ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLE OF ISLAM IN WAYANG

The role of Wayang is very big in development of Islam in Java, considering that most of Javanese people religion was Hindu with the art is wayang. Therefore, the holy persons ( Sunan Bonang and Sunan Kalijaga ) modified wayang stories and insert Islam elements into wayang in order to spread Islam and wake people easier to understand it through Wayang.
One of the elements of Wayang is the character of Pandawa whom is set up representing the five pillars of Islam.

Pandawa as the symbol of Islam Pillars :
The member of Pandawa, Yudhistira (Puntadewa) and brothers, who are the good in the genuine version became special characters by Sunan Bonang and Sunan Kalijaga, not only their behavior which are depicted in the "Ora's" (narration by "Dhalang"), but also through the shape of Wayang visually, so we can predict the characterization, behavior, and the attitude of the characters from their visual shape.

1. Yudhistira : the eldest of Pandawa sibling, the symbol of the first Islam pillars that is "Syahadat".
Therefore, He has special weapon named "Jamus Kalimosodo" which has meaning " Kalimah Syahadat", while the visual shape is representing patience, nature, honest, simple (without accessories). The philosophy is that someone who become a Muslim is person who is ready to be a honest, wise, and good person. Property and wealth are not important.

2. Bimasena : the second brother in Pendawa, who is symbolized as the second pillar of Islam that is "Prayer" (Sholat)
Implicitly, Bima is a character which is very firm, strong, brave, wise, fair and discipline. These are appropriate with the character of sholat itself, that sholat is obligatoried for each Moslem's no matter who they are or no matter what social class they belong to no matter how old they are everyone has to do sholat with the same method and manner. This is similar Bimo's language and diction when he talked/spoke with all people without manning any difference.
And also depicted by the shape of the Wayang itself, that is representing the character above.

3. Arjuna : the symbol of "Fasting" (Puasa)
The third brother of Pandawa who is usually called Janoko is completely appropriate to symbol " Puasa", because this character known as a person who like meditation, learning to the "Wiku" (priest) to reach kindness for his family and public wealth in this country. Visually, the shape of Arjuna Wayang depicting a character of gentle, handsome and simple (without accessories).
The handsomeness makes him adored by many women, so he is known as a character who has many wives.

4. Nakula and Sadewa : the symbol of "tithe" (Zakat) and "pilgrimage" (Haji).
Zakat and Haji are two types of charity which has material needs, that is money (wealth). Therefore, the figure of Nakula - Sadewa is depicted in beautiful dress with accessories such as bracelet, kilatbahu (arm bracelet), necklace and many accessories which representing property and wealth.

That was the depiction of the holy person's genius in digging traditional arts of Java especially Wayang, which is modified to be medium in spreading Islam to the society. And as we know that the success reached by Sunan Bonang and Sunan Kalijaga is wider in fact that their hermitation reach the primitive area until the south coast, mean while Sunan Ampel and Sunan Giri just reached the north coast.

We need to give honest appreciation toward those holy persons (Walisongo) and furthermore their strategies can be a good example for us in developing and pursuing a dream, through culture, it could be more useful and successful than a physic war strategy. Fulfilling desire by physical contact was an old - fashioned war strategy in this information era. If the 9 century ago the holy persons had used the cultural approach in developing their influences, but now when there are many leaders, in politics and non-politics in the world, why do they still rely on physical strength or even violence? How ironic it is since they all addressed themselves as intellect, well-educated and religious people.
Hopefully Obama the President of USA read this blog.

BEDHOYO KETAWANG

In 2000, the moment of our attendance in Javanese art event (Sarasehan) in South of Jakarta, I was introduced with a woman in complete classical Javanese clothe (jarit, kebaya and sanggul) named Ms. Astoeti Hendrato. Actually, she is an extraordinary lecturer of Javanese Art Faculty of Universitas Indonesia (UI).

During the conference, known that Ms. Astoeti is one of the dancers of “Bedhoyo Ketawang”, the ceremonial dance from Surakarta Kingdom.

Lucky me because since a long time ago I want to immortalize this dance in a painting, but to get the information resources of the dances I could not find a correct person yet. My meeting with Ms. Astoeti seemed like an inspiration and spirit for me to my desire of making the painting.

The result of that meeting, I got a small book titled “Bedhoyo Ketawang Beksan Ing Candi-candi” which is compiled by KGPH. Hadiwidjojo edited by Ms. Astoeti and published by Balai Pustaka in 1981.

