socio-historical and cultural influences on visual

TAWARIKH:International Journal for Historical Studies, 5(1) October 2013

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MOH ISA PRAMANA KOESOEMADINATA,SETIAWAN SABANA & NUNING DAMAYANTI ADISASMITO

Socio-Historical and Cultural Influenceson Visual Differentiation of Wayang Kulit

of Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia: A Case Studyof the Attributes Differentiation

of Priest Drona Puppets

ABSTRACT: The “wayang kulit” (shadow play) is a traditional art of theatre that popular in Java and Bali,and considered as a multidimensional state of art which consists dimension of theatrical, literature,philosophy, moral education, and not to mention visual arts and crafts dimension as well, in which is themain discussion of this paper. There are several styles of Javanese “wayang kulit” based on theirgeographical area. Among those, Cirebon style possesses unique visualization which has resemblance toearly phase of Islamic era “wayang” puppet. One of the character transformations done which includespersonality and visual descriptions happened to the Priest Drona, the vital character of Mahabharata thatrole as “guru” (teacher) to both Pandawas and Kurawas, who was trapped inside dilemma between hiswarring disciples. In the adaptation version of Javanese shadow play, for some various and speculativereasons, Drona has been altered into an antagonistic character, and reached its extreme point of alterationas an absolute evil character in Cirebon version. Cirebon’s history, culture, and plural society gave significantinfluence on this. Drona puppets themselves have unique and specific visual attributes in comparison toother main characters puppets, and possess highly symbolic meaning beneath them. These facts told us thatthe character has a great significance. Later, these negative connotations of Drona was being sharpenedand escalated in accordance of socio-historical events and local phenomenon, thus producing visualdifferentiation within the Drona puppets.KEY WORDS: “Wayang kulit”, Drona character, Cirebon area, visual, differentiations, attributes, socio-historical events, and symbolic meaning.

Moh Isa Pramana Koesoemadinata, M.Sn. is a Student of Doctoral Program at the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design ITB (BandungInstitute of Technology), Jalan Ganesha No.10, Tamansari, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Prof. Dr. Setiawan Sabana and Dr. NuningDamayanti Adisasmito are Lecturers at the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design ITB. Corresponding author is: [email protected]

INTRODUCTIONIn the early centuries of Christian calendar,

Indian cultural-complex from Indian sub-continent spread to the Indonesianarchipelago, making end of pre-historicalperiod and later began the “historical period”or the Hindu era of Indonesian history, whichis marked by the establishment of Hindukingdoms. As a cultural-complex, Indianinfluence in Indonesia includes variouscultural aspects such as Sanskrit language,Pallava writing system, Hinduism andBuddhism teachings and philosophy,

monarchial state system, hierarchal societysystem, arts, architecture, and others as wellas the famous literature of Mahabharata andRamayana epics. These epics are theteleological media of Hinduism philosophy,morality, and ethics teachings.

For the latter aspects, the epics took thelocal cultural approach like wayang (shadowplay) theater form in order to be conveyed tothe natives, since writing is still limited only tothe noble families and elite society. Thelocalization process includes the musicalarrangements, symbolical philosophy, and the

M.I. PRAMANA KOESOEMADINATA, S. SABANA & N. DAMAYANTI ADISASMITO,Socio-Historical and Cultural Influences on Visual Differentiation of Wayang Kulit

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depicting illustration of the characters.Wayang theater itself was Indonesian origin,predates the Hindu period much longer, wellflourished in Java and Bali.

Wayang kulit puppets are two dimensionalfigures carved out from buffalo’s hide(wayang refers to shadow, and kulit meansleather, skin, or hide); and hold by grippingrods made form buffalo’s horn. Wayang kulitis displayed as shadows on a screen by apuppeteer (dalang), who narrates the storiesaccompanied by singing and by the Javanesepercussion music gamelan during the show.Although originally the puppets are to beviewed as shadows at the shows, they arealso painted in full colors.

The localization as part of acculturationprocess of the epics never stops then. Historywrites that kingdoms rose and fell, Hinduismdeclined and Islam emerged as newdominant power in the region. Wayangtheater was still being nurtured, developed,and patronized by the ruling power.Adaptation and actualization still take place,in order to be used to spread Islamicpreaching then.

What we know about the wayang kulitpuppet’s look now was begun from Islamicperiod in Java. The visual form of wayangkulit puppet experienced shifting, alterations,and transformations in accordance with thesuccessions of the ruling power in Java, sincethe fall of Majapahit empire, the foundationof early Islamic states in Java such as Demakand Cirebon sultanates in the last quarter of15�� century, then Pajang, the arrival ofEuropean traders and conquests, the rise ofMataram Islamic sultanates, the Dutchcolonialism, and the divide of Yogyakarta andSurakarta in Central Java in mid 18�� century,which was Dutch colonial intervention.

