The Legend Of Lutung Kasarung

Lutung Kasarung 

A long time ago in west Java there was a kingdom. The king was Prabu Tapak Agung. He had two beautiful daughters and no son. Purba Rarang was his first daughter, and Purba Sari was his second daughter. When the king was about to pass away he gave the throne to his second daughter, Purba Sari. Purba Rarang was very disappointed. She thought that she deserve to replace her father as the ruler. She discussed the situation with her fiancé, Indrajaya.

Then she got an evil idea. She asked a witch to cast a spell to Purba Sari. Soon after that Purba Sari had a strange skin disease. There were black dots on her skin. She also had skin rash. Consequently Purba Rarang had a reason to tell people that her sister had a great sin and she was cursed by god. She told her people that such a person did not qualify to be a leader.

After that she ordered the army to send Purba Sari to a wood and had her exiled there. The army then built a wooden house for Purba Sari in a wood. So Purba Sari lived in the wood. As there were many animals in the wood she got along with them well.

Her best friend was a black monkey. She called the monkey Lutung Kasarung. Lutung was very attentive and very kind to her. He gave fruits and vegetables to Purba Sari.

Lutung Kasarung was not an ordinary monkey. He often meditates like human being. One night when there was a full moon he sat meditating. He was praying to God. Suddenly a spring emerged beside Lutung. It became bigger and bigger and finally it became a lake. The water was very clear and aromatic.

The next day Lutung came to see Purba Sari. He asked her to follow him. Lutung took her to the lake and asked her to take a bath. When Purba Sari took bath in the lake something strange happened. Her skin disease was gone and her smooth fair skin was back. Purba Sari was very happy and thankful to God.

Meanwhile Purba Rarang who lived in the palace wanted to see her sister. So she went to the wood with her soldiers. She was very surprised when she saw Purba Sari was in good condition and looked beautiful. Her evil heart led her to find a way to beat her sister. Then she asked her sister to measure the length of their hair. The one who had the longest hair would win. Purba Sari’s hair proved to be longer than Purba Rarang’s.

Purba Rarang was very jealous to her sister. She thought hard to find a way to beat Purba Sari. Then she got another idea. She asked her sister to compare their fiancé. Purba Rarang was sure that she would win because Indra Jaya was very handsome. She was sure that Purba Sari did not have any fiancé. When Purba Rarang showed Indra Jaya, Purba Sari was confused. So she just appointed Lutung Kasarung as her fiancé.

Purba Rarang laughed out loud.

‘So your fiancé is a monkey?’

Lutung Kasarung then sat on the ground. He was meditating and praying to God. Then amazingly he changed into a very handsome man. Initially Lutung Kasarung was a handsome man who was punished by God and became a monkey. After some years that day he got clemency from God and he became human being again.

Purba Rarang was very surprised. He had no choice but to accept that her sister was better than her. She asked for apology. Purba Sari gave her apology. After that they went back to palace. Purba Sari became the queen and married to Lutung Kasarung.

The Legend Of Telaga Warna

Telaga Warna

Long, long ago there was a kingdom in West Java. The kingdom was ruled by a king. People called their king His Majesty Prabu. Prabu was a kind and wise king. No wonder if that country was prosperous. There’s no hunger in this kingdom.

It was a very happy condition. But it was a pity that Prabu and his queen hadn’t got any children. It made the royal couple very, very sad. Some old men and women who was respected by Prabu suggested the king to adopt a child. But Prabu and the queen didn’t agree. “No, thank you. But for us, our own daughter or son is better than adopted children.”

The queen was very sad. She often cried. That was why Prabu decided to go. He went to the jungle. There he prayed to God. Everyday he begged for a child. His dream came true. A few months later, the queen got pregnant. All people in the kingdom felt happy. They sent many presents to the palace to express their happiness.

Nine months later a princess was born. People sent their presents again as a gift to a little princess. This baby grew as a beautiful teenager then.

Prabu and Queen loved their daughter so much. They gave what ever she wanted. It made Princess a very spoiled girl. When her wish couldn’t be realized, she became very angry. She even said bad things often. A true princess wouldn’t do that. Even though the princess behaved badly, her parents loved her, so did the people in that kingdom.

Day by day, the princess grew more beautiful. No girls could compare with her. In a few days, Princess would be 17 years old. So, people of that kingdom went to palace. They brought many presents for her. Their presents gift were very beautiful. Prabu collected the presents. There were really many presents. Then Prabu stored them in a building. Some times he could take them to give to his people.

Prabu only took some gold and jewels. Then she brought them to the goldsmith. “Please make a beautiful necklace for my daughter,” said Prabu. “My pleasure, Your Majesty,” the goldsmith replied. The goldsmith worked with all his heart and his ability. He wanted to create the most beautiful necklace in the world because he loved his princess.

The birthday came. People gathered in the palace field. When Prabu and queen appeared, people welcomed them happily. Prabu and his wife waved to their beloved people.

Cheers were louder and louder when the princess appeared with her fabulous pretty face. Everybody admired her beauty. Prabu got up from his chair. A lady gave him a small and glamorous pillow. A wonderful necklace was on it. Prabu took that necklace. “My beloved daughter, today I give this necklace to you. This necklace is a gift from people in this country. They love you so much. They presented it for you to express their happiness, because you have growing to a woman. Please, wear this necklace,” said Prabu.

Princess accepted the necklace. She looked at the necklace in a glance. “I don’t want to accept it! It’s ugly!” shouted the princess. Then she threw the necklace. The beautiful necklace was broken. The gold and jewels were spread out on the floor

Everybody couldn’t say anything. They never thought that their beloved princess would do that cruel thing. Nobody spoke. In their silence people heard the queen crying. Every woman felt sad and began crying too. Then everybody was crying.

