'Lutung Kasarung' a show of symbolic significance

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): It is often said that a person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man's comfort and inspiration is another's jest and scorn.

If these words express the profundity of symbolism, then the play Lutung Kasarung, a mythical story derived from old Sundanese culture, enacted it.

Lutung Kasarung played for three nights in Jakarta this week, courtesy of the Indonesian Asthma Foundation, the Indonesian Cancer Foundation, the Indonesian Heart Foundation, The Indonesian Anti-Tuberculosis Group and The Foundation of Trustees for Indonesian Asthmatic Children.

For most in the audience, it was a show of symbolic significance.

Being tied to the religious beliefs of the ancient Sundanese, Lutung Kasarung is one of three pantun -- poems set to music and sung -- that is considered sacred.

Possessing special characteristics, a pantun story ordinarily centers around the struggle of a princely knight, who, after overcoming many adversities, becomes a fitting king for his subjects.

Lutung Kasarung, like Mundinglaya di Kusuman and Ciung Wanara, is sung solely by experienced pantun-performers during religious ceremonies.

The story -- choreographed by Bandung choreographer Dinin Rasidin, with music by Iyon Supiyono and Lili Suparli -- revolves around the fictitious kingdom of Pasir Batang Anu Girang.

The wise old king, Prabu Tapa Agung, wishes to step down to live a hermit's life in the jungle of Ganggong Simagonggong and faces the dilemma of selecting an heir to take his place.

His problem is solved when the Goddess Sunan Ambu (Diah Agustini) visits him in his dreams and tells him to select his youngest daughter as queen, the gentle and wise Purba Sari (played by the charming Rieka Sukmawati).

However, his eldest daughter, Purba Rarang (Pipih Yulipah), a vindictive and cruel woman, overthrows Purba Sari with the help of her husband Indrajaya.

She tortures Purba Sari and dresses her in rags, smearing her face with sooty medicinal powder so that she cannot be recognized, and packs her off to the jungle.

A respected elder, Batang Lengser, follows Purba Sari into the jungle, builds a hut for her and promises to visit regularly.

Monkey

The heavenly powers, however, had inscribed honorable and amusingly sweet intentions on Purba Sari's luck-line.

In Buana Padang (The World Of Light), the son of the Supreme Goddess Sunan Ambu, Guru Minda (Agus Kandiawan), dreams of a beautiful woman resembling his mother. He tells his mother that he would marry no one other than the woman of his dreams.

Sunan Ambu transforms him, "for good reason", into a black monkey (Lutung), advising him to "find the princess, in Buana Panca Tengah (the earth)."

The extraordinarily huge and boisterous monkey is later captured by the queen's hunter Aki Panyumpit for sacrificial purposes.

Lutung creates chaos at the palace but is befriended by the kind Batang Lengser who, upon Purba Rarang's command, is instructed to take the monkey to Purba Sari.

In the jungle, monkey and Purba Sari meet for the first time. Upon seeing the darkened, disheveled-looking princess, Lutung prays to his mother for help.

Sunan Ambu sends 40 gods and 40 nymphs to the jungle, who overnight change the jungle into a beautiful garden and Purba Sari's hut into a palace with a bathroom. Purba Sari is restored to her beautiful self in the bathroom.

The news reaches the ears of Purba Rarang who calls upon her younger sister, challenging her with weaving, cooking and beauty contests. These were followed by competitions involving catching the biggest fish and tying up the most dangerous bull. In both tasks, Purba Sari is helped by her monkey-mate, enabling her to once again be her sister's better.

Purba Rarang then finally challenges her to prepare a huge dry rice field. With the help of Sunan Ambu's gods and nymphs, Purba Sari's crop yield turns out much better than Purba Rarang's.

In desperation, Purba Rarang asks Purba Sari to compare their partners. Indrajaya steps forward as Purba Rarang's mate, while Purba Sari, for the first time, finds herself in a tough spot.

However, she announces that "due to `Lutung Kasarung's kindness and companionship all through the hard times, he is the only one suitable enough to be her husband."

Smoke fills the stage, covering the monkey and out jumps Guru Minda, restored to his human form. He reaches out for the princess's hand and both become just rulers.

Saini K.M., who wrote the script, said almost all pantun stories deal with ethical subjects. Those that are sacred, are usually read when rituals are conducted.

One of the most important rituals is the rite of initiation.

"In certain communities in Irian Jaya and Kalimantan, when a girl starts to menstruate, her face will be smeared with sooty medicinal powder," said Saini, who also heads the Directorate of Arts at the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"She will then be sent to the jungles to fast and pray, and on returning from the jungle she will be respected as a full woman."

Boys too go through a period of initiation.

"Like Guru Minda, when a youth experiences a wet dream, he is ready to become an adult. He is sent to the jungle to fight wild animals and to hunt," Saini said.

When Guru Minda fights the bull to ensure his beloved wins the contest, the depiction is to be taken more symbolically than literally, he said.

"He is not fighting an actual beast, but the beast within him."

Most Sundanese myths are outlined with archaic patterns which serve not only as a blueprint, but also as characterized symbols at three different stages.

First, the hero and the heroine will receive their divine calls -- a problem that awakens their moral sensibilities, aspirations or simply uneasiness. In the second stage, the hero and heroine enter a transcendental world symbolized by a jungle or Buana Padang.

"Both of them are then tested following a series of trying events, and they will pass those tests. The third stage is when both characters return to the everyday world with heavenly boons, enabling them to make the kingdom peaceful and happy."

When Purba Sari told Lutung that he was fit to be her husband, the change of his beastly form into a human being signified something really deep, Saini says.

"Some psychologists say that a girl first accepts the presence of a boy as a personality. He could be a friend or a colleague, even a sympathetic member of the family," he said.

"However, once she accepts him as a sexual being, a beast," he said smilingly, "she's ready to marry."

"Therefore, when Purba Sari accepted Guru Minda as a monkey and as her companion, she is ready to marry him."