Akita University

45 51 2007

Javanese kings, dramas, and women

Yoshimi MIYAKE
miyake@ed.akita-u.ac.jp

Introduction sakti or kasekten.

2. Kasekten is a fundamental/proto power which
Many Indonesiaologists have discussed the constructs this universe, the world of human
politics, society, and history of Indonesia based on beings and the world of nature. Furthermore,
cultural approaches. Anderson 1990 discussed how kasekten keeps this universe in order.
Javanese kings had constructed their system of 3. Kasekten exists all over the universe, and the
justification of being the kings, based on their amount of the kasekten is always the same. Its
culturally unique concept of Javanese power, and substance is not good or bad.
heightened their cultural prestige. 4. The Javanese concept of power is this substance
This paper will discuss how the Javanese kings, called kasekten and the power and legitimacy of
above all the current king, called Sultan, Raja, the king rests on this kasekten.
Hamengkubuwana IX and X, have justified their 5. Therefore, the power and legitimacy of the king
legitimacy as the right kings of Java, based on our is abstract and vague. In other words, there are
analysis of the concept of Javanese power discussed by not various sources of legitimacy for the power
Anderson before, and on my own extensive fieldwork of kings.
of the 1980s in which I interviewed the king, princes 6. The total amount of kasekten remains the same.
and princesses, court servants, ex-court dancers, as The order and stability of the universe, nature,
well as people outside of the court. and the world of human beings can be kept only
Historically, the scholarly approach to Java has when the kasekten is centered. On the other
been based on cultural approach, from which post- hand, when the kasekten is scattered or broken
colonialism and orientalism came into existence, and from the center, and each amount of kasekten is
later developed to Anderson
s discussion of imagined scattered throughout the universe, order will be
communities, in which Anderson discusses cultural destroyed and then chaos will start.
hegemony. In his concept of power, Anderson 7. The one who can keep much kasekten in himself
discussed Javanese con concepts of power as follows: is the owner of the Javanese power, and can be
the founder of the kingdom
1. There is no Javanese word for power which is 8. The concentration of kasekten can be realized
equivalent to the English power.Probably through asceticism. This act is an act of self-
the closest term to the English power will be control through yoga and samadi (meditation).

48
Akita University

As a result of this asceticism with which they Hamengkubuwana and the Surakarta Court of
control their pamrih (individual desire) they can Pakubuwana. Later each of the courts was further
reach the situation of tata tentrem-karta raharja, divided into two, i.e. Hamengkubuwana and Pakualam
i.e. order, calmness, and peace. of Yogyakarta, and Pakubuwana and Mangkunegara of
Surakarta. All the names of the kingdoms represent
On the other hand, as described by a Javanese themselves as the center of the universe. As a result,
court poet Ronggawarsita, the history of Java could be from a conceptual point of view, the Javanese cosmos
divided into two types of eras, i.e. the time of order and now has four centers, which might mean the chaos of
the time of chaos. They are: the universe. However, this conceptual chaos seems to
have been avoided under the historical explanation, i.e.
djaman mas - The Golden Period the Hamengkubuwana court of Yogyakarta is the
djaman edan - The Mad Period. legitimate kingdom, because the first king,
Hamengkubuwana I fought against the Dutch
According to Javanese, the current period is in that colonizer, and separated from the original kingdom
of the Mad Period. Human beings live, suffering, called Mataram, then set up the line of the Yogyarkarta
agonized in this chaotic world, that is, a micro-cosmos court. The original Mataram was continued by the
of the universe. However, when the Mad Period ends, Pakualam family and the king of Pakualam has been
and the kasekten is concentrated, then comes the called susushunan,those who are highly respected.
Golden Period, and the king Ratu Adil (The king of
justice) reigns the world. The Golden Period is the Table 1. Javanese four kingdoms
period of peace and prosperity. Surakarta courts:
Hamengkubuwana The lap of the land
Based on the concept of power, the Javanese kings Pakualam The nail of the universe
have constructed complex and sophisticated cultural
devices. They are: Yogyakarta courts:
Mangkunegara The lap of the nation
1. The king and his space, i.e. the court is located Pakubuwana The nail of the land
at the center of the concentric circles.
Javanese society is perceived as concentric circles, 3. The genealogy
of which the center is the king, and the space where The Javanese genealogy has been continued from
Sultan sits, that is the court, is called kraton. These God of almighty until the current Javanese kings. In the
concentric circles extend from the center, i.e. the king, text of Javanese shadow puppet players, the Javanese
the court, towns surrounding the court, the city, and genealogy is described as follows:
outside of the city.
This concept of society is not just symbolic but Sang Hyang Tunggal (God of Almighty)
also substantial, that is, there is an obvious Adam
correspondence between the concentric circles and Betara Guru (Hindu God of Shiva)
actual city and its superb. Dharma
Semar (Clown servant)
2. The names of four Javanese courts Bayu (Hindu God of Wind)
At the center of the universe sits the king. Hanuman (demi god, white monkey
However, in current Java, by the end of 18 century,
th
appearing in Ramayana Epic)
with Dutch interference in the court, the court was Arjuna (Hero in Mahabharata Epic)
divided into two, i.e. the Yogyakarta court of Moses