As the result, the Javanese wayang kulitpuppet style has proliferated into severalvisual local styles such as Eastern Java style;Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Banyumas, and Keduin Cental Java; and Cirebon and Betawi stylein Western area of Java. Although in basiclevel they all share and retain the same visualsystem, but each local style has its own

uniqueness in interpreting certain character.Until now, the process still takes place andnever ceased in order to serve certainpurposes.

Wayang kulit was patronized by the oldJavanese kings and nobility, and the artdeveloped within the wall of courthouses.These courthouses then become the culturalcenters of the Javanese traditional arts,including wayang kulit. However, wayangkulit has also developed outside thecourthouses, as folk’s art. The centers ofwayang kulit art are the courthouses inSurakarta and Yogyakarta in Central Java,and the courthouses in Cirebon in West Java.It is from these centers that the wayang kulitart has diversified into distinctive styles.That’s why in 2003, wayang was beenrecognized by the UNESCO (United Nationsfor Education, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization) as “Masterpiece of Oral andIntangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.

And the example we took in this paperhere is the visualization of Priest Dronapuppet of Cirebon in West Java. The Cirebonstyle of wayang kulit puppet is being chosenas the discussion matter because of severalconsiderations. Judging by its visualappearance, Cirebon style belong to the earlyphase of Islamic period, the visual transitionbetween pre-Islamic wayang puppet (inassumption mimic to Balinese puppet) andthe latest and most refined Surakarta style inCentral Java. With this archaic looks, Cirebonpuppet tends to inspire other style of puppet,even Surakarta style nowadays (Angst,2007:224; and Pramana Koesoemadinata,2007a and 2007b:187). Ironically, the realityis the Cirebon style of wayang kulit puppethasn’t been researched that much, and stillconsidered as “terra incognita” along otherCirebon traditional arts in academic map(Cohen, 1997:35).

THE CHARACTER OF PRIEST DRONAIN JAVANESE SHADOW PUPPET

Drona is a controversial and complexcharacter in the Mahabharata epic. He has asignificant role as guru (teacher) to both


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warring Pandawas and Kurawaswarriors (Pendit, 1970:63-68 and344-347; and Subramaniam,2006:41-65). But in Javanese wayangversions, he was depicted as anambiguous and mischievous yethumorous, with crippled physics(Anderson, 2000:34).

In Javanese shadow puppetry,there are controversies regardingDrona’s role in the epic. Some peopleconsidered that Drona was actually awise and virtuous sage that trappedinto dilemma of choosing sidesbetween his righteous disciples, thePandawas, and other disciples, theKurawas, who’s fighting each otherto win the throne of Hastinapurakingdom. Others considered thatDrona is just a provocative culprit, adevious advisor, creating problemsto gain his personal interests only.The latter is generally well acceptedin the Cirebon puppetry (Rosidi,1991:xxvii).

Drona was displayed with uniquevisual attributes such asdistinguished “biological” anatomy,clothing, and accessories that madehim instantly recognizable incomparisons to other puppets, evenother wayang styles. The visualattributes strongly tied to howDrona’s imagery and being describedin Cirebon puppetry: devious,mischievous, cynical, and arrogant. Thedescription is also has everything to do withsocio-historical factors in Cirebon culturalarea, in which this paper shall discussfurthermore.

Because of those considerations mentionedabove, the characters of Drona from Cirebonwayang kulit puppet become the main studiedobject and thoroughly discussed here.

On the Cirebon: Socio-Historical, CulturalAspects, and Wayang Kulit Theatre. Cirebonis part of the Java island and also part ofJavanese culture. But the coastal geographiclocation enabled easy access to the outsideworld, so such intensive contacts with both

various foreign and other domestic culturesare inevitable. Since its foundation in the lastquarter of 15�� century, Cirebon had been aninternational trading center and alsoconsidered as a kind of melting pot of variouskind of artistic, cultural, and religious activity.Intensive and continuous contacts have takenplace with the Indians, Chinese, Arabs,Persians, Malays, and Europeans along withtheir cultures and their religions such asHinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and also Westernideas. These have resulted into a certain kindof overlapping cultural blend, which is inaccordance with the original name of Cirebon:

Figure 1:The Cirebon style of Priest Drona wayang puppet. In most

Javanese puppetry, Drona was depicted as an ambiguous andmischievous yet humorous sage with crippled physics.


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Caruban (Sunardjo, 1983). Accordingly, theresulting culture development is quitedifferent in comparison to the inland parts ofJava such as Yogyakarta and Surakarta.

