The Banyan Tree

By Kerkan

"Let's cut it!" shouted a young intellectual who was leading revolutionary reforms against the old way of thinking in my village. He was encouraging his comrades to cut a mysterious yellow banyan tree which had been hindering a long planned project of building our main road for the last 32 years.

"Yes, let's cut it," said another.

"Those devils are just a load of sh--," another said.

"Yes, the devils are dead now, ha, ha, ha, ha ..."

These were the revolutionary thoughts among my neighbors regarding the old traditions and beliefs. The banyan tree, which was the most sacred tree during our forefathers' time about 320 years ago, was now being cut down by the younger generation. Most people used to believe that this mysterious and strong tree would never collapse under any circumstances. Some even believed that it was the tree of eternity. This tree, which had lived for more than 320 years, was once perceived to possess supernatural powers. During my grandfather's childhood, he said he saw many birds lying dead around it every morning when he passed this tree.

"It's true! Yes, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes: a hundred birds lying dead beneath the banyan tree," said my grandfather, justifying the myth that the tree was very powerful. The conservative people in my village, including my own grandfather, held this myth as the truth, but most young people, including myself, considered it merely as fiction.

"Really?" I slightly doubted the truth of my grandfather's story. I then asked, "Why did that happen?"

"Because this tree was so powerful that there was no single creature that could fly over it," he answered seriously.

"Really?" I could not believe his stories.

"Yes, it is. It's not a lie, and you will eventually be cursed if you don't believe in this. You also have to believe that inside this gigantic tree, whose roots spread as far west as Sabang and as far east as Merauke, there is an underground palace where genies and bad devils are staying with their colossal king, King Asubondo.

"He is the King of Wealth. Three of his seven children and one son-in-law possess specific mystical powers. The first one is Princess Tat Tit Tut or the so-called Genie of Prostitution. By being the genie of prostitution, she can help any desperate woman who fails in love, to become sexy and attractive so that she can become a successful prostitute. And the second is his youngest son, Prince Ben Bar To, or the so-called women's heart conqueror, who specializes in conquering a woman's heart. Any young man who feels that he is not successful in love with his desired partner can seek help from this genie. And the third is his second son, Prince Bing Bang Bong -- or Genie of Corruption. He is capable of weakening the morale of state officers which makes them vulnerable to bribery."

My grandfather paused to sip the coffee he had been holding since he started the story.

"And we cannot forget the significant role of the king's son- in-law, Prince Pragoto Bawono, popularly known as the Commander of Genie Bloodsuckers or Red Devils." He continued, "this is the most frightening genie because of his fierceness and possession of approximately 5,000 bloodsucking soldiers who need to drink human blood once every 40 days. It is to this genie that anybody who wants to kill their rivals but are afraid of legal consequences can come to ask for help.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh," my grandfather paused again because his coughing had resumed.

"It is believed that King Asubondo has 500,000 soldiers of thuyul (ghosts taking the shape of little boys) who go all over the country as far as the roots of this banyan tree can reach.

"Before Asubondo became a king, he was the general of the Majapahit kingdom. Once he tried to rebel, but his efforts were foiled by Gadjah Mada, the strategic military general of the Majapahit kingdom.

"General Asubondo escaped from the battle, running far away to a remote village in Central Java. In this remote village, he found a safe place where there was a gigantic and mysterious banyan tree with unique yellow leaves.

"This tree had a very mysterious and sacred appearance. It was once believed that the "devils", or bad genies, inside the tree were looking for their future king and they believed that this rebellious general was the one. In fact, with the support of the devils, General Asubondo successfully built his kingdom. He built the palace at the banyan tree and named it the kingdom of Nagari Baringin (State of Banyan Tree). General Asubondo appointed himself as the king of this kingdom.

"He also used this tree as the strength of the kingdom. When he felt that his army was strong enough, he planned to initiate the second rebellion against Majapahit. But this plan was sensed by Majapahit's spies, and the news of it soon reached Gadjah Mada.

