WAYANG KULIT, Java's Culture



Wayang kulit is a traditional puppet-shadow play found in the culture of JavaBali, and LombokIndonesia.[1]In a wayang kulit performance, the puppet figures are rear-projected on a taut linen screen with a coconut-oil (or electric) light. The Dalang (shadow artist) manipulates carved leather figures between the lamp and the screen to bring the shadows to life.
Wayang kulit is one of the many different forms of wayang theatre found in Indonesia, the other being wayang beberwayang klitikwayang golekwayang topeng, and wayang wong. Wayang kulit is among the best known, offering a unique combination of ritual, lesson and entertainment. On November 7, 2003, UNESCOdesignated wayang kulit from Indonesia as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.[2]Etymology[edit]
The term wayang is the Javanese word for shadow,[3] or bayang in standard Indonesian; the word also means "imagination".
In modern daily Javanese and Indonesian vocabulary, wayang can refer to the puppet itself or the whole puppet theatre performance. While kulit means skin or leather, the material from which the figures are carved.

History

Hinduism arrived in Indonesia from India before the Christian era. Sanskrit became the literary and court language of Java and later of Bali.
The Hindus changed the Wayang (as did the Muslims, later) to spread their religion, mostly telling stories from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana. This mixture of religion and wayang play was later praised as harmony between Hinduism and traditional Indonesian culture.
When Islam began spreading in Indonesia, the display of God or gods in human form was prohibited, and thus this style of painting and shadow play was suppressed. King Raden Patah of Demak, Java, wanted to see the wayang in its traditional form, but failed to obtain permission from Muslim religious leaders.
Religious leaders attempted to skirt the Muslim prohibition by converting the wayang golek into wayang purwa made from leather and displayed only the shadow instead of the puppets themselves.

Source : Wikipedia







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