The beauty of Dewi Gandawati was famous also to other kingdoms. Many ksatrias had proposed to marry her. To be fair, as in accordance with ancient tradition, Pancala Kingdom had to organize a contest. Whoever could defeat Prince Gandamana, he should be the husband of Gandawati.
Sucitra from Atasangin
Kingdom, with the help of
Pandu could beat Gandamana. Gandamana agreed that his sister, Gandawati to
marry Sucitra. He himself was assigned by Pandu to be Hastina’s
Patih/first-Minister. Sucitra was throned as King Cempala with a court name:
Prabu Drupada. Gandamana was very sakti (having strong supernatural power)
ksatria, honest and polite. He hated very much unpoliteness and dishonesty.
Resi Durna, due to his unpolite behavior, by calling King
Drupada with his child name, had been beaten severely until he had lost his
nice looking face by Gandamana. Patih Sengkuni, in his ambitious plan to be
Hastina’s Prime Minister, had slandered Gandamana with dirty report to King
Pandu. Pandu who was influenced by Sengkuni, had replaced Gandamana’s position
as his Prime Minister.
Gandamana strictly practised his knowledge (Kawruh) of
Wungkal Bener, knowledge of truth. He respected honest people, on the contrary
the dishonest ones had to be disrespected. He had also a mantra of Aji Bandung
Bondowoso, which made him very strong in his fight for truth and justice.
Before his death, Gandamana, had transferred the above knowledge and mantra to
Bima, another fighter of justice.
Drupadi’s wedding was decided exactly the same as of her
mother’s. Drupadi means the daughter of Drupada. Her other name was Dewi
Kresna, she was a sweet black girl. People called her also Dewi Pancali, the
princess of Pancala. Drupadi was incarnation of Dewi Sri, the wife of Wisnu.
During the 13 years of Pendawa life in the jungle, there was a bitter accident
occurred to Drupadi. She was kidnapped by Jayadrata, the king of Sindu Kingdom.
The attractive and sexy Princess was married to Yudistira
thru a battle contest, after Gandamana was beaten by Bima. With Yudistira, she
got a son, Pancawala. She was loyal to Pandawa, took care of them, always
stayed with them in good and bad times. She was a woman with golden heart.
The beauty of Drupadi had tempted Jayadrata to posses her by
force. Jayadrata who was almost died by Bima, was alive due to the mercy of
Yudistira. Yudistira told him patiently: "You may go now, but never again
tempt a wife of other man. It is a shame".
Raden Drestajumena
He was incarnation of Batara Agni, god of fire. King Drupada
had solemnly requested to God the Almighty to have a good and sakti son.
Drupada who was humiliated by Durna, wished to take revenge thru his son.
Drestajumena was born bringing two heirlooms, one set of arrows
and a sword in his right hand. He learned martial art including the mastery of
using weapon to a reliable Guru Durna and Durna taught him professionally. How
did Durna agree to have a student who one day would be a danger to him?
Durna as a Begawan/Priest-believed that heaven’s wish is
stronger than human, he would not fight against it. In Baratayuda, Resi Durna
was beheaded by the sword of Drestajumena in a fierce battle.
Palguna – Palgunadi
There is a popular fragment in wayang stories: Palguna-Palgunadi.
Drestajumena was incarnation of Palgunadi, the king of Paranggelang.
As a young handsome ksatria, Palgunadi wished to improve his
skill in martial art, including the use of weapons, archery etc. he knew that
Durna was a Guru with high reputation. He applied to be his student, but Durna
refused, telling him that he was too occupied with the education of Pendawa and
Korawa.
Palgunadi was also a clever ksatria, through meditation he
created a statue of Durna. In front of Durna’s statue, imagining that he was
taught directly by the great Guru, Palgunadi made self-training diligently,
accompanied by his faithful and beautiful wife, Dewi Anggraini. After a certain
period of time, he managed to master the skill. Showing his respect to Durna,
his imaginary Guru, he told him everything. Durna, upon seeing, Palgunadi’s
expertise agreed to recognize him as his student. Arjuna hesitated the skill of
Palgunadi, he challenged Palgunadi to a battle contest. Palgunadi’s ability was
above Arjuna’s and Arjuna was defeated. Arjuna protested Durna that as an
official Guru of Pendawa and Korawa, in accordance with the ethics of ksatria,
Durna was not entitled to have illegitimate student.
Durna was afraid to lose his job in Hastina. He made a
tricky tactics to eliminate Palgunadi. Durna knew the power of Palgunadi was
due to his ring heirloom by the name of Roning Ampal. Durna asked this ring
from Palgunadi as a sign of loyalty toward a Guru.
