As Sundanese folklore Si Kabayan parallel with Abu Nawas and Koja Nasrudin. People often equate the Kabayan with smart-stupid figures in other tribes. However, the folklore figures of other tribes were not as rich as the Kabayan.
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| Si Kabayan |
Their stories are sometimes represented by only one story. The Story Of The Fool in Malay, for example, includes only a few stories. So did the Luncai and Mr. Senik, there is only one or two stories. While the Kabayan, if collected can reach a hundred more stories. Coster-Wijaman can collect 80 stories in the area of Banten alone.
Si Kabayan As Folklore
West Java is rich in folk traditions, including folklore. Although the palace tradition had lived in West Java, because it experienced the Times of two great kingdoms, namely Galuh in Ciamis and Pajajaran in Bogor area, very few palace cultural artifacts were found.
Hinduistic kingdoms in West Java disappeared with their supporters, namely the palace community. Islamic kingdoms that later emerged in West Java did not continue the tradition of the previous palaces. The Islamic kingdoms were Banten and Cirebon.
Banten and Cirebon tend to kejawa-jawaan due to their relationship with the development of Islamic kingdoms in Central Java and East Java. However, when viewed more deeply, it will still appear the characteristics of procrastination in the two Islamic kingdoms.
However, these Islamic kingdoms were still in Sundanese society so that local traditions underlie the culture in both kingdoms.
The tradition of citizenship continues to live under the alternating currents of Palace cultures. This is because the system of kingdoms in West Java is different from the kingdoms in Central Java and East Java.
The Javanese kingdoms were based on the paddy fields, while the Sundanese kingdoms were based on the huma people. Palace culture in West Java only developed in a limited environment of nagara society. In West Java there is no known negaragung and foreign countries such as in Java.
The palace community is the Sundanese community in the country, namely the palace and the area that is really controlled directly. This can be seen in the 18th century Pakuan Chronicle written in the form of Javanese wawacan. I wrote about this in hermeneutics. Outside the region, nagara is a Sundanese village units who moved due to life from rice fields (huma).
Of course, the influence of the palace reached also in the provinces of Kampung Sunda. As we see that the old Sundanese written texts are still kept by the villagers in West Java.
In addition, pantun stories containing Sundanese Palace myths are still spread among rural people. Only Palace artifacts are difficult to find among the people, for example Batik Sundanese Palace, Sundanese Palace carving, Hindu-Buddhist books, Sundanese Palace Customs, and gamelan art, because the Sundanese palaces society did not continue as a social institution.
Such scenery is still visible when in West Java stood Islamic kingdoms in Banten and Cirebon. The two kingdoms also consisted of the territory of the country or negaragung only. Unknown foreign territory. Moreover, the language in the country and negaragung region is different from the language of Rural Sundanese people.
Thus, the stronger our impression that Sundanese culture continuity that only exists among the villagers. Unlike the Sundanese people in the days of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, the relationship between the palace and the people is very thin, then in the era of the spread of Islam in West Java, agents of change in the direction of Islam really in and out of the villages of Sunda. This is reflected in the myths of the people against the propagators of Islam such as Kian Santang.
Not surprisingly, among rural Sundanese people, the memory of The Hindu culture is very thin, even do not know such an age. They believe that Islam has existed since the beginning in Sunda. Sunda is Islam.
This is why the stories of Sundanese people is very strong impression of Islam. Although in the folklore known names of Gods and batara kehindu-hinduan, but not in the understanding that it is based on Hindu-Buddhist religion, but Sundanese solely, Hindu-Buddhist-Sundanese culture was only known in modern intellectual circles. Among the People, The Hindu era was Sundanese.
The disappearance of the collective memory of Hindu-Sundanese culture, more similar to what happened in Sumatra. In the Hindu-Buddhist era in Sumatra known great kingdoms such as Srivijaya, Jambi, Malay, and bone onions. However, as soon as the maritime Kingdoms disappeared, the supporting communities also disappeared in the sense of institutions.
Sumatran Buddhist-Humans, Of course, continued to exist, but later mingled in society outside the palace. This is because the great maritime Kingdoms did not need fields or rice fields to support their existence. They only need ports and mercenaries (Army employees) who are able to maintain the sovereignty of the maritime city-state.
While their relationship with the people of the village is limited to buying and selling or taxes in the form of spice gardens and other forest products.
As in Sunda, Islam is also firmly entrenched among the people of Sumatra. Their memories of the glory of Jambi and Srivijaya do not exist, except in the environment of the educated class who know the historical excavations of colonial scholars. The gods are also known among the Sumatran people, but should still be read as Malay rather than Hindu-Buddhist.
A different situation occurred among the people of Java. Within the people, and more so the palace, there is a strong collective memory of their previous Hindu-Buddhist culture.
They call it agomo Buddho (Buddhism). This is due to their concentric rice Kingdom system from the beginning. This is also made easier because the rice field community is settled. Continuity of folk culture and the Palace continues, even among the people tend to cultured Palace.
