In the Indonesian version of the epic Mahabharata, there are four characters in the Javanese version of this story in the shadow puppet theater, or Wayang. The four characters are servants to the Pandava, or sometimes, whoever is the Hero of the Wayang story. They are often called the Punakawan, consisting of Semar, Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong; with the last three as children of Semar.
The Punakawan traditionally has their own section in the all-night Wayang performance, placed in the middle of the story, called gara-gara. In this episode, the Punakawan resumed what has been going on in the story, but their conversations are totally apart from the lyrical old Javanese lines and songs that other parts of the Wayang story are told in. Gara-gara is delivered in casual Javanese language, amply filled with jokes (as these servants are also clowns), yet still heavily revolving around wisdom and morality.
One central character of the Punakawan is Semar.
His name comes from the Javanese word samar which means vague, dim, cryptic, ambiguous, equivocal, or disguised. And this definition can be found in his physical appearance. Semar is always portrayed as topless as with other male characters in Wayang, with a big round belly, yet he has a protruding breast like a woman. His face owns a painted smile, but his eyes are droopy the way a person who had just cried. He has one hand folded on his back, and the other pointed down. The significance of this is to portray Semar as not a male nor a female, happy but also sad.
to be continued...
The Punakawan traditionally has their own section in the all-night Wayang performance, placed in the middle of the story, called gara-gara. In this episode, the Punakawan resumed what has been going on in the story, but their conversations are totally apart from the lyrical old Javanese lines and songs that other parts of the Wayang story are told in. Gara-gara is delivered in casual Javanese language, amply filled with jokes (as these servants are also clowns), yet still heavily revolving around wisdom and morality.
One central character of the Punakawan is Semar.
to be continued...