Palgunadi, believing that he was accepted as his student,
took-out the ring from his finger and gave it to Durna. He was killed easily by
Durna. A blind belief which had caused him to lose his life. Palgunadi soul
vowed to make a revenge in Baratayuda, his incarnation Drestajumena would kill
him.
Durna silently recognized the powerful ability of Palgunadi
and also his loyalty to him. In memory of Palgunadi, Durna gave a new name to
Arjuna, Palguna.
In the meantime, Arjuna or Palguna, upon seeing the beauty
of Anggraini, the wife of Palgunadi tempted her. But Anggraini, was not like
the many ladies who fell in love easily to handsome Arjuna, she was a lady of
prime character, she rejected Arjuna’s love, forever and remained faithful to
her deceased husband. In the wayang stories, Anggraini was the only lady who
refused Arjuna.
Dewi Srikandi
Since her childhood she was famous as a Tomboy princess.
Although a girl, she was interested in martial art. The ‘naughty’ girl honored
her parents, her family and the Pendawa. She was incarnation of Princess Amba,
the wife of Bisma. Through her hands, the souls of Amba and Bisma should be
reunited in Baratayuda.
One day, out of her consciousness, she did something which
was prohibited by Taboo. She saw an attractive garland of fresh lotus hung in
the palace gate. She took it and wore it around her neck. She did not know that
the one who dared to wear this garland of lotus should become the victim of
Bisma’s anger. Her father was worried. The only way to avoid the danger, she
had to practice an ascetic life and did a lot of meditation in a remote place.
A sakti Begawan (having strong supernatural power), a good friend of king
Drupada, Resi Stunakarna, helped her avoiding the terrible punishment. By
spelling his powerful mantras, Srikandi became a man, her name changed to
Bambang Kandihawa. As a man, he married to a giant princess Durniti, the
daughter of a giant king, Prabu Dike from the kingdom of Manimantaka.
From this marriage, a son was born, by the name of Nirbita, who later-on,
succeeded his grand-father as a king of Manimantaka. This was the famous big
and strong giant king – Prabu Niwatakawaca.
He had been given a goddess wife, Dewi Prabasini, with whom
he had two sons: Bumiloka and Bumisangara and a daughter Mustakaweni. But it
was not enough for the giant Niwatakawaca, he wanted to marry the most
beautiful goddess, Dewi Supraba. His request was turned down by the gods, at
the end he was killed by Arjuna.
In the wayang performance, this story was famous as Begawan
Ciptoning Mintaraga or Arjuna Wiwaha, where Arjuna was meditating solemnly, and
requesting justice for Pendawa. The place of his meditation was in the cave of Witaraga means to erase all worldly
desires. God guru gave him, an arrow-heirloom, Pasopati.
The contents of the story was fully loaded with Javanese
philosophical teachings. The other famous stories of Srikandi in wayang shows,
among other are:
Srikandi Meguru Manah
(Srikandi learns the
art of archery)
She was madly in love
with Arjuna, when she was attending an extravagance court wedding ceremony in
the kingdom of Dwarawati. The bride was Sembadra, the
sister of Kresna and the groom was Arjuna. Drupadi, her elder sister was really
mad to Srikandi’s amorous aggressive behavior toward the groom. She instructed
Srikandi to leave the party immediately. But Srikandi, seeking a love affairs
with the most handsome guy on earth had found a way. She became his student in
archery.
The Garden
of Maerakaca
The garden of the
palace in Pancala was badly damage. The one who could restore the garden, was
entitled to marry Srikandi and the winner was Arjuna. Srikandi made another
request: she would be Arjuna’s wife if he could provide another woman archer
who could beat her in archery contest. Arjuna assigned Larasati to defeat her.
(Laras-means to tune-up; feeling relax, happily, Ati means heart), symbolically
it probably means: two hearts should be tuned-up happily before entering a love
relation in the married life.
Randawidada
Srikandi was
undercover as a widow (Randa) living in the village of Widada
(safe). Her name was Endang Sumarnasih. She intended to remain close to Arjuna
who was doing meditation in the nearby Padepokan (abode) of Giripurna. His name
was Resi Indra Jatikusuma and he was served by goddes Dewi Dresanala, the
mother of Wisanggeni.
Mustakaweni
The daughter of
Niwatakawaca, Mustakaweni had stolen the holy heirloom of Yudistira,
Kalimasada. Srikandi with the help of Priyambada, a son of Arjuna, the grandson
of Resi Sidiwaspada from the abode of Glagahwangi, could take back the heirloom
and handed it over to Yudistira. The happy-ending was the wedding of
Mustakaweni with Priyambada.
Suryo S. Negoro
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar