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Padmasusastra's Rangsang Tuban : A Javanese Kabatinan Novel

Article  in  Archipel · January 1982

DOI: 10.3406/arch.1982.1777

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 Archipel

Padmasusastra's Rangsang Tuban : A Javanese Kabatinan Novel

George Quinn

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Quinn George. Padmasusastra's Rangsang Tuban : A Javanese Kabatinan Novel. In: Archipel, volume 24, 1982. pp. 161-187;

doi : 10.3406/arch.1982.1777

http://www.persee.fr/doc/arch_0044-8613_1982_num_24_1_1777

Document généré le 16/03/2016

 PADMASUSASTRA'S RANGSANG TUBAN
A JAVANESEKABATINAN NOVEL (*)

by George QUINN

According to its title page, Rangsang Tuban (The Sonu of Tuban) (2)
by Padmasusastra (1843 - 1926) was written in 1900. The following
qualification appears with the novel's title :
Rangsang Tuban tells the story of two princes of the kingdom of
Tuban, Prince Warihkusuma «and' Prince Adipati Anom Warsaku-
sunia. The story is an extract from1 the Serat Weddhaparaya by Empu
Manehguna of Lamongan (3) .

(*) A short, Indonesian version of this article was -presented at the International
Conference on Malay Studies held at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
September 8 — 10, 1979. I am indebted to Professor Peter Worsley of Sydney
University for valuable comments on an earlier dlrafit, but naturally I alone am
responsible for the article's present form.
(") The translation of the title is problematical. According to Gericke and Roorda's
Javaansch-Nederlandsch Handwoordenboek, rangsang is the name of a tengahan
verse form, hence rangsang tuban. But the verbal derivative of rangsang is
translated "to storm" (e.g. a oitadel, a fortress). The assault on the city of Tuban
and1 the subsequent siege of Sumbereja are prominent incidents in Rangsang
Tuban. It is possible that rangsang is used in the title in the same way as bedhah
meaning "the sdege and taking of is used in the titles of some Javanese
histories, the Bedhah Ngayogya for instance.
(3) Lamongan is a north coast Javanese city situated roughly half-way between
Tuban and Surabaya.
162

It is unlikely that the Serat Weddhaparaya or its author ever existed.

In ascribing Rangsang Tuban to this source Padmasusastra was evidently
following a convention, elaborated most notably by Ranggawarska in his
Pammayoga and Pustakaraja histories, of lending works the appearance
of authenticity and historical accuracy by citing spurious sources for
them (4).

Rangsang Tuban was published in Surakarta by N.V. Budi Utama.

The fly-leaf gives 1912 as the year of publication but the cover gives
1913. The latter date is probably the correct one. The book is printed in
Javanese script and is 115 pages in length. In summary the story runs
as follows.

King Sindupati, the powerful monarch of Tuban, has two sons.

The elder, Raden Warihkusuma, was born of a garwa pangrembe
(unofficial wife) who is the daughter of a pandhita (sage). The
younger, Raden Warsakusuma, is the son of the official queen who
is of royal descent. After a prosperous reign of 50 years King
Sindupati dies and is succeeded by (the official heir, his younger
son, Warsakusuma.
From childhood Warihkusumath has been affianced to Endsng
Wresthi, daughter of the sage Kyai Umbul of Mudal, a mountain
retreat near Tuban. When King Warsakusuma sees Endang Wresthi
for the first time he is smitten with uncontrollable passion for her.
He arrests Warihkusuma and bears Endang Wresthi off to his
palace. The king orders his patih (chief minister) Toyamarta to
exeoute Warihkusuma, but Toyamarta secretly releases the prince
on condition that he leave the kingdom.
Meanwhile, King Warsakusuma tries to force his attentions on
Endang Wresthi. He waits until she is asleep and enters her. room.
Seeing the beauty of her sleeping form in the flickering lamplight
he is overcome with lust and rapes her. At a moment when the
king's encircling right arm is beneath her Endang Wresthi seizes a
dagger and plunges it into him killing him instantly, Toyamarta
informs - Endang that Warihkusuma has net ibeen executed. The
patih assumes interim authority in Tuban, but his efforts to locate
Warihkusuma fail

(4) See Poerbatjaraka (1952) pp. 159, 163.