Then there was a miracle. Earth was crying. Suddenly, from the under ground, a spring emerged. It made a pool of water. The palace was getting full. Soon the place became a big lake. The lake sank all of the kingdom.

Nowadays the water on that lake is not as full as before. There is only a small lake now. People called the lake “Talaga Warna”. It is mean “Lake of Colour”. It’s located in Puncak, West Java. On a bright day, the lake is full of colour. So beautiful and amazing. These colors come from shadows of forest, plants, flowers, and sky around the lake. But some people said that the colours are from the princess’s necklace, which spreads at the bottom of the lake.

The Story Of Aji Saka

Aji Saka

A long long time ago in the island of Java there was a kingdom of Medang Kamulan. The land of Java was very fertile and productive. Most of the island of Java are arable. And water are abundant. Java was very rich with plants. They had almost all fruits in the world. All year long the weather is always sunny. As a result farmers can grow any kinds of fruits, vegetable and all kinds of plant all year long. The land of Java was also very rich with gold and many kinds of mineral. Many people earned their living by working on gold mine. Since Java was also rich with mine they also made weapons like sword, lance, trident etc. They sold those weapons to China, India and many other countries. But if you think that the Javanese people were prosperous you are wrong.

At the time Java was ruled by a monster. His name was King Dewata Cengkar. He was a very cruel king. He ordered his people to pay tax on everything they had. Farmers had to pay tax on their land. Merchant had to pay high tax for their profit. Workers had to pay tax on their salary and wages. Even poor people had to pay tax. And if they had no money to pay tax then they had to work for the king without any payment. The money was not for the welfare of the people for for the king’s private matters. Worse still, the king’s official were very corrupt. When they took one hundred from the people then they gave only eighty for the king. They took it for themselves. As a result the king was very very rich while his people were very poor. Besides that the king also like to eat the flesh of human being! This habit started when he was a child. One day his mother made a mistake while she was cooking. She accidentally cut her thumb and blood spit on the food. Her maid then continue cooking without knowing that blood and a small piece of her mother’s flesh was in the food. When Dewata Cengkar ate the food he really like it. Then he found out the reason. Since that day he demanded the flesh of human being as part of his food. So his army killed people every day for his food. When he was adult and became king this habit grew. He ordered every chief of a district to sacrifice young and healthy people for the king to consume. Consequently the people of Java diminished. The people were restless but they did not dare to rebel because the king was very cruel and his army was very strong.

Until one day someone named Aji Saka came to Java. He had two guards. Their name were Dora and Sembada. Before coming to Java they landed in a small island in the north of Java, called Pulau Majeti. After several days there Aji Saka decided to go to Java. Aji Saka left his weapon, a powerful traditional dagger called Kris there. He told Dora to stay in the island of Majeti to guard his Kris. And he told Dora not to give it to any body else. After that he went to Java with Sembada.

Then he settled in Java as a merchant. The people of Java told him about his sorrow because of Dewata Cengkar’s cruelty and injustice rule. Aji Saka was very concerned to the sorrow of Javanese people. He told the chief of the district where he settled to send him as sacrifice when the king wanted to eat people. So the chief send him to king Dewata Cengkar.

As his turn came to became sacrifice, Aji Saka asked to say his last words to the king. The king granted him opportunity to speak.

‘O, great king of Java. The father of development of Java. The one who make people live prosperous life. The richest man in the world. I am honored to demand your Majesty one last wish before I die’

‘Tell me what you want’

“Your Majesty the great king of Java, I just want a piece of land, the same size as my turban’

‘I grant it. Just spread your turban’

Then Aji Saka put off his turban and put it on the ground. Aji Saka hold one side of it and asked the king to hold the other side. Amazingly it became larger so Dewata Cengkar had to step back. And everytime it became larger and larger so Dewata Cengkar finally stood at a beach. Aji Saka kincked him to the sea and and he died. The Javanese people were very happy to hear the cruel king had died. They were very thankful to Aji Saka and elected him as the new king of Java.

Aji Saka remembered that one of his guard, Dora was still in the island of Majeti. As he was a king, it was impossible for him to go there. So he told Sembada to go there and bring his kris back. So Sembada went to Majeti island. As he got there he told Dora that Aji Saka asked him to take the kris.

‘His Majesty King Aji Saka ordered me to take the kris to Java’

‘Maybe you make mistake. Aji Saka is our superiot but he is not a king. And he told me not to give his kris to any boldy else. It is my duty to guard it here until he came back and take it’

‘It is my duty to take the kris’.

‘It is my duty to guard it’

The dialogue came to a dead lock so the tension grew. Then it became on armed conflict. Finally both of them were killed. Several days later Aji Saka was shocked to hear the news that they both died. Since that day he created an alphabet, a Javanese alphabeth based on their story. Here is the alphabeth. It is like a poem. The poem consist of four lines. Each line consist of one sentence. Each sentence consist of a combination of characters. All characters are pronounced like hall. Here is the poem.

Ho (h) , No (n), co (c), ro (r) ko (k).

Do (d) to (t) so (s) wo (w) lo (l)

Po (p) do (d) jo (j) yo (y) nyo (ny)

Mo (m) go (g) bo (b) to (t) ngo (ng)

Hono = there is / there are in English, coroko = envoy

Do to so wolo = bring a letter / matter

Po do jo yo nyo = they are equally powerful

Mogo botongo = they are killed.

These characters are used widely by the Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese and Madurese. But today only very few people can read it. That’s why in the province of Yogyakarta it is taught at schools.