Ritual preserves place's leather puppets

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.