 163

.fo'/i£ Warsakusuma (top centre) and his elder brother Warihkusiima (top left) visit
Kyai Umbul (bottom right) at Mumbul.
This and the following illustrations appear in a 1960 edition of Rangsang Tuban
rewritten in ngoko ("everyday" Javanese), transliterated into Roman script and published
in Surabaya by Panyebar Semangat.
164

Endang Wresthi becomes pregnant as a consequence of the rape

and gives birth to a boy who is named Raden Udakawimba. Patih
Toyamarta intimates that if Warihkusuma is not found
Udakawimba will succeed to the throne upon -attaining adulthood.
After his release Warihkusuma travels south-west to the kingdom
of Banyubiru ruled by King Hertambang. Warihkusuma offers
himself in the king's service but keeps his true identity secret.
When, after some time, he reveals who he really is Heritambang
is moved with compassion at ihis plight and raises his rank.
Warihkusuma takes over the administration of Banyubiru and discharges
his duties with skill. King Hertambang's only child is a girl, Retna
Wayi, whom he has educated in administration and the arts of war.
The King proposes the marriage of his dfaugjhter to Warihkusuma
and they wed. The marriage is happy and in time Retna Wayi
becomes pregnant. The birth proves a difficult one, and the baby, a
girl, is delivered only after several days of labour. Retna Wayi's
condition deteriorates and she dies. The King's grief at the loss of
his beloved daughter turns to anger. He orders that the baby be
cast afloat on the river and that Warihkusuma, whom he sees as
the ultimate cause of the calamity, be banished from the kingdom.
The new-born baby is discovered on the river by a fisherman Kyai
Wulusan of Sumbereja. Without children himself, !he decides to
adopt the aristocratic looking infant, calling it Rara Sendhiang.
Princess Retna Wayi, who has been presumed dead, regains
consciousness. Her parents are delighted, but tlhey have to inform
her that her baby has been cast afloat on /the river and that her
husband has returned to Tuban, omitting to tell her that he has
been banished. Secretly King Hertamibang orders a search for Wa-
rilhkusuma and the baby, but all efforts to locate them are fruitless.
Warihkusumia wanders grief stricken in the forest. While restlessly
sleeping he hears a voice calling him back to Tuban, and on
awaking he sets off for the city. Since the birth of Udakawimba,
Endang Wresthi has remained in the palace at Tuban, retiring
occasionally to a country lodge. One evening at the lodge she sees
a figure approaching and recognises it as Wardihkusum'a. They greet
each other lovingly. Patiih Toyamarta informs Warihkusuma that
he will be crowned king of Tuhan until Udakawimba reaches the
age of majority. Warihkusuma concurs, but in his heart he plans
to get rid of Udakawimba. Udakawimba, now aged 15, feels his
isolation at Tuban and sensing danger, flees the palace.
 165

King Henambang of Banyubiru (top right) and Prince Warihkusuma (top centre)
vbit the Queen (left) and Princess Retna Wayi (bottom right) in the women's quarters
of the Banyubiru palace.
166

An Arab sayid (descendant of the Prophet) called Syeh Jumadil

Kobrahim Muhamad'as comes, to Sumbereja and teaches the law
of the Prophet. Wulusan acknowledges the superiority of the sayid's
knowledge and studies under him. The sayid reveal's to him the
highest teachings : knowledge of the unity of God and' man, and
understanding of the origins and ends of life. The kyai, now known
as Kyai Aeeng Wulusan, abandons the old Buda religion and
embraces Islam. He builds a mosque surrounded by streams of
running water and attracts students there to study under him,
among them Ud^kawimba. Udakawimba makes good progress and
Kyai Ageng Wulusan decides to impart to him the pitutur jati
(the true teaching) . He handis the young man a ibook and commands
him to read aloud from it.

There follow three cantos of verse totalling 65 stanzas. The first

canto, in pangkur metre, opens with a brief exposition of the
elemental role of rahsa (the ultimate mvMtervï (5) in th*» generation
of new human life and in the development of mature sense
perception. This is followed by brief explanations of the meanings of a
number of fssbat (paradoxical metaphors used in Javanese
mysticism), and the canto ends with mention of salât daim (ceaseless
praver through inhaled and exhaled breath), the functions of aneels
as judges of faith, and tirta kn.mandhalu (the water of life) as the
reward for those who penetrate the innermost mystery of existence.
The second canto is in the durma metre. It commences with
translations of several1 Arabic phrases relating to the quenching of
passions and the immanence of God. It then itemizes the 20 attributes
of God and the five pillars of Islam. Each of the five pillars is
described as having several components. In each case the first
component is the formulation of the pillar as it is normally eiven
in the theolosv of orthodox Islam. The subsequent components are
the deeper, and conseauentlv truer formulations of each pillar which
lie behind the orthodox facade. The first pillar, generally termed
the creed, consists of four statements. Thev are (V\ there is no eod
but God, Mohammad is His emissary, and one places one's faith in
Him through prayer; (ii) there is no god but the independent and
self-sufficient ego, and one must render primary homage to one's

There are widely differing notions of what rahsa signifies and the term cannot be
definitively translated. Zoetmulder (1935) and Harun Hadiwijono (1967) discuss
rahsa in a variety of contexts.
 167

linden Udakawirnba (right) happens to see Rara Sendhang (centre) as ihe serves
her father Kyai Ageng Wuhisan (left) a drink or hot ginger.
168

own ideals and ratio; (iii) there is no god but only non-existence,
and one must place one's trust in the conviction that what is not,
does exist; (iv) there is no god, only will, which exists of itself.
The second of the pillars, salat (prayer) takes two forms. Firstly
there is deliberately executed devotional prayer, such as the ritual
prayers normally performed five times a day. Secondly there is
the ceaseless, involuntary prayer embodied in the act of breathing.
This is a kind of dhikir (endlessly repeated invocation) in which
the inhaled' breath is taken to mean hu and the exhaled breath to
mean Allah. The third pillar, jakat (alms giving) may take the
form of material donations, but alms can also be given in immaterial
form as time donated in work and care for others without
expectation of reward. The fourth pillar, pasa (fasting), takes three forms,
namely (i) abstaining from all food but permitted to chew betel
and smoke tobacco; (ii) total abstinence from all food as well as
ibeitel amd tobacco; (iii) aksa fasting, that is fasting only when in
the sight of others, but in private partaking of whatever one
pleases and never forgetting to offer thanks to God for His
beneficence. The fifth pillar, haji (the pilgrimage) takes two forms,
pilgrimage to Mecca, and pilgrimage to Medina to pay homage to the
prophet Muhammad at his palace. The latter evidently refers to an
inner, or spiritual pilgrimage.

The pious formula salallahu angalaihi wasalam has two meanings,

(i) one who speaks with authority on religious matters, and (ii) one
who embodies the essence of Islam. The phrases walahu karibuna
and min kibaril warit mean respectively, God is close by, and His
location is secret. The canto concludes with brief interpretations of
sarengat, tarekat, kakekat and makripat, the four stages in the
mystic's progress towards perfect knowledge. There follow notes
on luluri, nalar, ngadadi, ngakalix dot, sipat, asma, apngal, wajib,
wenang and mokal, terms relating to the qualities of God.
The final canto is in the dhandhanggula metre. It commences by
asserting that it is only cipteng nala (one's innermost thoughts)
which are to be trusted and which are unequivocal'. By contrast,
sense impressions (taste and touch, sight, smell and hearing) are
unreliable. Every individual is accompanied by a Muhammad hakiki
(the essence of Muhammad) which takes three forms. The outer
Muhammad (Muhammad jaba) accompanies one's physical being
and its presence can be sensed by the individual when the body
feels itchy. The inner Muhammad (Muhammad jero) resides
 169

who Queen
is livingRetna
the life
Wayi
of aofhermit
Banyubiru
sage oncomes
Mountacross
Rancakardi.
her lost husband Warihkusuma
170

whithin one's reflection in a mirror and can ibe sensed as a pleasant

or sweet taste in the mouth. The eternal Muhammad (Muhammad
kadim) resides in the inner, or third eye, and its presence can be
sensed in the soundness or restlessness of sleep. By maul kayat is
meant the water of life, also called tirta nirmala (water of perfect
purity). The so-called sastra jendra yu is visible in the pulsing
fontanel of a baby's head (6). The betal mukadas or holy place of
the body is the scrotum, while the Prophet's prayers are evident in
the beat of the heart, and one's own involuntary inner prayers are
evident in the pulse in one's wrist beating in unison with the
heart (7). The nur Muhammad (the Light of Muhammad) is as
brilliant as ithe sun. In one's body it resides, in dirninished form, in
the glint of the eye. It is, therefore, in the dimming of the eyes
that one can discern the imminent approach of death.

The final stanza refers to the betal makmur or place of populous

assembly. This is the brain. It floats in fluid in which is mixed the
tirta kamandhalu (water of life) which flows into the muscles, eyes,
ears, nose and mouth. If the water of life becomes exhausted the
body fall's ill and death may ensue.
Kyai Ageng Wulusan has completed his instruction. Udakawimba
takes up the habit of meditating in the hills. One night he sleeps on
a nearby mountain and the following morning discovers a cave
within which he finds the magnificent deserted palace of the ogre
king Kalapadma. Udakawimba conceives the idea of building his
own fortified palace on the spot using the wealth of the subterranean
palace. He sets about attracting new settlers to Sumbèreja and in a
short time has built a large fortified palace atop the mountain with
a prosperous city around it. By chance Udakawimba sees Rara

(°) In Javanese mysticism sastra jendra yu, or in its complete form sastra harjendra
ayuningrat, usually denotes a body of mystical knowledge of widely varying
character, both oral and written. One version asserts that the first and most
fundamental reality is geter (pulse). Its presence is evident in the three principal
chambers of the human body, the head (in the pulsing fontenel), the chest (in the
beating heart) and in the genitals (in the orgasmic spurt of semen from the
penis). It is interesting that pulse is seen in terms of 'the movement of fluids, and
that this vital fluidity is linked with sastra (knowledge in verbal or book form).
See Sunarno Sisworiah&rdjo (1960), especially Ch. III.
(7) The mention of the heart suggests that it is the betal muharam or forbidden place
of Javanese mysticism which is being referred to here. The betal muharam is in
the chest. For more on the mystical notion of the bait see Harun Hadiwijono
(1967), especially p. 133.
 171

The Banyubiru army routs Udakawiinba's forces in the Sumberejd fortress.

172

Sendhang and is smitten with love. Kyai Ageng Wulusan agrees to

their marriage. Udakawimba harbours animosity towards his uncle,
Warihkusuma of Tub an. He assembles and trains an army, and
sets out to attack Tuban.

In Tuban, King Warihkusuma meets the invading army at the

city limits, but in a fierce battle his army is devastated.
Warihkusuma escapes and makes his way to Mount Rancakardi in the territory
of Banyubiru. There he finds an abandonned hermit's cave which
he occupies. He grows his own food and engages in meditation and
prayer. Meanwhile Udakawimba leads his army towards Banyubiru
where he suspects Warihkusuma has fled.

King Hertambang of Banyubiru abdicates in favour of his

daughter Retna Wayi. She proves to be a skilled ruler. While on a
progress through her realm she comes across the hermit's cave on
Mount Rancakardi and recognises the ascetic as her husband
Warihkusuma. They are reunited. The Banyubiru army decides to
assist Warihkusuma and it closes in battle with the Sumbereja
army of Udakawimba. Udakawimba is defeated and flees to safety
within the impregnable walls of his fortress at Sumbereja. Queen
Retna Wayi resolves the problem of assaulting the fortress by
building hot-air balloons and sailing over the walls to rout the
defenders.
The stunned Udakawimba is captured and brought 'before Retna
Wayi and Warihkusuma. Udakawimba's adoptive father Kyai Ageng
Wulusan relates how he found and adopted Rara Sendhang. Retna
Wayi realizes that Rara Sendhang is her lost daughter and that
consequently Udakawimba is the son-in-law of Warihkusuma and
Retna Wayi. Udakawimba is forgiven' and a reconciliation
celebrated.

Rangsang Tuban consists of two shaiply contrasting portions, the

prose narrative of political and personal conflict, and the verse section
concerning Islam and Javanese mysticism (kaibatinan) . At a glance, the
two portions seem to be totally unrelated. At the symbolic level, however,
they are closely integrated, and it is upon grasping the mode of integration
that understanding of the novel's import depends. In the discussion that
follows I propose, tiheref ore, to concentrate on this problem and put aside
treatment of the novel's minutiae, fascinating though they are. I shall
first look at each of the two parts separately and examine significant
features of them.
 173

