’s
spiritual experiences and knowledge that determines the actual play.
Despite the magic powers of the animistic side,
ethical issues, which are permanently rooted in Hindu philosophy, are
demonstrated thoroughly in the stories. In a wayang kulit performance, dalang
subtly imparts the philosophical thoughts to the audience through the
conversation between the characters. For example, the theme of searching for
the holy spring in Bima’s story[1] [ccc1] represents
humans’ desire for seeking eternal life, immortality, and happiness.
The insights
of Bima’s journey reflect the religious
philosophical thoughts that humans tend to look for things everywhere else
without realizing that these things are all “hidden in the holy pramana, the inner soul, with them”
(Holt 1967: 146). The primary concern
of Hinduism, that only when one reaches his soul, will he be able to
communicate with god, is the skeleton of the whole story. Based on this
philosophy, the story further explains how a human being can reach his soul.
Suppressing the feeling of sense, exercising self-control over one’s sensual
desires and other traditional Balinese values in moral and social matters, such
as “loyalty and dedication” are deliberately placed in the lakon, and are orally transmitted to the audience through the
puppets by the dalang (Lee 1977: 135).
The wayang kulit puppets, elaborately made in leather,
are the iconographic art works, which follow the rules strictly from the Hindu
caste system and the indigenous social manners in Balinese society.
Coincidental to the epics and tales, different characters with their unique
“social status” and “psychological qualities” are categorized into groups
(McPhee 1970: 83).
According to Hobart, six main groups of puppets exist
in the wayang kulit. The first, also the highest one is the “celestial beings,”
whose higher morality cannot be understood. The second group belongs to the Brahmana, Satria, and Wesia of high caste. They are the main
protagonists of the stories and most of them are the warriors and
administrators. Characters such as members of the Pandawa and Korawa from
the Mahabharata are in this ‘refined’
group.
The Sudra
servants, the Parekan or Panasar, make up the third group. They
do not actually belong to the epics. Instead, their appearances in the setting
illustrate the indigenous elements of the wayang kulit. For example, the most
representative servant-Semar, was
created on the basis of Balinese’ animistic belief, which they believe that he
is the eldest descendant of the greatest god (Geertz 1960: 276). One can easily
recognize the differences from the other characters by his awkward and
distinctive look.
The fourth group is the ogres, Raksasa, who stand for the wild. They are immoral and always are
the supporters of the hostile party. Scenic figures are in the fifth group. The
most important figure in this group is the Kayon,
the tree of life. It has various symbolic functions in the performance of
wayang kulit. The last group includes the “creatures, animals, and chariots”
(Hobart 1996: 147-149).
As the dalang is starting the performance, two puppets
are set to the left and right of the screen, and make a division for the
characters into left and right camps. These two huge figures, which represent
“the angry forms of gods,” serve the function of guardians to protect the whole
theater and the audiences from the evil spirits. The following puppet to appear
on the stage is the kayon. The dalang
holds it “to his forehead,” and “mutters an invocation” to practice a
benediction for this evening’s performance (Reed 1986: 4). Being closely tied
to their rooted animistic thoughts, the Balinese who attend the wayang
performance believe that it is through this introductory-ceremony that they
will be “safe from all harm at least as long as [the performance] is going on”
(Geertz 1960: 268).
Symbolically, the kayon,
which means tree in Sanskrit, serves several functions in the wayang kulit
performance. It is primarily used to be a curtain, which indicates the
“beginning and end of the performance, scene changes, shifts of location, and
passage of time” (McPhee 1970: 153). It may also be used to represent wind,
fire, water, “mountain, tree, rain, clouds, holy radiance, or a weapon”,
according to the story of the actual performance (Reed 1986: 4). Studying the
illustrations inside of the kayon,
Lee, suggests that the kayon is a
tree of life, which represents the world of nature created by god from the
point of Hinduism. Through the different creatures existing in the leaf-shaped
figure, the gods prescribes the distractions and obstacles to perfection for
human beings to overcome (Lee 1977: 130).
The appearances of the character- puppets, their body-
shapes, eye –shapes, headdress, hairstyles, costumes, and the colors all have
significant symbolic functions associated with religious and social values in
Balinese society as well. The noble hero character, such as Arjuna of the Pandawa family from the Mahabharata,
has almond-shaped eyes and a long pointed nose. He must be in a slender shape
in order to meet the “Javanese hero ideal of utmost beauty” (Miettinen 1992: 84).
Most importantly, the noble hero must always look downwards to show his purity,
self-control, and humility. Contrarily, the members of Korawa family and the ogres often have round, bulb-shaped eyes and
upward-pointed noses to represent their wildness and greedy nature.
The servant clowns, the Parekan or Panasar, of local- myth origins are neither the noble heroes nor
the ogres. Most of them are fat, short-legged, flat- nosed, and with
almond-shape eyes. The unique figure of the clowns is associated with the roles
they play in the stories. As servants to assist the noble heroes, the clowns
must be intelligent in many aspects; therefore, they deserve to have the wise
eye-shape as their
masters
have. Moreover, the use of local languages (high and low Balinese) to translate
the passages of the main characters reminds the audience of clowns’ indigenous
origins. The body shape, hairstyle, and movements may consider the
representations of the friendly Balinese figures.
The theater music, accompanied by a gamelan ensemble,
is called gender wayang. Usually,
there are four musicians playing the ten-key, slendro-tuned genders in this group. It is required for them to
master the great technical skills on gender so that they may produce the
sophisticated music and have a close cooperation with the dalang during the
performance. Gender wayang is also multifunctional. For example, it first
prepares the audience’s mood when the dalang starts to arrange the stage
setting. It then signals the dalang when the audience seems to be ready for the
play. The music also announces the entrances, and provides specific
compositions according to different situations.
In addition to the gamelan music, the dalang sometimes
sings special songs, the Suluk, for
special events or characters since these songs may indicate the special
emotions according to the context. Although most texts of these suluks are in
ancient Javanese, which the majority of the audience are not capable of
understanding them, the suluks are as important as the gendings that wayang gender produces in the play. The most
important function especially lies on the dalang’s attempt to lead the audience
to various emotional settings (Geerze 1960: 279). The concept of using songs to
set emotion, which borrowed from the idea of Indian rasa, somehow, is also related
to the primitive mysterious power since, to the villagers, the texts
themselves may have white magic powers, and through the dalang, may protect
them from evils.
Symbolically, music in the performance of wayang kulit
represents the harmony of the cosmos. Its interrelationship among musicians
themselves, between musicians and the dalang, and between the performers
(musicians and dalang) and the audiences interweaves closely to demonstrate the
highly communal living pattern of the Balinese society, where the individuals,
instead of creating conflict, share their common cultural elements.
The performance of wayang kulit consists of several
interdependent elements to make up a miniature of the universe. All the
elements, as mentioned above, realistically and symbolically interact with each
other in a very close manner in order to have a successful performance to
please the gods and the audiences. The wholeness made up by these elements
stands for the cosmic order, which is also demonstrated by the practice of
stage setting.
In a performance, the white screen is considered the
sky of the world. The banana trunk, which the puppets are placed, represents
the earth. The shadow puppets projected from the screen seem to symbolize the
human beings in the real world. The oil lamp stands for the sun, and of course,
the dalang, who thought to give life to the puppets, becomes the god.
Wayang kulit is one type of the hundreds offerings in
Balinese temple system. With the goals of pleasing gods and soothing the
demons, offering has become an art for the Balinese to express their sincere
respects to the spirits of good and evil.
As
the stage setting of wayang kulit implies, human beings are part of the world
system. The earth they live in is placed in the middle part of a
"three-world" structure, which consists of upper, middle, and under
divisions (Lansing 1983). Everything in these three worlds has its appropriate
position and follows a harmonious order. The gods and ancestors who have the
holiest place belong to the upper world, while the demons and evil spirits
belong to the under world.
Balinese believe that it is through practicing the
“calendrical rituals” (Lansing 1983: 145) and festivals that the gods may be
pleased and the balance among these worlds may be maintained. Odalan, the "temple
activations" illustrates this unique Balinese phenomenon. The Balinese use
the institutions, such as "a village, ward, descent group, and farmer’s
association,” to “gather together to
chart their collective course" (Lansing, 1983: 145-146). It is this
collective nature that the Balinese explore the art of offering to a great
extent, and affirm their connection with the spirits of the unseen worlds.
Inward
The inner nature of wayang kulit function is more
associated with the Hindu-Javanese philosophical thoughts. With a similar requirement for human beings
in terms of searching the intimate relationship with gods, Hinduism provides a
different approach, which always suggests by the stories of the epics. According to Hindu beliefs, although the
cosmos is a manifestation of the gods, life is not merely the product of gods’
will but a series of reactions, which past actions generate the present, and
present actions will impact the future. The Hindu philosophical thoughts, which
encourage human beings to seek their personal connections with the gods through
ways such as meditation, or self-control, have been re-irritated in the
performance of wayang kulit for hundreds of years.
The conflict between the Pendawas and Korawas of the
Mahabharata provides numerous sources for the audiences to obtain the
experiences regarding purifying their inner souls. Examples from those
characters’ suffering from choosing “good or bad, pleasure or pain, love or
hate,” and most importantly, “between the animal passion and detached,
effortless self-control” are all applicable to the Balinese society
(Geertz.1960: 270).
The story of Arjuna
from the Bismaparwa of the Mahabharata demonstrates how important
this concept of self-control is. When Arjuna
is reluctant to fight against enemies who include family and former teachers, Kresha, Arjuna's charioteer, forcefully admonishes him that, "It is
unworthy not to fight in war… In an attitude of detachment, he ought to focus
solely on his darma, and not be
swayed by feelings of sadness or joy" (Hobart 1996: 139). Darma,
which "implies individual and caste duty and virtue as well as ultimate
reality," is the overall concept that always imparted by the dalang
through the characters from the great Hindu epics.
[1] Claire Holt, Art
in Indonesia: Continuities and Change. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University
Press. 1967, 146-147. Bima is a big,
rough, rude, and impatient character of the Mahabharta.
Although he is a noble prince, he always speaks the low language no matter whom
he talks to. He refused to bow to anyone else because a mystical experience once
gave him a direct perception of god of gods, Sang Hyang Widhi. The excerpt talks about his insistence of seeking
for the water of life.
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©Juiching Wang 2000