49
Akita University

Jesus Christ presented in the form of kendhuren, the communal

Nabi Mahommed banquet, then another amount of food symbolic of the
Senapati (the mythical founder of Mataram Kingdom) king
s souls is offered. The round rice power breads,
Javanese kings each of which is considered to represent the soul of the
king, are arranged in the form of the king
s body, that
Table 2. Ancestors for Javanese kings is, the head, neck, torso, arms, and legs.
The final ritual of food offering is conducted on
In other words, Javanese kings are transcendent, the Parangtritis Beach. The food is offered to the sea
covering all the deities of major religions. Instead of from the beach, starting with prayers and incense
the spiritual affiliation, this genealogy explains the burning. The whole ritual is called Garebeg. A month
consanguine affiliations between God almighty, the before the Garebeg, the North Square in front of the
god of Judeo-Christianity, Hindu gods, Buddha
s, court has a festive atmosphere. Every night amusement
prophets, Jesus, and Muhammad. park and food stalls are open, yielding the ramai
Religious as well as historical figures have been crowded , lively atmosphere. On the morning of
well explained and combined under the Javanese Garebeg, there is a procession of the offerings in a
tolerance. For Javanese, differences of religion are not form of a steep mountain, from the court kitchen
significant, but any religious aspects can be explained outside of the court fence, to the court, accompanied by
logically under the idea that an invisible God created court servants and militaries. Thousands of spectators
everything including Hindu gods, the trinity, spirits and gather along the street, forming a huge state ritual.
souls. This aspect has been called the 'tolerance of As Kanjeng Ratu Kidul, the Goddess of the South
Javanese,' as Anderson puts it. Sea is not only the protector of the Javanese kingdom
but could also be the destroyer of the universe. She is
4. The mystical and spiritual power of women. easy to make angry, jealous, and to explode, so that in
The spiritual power of women is represented in order to avoid chaos and keep the peace of Java, a huge
several forms, again in order to legitimize the power of amount of offerings should be presented.
the king.
4.2. Wayang stories: Arjuna and his women
4.1. Marriage with Kanjeng Ratu Kidul, The The majority of the Javanese shadow puppet
goddess of the South Ocean stories are from the Mahabharata, differently from
It is believed that from the time of the founding of others, especially about the third son of the Pandawa
Javanese kingdom, the kings are married to the family, called Arjuna or Janaka. The Pandawa family
Goddess of the South Sea, called Kanjeng Ratu Kidul had to fight never-ending wars with the Kurawa
(The Southern Goddess). She is the spiritual protector family, Pandawa s cousins. In one of their most
for the Javanese kingdom as well as people of all Java. significant stories, called Arjuna Wiwaha,Arjunas
Every year in each court, the wedding ceremony with wedding ceremony,the Pandawa
s third son Arjuna
the Kangjeng Ratu Kidul is performed in the form of a goes for asceticism under the name Mintaraga, and
dance called bedhaya ketawan, a dance performed by 9 overcomes any kind of seduction and desire. As
young women. This dance has been performed asceticism, Arjuna is given the most powerful and
especially in the Surakarta court of the kingdom of spiritual weapon, called Senapati from the king of
Pakubuwana to claim the legitimacy of the kingship. I gods, Bethara Guru (God of Shiva). With that weapon,
will discuss this bedhaya ketawan and another female Arjuna succeeds in beating the Kurawa family in the
dance later. most significant battle, and brings about victory to his
Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, there is a ritual in family which later continued to be the Mataram
which an enormous amount of food offerings is kingdoms and then the current Javanese kingdoms.