As the summary indicates, Rangsang Tuban is a dense novel. The

reader's eye scans a rich succession of incidents, allusions and images.
Indeed the novel is a veritable mosaic, the components of which allude
to, or are drawn from a vocabulary of motifs shared witih the shadow
plays, historical literature and romances of Java's long and luxuriant
literary tradition. Some of these motifs seem to appear in discrete fashion, as
isolated, allusive gestures, apparently unrelated to other motifs or to the
general structure of the story. But many more are linked in patterns.
To maike sense of the complex interplay of motif patterns in the novel
it is useful to distinguish patterns on an iambic basis (that is, like rhythm
in music, based on the regular repetition of numerical units) and to
think of them as arranged in layers.
The setting of Rangsang Tuban, the matrix within which the events
of the story are played out, is arranged in a rigorously organised tripartite
pattern. The three loci of action exhibit identical' characteristics,
corresponding to what Javanese have traditionaly regarded as the indispensable
components of a polity. These are : a kraton (palace or similarly
functioning residence surrounded, usually, by a bustling town; a king, or
some other male power holder with the authority of age and experience;
a young, sexually attractive and noble woman; a patih of integrity and
administrative competence; a patapan (place of meditation) in the nearby
mountains; an area of forest; and an area of populated countryside
intermediate in location between the patapan or forest and the kraton.
The diagram on next page sets out the paradigm as it appears in Rangsang
Tuban.
This tripartite pattern of paradigmatic similarity is reinforced in a
number of ways. For instance, the three loci of action form a geographical
triangle, Tuban on the north coast, Sumbereja to the south on the great
bengawan or Sodo River, and Banyubiru to the south-west of Tuban at
a tangent to the Tuban-Sumbereja axis (8). The linear progression of
the narrative traces over this triangle. Udakawimba, born and brought

(s) The places mentioned in Rangsang Tuban must be seen, of course, in much the
same light as Empu Manehguna's alleged authorship, that is, as attempts to give
the story greater immediacy by imputing to it a certain authenticity. The reference
to Banyubiru echoes, like many other elements in the novel, north coast histories,
particularly the story of Jaka Tingkir. The Babad Tanah Jawi (Meinsma version,
p. 38,, 40) relates that after Jaka Tingkir's expulsion from Demak (a city to the
west of Tuban) he went south-east to a place called Banyubiru in the foothills
of Mount Lawu. When Warihkusuma flees Tuban to escape execution at the
hands of his half-brother, he goes south-west aindi arrives at a place ca'Hedi
Banyubiru. Padmasusastra evidently identified1 his Banyubmi with the place made famous in
north coast histories.
city with Tuban Sumbereja Bany
ruler's
residence
king or Sindupati Wulusan Hertam
aged male
authority
figure
beautiful Endang Wresthi Rara Sendhang Retna
and noble
young
woman
patih Toyamarta Udakawimba not nam
mention
pp. 107,
patapan Mudal Mt Kenaka Mt Ranc
forest forest where region where forest w
Warihkusuma is Udakawimba Warihks
taken for discovers after exp
execution Kalapadma's from Ba
palace
countryside where Endang where where R
Wresthi's Udakawimba makes c
lodge is herds water on a pr
located buffalo through
kingdom
 175

up at Tuban, flees and takes up residence at Sumbereja. Rara Sendhang,

born at Banyubiru, is cast into the river and grows up at Sumbereja.
Warihkusuma, who is born and brought up in Tuban, flees to Banyubiru,
is later expelled from Banyubiru and returns to Tuban, and finally,
after being driven out of Tuban returns to permanent residence in
Banyubiru.
In counterpoint to the trifocally patterned setting of the novel runs
a pattern of character and incident which, in a variety of ways, is dualis-
tic. At the commencement of the novel Tuban is described in the terms
of the conventional Javanese Utopia, though not with the same detail
as in the opening janturan of the shadow play. King Sindupati is the
ideal king, one whose power is such that lesser monarchs fall under
his sway of their own volition, knowing armed resistance to be useless.
So great is his royal authority hat it engenders harmony, unites opposites,
or more accurately perhaps, prevents different ends of the cosmic
spectrum from disengaging one from the other (°) . He is the highest
embodiment of the aristocratic notion of the perfect man, that is, one who
reconciles and embodies in himself the martial-administrative orientation
of the satriya (knight-ruler), and the contemplative, inner oriented
character of the pandhita (sage) . In the dynastic histories of Java the
distinction, indeed the opposition, between satriya and pandhita, worldly and
spiritual, lair (outer) and batin (inner), left and right has been a
recurring motif. The motif appears also in Rangsang Tuban. King Sindupati has
two wives who bear him sons (10) . One, his official wife, is of royal or
satriya descent, while the other, an unofficial wife, is the daughter of a pan-
dhita. While the king is alive the two sons, offspring of two antithetical lines
of descent, live together in harmony (u). But with the king's death the
essential tension between the two explodes in the violent assault on
Mudal, the rape of Endang Wresthi, Endang Wresthi's murder of King
Warsakusuma, and the attempted execution of Warihkusuma. The
remainder of the story revolves around Warihkusuma and Udakawimba. Unlike
Warsakusuma and Retna Wayi, both of whom are of pure satriya descent,
and unlike Endang Wresthi and Kyai Ageng Wulusan, both of whom
are of pure pandhita descent, Warihkusuma and Udakawimba are ambi-

