Calon Arang

Representation of Calon Arang in Toeti Heratys Calon Arang: The Story of A
Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy

A. Introduction
Calon Arang is Indonesian traditional tale from the island of Bali about the
glory of the good over the evil. The tales recounts the defeat of a wicked widow,
Calon Arang, in the hand of Mpu Baradah because her dark witchcraft has brought
forth malady to people and threatened Airlanggas hegemony. Calon Arang is a
female character who has protean personalities. On the one hand, she is loving
mother who cares about her daughters future, but on the other hand, she a wicked
witch who brings death and destruction. Nevertheless, it is the wicked witch side
which is commonly highlighted in the tale and the rewriting of the tales in the
modern literature, such as Pramoeday Ananta Toers novella The King, The Witch
and The Priest. The depiction of Calon Arang as vengeful witch in Toers novella
has been criticized for its gender bias. The biased depiction of Calon Arang has
been challenged by several Indonesian female writers, such as Toeti Heraty, Cok
Sawitri and Ayu Utami.
The tale of Calon Arang has been the source of inspiration and been
repeatedly used in modern Indonesian literature written by women writers as a
context of modern analysis of female identity. In the rewriting of Calon Arang tales
by women writers, such as Toeti Heratys lyrical prose Calon Arang: The Story of A
Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy, Cok Sawitris poem My Name is Dirah and novel
Janda dari Jirah, and Ayu Utamis novel Larung, Calon Arang has become a
symbol of womens struggle against patriarchal domination. Their rewriting of
Calon Arang tales has been to put forward feminist reinterpretation of gender
relations in contemporary Indonesian society and politics.
This paper will discuss the representation of Calon Arang in Toeti Heratys
lyrical prose Calon Arang: The Story of A Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy by
comparing it with Pramodeyas depiction of Calon Arang in his novella The King,
The Witch and The Priest to see how Toeti Heraty reinterprets the traditional tales
as her critic to patriarchal ideology.
B. Representation of Calon Arang in Toeti Heratys Calon Arang: The Story of A
Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy
The tale of Calon Arang has been very popular that it is has been translated,
adapted and rewritten into different languages. R. Ng Poerbatjaraka is the first who
translated the tale from lontar LOR 5387, LOR 4562, and LOR 4561. 1 This Dutch
translation is then back translated into Indonesian by Soewito Santoso into Calon
arang, Si Janda dari Girah (1975).2 In 1952 Pramoedya Ananta Toer rewrote the
tales as children tale The King, The Witch and The Priest (Dongeng Calon Arang,
1952). In 1974 the tale was adapted into choreographic work Dongeng Dari Dirah
(Tale from Dirah) by Sardono W. Kusumo that had fame to him in Europe. 3 In 1997
the tale was adapted by Cok Sawitri into poem My Name is Dirah and novel Janda
dari Jirah. In 2000 Goenawan Mohamad adapted the tale into an English libretto
script The Kings Witch. In the same year Toeti Heraty presented the tale with
1
2
3
feminist interpretation in a form lyrical prose Calon Arang: The Story of A Woman
Sacrificed to Patriarchy. In 2001 Ayu Utami used the tale as the allusion in her
sequel of Saman, Larung.
In Pramoedya Ananta Toers novella, the story is told in the dichotomy of good
and evil. In Pramoedyas novella, Calon Arang symbolizes evil power, whereas the
King/Mpu Baradah symbolizes the virtue. Calon Arang is depicted as a wicked
widow with a daughter who lives in the village of Dirah in Daha Kingdom during the
reign of King Airlangga. She has powerful witchcraft which is misused to intimidate
and kill people. Her daughter is not married because men are afraid of the mother
black magic and cruelty. This fact infuriates her beyond limit that she spreads her
deadly spell across the Kingdom to kill Daha people. Calon Arang, then, threatens
the stability of the Kingdom and the hegemony of the King, that the King Airlangga
soon sends his military to capture her. However, Calon Arang is much more
powerful than the military that they are easily destroyed. The King eventually sent
a wise hermit, Mpu Baradah, to kill Calon Arang. The Mpu advises the King to trick
Calon Arang. The Mpu sends his student, Mpu Bahula, to propose a marriage with
Calon Arangs daughter, Ratna Manggali in order to find out the secret of Calon
Arangs witchcraft. After marrying Ratna Manggali, Mpu Bahula manipulates her to
steal her mothers book of sorcery. With the book, Mpu Baradah eventually is able
to kill Calon Arang and restore the stability of the Kingdom.
The representation of Calon Arang as the symbol of evil power in
Pramoedyas novella has been criticized for its gender bias. As identified by
Purwanti Kusumaningtyas, both Baradah and Calon Arang shares similar qualities
of having powerful supernatural power, but Calon Arang is negatively labeled as

witch, whereas Baradah is respected as Mpu. 4 The negative label to Calon Arang
actually is related to her status as widow. As stated by Diah Ariani Arimbi, a widow
who is assumed to be independent of men is seen as a threat and thus be caged
by a derogatory identity, such as wicked witch. 5 Mpu Badarah himself also a
widower who soon remarried, but unlike Calon Arang, he never suffers from
negative stereotype. This fact shows that there is double standard in patriarchal
society. Men are the one who set the standard and are attributed as the positive,
whereas women are attributed as negative. Women can only be positive if they
align themselves with the men. Patriarchal culture is monosubjective in a sense
that women do not exist independently of men but merely exist as the polar site of
men. Thus, woman cannot think of herself without man. This condition always puts
women in disadvantage position. It can be seen in the story that due to Calon
Arangs status as widow who has powerful witchcraft power that threatens the
authority, she has been made the scapegoat for all disaster striking the kingdom. In
patriarchal society, widow has been subjected to prejudice and ill treatment. Widow
is doubly marginalized not only by men, but also by her own sex. Widow is
marginalized because she does not conform to the feminine normativity that
imposes the necessity for woman to be a submissive, dependent and subservient
to man. Widow who exerts her independency threats masculine power, so that she
tends to suffer from negative stereotype, criminalization or discrimination as wicked
4
5
witch. The depiction of Calon Arangs devotion to the Goddess of destruction

