Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:04:14.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Wessing, R., Cosmology and Social Behavior in a West Javanese Settlement. Papers in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series, no. 47 (Athens, OH: Ohio University Center for International Studies, Southeast Asia Program, 1978), pp. 22–23, 116Google Scholar.

2 Wessing, R., “Language Levels in Sundanese”, Man 9, no. 1 (1974): 5–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Wessing, R., “Spirits of the Earth and Spirits of the Water: Chthonic Forces in the Mountains of West Java”, Asian Folklore Studies 47, no. 1 (1988): 43–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Wessing, R., “A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 148, 2 (1992): 287–308CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Cf. McKinley, R., “Zaman dan Masa, Eras and Periods: Religious Evolution and the Permanence of Epistomological Ages in Malay Culture”, in The Imagination of Reality, Essays in Southeast Asian Coherence Systems, ed. Becker, A.L. and Yengoyan, A.A. (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1979), pp. 302–324Google Scholar.

6 Rosidi, A., Manusia Sunda (Jakarta: Inti Idayu Press, 1985), p. 5Google Scholar.

7 Coolsma, S., Soendaneesch-Hollandsch Woordenboek, 3de druk (Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, n.d.), p. 230Google Scholar; Satjadibrata, R., Kamus Basa Sunda (Djakarta: Perpustakaan Perguruan Kementrian P.P. dan K., 1954), p. 150Google Scholar; Wessing, , Cosmology, p. 90Google Scholar.

8 Wessing, R., The Soul of Ambiguity: The Tiger in Southeast Asia. Special Report no. 24 (DeKalb, IL: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 1986), p. 31Google Scholar.

9 Romli, Usep, “Hutan Secang Dihuni Harimau Jenis Apa?”, Buana Minggu (30 01 1979)Google Scholar.

10 Rosidi, , Manusia, p. 5Google Scholar.

11 Compare Sunarto, H. and Sukanda-Tessier, V., Cariosan Prabu Siliwangi. Naskah dan Dokumen Nusantara/Textes et Documents Nousantariens (Jakarta and Bandung: Lembaga Penelitian Prancis untuk Timur Jauh/École Françhise d'Extrême Orient, 1983), p. 346, note 8Google Scholar.

12 According to this folk tradition which was told to me in Banyuwangi and which does not wholely conform to historical fact, King Brawijaya had a son named Raden Patah by a Chinese wife. At his mother's urging Raden Patah went to study with the wali and became a Muslim who then attempted to convert his father. After much pressure king Brawijaya finally relented and converted to Islam, relinquishing his great magical powers in order to be able to be circumcised. Until he relinquished these powers, so goes the tale, the circumciser's knife was not able to cut into his foreskin. It was not even possible to cut the king's hair, so powerful was his magic. After his conversion and circumcision king Brawijaya reflected on what he had done in relinquishing his magical powers and sickened and died and thus Mataram [sic] and Java lost their yoni [cosmic power; O'G Anderson, B. R. “The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture”, in Culture and Politics in Indonesia, ed. Holt, Claire (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972)Google Scholar]. King Brawijaya, of course, was the last ruler of Majapahit, not Mataram. Raden Patah became the first ruler of Demak. Cf. de Graaf, H. J., Awal Kebangkitan Mataram. Masa Pemerintah Senapati. Serie Terjamahan Javanologi, 3 (Jakarta: Grafiti Pers, 1987)Google Scholar; compare Djajadiningrat, H., Tinjauan Kritis Tentang Sajarah Banten. Sumbangan Bagi Sifatsifat Penulisan Sejarah Jawa (Jakarta: Djambatan, 1983), p. 286Google Scholar.

13 This manuscript is described and discussed in Sunarto, and Sukanda-Tessier, , Cariosan, pp. 351–52Google Scholar. Many manuscripts such as this have been collected in villages in West Java by the Lembaga Penelitian Perancis untuk Timur Jauh/École Française d'Extrême-Orient in Bandung under the leadership of Mr. Haris Sukanda and Dr. Viviane Sukanda-Tessier. Among others they include hand written copies of myths, tales and religious documents intended either for the private use of the owner or to be recited on special occasions. Many of these old manuscripts are now considered sacred heirlooms and are only reluctantly shown to outsiders, if at all.

14 This opposition between father and son should probably not be seen as an example of a Freudian son slaying his father, which is in any case a myth created by Eliade, Freud. M., No Souvenirs. Journal 1957–1969 (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1977), p. 117Google Scholar.

15 McKinley, , Zaman, p. 307Google Scholar.

16 Ekadjati, E.S., “Sejarah Sunda”, in Masyarakat Sunda dan Kebudayaannya, ed. Ekadjati, E. S. (Jakarta: PT Girimukti Pasaka, 1984), p. 82Google Scholar.

17 de Graaf, H.J. and Pigeaud, Th.G.Th., De eerste Moslimse vorstendommen op Java. Studiën over de staatkundige geschiedenis van de 15de en 16de eeuw. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 69 ('s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1974), pp. 109–110CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Rosidi, , Manusia, p. 5Google Scholar.

19 Ekadjati, “Sejarah Sunda”, p. 81.

20 Williams, S., “The Urbanization of Tembang Sunda, an Aristocratic Musical Genre from West Java, Indonesia” (Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, Seattle 1990), pp. 276–81Google Scholar.

21 Sunarto, and Sukanda-Tessier, , Cariosan, pp. 344, note 5, 345, note 7Google Scholar.

22 Heine-Geldern, R., “Conceptions of State and Kingship in Southeast Asia”, Far Eastern Quarterly 2 (1942): 15–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 Dowson, J., A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature, 12th edition (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972), p. 208Google Scholar; Winstedt, R.O., “Kingship and Enthronement in Malaysia”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 3 + 4 (1945): 139Google Scholar.

24 Wessing, R., “The Gunongan in Banda Aceh, Indonesia: Agni's Fire in Allah's Paradise?”, Archipel 35 (1988): 157–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 Mabbett, I.W., “The Symbolism of Mount Meru”, History of Religions 23, no. 1 (1983): 66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Geertz, C., Negara. The Theatre State in Nineteenth Century Bali (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980)Google Scholar.

27 Hidding, K.A.H., “The High God and the King as Symbols of Totality”, in The Sacral Kingship, ed. Widengren, G. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1959), p. 58Google Scholar.

28 Cf. van Zanten, W., Sundanese Music in the Cianjuran Style. Anthropological and Musicological Aspects of Tembang Sunda. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 140 (Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1989), p. 71Google Scholar.

29 Moertono, S., State and Statecraft in Old Java. A Study of the Later Mataram Period, 16th to 19th Century. Monograph Series #43, Modern Indonesia Project, Southeast Asia Program (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1981), p. 3Google Scholar.

30 Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, pp. 85–86Google Scholar.

31 Drs. Atja maintained in a presentation at a conference in Tasik Malaya in 1990 that Prabu Siliwangi may be a fictive person. He is nevertheless a figure with great symbolic power in which his “descendants”, both the nobles of Sunda and the common people, still participate. [Sutaarga, M.A., Prabu Siliwangi atau Ratu Purana Guru Dewataprana Sri Baduga Maharaja Taru Haji di Pakwan Pajajaran 1474–1513 (Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya, 1984)], pp. 11, 14Google Scholar. According to Zanten, Van, [Sundanese Music, p. 78]Google Scholar Prabu Siliwangi may have been the Sundanese ruler killed in the Bubat War in Java in 1357 while others point to his son, sili(h) meaning “to replace” [Ayatrohaedi, , “Tunas Bersemi di Bumi Subur”, in Proceedings Seminar Sejarah dan Budaya II tentang Galuh, ed. Sukanda-Tessier, V. et al. (Tasikmalaya: Universitas Siliwangi dan Ecole Francaise D'Extreme Orient, 1990), pp. 98–108Google Scholar; Sutaarga, , Prabu Siliwangi, p. 44Google Scholar]. It is also reported that he was descended from the gods via the legendary figure Ciung Wanara who was appointed king of Pajajaran and ruled for 300 years [Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 33Google Scholar; Ekadjati, E.S., Wawacan Sejarah Galuh. Naskah dan Dokumen Nusantara II (Jakarta and Bandung: Lembaga Penelitian Perancis untuk Timur Jauh/École Francaise D'Extrême Orient, 1981), pp. xxx, xxxiiGoogle Scholar]. In fact, as Ayatrohaedi discusses, every ruler of Pajajaran was Prabu Siliwangi. This observation makes sense in that the ruler is the incarnation or representation of a deity as well as a descendant or close relative of the previous ruler. Thus, all participate in the essence of the ruler's position, whether for good or for evil; some can be said to “have been” the job whereas others were “eaten” by it. In this way the ancestral, shamanistic spirit of Prabu Siliwangi indeed rules throughout the line, manifesting itself anew in each ruler and thus Prabu Siliwangi ruled until the end.

