Introducing Indonesian traditional theatre

What is wayang kulit? Where does it come from? You might ask. The word wayang in Javanese language means shadow while kulit means leather. So this is a traditional theatre from the Indonesian island of Java using two dimension leather puppets. The leather puppets are played in front of a screen made of thin clothes so they can be seen as shadows.
Wayang Kulit is a result of a long evolution. The history dates back to 8th century in the kingdom of ancient Mataram in central Java. At Prambanan temple we can see bas relief on its wall depicting the Indian story of Ramayana or the story of King Rama. It is clear that they had translated the Indian story from Indian into old Javanese language. It is not clear, however, if theatre had existed at that time. But in a panel of the Ramayana story, especially in Candi Siwa (the temple for Siwa, the destroyer), we can see clearly scenes of dancing. It is a scene of the wedding party of young Rama when he married to Sinta (Sita).
When the center of power moved to east Java, in the 11th century a king had another Indian story of Mahabarata (the story of Barata family) translated into old Javanese language. There were two translators at the time - Empu Sedah and Empu Panuluh.
In the 13th century the earliest form of wayang began to take shape. In the kingdom of Majapahit wayang beber was known. The word beber in Javanese language means to open or to reveal. There were no puppets in this kind of wayang. They just drew pictures on a thick paper and then the papers were rolled on a wooden stick. When the narrator played it, he simply opened it and told the story while pointing at it using a small bamboo stick. The narrator is accompanied by a set of percussion music called gamelan.
Today wayang beber still exist but the performance is very rare. A narrator who lived in a small town of Pacitan in east Java inherited wayang beber from his parents. He said that it had been inherited from generation to generation since hundreds of years ago. He has a story of his collection of wayang beber.
Long time ago in the kingdom of Majapahit the king was sick. Then the king asked to his people to heal his sickness. Someone could cure him. Instead of giving money, the king gave a set of wayang beber. He was also trained how to play it.
In early 15th century during the reign of Demak kingdom in central Java, wayang kulit began to take shape. The Islamic clergymen from the kingdom of Demak actively spread their religion by using Javanese culture including wayang kulit performances. In this era they had created two dimension puppets made of buffalo leather. As holder they used buffalo horn. Its function is also to move the puppets' hands.
Wayang kulit reached its final evolution in the past four hundred years. In the sultanate of Mataram in Yogyakarta and Surakarta wayang kulit had been growing very rapidly. Today it is played routinely by the Javanese people on certain occasion like wedding, graduation, promotion, birth etc.
It is played at night for about nine hours, start from nine to five the next morning. During the nine hours the narrator sits cross legged in front of the screen. The puppets are attached into a banana tree. He does everything - talking, narrating, and singing. He is accompanied by a team of musicians who sit cross legged behind him.
As for the story, there are two great Indian epic of Ramayana and Mahabarata. Along the ages Javanese writers had added many episodes to the story so today the detail of the story is different from the original. Besides, the Javanese writers had created many stories based on Javanese history. I have prepared these stories. In my next lenses I will tell you about these stories. They are a long, long story so I can write many lenses about them.