Durga in Pramoedyas novella, shows that Calon Arang is stereotyped and
associated with Durga, a wicked female who brings destruction to the stability of
patriarchal power structure. Moreover, the patriarchal ideology in the Pramoedyas
novella can also be seen in the ending of the tale in which Calon Arang is killed
after she is being taught all good deeds and things. This ending actually shows
how in the end the patriarchy triumphs over Calon Arang through successful
domestication of Calon Arang.
Toeti Heraty provides different portrayal of Calon Arang in her literary works.
Her rewriting of Calon Arang tales depicts Calon Arang as the victim of patriarchy
who uses her witchcraft to defend herself and her daughter from harsh treatment of
patriarchal society. The use of witchcraft by Calon Arang in female writings is
explored thoroughly and justified rather than merely depicted as the exercise of evil
power as happened in Pramoedyas story. In her prose Calon Arang is
depicted
as a widow suffers from social alienation and ill treatment. Her sorrow of being
widow and ill treated by the society is expressed clearly in the prose as follows
the widow, had no life story- she who,
as a little child, once played in the village,
and grew into a lovely maiden, just like
her daughter Ratna Manggali. Thence widow
What other disaster did befall her?
do you know what it is like to be a widow?
do you know what it means to be an old woman?6
A widow is a woman left by her loved one

Somewhere between maiden in love
And mourning widow
6 Pp.4-6.
By and by her daughters beauty comforts her

If shes no longer courted, perchance her daughter will
But no suitor comes7
Calon Arangs decision to stay unmarried has made her fall into
discrimination. Being a widow is considered by society as imperfect for she exists
without a man, and thus, she is ill treated and alienated. As widow, Calon Arang
has been stereotyped as wicked witch which made men frightens to court her
beautiful daughter. This negative labeling tears all her hope that her daughter will
have happier life than hers.
an old woman
a crone with anger overflowing
[because] her magical powers
so feared, nobody to court
her beautiful daughter Ratna Manggali,
so angry the widow,
so shamed the widow8
she became a victim of patriarchy

anger and fury consuming her9
When she finds out that her daughter has to suffer similar fate of being a
spinster, unwanted by men, she gets mad for society unfair and harsh treatment,
her daughter who fell prey// Her mother her only protector//What protection
could Ni Rangda provide?// So full of worries a widow confronting// cruel society
and all its way of harassment.10 As she and her daughter are ill treated by society,
7 P. 18.
8 P.1
9 P. 8
10 P.8, 14.
her use of dark magic powers is justified in Toety Heratys prose. Unlike
Pramoedyas depiction that does not provide any justification for Calon Arangs evil
deeds, Toety Heraty explores the complexity of Calon Arangs conditions that
prompted her to defend herself and her daughter with her dark magic powers.
Hence, Toety Hearts prose transcends the binary the good and the evil. Calon
Arang is depicted as ambivalent character with protean traits, Ni Rangda, the
concerned mother and// Calon Arang, the ferocious witch// two such different
manifestation.11 Toeti Heraty blurs the dichotomy of good and evil, Calon Arang is
not totally evil because it is maternal love that prompts her action. Mpu Baradah is
not totally virtuous because he has used tricky tactic, that is, exploiting Calon
Arangs love to her daughter and the daughters obedience to her husband, to find
out Calon Arangs weaknesses.
Toeti Heraty also depicts how Calon Arang eventually betrayed by her own
daughter who aligns herself to patriarchy to get the favor of her husband.
Oh Calon Arang, what an unhappy fate
An entire country punished for loves sake
But your own child betrayed you
for love you became a fury
for love you were destroyed by a priest12
Toety Heraty shows that female bonding is hard to be achieved for there is
competition between women to gain the favor of patriarchy. Patriarchal values
have been internalized by women that it is hard to create female bonding to resist
and challenge patriarchal domination.
11 P. 16.
12 P. 6.
Calon Arangs resistance against patriarchal oppression has threatened the

hegemony of central power. As stated in the prose
As a mother who cared for her daughter
she still has a persona that can be easily accepted
as long as she stays clear to all politics
but she undermined the autorithy of the state
so in this case became the scapegoat for all calamities 13
As a figure of powerful widow who build counter hegemony from the margin,
C. Conclusion
References
13 P. 100.

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Representation of Calon Arang in Toeti Heratys Calon Arang: The Story of A

Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy

of having powerful supernatural power, but Calon Arang is negatively labeled as

witch. The depiction of Calon Arangs devotion to the Goddess of destruction

A widow is a woman left by her loved one

By and by her daughters beauty comforts her

she became a victim of patriarchy

Calon Arangs resistance against patriarchal oppression has threatened the

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