Basically, Cirebon culture is also Javaneseculture, which consist traditional arts likewayang play, mask dance, and many others.But those are not identical to the Mataramsultanate cultural base that is now inheritedby Central Java, which has been claimed as the

“true” Javanese. Cirebon has its own identity,its own kingdom, its own courthouses, and itsown culture which is being constructed by itsplurality through their own history (Budiono,1986; and Kusnandar, 2012).

Once in Cirebon, wayang kulit arts werepatronized by the feudal society. Thedevelopments take place within the walls ofthe courthouses. Under the leadership ofSunan Gunung Jati (1482-1528), Cirebonreached its zenith, brought the golden age ofCirebon (Hardjasaputra, 2011:55-85). SunanGunung Jati was also known as an Islamicpreacher, one of the Wali Sanga (NineApostles) in Java island. So, there are Islamicvalues embedded on the products of Cirebonarts, as part of Islamic preaching, due to thecooperation with other awliyas (saints),especially Sunan Kalijaga of Central Java whowas excel in traditional arts.

After that, Cirebon fall into decadence,being a vassal of Mataram sultanate of CentralJava (1625), influenced heavily by Mataram’scultural values, until the Dutch colonial tookaway their sovereignty, made them as sub-ordinate in 1703 (Lim & Gocher, 1990:20-23;and Hardjasaputra, 2011:87-129). As theresult being Dutch colonial sub-ordinate, thefeudal lost their power, autonomy, andauthority left to control or influence thesociety, and the culture of the entire region,including the artistic activity of the people,leaving the people freely expressing withinthe parameter of tradition, which also tends tochange.

Therefore, the folk’s puppetry hasdeveloped outside, beyond the courthousespatronage and guidance. The puppet’svisualization guides or rules become muchloosened. They are developed by the common

people, instead by the nobility, and becomethe primary representation of the wholeCirebon puppet style. But, society is vulnerableto changes. History recorded countlesschanges occurred within the same societyinside same geographical area. Rural folkstend to more adaptive to changes, especiallywhen it relates to pragmatism, due to survivalneed on daily basis. These changes havecertain effects on their art’s manifestations,shadow puppet for instance.

The influence of socio-historical changephenomenon gave effect on the visual aspect ofthe wayang puppet, whether it’s chiseled-basedor painted-based features and attributes.Especially in the modern era, subsequent to theDutch’s East Indies colonial era, empoweredWestern culture hegemony, as a result of thecolonial ordinance to the social life of Cirebonlocals. The influence enhanced to the nextpuppet visualization, at the era of independence(1940s), or the Republic of Indonesia (1950s),under New Order regime (1966-1998) to beprecise. The people’s atmosphere tends to bedenser in the next development of thevisualization of wayang kulit.

However, this also supported by thecharacter of coastal society, which tends to beexpressive, dynamic, egalitarian in nature,enhanced by proletarian issues later, andrelatively open minded to external influence.

Relations between Wayang Kulit Theatre,Islam, and Javanese Society. Cirebon societyconsists of local ethnics (Javanese andSundanese) who are dominant, and foreignethnics (Chinese and Arabs), but the cultureitself is Javanese. As a coastal area and harborcity, Cirebon is exposed to foreign influencesintensively. Since its foundation in 15��century, Cirebon has been visited bymerchants from the region and beyond. Manyvisitors like Arabs and Chinese travelers stayand settle down. Around the mid 19�� century,the Far Easterners citizens gain its peak inpopulation in Cirebon, so the Dutch colonialput them to their own settlements (Van denBerg, 2010:95-110).

The Arab travelers mostly Muslims,originated from Hadramaut of Arabianpeninsula, are considered by most of the local


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inhabitants as descendants of ProphetMuhammad SAW (Salallahu ‘Alaihi Wassalamor peace be upon him). Many of them areIslamic scholars, entitled habib or sharif withpuritan tendencies. But some of the Arabs justpretend to be one in order to cheat the locals,which inspired the creation of Fez of Dronapuppet type.

Many of Arabic ulemas, puritans, showedtheir disagreement on local arts and traditionsthat considered as shirk (belief in more thanone God or polytheism), because of the “pre-Islamic” continuity by appearance. Theseperceptions of those puritans often offend thelocal art practitioners. They believed thatevery local and traditional form of arts inCirebon is inheritance from the semi-legendary of Wali Sanga or Nine Apostles(Awliyas or Islamic saints), as the part ofIslamic preaching media.

It is not a strange fact that the Cireboneseshadow puppet play has been claimed by thelocal art performers has Islamic in nature.Historically, Cirebon was the second Islamickingdom in Java Island, which also served asthe primary base of the Islamic mission in thewest part of Java. All native arts and culturalproducts – which contained certain teachingsof the previous religions and beliefs – werebeing adopted and used as Islamic preachingmedia, including the shadow puppet play.