50
Akita University

Arjuna also owes his victory to his two wives, shadow puppet plays. According to Soedarsono,
Sumbadra and Srikandi. These two women represent wayang wong is the state ritual which boasted the
two opposite sides of character, i.e. the elegance and wealth and majesty of the kingdom, as opposed to the
motherhood of Sumbadra and the strength and courage orthodox Surakarta, and was also the opportunity at
of Srikandi as a woman warrior. Sumbadra appears as which the king himself appeared as the incarnation of
an ideal mother and wife in the background, while Visnu, who came down to the world in order to
Srikandi appears as the ideal worrier, who helps her maintain the prosperity of the world of human beings
husband on the battlefield. Furthermore, Arjuna (Soedarsono 1984).
receives 800 celestial wives as gifts for attaining the Unlike other performance, Wayang Wong used to
ultimate goal of asceticism. As a result, Arjuna is start in the morning, and the Sultan watched it, sitting
considered the ultimate ruler of Java, the ancestor of in Bangsal Kencana, the Golden Hall, facing east,
Javanese kingdom. The winner of the weapon as well where the Sun rises as the incarnation of the Sun God.
as many women is the one who has legitimacy for Court servants also sit watching the Wayang Wong
ruling the kingdom of Java - this is how the Javanese expecting to be able to receive berkat, blessing from
court has reconfirmed their power, and has also the king. Occasionally in the past, some lakon, a
succeeded in making the Javanese people believe in it. certain repertoire, was intentionally chosen in order to
cynically describe historical incidents caused by Dutch
4.3. Physical appearance and inner control colonization.
Furthermore, this spiritual power manifests itself in
appearance. For those who have kasekten, it appears in 4.5. Female dances: Bedhaya and Srimpi
the ultimate beauty - the beauty specific to Java; that is, 4.5.1. Bedhaya
an extremely slender body, looking down, well-down Bedhaya is danced by nine young women in
to the earth, and speak in a low voice, manifestations of identical costumes, make-up, and hairdos. There are
their control over emotion. Those who have physical several bedhayas, but above all, bedhaya ketawan in
power but lack spiritual power end up being losers. The the Surakarta court is most significant in the sense that
simple dichotomy of men of being controlled and men it is the most secret and one of the court's important
of being uncontrolled can be described as follows: pusaka, heirlooms. The dance movement is considered
to represent various forms of yoga as a way to control
Table 3. alus:kasar::beauty:ugliness desire. According to Soedarsono and Brongtodiningrat,

Appearance Moral Ability Behavior an ethnomusicologist and scholar of dance studies, the
whole movement for these hours represent each Yoga
beautiful high control of desire alus
movement, the control of cakras of the human body.
ugly low uncontrolled kasar
The dance bedhaya ketawan has been performed in
Beauty of appearance good mind, goodness, the Pakubuwana Court of Surakarta each year. Like
spiritually highAlus behavior other court dances, the dance is accompanied by
Ugliness of appearancelack of control over desire, gamelan music as well as songs, but unlike other court
e.g. sexual desire, appetite, anger, or excitement dances, its music and the appearance of female singers
Kasar behavior is extremely simple. The music has no decorative
tunes, complicated rhythms, or decorative music
4.4. Garebeg and Wayang Wong instruments such as flutes or gambang, celempung, or
Wayang wong was supposed to have been created rebab, but rather repetitions of a main theme. The
by Hamengkubuwana in the end of the 1750s, in order performance currently lasts for three hours, although it
to justify himself as the only ruler of Mataram. used to be danced for seven hours. The hall, bangsal
Wayang wong is the personified form of wayang, kecana, the golden hall, has jasmine flower petals