32 Ekadjati, , Wawacan, pp. xxxi–xxxviiGoogle Scholar.

33 Cf. Ekadjati, E.S., Ceritera Dipati Ukur. Karya Sastra Sejarah Sunda (Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya, 1982), p. 249Google Scholar; Williams, “The Urbanization”, p. 268.

34 Cf. Wessing, “A Tiger”.

35 Schefold, R., “De wildernis als cultuur van gene zijde, tribale concepten van ‘natuur’ in Indonesië”, Antropologische Verkenningen 9, no. 4 (1989), pp. 5–22Google Scholar.

36 Mus, P., India Seen from the East. Indian and Indigenous Cults in Champa, ed. Mabbett, I.W. and Chandler, D.P.. Monash Papers on Southeast Asia no. 3 (Clayton, VIC: Monash University Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, 1975), p. 9Google Scholar; Chandler, P.D. and Mabbett, I.W., “Introduction”, in Mus, , India, pp. viii–xGoogle Scholar.

37 Mus, , India, pp. 9–16Google Scholar; Chandler and Mabbett, “Introduction”, pp. viii-x.

38 Eliade, , No Souvenirs, p. 35Google Scholar.

39 Winstedt, “Kingship”, p. 136; McKinley, “Zaman”, p. 307.

40 Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, p. 81Google Scholar; compare Mus, , India, pp. 15–17Google Scholar; Winstedt, “Kingship”, p. 136; de Stoppelaar, J.W., Balambangsch Adatrecht. Dissertation, Leiden University (Wageningen: H. Veenman en zonen, 1927), p. 89Google Scholar; van Ossenbruggen, F.D.E., “Over het begrip van grondeigendom getoetst aan de hieromtrent heerschende begrippen bij de Chineezen, Inlanders en eenige andere volken en volksstammen”, Indische Gids 27 (1905): 161–92, 360–92Google Scholar.

41 McKinley, “Zaman”, p. 317.

42 Cf. Wessing, , The SoulGoogle Scholar; “A Tiger”.

43 McKinley, “Zaman”, pp. 307, 310.

44 Winstedt, “Kingship”, pp. 135–37.

45 Cf. Wessing, R., “An Enclosure in the Garden of Love”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 22, no. 1 (1991): 1–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

46 Cf. Al-Attas, S. M. N., Islam dalam Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Melayu (Bandung: Mizan, 1972)Google Scholar.

47 Chandler and Mabbett, “Introduction”, p. x.

48 Winstedt, “Kingship”, p. 135.

49 Ibid.

50 Hill, A.H., “Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai”, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 33, no. 2 (1961): 126Google Scholar; Amin, M. Masyur, “Kedudukan Kelompok Elite Aceh dalam Perspektif Sejarah”, in Kelompok Elite dan Hubungan Sosial di Pedesaan, ed. Alfian, (Jakarta: PT Pustaka Grafika Kita, 1988), p. 14Google Scholar; Woodward, M.R., Islam in Java. Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989), p. 156Google Scholar.

51 Hillenbrand, R., “The Symbolism of the Rayed Nimbus in Early Islamic Art”, in Kingship. Yearbook of the Traditional Cosmology Society, ed. Lyle, E. (Edinburgh: The Traditional Cosmology Society, 1988), p. 24Google Scholar.

52 Winstedt, “Kingship”, p. 135.

53 McKinley, “Zaman”, p. 320.

54 Hidding, “The High God”, p. 60.

55 Ibid., p. 61.

56 Woodward, , Islam, pp. 46, 59, 75–78, 155–57Google Scholar; see also Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 113Google Scholar.

57 Winstedt, “Kingship”, p. 136.

58 Ibid., pp. 135, 144.

59 de Graaf, H.J., “Islam di Asia Tenggara Sampai Abad ke-18”, in Perspektif Islam di Asia Tenggara, ed. Azra, Azyumardi (Jakarta: Yayasan Obor, 1989), p. 9Google Scholar; Sukanda-Tessier, V., “Dari Kean Santang ke Pamijahan: Sebuah Proses Islamisasi Awal Sampai Abad ke XVIII”, in Proceedings Seminar Sejarah dan Budaya II tentang Galu, ed. Sukanda-Tessier, V. et al. (Tasikmalaya: Universitas Siliwangi and École Française D'Extrême Orient, 1990), pp. 109–142Google Scholar.