The kind of Islamic teachings that havebeen foretold through the shadow puppet playis Islamic mysticism or sufism – which isembraced by Sunan Kalijaga of Central Java,who is considered as a semi-legendary

“patron saint” of Javanese traditional arts,including wayang. Along with the three othertraditional performing arts, the wayangshadow puppet play has a symbolic partwhich represents certain level of mysticalhierarchy of Islam. Syncretism betweenIslamic teaching and the previous religionssuch as Hinduism, Buddhism, and also localanimistic beliefs occurred here in Cirebon.Syncretism was possible because of the natureof the Islamic kind of teaching, sufism, whichholds the harmony among plural societydearly and perceive the equal essence withinall religions.

The “original” purpose of the presentCirebon wayang shadow puppet play is stillintact: an Islamic preaching media, theentrustment legacy from the Wali Sanga (NineIslamic Saints in Java), by looking most of theplay’s themes. These Islamic elements aresometimes also shown within the visual aspectof the puppets, such as ornamental details andothers. This tendency of practicing Islammentioned above then shaped the socio-cultural aspect of Javanese society(Djajasoebrata, 1999).

According to Clifford Geertz (1989), theJavanese society can be classified into three-chotomies of Santri (strict adhrehent of Islam),Priyayi (one belonging to upper classes inJavanese society), and Abangan (one who doesnot adhere strictly to the precepts of one’snominal religion) categories. There’s apotential friction between Santri and Abanganin Javanese society. Santri whose representdevout Muslims and puritan, small, and middleclass; Abangan whose represent majority,peasants, rural, and low class. Santris tend tobe “Arabish” and tend to disagree upon thelocal traditions; and on the contrast, theAbangans keep distance to whole Islamicrituals (even they were Muslims too) and stillpractice their animistic rituals (Ricklefs,2006:35-55).

The most interesting is the scene whenDrona was confronted by Panakawan (clown-servant) characters, and suffers defeat andhumiliation. Neither kings nor nobility thesePanakawan were, just some lowly and humblecomical servants of the nobility characterswho dwells in poverty. They representpeasants, villagers, low-class subjects, andrural folks. But the Panakawan dared to be sodisrespectful to most honored guru of theheroes and kings of wayang world.

The Panakawan clown-servants are notoriginated in India like Drona or theprotagonists Pandawa, the antagonistsKurawa, and most characters in the wayangkulit which are based on Mahabharata epic,but they were created in Java, by Javaneseancestors. Many believed that the existence ofPanakawan even predates the arrival ofHinduism in Indonesia archipelago.


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Although having funny and uglyappearances and described humorous, usingdaily and commoners words for dialoguesinstead court-style, the Panakawans alwaysdepicted stood in righteousness, even incomparisons with the protagonist heroes orgods themselves. They constantly remind theprotagonist heroes when they were misguidedor being cheated by Drona. Because of theirhumorous and cheerful nature, thePanakawans are often being the main reasonwhy the audiences watch the play. They arelovable by the people and the performers too.

It seems that not by coincidence if Dronacan be assumed as the symbol of Santri; andon the other hand, the Panakawan as thesymbol of Abangan in Javanese society context.Also, the puppeteers tend to affiliatethemselves with the Abangans.

SIGNIFICANCE AND METHODOF THE RESEARCH

The significance of this research is to revealthat the massive variety of Drona puppets ofCirebon wayang kulit, which are the result ofvisual differentiation, showing us there arealso multi-interpretation upon the character.Particular visualization of attributes whichinclude anatomy, clothing, and accessories of awayang puppet has also particular meaningconveyed there. Different variations tend tomean differently.

The other is to enrich and to complete theknowledge and our understanding aboutJavanese wayang kulit arts. Most of knownliteratures are still focusing on Central Javastyle as the primary representative ofJavanese wayang kulit. In the contemporarydiscourse of arts and culture, minor details or

“small matters” are too fascinating to beavoided. And it’s also significant to confirmthat most of art works and crafts made,including wayang kulit arts, containreflections of some thought and socio-culturalunderstanding which are influenced by thechanges of time or the course of history.

This paper is based on a dissertationresearch, and only a few parts of it will bepresented here. The object studied here is thevisual aspect or attributes of wayang kulit

artifacts. It is a qualitative research, using thesocio-historical and cultural perspectives asapproaches and settings. This kind of researchis considered suitable for researches relatedto art and cultural texts. It also has to do withthe interpretations of collected data.

