|
In Wayang, the ksatria of Pandawa, especially
Arjuna was always accompanied by their loyal
servants clown, by the name of Ponokawans. Semar
and his sons Gareng, Petruk and Bagong are the
servants of kings and ksatrias with good
behavior fighting for the truth. Togog and
Bilung, on the contrary are serving bad rulers
and knights.
Although they are only servants with
ugly faces and disproportional bodies, but they
are very wise and good advisers.
Semar, a very
fat man with big belly and enormous buttock has
an uncontrollable disposition for farting.
Petruk, a tall
man with a very long nose.
Gareng, with
his misshapen arms and cross-eyes.
Bagong, With a
squat body and has very big eyes.
 They are
joking most of the time and ridicule each other
but they reflect wisdom and truth. Ponokawans (pono
means clear vision, clever and Kawan means
companion, who are clever with clear vision, can
give a wise advice.
Semar or Sang
Hyang Ismoyo is the elder brother of the supreme
god - Guru. He is assigned to live in the earth
to escort ksatrias. Figures of Semar and
Ponokawan are purely Javanese Wayang. The words
of Semar are from sengsem (to lure) and Marsudi
(to search, to do) meaning one is lured to
search or do good things.
The Ponokawan
always refer to the ksatrias as 'Ndara Den Bagus'
(Ndara from bendara means master, den
abbreviation of Raden, a male court title, Bagus
means good and handsome), meaning "Master, do a
good things".
The other
names of Semar are :
1. Badranaya :
Badra means dark cloud; Naya means face. As a
clever man, one has to have a bright face
(happy, do not appear with dark face).
2. Bojagati :
boja (food) symbolizing knowledge, gati (real,
true) meaning a true and correct knowledge. So,
it is meant a wise man always teaches a true and
correct lesson.
The four
Ponokawan symbolizing also the four good lessons
from :
1. Guru
(teacher) and knowledge
2. Examples of
good leaders on other people
3. Own
experiences
4. Divine
inspirations
They live in
the village of Karang Kabolotan, Bolot means
human body's dirt, someone who is looking only
for material wealth in his life should end in
trouble.
In the whole
night wayang kulit (leather puppet) performance,
the Ponokawan appears in the midnight episode
called Goro goro and after that episode actively
take part in helping the ksatrias.
Their
appearance in and after midnight has a meaning
that the middle age people between the age
brackets of 30 years to 60 years have to do
honest deeds, throwing away the bad ones.
|
|
|
White tufted
hair (Kuncung Putih)
Kuncung :
tufted of hair above forehead
Putih : white
Semar with
kuncung putih indicates that he is a wise man, a
perfect meditator.
White face of
Semar
Symbolizing a
teacher with a kind and honest face, his pupils
shall follow all his instruction gladly. On the
contrary, a teacher with a black face, the
pupils shall abide the instruction because they
are afraid of him.
One tooth of
Semar
A teacher
should speak only of the truth.
Black body of
Semar
Means "Don't
do anything wrong to achieve your goals".
Enormous
buttock of Semar
Someone with
enormous buttock can sit comfortably, this would
like to say that a ksatria accompanied by Semar
should achieve all his wishes.
Kampuh polong
Batik
The dress he
wears is batik with patterns kampuh polong with
four colors, meaning there are four kind of
lusts.
Red : amarah -
anger, like the character of Rahwana.
Yellow :
supiyah - greedy like Sarpakenaka, Rahwana's
sister.
Black :
aluamah - desire of eating and sleeping like
Kumbakarna.
White :
mutmainah - doesn't have any desire, like
holiness, in wayang is Wibisana.
A man at
least, must be able to harmonize these four
desires for positive things. It is very
difficult for a living human being to defeat
these desires totally.
Some
well-known figures in wayang kulit wearing
kampuh polong are Hanuman, Bima, Antareja and
Setyaki.
In the wayang
stories and also in life, there is no one hate
Semar, symbolizing an ordinary poor man with
divine knowledge and behavior. The Ponokawan,
although they are only humble servants, but
sometimes they become decision makers and have a
leading role, such as in the performance of :
Petruk dadi
Ratu (Petruk becomes a King)
********* Picture of Semar **********
|