The are many kinds of Bedhoyo dances, such as ; Bedhoyo Arjuno Wiwoho, Bedhoyo Sangaskoro, Bedhoyo Semang and Bedhoyo Ketawang. But I don’t know why Bedhoyo Ketawang is so attracting and makes me want to draw it.

The attractive things of Bedhoyo Ketawang are :

1. The Dancers, gamelan players, singers and also the audience of the ceremony, must be in a pure soul and physicly condition, especially for the dancers, they must be virgin.

2. Several days before attending the show, they have to do fasting first, then followed by a ritual of impure or soiled.

3. The ceremony must be held on “Anggoro Kasih” day or Tuesday Kliwon in Java Calendar.

4. Persons who are allowed to join the ceremony are the member of the family and the governor of Keraton. The outsiders are not allowed to join the ceremony.

5. During the ceremony, the audience are not allowed to smoke, eat and drink, not event to talkto the other, in order to keep the solemnity of the ceremony.

6. The process of dancers arrival from Dalem Ageng Prabasuyasa” (inside the Keraton) to the “Pendopo Ageng Sasonosewoko” (the stage), is by walking around “Sinuhun” (King’s throve) from the left to the right clockwise, either when they go back to the “Dalem Ageng” (see the layout).

7. Forbidden to sing the back sound of the dance vocally or by whistling.

8. The pattern of the dancers position has each name, such as ; Batak, Endhel Ajeg, Endhel Weton, Apit Ngarep, Apit Buri, Gulu, Dhadha, Boncit and Apit Meneng.

And many more rules which have to be obey including Kinds of ritual offerings, etc. which are in order to avoid

unwanted things.

Based on the requirements and rules of the ceremony of Bedhoyo Ketawang dances, has to be concerned how far those things related with real lives and society in the globalization era.

That’s so clear that so long time ago before many kinds of religion and belief came in the world, the cultural elements have a very big contributions for human being as the media of self discovering, built the civilization and also built the social cluster for peace. As the unrejectable phenomenon, the elements of culture will change and revoluted based on the progress of the era. But has to be memorized that the essence is: There is no life without culture.

MALANG MASK

Topeng Malang, which is often called wayang topeng is now found is several village around Malang, although at one time it reached as far as the area of Tanggulangin and Sidoarjo near the Lapindo mud area.

A performance is usually held to celebrate a wedding, circumcision, for some other special occasion and can take place in the daytime or evening. If the former, the performance usually lasts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., while an evening performance might begin at 9 p.m. and last until 5 p.m. Occasionally, the performance might be shortened to two or three hours. The stories usually taken from the Panji cycle, although they are sometimes taken from the Ramayana, Mahabaratha, and Ruatan as well.

The players are all male even female roles being performed by boys. All wear masks (topeng). A troupe usually consists of between seven and ten dancers who may act between 25 and 30 roles using different masks. Thus, 1 person may play 3 and 4 individuals. Each troupe generally owns at least 60 masks. In wayang topeng, the dalang does all the narration, while the dancers move accordingly. Only clowns like Semar, Bagong, and Potrojoyo are allowed to have their own dialogues.
The color of paint and the topeng depicts the characters portrayed. In general, red is used for a coarse of rough characters, white for arrogance, green for wisdom and modesty, pink for cunning and wiliness, yellow for contentment, etc.
Each actor wears different headgear according to the role he has adopted: a crown, hairknot, keling or pogogan made of inlaid leather, painted on the side in a symmetrical fashion. There is also a head covering made of cloth, a kind of headband, and something akind to tophat. A pair of ear ornaments called sumping is worn, with strings of flowers hanging on either side for a length of 25 cm.
The dancers do not wear shirts and some wear prabha. Those playing female roles do, however, wear a kind of chest covering called mekak, or angkin. They also wear rapek, which covers the folds of the kain with one pointed edge on the lefthand side touching the ankle. They wear Panji-panji pants while a sampur is hung from the shoulder.

This kind of art is probably extremely old, even though this particular form has undergone development throughout its history. The oldest is wayang wong which developed in the 11th century. In the time of the Majapahit empire, several terms were used to described the arts of topeng: atapukan, tapel, raket, sori tekes, and so forth.
When the Muslim Sultans of Java were no longer interested in developing topeng, this kind of art moved outside the court where it continued to hold the interest of a wide variety of people.