51
Akita University

scattered all over the floor, and incense is burned. The The leading roles are danced by batak,
hall is full of fragrance. This is the only occasion on representing mind or soul, and endhel, desires. Many
which the Sultan as well as his whole family attends times they face each other, although other dancers are
the dance performance as one of the most sacred and making a line behind other endhel or batak. The prince
significant rituals of the year. Brontodiningrat states that the fight between endhel
According to Babad Ninik, a Javanese court (desires) and batak (human mind) is a natural thing in
archive, both compositions were created by Sultan human beings. According to him, in this world there
Agung (1613-46). The dance is performed by 9 young are only two opposite characters in human life, i.e.
women, each of them named as a human body part as good and bad, right and wrong, and the ideal goal of
shown in Figure 1. man is to conquer the bad, which will result in the ideal
life. Soedarsono interprets Brongtodiningrat
s
Bedhaya ketawan statement as follows:
1. endhel
heart Man as macro-cosmos has always two opposite
represents desires emerging from the characters which should be in harmony. Human
heart desires must be in balance with the human mind,
2. batak otherwise disorder would result which would
head affect the Macro-cosmos (Soedarsono 1984:81).
head with the mind or soul
3. jangga The nine elements of the Bedhaya dance also
neck represent nine orifices of human bodies, i.e., mouth, a
4. apit ngajeng pair of eyes, nostrils, ears, sexual organ, and anus.
right arm
5. apit wingking Four elements of Srimpi Dance
left arm 1. grama
6. dhadha fire
chest 2. angin
7. endhel wedalan ngajeng wind
right leg 3. toya
8. endhel wedalan wingking water
left leg 4. bumi
9. buntil earth
sexual organ
The theme of the Srimpi also symbolizes two
opposites, the good and the bad, the right and the
wrong, or the human mind and the human desires. It
should be noted, however, in Srimpi, clearly the two
pairs never separate and cross with each other. The
music is more flamboyant, and when the dancers reach
the hall, marching music, obviously an influence of
Western marching bands, accompanies their entrance.
When the first part of the music ends, there always
Figure 1. Bedhaya dance movement starts a fighting movement in which the dancers take
(Soedarsono 1984:81) out their own daggers and start stabbing the partner.