The tradition of Palace culture in West Java is very thin among the people. On the other hand the cultural traditions of the plantation people are particularly strong. This tradition was passed down orally. The tradition of oral culture has always been auditive.
Because of its auditive nature, this culture only develops in limited community groups. Thus, the auditive nature develops family relations (gemeinschaft), harmony, participation, emphasizes concreteness in its simple form. Such oral communication tends to convey communal messages through the form of stories.
Folklore in West Java is very rich, it contains myths, demons, legends, everyday people's lives, and animal tales. Efforts to collect these types of folklore is still little done, let alone serious peneelaahan on these stories. Local myths and legends are certainly Sundanese.
However, animal stories often come from outside. While the stories of everyday folk life are mostly local, but also often adapted from outside, as in the stories of the Kabayan.
What is interesting is the stories of animals that are typical Sundanese, namely Sakadang Kuya jeung Sakadang Monkey. This animal story often takes stories outside, but is worked on in the nature of the Sundanese community.
What is famous is the story of the two animals, turtles and monkeys similar to the stories of deer in Java, in the theme of stealing pak tani's garden. In their attempt to steal crops, the turtles were captured by pak tani.
When the tortoise was locked up by pak tani(Farmer), the monkey came and told the tortoise that he was locked up so as not to run to be mated with pak tani's beautiful daughter. Monkeys are ready to switch places to replace turtles in captivity.
In the morning Mr. tani found the turtle had changed monkeys and intended to cut it. Knowing this the monkey pretended to be dead, and pak tani dumped the" corpse " of the monkey in the river. The tortoise and the monkey are free again.
In the same story, the monkey is not free. However, successfully cut Mr. tani and disate. In the story Sunda precisely the two animals survived all due to the ingenuity of both. Turtles and monkeys in Sundanese folklore is an antagonist pair.
The two of them are always at odds, but always meet each other again. The tortoise on the protagonist's side and the monkey on the antagonist's side. Turtle symbol of water beast, monkey beast of mountain and jungle. Is this a symbol of Sundanese rice field culture against Sundanese field culture?
Animal stories Kuya Jeung Monkey (turtles and monkeys) United in a paradoxical form in the figure of Si Kabayan. This figure is the Union of the characters of a turtle and a monkey, intelligence and stupidity. Smart as a monkey and dumb as a monkey.
Si Kabayan could be a symbol of Sunda-water and Sunda-mountain as well as being culturally Sundanese identity. The Kabayan is a fool-smart figure. Sometimes so stupid and other times so smart.
Later if we notice, Kabayan as a stupid character is always related to spiritual values, while as a smart character is always related to other humans. The foolishness of Kabayan is also our foolishness spiritually. In the face of spiritual-divine and divine values, Kabayan is portrayed as so ignorant that he is unable to distinguish between shadow and reality.
The stories of the stupid Kabayan are not so much. The stupidity of Kabayan in such stories is often outrageous. For example, Kabayan could not distinguish between a corpse and a living person, between the shadow of the sky and the surface of the land in the fields.
Such stupidity of Kabayan turned out to be spiritual symbolic. We are spiritual fools. In this case, the Kabayan is not only Sundanese identity, but the identity of man himself.
Si Kabayan Kesundaan is on the background of its locality. That in Sundanese Society The Daily way of life is like that, such as going to the fields, to the huma, to the forest, set animal traps, feasts, Hajj, prayers, certain trees, bathing at times, and others.
However, in the realm of mind and spiritual attitude is really for all human beings, only sometimes tucked old Sundanese cosmology. As folklore, Si Kabayan indeed describes humans in the Land of Sunda. The theme and message remain universal.
As Sundanese folklore Si Kabayan parallel with Abu Nawas and Koja Nasrudin. People often equate the Kabayan with smart-stupid figures in other tribes. However, the folklore figures of other tribes were not as rich as the Kabayan. Their stories are sometimes represented by only one story.
The Story Of The Fool in Malay, for example, includes only a few stories. So did the Luncai and Mr. Senik, there is only one or two stories. While the Kabayan, if collected can reach a hundred more stories. Coster-Wijaman can collect 80 stories in the area of Banten alone.
As a folklore belonging to the Sundanese people, Si Kabayan is special, equivalent to the pantun-pantun Sunda. The stories are deep if interpreted culturally. The stories were not at all fairy tales as expected, but not all of such quality, because many imitators of the Kabayan who only saw the surface of the story.
Such stories do not necessarily evoke the existence of symbolic thinking structures. So there are also many stories of the New Kabayan who are only interested in terms of humor, but not based on the way of thinking of his culture.
Why special?
The Kabayan is a paradox character who builds paradox stories as well. Such a figure clearly arises from the deep thoughts of one (or several) intellectuals. The literary weight is very high. Even though it is told orally so that many are added and subtracted according to the changes in society, the essence of the message is still very clear. We can even reconstruct its original form.
The jewel remained a jewel, even though it was in the Buffalo's mouth. We can easily choose where the authentic Kabayan and where the artificial Kabayan. To write the story of the New Kabayan required basic knowledge of philosophy, not just writing stories.