Ritual preserves place's leather puppets

Kartika Bagus C., The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java

Shadow puppets constitute an important part of Surakarta Palace tradition as they are believed to be another form which has lineage of the past, the origin that separates people into nobility, the knights and the commoners.

The art of shadow puppetry itself underwent a development when the palace moved from Kartasura to Sala village, now Surakarta. It's developed into an art form where the puppeteer becomes the master who arranges the play, shows the puppets and plays different characters in different kinds of voices.

The shadow puppet also blends engravings -- as manifested in its characters like Arjuna, Janaka and Sengkuni, gamelan traditional orchestra and dialog, where the philosophy and guidance of Javanese life are propagated.

Until today, the shadow puppet tradition has a strong hold in the palace, and behind the robust walls of Surakarta Palace, there's still some 2,000 leather puppets of various kinds.

And recently, a ritual, called Ngisis Ringgit or drying the leather puppets, was held following the instruction from King Paku Buwono XII to preserve the palace's puppets.

According to the palace's employee Pradja Sihanto who has been looking after the puppets for 22 years, some of the puppets in the palace's collections were believed to exist since the times of Panembahan Senopati, the first king of Mataram kingdom (1575- 1646), while others were obtained during the glorious periods of Paku Buwono VIII to X (1830-1939).

He said these leather puppets were of different kinds and the oldest -- called Kanjeng Kiai Kadung, Kiai Jimat and Kiai Kanyut leather puppets -- were categorized as Purwa leather puppets, the leather puppets staged for the first time.

"There's also the Kiai Dewa Katong group, comprising wayang (puppet) Gedok, wayang Krucil and wayang Klithik. Kiai Jimat comprises some 425 puppets and there are many more from other groups," he said.

Then, there are the collections of Purwa leather puppets created by Paku Buwono IX and Paku Buwono X, called respectively Kiai Pramukanyo and Kiai Mangu. During the period of Paku Buwono X, there was a noted lady puppeteer named Nyi Mas Kenyo Carito who received special treatment since her puppets, known as the Golden Deer Puppets, were created by Paku Buwono himself.

There are eight royal servants, called Lembisana, who are assigned to take care of the palace's leather puppets.

These servants, according to Pradja, have been sworn not to duplicate or steal any of these valuable leather puppets.

According to Paku Buwono XII's song, GPH Puger, the ritual is periodically held, and performed from the oldest to the youngest puppets. The ritual is held every Kliwon Tuesday, or Anggara Kasih day in the Javanese calendar. This year, it was held on Oct. 1.

"The procession needs complete offerings, or sesaji ageng," he said. The Anggara Kasih day, an auspicious day in the Javanese calendar, only occurs three or four times a year. The day is believed as the best day to hold traditional rituals.

For the ritual, Pengageng Keparak Budaya (a court official in charge of cultural affairs) Prabuwinoto was instructed by the king -- something out of the ordinary, to prepare the offerings. He then delegated the assignment to those in charge of taking care of the puppets.

The ritual, spiritually, is held to express respect for the palace's ancestors, and at the same time, to protect the puppets against humidity and damage.

This Ngisis Ringgit tradition, hopefully, will be one of the ways to preserve and maintain Javanese cultural heritage.