60 Compare Woodward, , Islam, p. 154Google Scholar.

61 Drewes, G.W.J. and Ng, R.. Poerbatjaraka, Kisah-kisah Ajaib Syekh Abdulkadir Jailani. Sutaarga, M.A., tr. Seri Terjemahan KITLV-LIPI (Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya, 1990), p. 11Google Scholar; Cf. Sutaarga, M.A., “Pengantar oleh Penerjemah”, in Drewes, G.W.J. and Ng, R.. Poerbatjaraka, Kisah, p. viGoogle Scholar.

62 Drewes, and Poerbatjaraka, , Kisah, p. 10Google Scholar.

63 Wessing, , Cosmology, p. 87Google Scholar.

64 Soemaatmadja, R.S., Tanah Sunda (Bandung: Ganaco, 1960), p. 99Google Scholar; Wessing, , The Soul, p. 32Google Scholar.

65 Anderson, “The Idea”, pp. 1–69.

66 Cf. M. and Stutley, J., Harper's Dictionary of Hinduism. Its Mythology, Folklore, Philosophy, Literature, and History (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1977), p. 260Google Scholar.

67 Woodward, , Islam, pp. 72, 76Google Scholar.

68 Cf. Kalsum, E., “Figur Raja dalam Beberapa Mantra Jawa Barat Bagian Timur dari Sumber Lisan dan Tulisan”, in Proceedings Seminar Sejarah dan Budaya II tentang Galuh, ed. Sukanda-Tessier, V. et al. (Tasikmalaya: Universitas Siliwangi and École Française D'Extrême Orient, 1990)Google Scholar.

69 Ekadjati, , Ceritera, p. 17Google Scholar. It has been pointed out that sacred graves are often empty [Wibowo, A.S., “Makam Keramat Banjak jang Kosong?”, Intisari 8, no. 91 (1971): 4–8Google Scholar]. They may be symbolic points of access to cosmic or shamanistic power [Wessing, “Spirits”, p. 51]. Furthermore, as an informant once pointed out to me, venerated objects may gain powers as a result of their continual veneration, the veneration itself imbuing them with power [compare Wessing, , Cosmology p. 89Google Scholar].

70 Museum Nasional, Wawacan Keyan Santang. Proyek Penerbitan Buku Sastra Indonesia dan Daerah (Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1982), p. 9; Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 222Google Scholar; Atja, , Ratu Pakuan. Tjeritera Sunda-Kuno dari Lereng Gunung Tjikaraj (Bandung: Lembaga Bahasa dan Budaya, 1970), p. 17Google Scholar.

71 Sunarto, and Sukanda-Tessier, , Cariosan, p. 352Google Scholar.

72 Atja, , Ratu Pakuan, pp. 15–16Google Scholar; Sutaarga, , Prabu Siliwangi, p. 17Google Scholar.

73 Sutaarga, , Prabu Siliwangi, pp. 17–19Google Scholar.

74 Ayatrohaedi, “Tunas”, p. 104.

75 Ibid., p. 106.

76 Atja, , Ratu Pakuan, pp. 15–16Google Scholar.

77 Sunarto, and Sukanda-Tessier, , Cariosan, p. 352Google Scholar.

78 Sukanda-Tessier, “Dari Kean Santang”, p. 117.

79 Atja, , Ratu Pakuan, p. 16Google Scholar.

80 Manuscript No. Pit. 32. Museum Nasional, Wawacan, pp. 9–13Google Scholar.

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.

82 Suleiman, Satiawati, Monuments of Ancient Indonesia (Jakarta: Proyek Pelita Pembinaan Kepurbakalaan dan Peninggalan Nasional, 1976), p. 7Google Scholar.

83 Ekadjati, “Sejarah Sunda”, p. 83.

84 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 112Google Scholar.

85 Ibid., pp. 112, 118.

86 De Graaf, “Islam”, p. 11.

87 Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 213Google Scholar.

88 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, pp. 112, 118Google Scholar; De Graaf, “Islam”, p. 11.

89 Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, pp. 93–94Google Scholar; Guillot, C. et al. , The Sultanate of Banten (Jakarta: Gramedia, 1990), p. 17Google Scholar.

90 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 111Google Scholar.

91 De Graaf, “Islam”, p. 9.

92 See note 12; compare Olthof, W.L. (tr.), Babad tanah Djawi. Javaansche rijkskroniek. Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Indonesische Herdrukken (Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1987), pp. 20–21Google Scholar.