The paper shall analyze the visual aspectsof several elected Drona puppet artifacts assamples, which belong to courthouses,puppeteers, craftsmen, and collectors. Thoseartifact samples are being compared to eachothers, in order to study the visualdifferentiations among them. Only twosamples will be presented here, due thelimitation of space availability, and byconsiderations that these two represent thelatest differentiation of Drona puppets,possess highly symbolic meanings and hasinteresting matter to be discussed.

Those Drona puppet’s artifacts are: (1) FezDrona type, painted in KORPRI, Korps PegawaiRepublik Indonesia or Civil Servant Corps ofthe Republic of Indonesia’s uniform, collectionof the female puppeteer Mimi Tarul ofPagempuan, Cirebon; and (2) Naked Dronatype, collection of puppeteer Mansyur ofGegesik, Cirebon.

The visual aspect of wayang kulit puppetsconsists of several elements, features, orattributes such as “biological” anatomy,clothing, and accessories. Neither clothing noraccessories “worn” by Drona puppet here arereal. They are just imagery, built on particularand specific combination of chisel and paintelements that built a wayang puppet in total.But the anatomy, clothing, and accessories of awayang puppet are vital attributes, as thesigns of characterization, its role, and status.

By looking the anatomy, we can classifywhat kind of character is the wayang puppet, isit gentle or subtle character, strong, or harshkind. Then it influences the movement and thevocal pitch which the puppeteer will use inshow. By looking the clothing and accessories,we can recognize whether the character is agod, priest, king, warrior, or a servant. Thevisual aspects or the attributes being analyzedhere are including clothing or costume, andaccessories of the puppet, which areconsidered, possess certain significant meaning.


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The anatomical parts will notbe discussed here.

Several Drona puppetspossess different type ofclothes and accessories, inwhich we classify intoseveral types. However,these features were notinfluencing his movementand voice in show or fortheatrical purposes, butrather symbolize somethought that possibly areflections of how the society,the wayang spectators seeand perceive the characternowadays. One puppet typewhich shares the sameattributes like same type ofanatomy, clothing, andaccessories also can bedifferentiated more bydifferentiating the paintelements. At this point, thevariation of every puppet ofDrona can be madeunlimited.

The methods here consist of several steps:data collecting, data processing, datapresenting, and data analyzing. The datacollecting methods produce two kinds of data:the primary data and the secondary data. Theprimary data is obtained by three kinds ofmethods: first, data documentation by takingpictures of the related artifacts, recording andtaking notes; second, interviews with relatedsources such as the craftsmen, the puppeteers,and other informants with Cirebon related; andthird, direct observations of the puppetproductions by craftsmen, and theperformances of the puppets during the shows.The secondary data is obtained by someliterary studies, and reproductions of relatedpictures and photographs (see figure 2).

The data processing methods areconducted on the collected data from theprevious stage. The goal is to select artifactswhich are considered representative samples.The steps begin with the inventory,

identification, verification, classification, andcategorization. Each step narrows and reducesall of the available data into sorted, selected,and focused artifact data. The data presentingmethods are conducted in order to simplifythe information gathered, by presenting themin various ways and forms, depend to whatpurpose they will serve: tabulation, drawings,graphics, schemes, etc.

There are some analyzing methodsperformed in this research, but due to thelimitation of the discussion matter, only onemethod will be mentioned here. The “Art Critic”methods, which have been modified to servethe main purpose of the analysis, due theappropriation for Javanese puppetryconvention and Cirebon culture context. Themethods begin with descriptions, formalanalysis, interpretation, and judgments(Feldman, 1967:468-480).

By using and modifying Art Critic methods,this paper will describe which ones are the

Figure 2:A Diagram Shows the Stages of Research Methods


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differentiated visual attributes, and explainhow the leather puppet’s visualization cansignifies or addresses certain meanings thathave correlation with the socio-historical andsocio-cultural factors surrounding the artists,performers, craftsmen, and spectators of theCirebon wayang kulit theatre. The result willbe emerged as the outcome of the dataanalyzing step, discussed in the conclusions.

Arnold Hauser’s Sociology of Art theorybeing used here as reference, because thenature of wayang kulit as a form of Javanesetraditional art or ethnic arts. Art reflectssociety, more or less, so said Arnold Hauser inhis theory, the Sociology of Arts (Hauser,1982:90). This is definitely true concerningtraditional arts and folk-arts, unlike ModernArts, which are truly direct reflection of theirsurrounding society. But it’s also related tocertain generations in particular time.

The tendencies of traditional arts arecollective, almost without individualexpressions, following rigidly to certainpattern or guidance that being inherited bythe predecessors, as well as sacred in nature.The traditional art, or ethnic arts, is thereflection of the society’s ideology. In reality,there’s no clarification about who is preciselyresponsible for creating, no records onlygossips and rumors, yet had to be considered.So, art as the product of the society will beacceptable here.