"Gadjah Mada then led a military attack against Nagari Baringin. But in the initial attack, Gadjah Mada's soldiers were severely defeated despite the fact they were outnumbered approximately three to one. It was believed that they could not defeat Asudono because of the old mysterious banyan tree's supernatural power.

Thus, they were determined to cut it down. They selected their best soldiers to carry out this secret mission at night. But the mission was a total failure -- the soldiers never returned. It was believed that their blood was sucked out of them by the red devils living inside the tree.

Gadjah Mada then went to Pertapan Pangangin Angin where his great guru was meditating. He asked for advice to solve the problem of this strange phenomenon. The great guru said that in order to cut down the tree there were some requirements that had to be met. First, it had to be done with the help of 40 very beautiful virgins. They must mutih (semi-fasting, eat nothing except water and white rice for 40 days) and then at midnight, they should dance naked around the banyan tree. They also had to bring an offering to the devils: kembang setaman (a complete collection of strong fragrant flowers which usually consist of seven varieties). These women had to dance until the cocks crowed, while some other soldiers wearing dark clothes like a ninja, had to secretly follow from behind.

"Indeed, this plan succeeded. The 40 Genies who were guarding the tree enjoyed the dance so much that they forgot to guard the tree. As a result, the Majapahit soldiers could easily cut it down.

"That was how the tree was cut 640 years ago. And so Gadjah Mada in the next attack could defeat Asubondo, stabbing him with the powerful kris (traditional blade).

"However, something strange happened. All of a sudden from out of the dark sky came a mysterious but powerful voice which spoke for an hour to the surrounding area that he (General Asubondo) would come back to attack a future generation of the Majapahit kingdom. It was believed that this rebellious general, whose body disappeared during the presence of the darkness, would reincarnate in the form of an ambitious general who would be greedy for money and power.

"It was also believed that the yellow banyan tree would grow again when there was a civil war on Java soil.

"Three hundred and twenty years later, there was a civil war between Mataram and Ki Ageng Mangir, exactly on the place where this mysterious tree grew. The blood that flowed from this civil war saturated the land, waking the dead devils and their king, as illustrated by the miracle regrowth of the mysterious tree."

This story was strongly held as the truth by my grandfather and all our ancestors in my village. But most of the younger generation suspected that there was a conspiracy to keep this myth alive in order for a particular group to cheat people. Some corrupted faith healers used to manipulate our superstitious ancestors by claiming that this tree was the main strength of our village's prosperity and integrity, so that if anybody cut the tree down then there would be a famine and disaster in our village.

***

"Keep going, keep going." The leader of the woodcutter crew was giving orders to speed up the cutting of the tree. "Yes, keep going, and faster! It's going to rain soon."

Something strange was happening: The sky was getting more and more cloudy even though it was late May -- we were in the dry season.

"One, two ... ," the leading man was warning us as well as encouraging us to make the tree fall, "three, four ...!"

I could feel that the life of this mysterious tree was about to end. It was going to fall to earth soon.

"Bruuak ..., " the mysterious tree made a very loud noise when it fell.

There was a cheer from the people who had tirelessly cut this tree for the last 21 days. We now felt that there would be a new life coming to our village and future generation.

There lay the once proud and powerful tree, which not only was believed by our ancestors to stand forever but also acted as the symbol of our village's prosperity and integrity. Thanks was given to the religious leaders and people of reason who had unceasingly given enlightenment and logic to our neighbors to break those wrong beliefs.

"It's unbelievable that this powerful tree let us cut it down without any resistance nor harming our life," said the crew leader cynically. "I wish that this tree could do something to satisfy its dukun ...!"

"Now all the devils are dead. They have gone to hell along with the corrupted dukun. Let's breathe fresh air and let no more false teachings fool us or our future generation!" shouted another crew leader, heroically cheering the people who had just succeeded in felling the tree.

"Yes, they are dead now. We can start building a better road to our beloved village without worrying about the devils' disturbances anymore," said another.

"We will have a better road and a better way of life for our future generation."

"Good-bye old tree, good-bye all false mysteries," I softly sighed to myself. "Welcome the better road. Welcome the better future! Long live my beloved village."