93 Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, p. 91Google Scholar; De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 279Google Scholar; Atja, , Tjarita Purwaka Tjaruban Nagari (Sejarah Muldjadi Tjirebon) (Bandung: Ikatan Karyawan Museum, 1972), pp. 1, 4–5Google Scholar. Atja says this manuscript dates from 1720.

94 Djajadiningrat, , Tihjauan, p. 114Google Scholar.

95 Ibid., p. 17.

96 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 277Google Scholar.

97 Ibid., pp. 111–12.

98 Atja, , Tjarita, pp. 4–7Google Scholar.

99 Sutaarga, , Prabu Siliwangi, p. 26Google Scholar.

100 Atja, , Tjarita Purwaka, p. 6Google Scholar.

101 Atja, , Ratu Pakuan, p. 17Google Scholar.

102 Ayatrohaedi, “Tunas”, p. 105.

103 Another author on the other hand speaks of a Dewi Rara Santang who began to convert to Islam after her son, Syarif Hidayat, became one of the Wali. However, when the forces of Banten overthrew Pajajaran, she followed her father and moksa (disappeared) and is now the ruler of the southern ocean [Ays, , “Siapa Sebenarnya Ratu Kidul?”, Liberty 39, no. 1767 (1992): 53Google Scholar].

104 Ayatrohaedi, “Tunas”, pp. 104–105.

105 Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 97Google Scholar.

106 Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, p. 85Google Scholar.

107 Ibid., p. 91.

108 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 118Google Scholar.

109 De Graaf, “Islam”, pp. 11–12.

110 Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, pp. 89–91, 313Google Scholar.

111 Tjandrasasmita, Uka, “The Arrival and Expansion of Islam in Indonesia in Relation to Southeast Asia”, in International Seminar on Islam in Southeast Asia (Jakarta: Lembaga Penelitian IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah, 1986), p. 24Google Scholar.

112 Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 98Google Scholar.

113 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 114Google Scholar; Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 108Google Scholar.

114 McKinley, “Zaman”, p. 320.

115 De, Graaf and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 121Google Scholar.

116 Ibid., p. 122; see also Amabary, H.M. et al. , Katalogus Koleksi Data Arkeologi Banten (Catalogue of Sites, Monuments and Artifacts of Banten) (Jakarta: Direktorat Perlindungan dan Pembinaan Peninggalan Sejarah dan Purbakala, 1988), p. 7Google Scholar.

117 Cf. Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, pp. 112, 114, 286Google Scholar.

118 Ibid., p. 222.

119 Cf. Williams, “The Urbanization”, p. 268.

120 Ayatrohaedi, “Tunas”, p. 105.

121 Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 313Google Scholar.

122 Chandra, A., Pelabuhan Ratu (Bandung: Pionir Jaya, 1987)Google Scholar; Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, p. 85Google Scholar; Sunarto, and Sukanda-Tessier, , CariosanGoogle Scholar.

123 Ekadjati, , Sejarah Sunda, p. 87Google Scholar.

124 De Graaf, and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 122Google Scholar; Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 37Google Scholar.

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].

126 De Graaf, and Pigeaud, , De eerste, p. 122Google Scholar.

127 Wessing, R., “The Position of the Baduy in the Larger West Javanese Society”, Man 12, no. 2 (1977): 293–303CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

128 McKinley, “Zaman”, pp. 305–307.

129 Woodward, , Islam, p. 42Google Scholar.

130 Djajadiningrat, , Tinjauan, p. 221Google Scholar.

131 Ibid., p. 99.

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.

133 Cf. Atja, , Ratu Pakuan, p. 19Google Scholar; Sutaarga, , Prabu Siliwangi, p. 44Google Scholar; Williams, “The Urbanization”, passim; Van Zanten, , Sundanese Music, p. 9Google Scholar.

134 Sunan Gunung Jati's charisma lives on in his descendants today. Cf. Sentot Js, and Suwito, Semar, “Gipateda Ilmu Inti Tenaga Dalam”, Liberty 39, no. 1764 (1991): 30Google Scholar; Syarifuddin, Ayiek, “Di Makam Kyai Jakfar Sodiq Dilarang Menabuh Gong”, Liberty 39, no. 1766 (1992): 25Google Scholar.

135 O'Flaherty, W.D., Other Peoples' Myths (New York: Macmillan, 1988), p. 35Google Scholar.