Originally, some folk-art imitated feudal art,wayang kulit for example, but due to theireffort to do so, aesthetic values tend to shifted.This was because of the lack of aestheticalunderstanding, lack of education, misguiding,and so on. The differentiation of aestheticvalues took place here. “Folk-art takes greatexamples of high arts, sings them to pieces,breaks them up, or simplifies them” (Hauser,1982:563). Arts became more “graphic” andexplicit, loose their subtleness yet easilyunderstood by majority. Feudal arts became

“democratized”.

DISCUSSIONSArtifacts Analyze and Interpretations.

The earliest type of Drona puppet known –

judging by the accessories worn – is the“Ancient Drona” type that much resembles itscounterpart in Central and Eastern Java. Thistype does still exist in limited numbers ofhands in Cirebon. The courthouses ofKasepuhan (oldest) and Kanoman (newest) ofCirebon still have them in their sacredcollections. The emergence of this puppet typedepends on the foundation of each courthouse,because usually sacred collection of acourthouse was believed predates thecourthouse itself, made directly since the WaliSanga or Nine Apostles era (Guritno &Pandam, 1989; and KPSB, 2003).

The royal courthouse of Kasepuhan was theoldest, built on 1678, so the assumption is

“Ancient Drona” puppet type appeared then, orperhaps older. A very few puppeteers andcollectors also have it too. But in majority, thistype is considered rare in Cirebon, evennowadays, this puppet type never being usedagain in the play.

As a priest in the wayang world, Drona isone of very few that doesn’t wear turban.Turban is a common accessory worn by priestsin wayang kulit, besides praying beads andshawl. There were no specific meanings, but asstatus identification only. Drona alsodescribed having crippled left arm, so this isbeing manifested by creating only one arm(rear arm) that has articulation. The front armare made one with the body, without anyarticulation at all, displays holding prayersbeads, the usual accessory and sign ofpriesthood. This attributes made Drona as theunique puppet in wayang world (Purjadi,2007).

But due to the repertoires in the shadowplay theater which told the public about themischievousness of Drona, all of those featuresor attributes bring negative connotations ofthis character. “Strange” or “alien”,

“disfigured”, “cunning”, “mischievous” are theconnotative words fit enough to describeimpressions of wayang spectators when theysee Drona.

Later, the next visual differentiation as thedevelopment of wayang puppet took placewithin the people’s hand, since the


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courthouses act as museums, only to retainarts, traditions, and culture as the way theyare. And then, in the following events, thosebad connotations of Drona being enhancedand sharpened further more.

Around first quarter of 20�� century, thenew type of Drona puppet was being created.There is a new attribute being added, a headaccessory, a red fez-like one. This type whatwe called “Fez Drona”, that actually inspiredby a local “historical” event took place innorthern area of Cirebon. Either puppeteerMaruna or puppeteer Arma (interview withthem, 2/10/2012 and 9/10/2012), both werefamous wayang performers of NorthernCirebon, one of them responsible for FezDrona type creation and supposedly inspiredby that event (see figure 3).

There was an Arab reside in Northern areaof Cirebon, his profession was a loan shark. Helent money with high interest to the locals togain profit. Sometimes, he acted as an Ulama(Muslim cleric) and showed his disagreementon local arts and traditions that considered asshirk (belief in more than one God orpolytheism).

Of course, this ill-behaved Arab spreadhatred among the local art practitioners(Cohen, 1997:107-110 and 224-252). This isbecause the local art practitioners, including

puppeteers, believed that every local andtraditional form of arts in Cirebon isinheritance from the semi-legendary WaliSanga (Nine Apostles) and Awliyas (Islamicsaints), as the part of Islamic preaching media,especially Wayang Kulit theatre (Simuh, 1995).At that time, most of male Middle Easternersworn red fez as hat, and this accessory being arepresentative, applied into the newly createdDrona puppet as a head accessory. Somepractitioners give this “red fez” a symbolicalmeaning as the courage to seek troubles toothers (Damayanti Adisasmito et al.,2007:109-110 and 135-136).

Not only to immortalize the hatred of thelocal puppeteer against the Arabian loan shark,but furthermore, the Fez Drona puppet typewas created as a tribute and constantreminder of the danger of foreign “priests”who uses his “religious authority” to suppressthe low-class society, the rural people, and thelocal inhabitants for their personal gain. Sincethen, this Fez type was commonly used inperformance until now, replacing the “AncientDrona” puppet type as the main or standardDrona puppet. In fact, the Fez type became themain representative of Cirebon style of Drona.

The Fez type differentiated again. This time,during the regime of New Order (1966-1998)under the second President of Indonesia,

Figure 3:The original Drona puppet or “Ancient Drona” type (left), which is considered rare now in Cirebon. The “Fez Drona”puppet type (middle) which now replacing “Ancient Drona” as the main representative of Drona puppet in Cirebon

style of wayang kulit. Notice: the fez being added on the head, compared with the real fez (right).