52
Akita University

Currently, as the Srimpi dancers are often invited to mysteriousness, eleganticism, exoticism, and finally
perform outside of the court to perform, for example, orientalism. The discourse of Javanese culture was the
to welcome VIPs or to celebrate high government ultimate target for this approach. The court dance
officers' daughters' wedding ceremonies, the daggers drama, dance, and texts have been described,
are often replaced with large flowers. explained, interpreted, and analyzed by both natives as
well as international scholars from cultural approaches.
4.6. Keputren: women's section of the court However, current studies such as Tsuchiya 1991,
Until the end of the second world war there have Florida 1996, Anderson 1996, and Pemberton 1994
been always court dancers called bedhayas - they were explain that those descriptions have been the products
mainly daughters of the court servants and aristocrats' of Dutch scholarly trends-Dutch theosophy, philosophy
daughters in the city - when they turned 6 years old, as well as structurist anthropologists who later became
and when there was a vacancy, a girl was added to the the basis for the anthropological structuralism of Levi-
group of dancers keeping their number at 40 at all Strauss. Tsuchiya
s rereading of the National Hero, a
times. They all lived in the Keputren, in the west side Javanese aristocrat woman Raden Ajeng Kartini, who
of the court, an obvious contrast of mens space, with became the Mother of Modern Time in the Dutch East
the sun rising in the east and women
s sun setting in the Indies, was interesting because it showed that her
west. At ceremonies accompanied by dance, the king brilliant writings for modern emancipation was the
as well as the princes watched their dances of Bedhaya product of Dutch modernism as well as Dutch
or Srimpi. The dancers used to wait for the time when mysticism which prevailed at the beginning of the 20th
they would be picked up. Their ultimate target was to century. Likewise, Florida
s excellent work on
be picked up by the king, secondly by pangeran, the Javanese court texts also shows that Dutch contribution
king
s sons, then by high-ranking court servants. to the Javanese tradition was great, but connotes that
Naturally, to be chosen as a dancer one should be even Ronggowarsito
s poems owe to the Dutch trend at
pretty, fair skinned, and well behaved. that time.
Being asked how she felt when she waspicked Even for Pemberton 1987, 1994, the gamelan
upas Sultan Hamengkubuwanas second wife, Queen music has been used in order to assert Javanese to be
Hastungkoro answered,Of course I was so happy. passive and controlled. Playing and interpreting
Later she became the First Queen because of her first Javanese gamelan was to harmonize Javanese people
son, The Prince Mangkubumi
s coronation as the with feudalism and then Dutch colonialism.
current king, Sultan Hamengkubuwana X. Javanese women, especially court women, in this
However, Florida reports a tragic suicide of the way, were colonized and politicized, and as a result
First Queen of the Surakarta court who killed herself became the central part of discourse of esoteric
when her husband, Pakubuwana IX, took a low-born Javanese. Their spiritual power represented in the
second queen, by swallowing a diamond (Florida mythology surrounding the Kanjeng Ratu Kidul, the
1996). The Javanese stories, everyday conversation, goddess of Southern Ocean, and wayang stories, and
indeed, are filled of stories of jealousy, black magic then manifested in dances such as bedhaya ketawan
and white magic, and suicides becausedi-madu
, i.e. and bedhaya girls, i.e. court dancers, have been
husbands taking of another wife. controlled and muted and thus became mysterious.
Although post-modern studies and theories of
5. Conclusion: post-colonialism, orientalism, and deconstructions help us to understand those inner parts
studies of Java of cultural phenomena, as Stange 1990 suggests,
As mentioned above, the Javanese culture, Javanese philosophy, concept of power, mysticism, etc.
especially that of the court, has been treated from a are not just products of Western, Dutch theosophy.
cultural point of view, emphasizing its mysticism, Under the term post-modern, in Javanology
s case,

53
Akita University

the indigenous theory is dismissed and them Florida, N., 1996 Writing gender relations in
appropriated without acknowledgement(Stange 1990: nineteenth-century Java. Pp. 207-224. In Sears, L
100). Here I suggest, talking about the Javanese J. (ed.) Fantasizing the feminine in Indonesia.
kingdoms, the philosophy behind them, and women, Duke University Press.
who are also behind them, that they have complex Pemberton, John, 1987 Musical politics in Central Java
layers of Hindu cosmology and pre-Hindu based (Or how not to listen to a JavaneseGamelan).
indigenous thoughts, and Western philosophy, Indonesia 44:16-29.
theosophy, and anthropology. Studying Javanese 1994 On the subject of "Java". Ithaca: Cornell
provides us with such an opportunity to explore these University.
complex ramifications. Soemarsaid Moertono 1968 State and statecraft of
Old Java. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project.
Ithaca, New York.
Bibliography Stange, Paul, 1990 Deconstructions of Javanese
Anderson, B.,1990 The idea of power in Javanese 'Tradition' as disempowerment. Prisma 50: 88-111.
culture,in C. Holt (ed.), Culture and politics in Sudarsono 1985 Wayang Wong. Yogyakarta:Universi
Indonesia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ty of Gajah Mada Press.
Anderson, B. 1990 Language, fantasy, revolution: Java 1982
1900-1945. In Language and power:exploring
political cultures in Indonesia. Ithaca,N.Y.:Cornell
University Press.

54