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A Change in the Forest: Myth and History in West Java

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Robert Wessing
Robert Wessing
Affiliation:
Katholieke UniversiteitNijmegen
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Extract

The demarcation of boundaries is an important feature of the Sundanese social and geographical landscape. Markers indicating the limits of territories, ceremonial areas and the like abound. Linguistic markers indicate interpersonal social boundaries. Boundaries are generally regarded as places of danger and various supernatural entities are said to guard those between any two spheres in general. On Java generally, regularly recurring anniversaries, such as Idul Fitri and 1 Sura, the Javanese new year are marked with significant ceremonies such as bersih desa or petik laut or, in the past, rampok macan protecting the village or realm from evil.

Less immediately obvious are boundaries in time, marking the transition between zaman, or eras. A change in era is of a different kind from the cyclical changes since by its very nature it is a non-repeating event. The topic of this paper is one such change in West Java, the change from Hindu rule to Islamic hegemony, and the mythology which consequently arose, providing a supernatural explanation for this quite powerful event.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1993

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81 Traditionally there were nine wali (proselytizers) who brought Islam to Java, though it is not precisely known who these nine were as their names vary. Drewes, and Poerbatjaraka, , [Kisah-kisah, pp. 2–3]Google Scholar mention three groups of wali: the wali sanga or nine wali, special local wali and aulia (saints) belonging to international mystical brotherhoods.

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125 Disappearing (moksa) seems to be a common practice among Javanese rulers. Thus the famous Prabu Jayabaya is said to have disappeared along with his whole kraton leaving behind only a regular eight sided white stone on whìch he is said to have stood when ascending into heaven [Syarifuddin, Ayiek, “Petilasan Sang Prabu Sri Aji Jayabaya”, Liberty 36, no. 1709 (1989): 84Google Scholar].

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132 While Kean Santang and Prabu Siliwangi can be said to be younger and elder brothers, in their opposition as the Islamic force and the Hindu force with a common shamanistic background, they could as well be seen as the younger and elder half of a pair of “twins”, especially since they were born close together, and are cousins, the offspring of two brothers. Lyle has interpreted the position of these twins in mythology and shows that the “elder” twin usually becomes the king of darkness and death while his “younger” sibling is represented as the king of light and life [Lyle, E., “The Place of the Hostile Twins in a Proposed Theogonic Structure”, in Duality. Yearbook of the Traditional Cosmology Society (Edinburgh: The Traditional Cosmology Society, 1986)Google Scholar]. This characterization would certainly be true from the view point of Islam today though it is questionable whether the Pakuan view would agree with it. In any case, the elder twin, Prabu Siliwangi continues to be a source of life for the Sundanese, even after his defeat and disappearance.

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