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Soeharto, the visual differentiation took place.This is the birth of Fez-Gembolan Dronapuppet type. The visual elements being addednow is “kain gembolan” (piece of cloth forcarrying something) and Keris accessory.Usually “kain gembolan” cloth used byPonggawa (court official)-type of wayangpuppet, which represents bold warriorcharacter, a fighter type, or military like. Thisdoes make sense, referring to the story thattold us that Drona was the teacher specializedin the arts of war (see figure 4). In Javanesetradition, Keris is brought by Javanese officialsas accessory to attend ceremonies or otherformal occasions in courthouse, along withfez-like “kuluk” as head accessory.

Within this Fez-Gembolan type, there is anindividual puppet which add paint element, aparticular batik pattern on the clothing whichin reality belong to civil servant or KORPRI(Korps Pegawai Negeri Republik Indonesia orCivil Servant Corps of the Republic ofIndonesia). As a sign, this KORPRI batikpattern, which reminds Indonesians of civilservants, gives connotation of corruption,collution, and nepotism tendencies. Anotheraddition is the Parang batik pattern on the

Drona’s trousers. Clothes embedded withParang batik type usually worn by Javanesenobles. The connotation of nobilities isfeudalism and arrogance. This collectionbelongs to the late female puppeteer MimiTarul of Pagempuan, Cirebon.

Drona’s visual attributes were made beingover complete and so luxurious, yet symbolicalactually by combining all elements that signifypower, wealth, over religious order (prayersbeads), foreign attributes (fez), civil servant(KORPRI batik pattern), feudalistic ornament(Keris and Parang batik pattern), militarycontrol (gembolan cloth), and so on. Thisrefers to satirical intention, criticizing thedomination of military party in Indonesiangovernment, corrupt, nepotism and suchfeudalistic tendencies, in accordance with thereality in the time of New Order regime (1966-1998). Drona now portrayed as a symbol ofcorrupt political power, military, feudalism,foreign, and religion as well, all of them fusedtogether.

The last sample is Naked Drona puppettype. The name does speak for itself.Puppeteer Basari of Northern Cirebon was thefirst one known to display this type of puppet

Figure 4:The “Fez-Gembolan Drona” type belonged to female puppeteer Mimi Tarul of Pagempuan (middle). Notice: the

additional Batik pattern painted on cloth which imitate KORPRI uniform (left), and the “Kain Gembolan” cloth wornthat also worn by Ponggawa (bold warrior) puppet type (right).


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on performance around 1970’s. Thepuppet was used in certain scenes,like when Drona’s plot failed and hewas going to flee, suddenly thePanakawans (servants of royalty inwayang world) caught him, anddeliberately stripped his entireclothes. All of the attributes thatsignify his highly status are beingstripped off leaving him in loinclothonly and Drona was just beinghelpless crying for mercy. Of course,this scene only exists in play madeby the puppeteer himself, notreferring to the original canon ofMahabharata (see figure 5).

The purpose of the scene is toensure the satisfaction of thespectators, that the culprit of thestory – Drona – has been punishedfor his mischievous deeds. TheDrona role which is sinister anddespicable has been successfullyplayed by the puppeteer to provokeanger of the spectators. And thespecific puppet, the Naked Dronawas created to serve that purpose.This puppet type embodies thefurther hatred towards thecharacter, the compensationthrough humiliation upon Drona. The hatredexploded, from a mere satire drasticallyshifted becomes a humiliating expression, avulgar one, as were there no more mannersleft dealing with this kind of despicablecharacter.

Technology and Media Influences onWayang Kulit Arts. Pragmatism playssignificant role here, due to the modernlifestyle that prioritize money before else,even sacred traditions, and traditional artsperformers and craftsmen cannot deny oravoid it. Economy becomes crucial matter now,more than spiritual aspects. Despite its originwhich was sacred, traditional performance artnowadays is about entertaining society, duringsocial events. They perform within theexpectation of the spectators, so they feelpleased, and the performers earn reputation

as well as fortune. They will be needed andhired again to perform the play as long as thespectators feel entertained and satisfied.

The contemporary social and politicalissues – local or national – give muchinspiration to the world of puppetry, the playand including puppet visualizations as well.Satirical tendencies manifested within thepuppet visualizations, responding politicalissues that has been broadcasted by modernmedia such as television or radio. These “hot”social and political issues are preferredthemes by the public, so the puppeteers createa play using the existed wayang character thatsatirically symbolized those. And in addition,they also told craftsmen to create specialpuppets to accommodate the play (Holt, 2000).

The development of information media andtechnology, and their massive distribution

Figure 5:The “Naked Drona” puppet type, belongs to Puppeteer Mansyur

of Gegesik, Northern Cirebon.


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through sub-urban and rural areas, makeinformation easily accessible by Cirebonwayang kulit performers that mostly reside inrural areas. However, this was different backthen, when the wayang performers knewnothing about national issues, and theirknowledge limited by their local resident only,due to the lack of education also.

Democracy atmosphere in Indonesianowadays, successfully creatingegalitarianism in social attitude, freedom ofexpressions, including “individualism”, beingfree to express any thoughts, feelings,including hatred towards anyone. All peoplenow feels being equal to their predecessorsand to upper class elites.

The other things that escalate the visualdifferentiation of wayang kulit puppets are theavailability of new tools and media whichbring more alternatives. The accessibility ofmodern paint, such as acrylic paint, drawing-pen, become primary option for wayang kulitcraftsmen to choose tools and media. Thecraftsmen back then used traditional toolssuch as brush made from cat hair or goat hair,with natural dye made from bone powder,certain herbs, and finished it with fish oilcoating (interview with wayang kulitcraftsmen, 17/10/2012).

Due the difficulty of the process, and thelost of the knowledge, now they (craftsmen)just finish it with varnish, which easilyobtained in hardware and paint store, andother from stationary stores (Hasyim,2011:91-120). Also the rareness of buffalo’shorn made for gripping rods, become the issuehere. There’s almost no craftsmen left inCirebon area is able to make the propergripping rods from horn; therefore, the hornbeing replaced by other material like rattan orfiberglass.

CONCLUSIONThe visual differentiation occurred as the

result of new type of wayang puppet creation,Drona puppets for instance. The specific typesof puppets are made in order to serve severalpurposes, such as: (1) Practical purposes, toserve theatrical needs like specific puppet for

specific scene; (2) Symbolism or implicitmessages, that some visual attributes of thepuppet are signs which readily convey certainmeanings beneath them to the spectators, orcertain messages were waited to be conveyedto the spectators through the mediation ofcertain visual attributes as signs; and (3)Aesthetical expressions as well as creativeexplorations within the perimeters of tradition,which are possibly based on the performersneeds to demonstrate their craftsmen’s skillcapabilities.

These purposes also heavily influenced byextra-aesthetical aspects, which surrounds thewayang kulit performers and craftsmen, likesocial and cultural aspects that are definitelyvulnerable to the changes of time, historyaspect as it. Especially the symbolism orimplicit messages purposes in which thispaper discusses more,¹ that were some kind ofresponses due the social issues happening atthat time. Based on these premises, we wouldsay that wayang kulit’s theater is far morethan just traditional art and entertainment,but rather as symbolism, metaphors ofJavanese socio-historical reality, which hastook place in Cirebon in this case.

he visual differentiation as thedevelopment of wayang kulit of Cirebonappears more developed in the hand of folkpeople, and progressively by NorthernCirebon puppeteers and craftsmen. Themajority of society tends to more innovativeand adaptable due to the socio-culturalchanges. Each puppeteers and craftsmennowadays can express their individualitywithout any restriction besides the traditionalconventions as perimeter, which has alreadyrelatively shifted.

¹Acknowledgement: The first author (Moh Isa PramanaKoesoemadinata) would like to thanks so much to Dr. PribadiWidodo, as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Visual Arts &Design ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology) and as Co-Promotor II in the Doctoral Dissertation, for his guidance andsupervision. And then, we gratefully also acknowledge toHaryadi Suadi, Rafan S. Hasyim, and Endo Suwanda forproviding the data and information. We gratefully alsoacknowledge to Ki Purjadi, Ki Abihudaya, Eman Suherman,Emong Sukirman, Ki Eman Rukman, Ato Suhatno, Ki Nurrahsa,Ki Mulki, Mimi Ami Banowati, Elang Panji, Rastika, Sawiyah, KiMansyur, Ki Wigani, Ki Kurnadi, Ki Arja, Ki Kardama, RamaSultan IX of Keraton Kacirebonan, and Sultan Sepuh XIV ofKeraton Kasepuhan for their assistances and cooperations.


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The Wayang Kulit of Cirebon(Source: www.google.com, 17/9/2012)

The visual differentiation as the development of wayang kulit of Cirebon appears more developed in the hand of folkpeople, and progressively by Northern Cirebon puppeteers and craftsmen. The majority of society tends to moreinnovative and adaptable due to the socio-cultural changes. Each puppeteers and craftsmen nowadays can express theirindividuality without any restriction besides the traditional conventions as perimeter, which has already relativelyshifted.

socio-historical and cultural influences on visual

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