(9) See Anderson (1972) pp. 13 - 16.

(10)-King Sindupati has in fact 99 wives but only two bear him offspring.
(u) A further latent source of conflict between Warsakusuma and Warihkusuma
relates to their sibling status and their political status. As the younger of the
two, Warsakusmmia must defer to his elder brother Wairinkusuma, but Warihkusuma
must defer to Warsakusuma when the latter becomes king.
176

valent figures. They embody the two lines of descent, through their
mothers the pandhita line, and through their fathers the satriya line.
Dragrammatically their position is like this :

a pandhita a king
(not named) (not named)

Umbul of Mudal == Endang Endang's = Sindupati Sindupati's

sister (not king of official
named) and Tuban wife (not
Sindupati's named)
unofficial
wife

Warihkusuma

Endang Wresthi r. Warsakusuma

Udakawimba

King Sindupati's death and its violent aftermath bring to the fore
the separate lines between which subsequent action will occur. The
ambivalent figures of Warihkusuma and Udakawimba oscillate back and
forth between the locus of the satriya spirit m the palace and the locus
of the pandhita spbit in the forest and place of meditation. The dualistic
oscillation between the two antithetical poles of character and culture is
illustrated most clearly in the actions of the principal character
Warihkusuma, as this chart illustrates.
 177

Tuban

Mud al
z__ arrest .
Tuban

!„ ennui »" — ■ ' *•** rors s t

, travels
Banyubiru !^

^calledinajr^ai^ ±=* forest

Tuban —*=2E5âteria ba(bf>î_ hermit's cave on

Rancakardi
Banyubiru ___^_— — r ' iTttles in
'.ffar victory °

Incidents Involving Warihkusuma

It is only under the great power of the highly skilled and highly
intelligent satriya queen Retna Wayi (a latter-day Sindupati in female
guise) that the conflict between Warihkusuma and Udakawimba is
resolved. Retnai Wayi's unifying power is manifested in the key figure
of her daughter, Rara Sendhang. Rara Sendhang connects and
reconciles (at least for the time being) the warring forces. She is the
daughter of Retna Wayi and Warihkusuma. She is the adopted daughter of
the pandhita Kyai Ageng Wulusan, and she is the wife of Udakawimba.
The novel thus closes, after the violence of the concluding battles,
with the reassertion of harmony and unity.
I have pointed to tripartite and dualistic patterns of organisation
in Rangsang Tuban. I turn now to an element in the novel which
appears consistently throughout its length and which is unifying and
unitary in character: the image of fresih water. The image appears
most pervasively in personal and place names. To cite a few examp-
178

les : (12) tuban means "water, especially spouting or falling water" ;

sumbereja means "spring or fount of prosperity" ; banyubiru means
"blue waters" ; in Warihkusuma, warih means 'water" ; m Sindupati,
s;ndu means "water or river" ; in Warsakusuma, warsa means "rain" ;
in Udakawimba, udaka means "water" ; in Endang Wresthi, wresthi
means "rain", and so on. It would be tedious to give every example,
but suffice it to say that with four insignificant exceptions, (13) every
personal name and every place name mentioned in the novel is syno-<
nymous in some respect with fresh water. The image of fresh water
appears in other guises as well, most notably, as I mention below, in
the descriptions of Kyai Ageng Wulusan's mosque at Sumbereja.
As I have intimated, it is in the symbol of fresh water that the
prose narrative of Rangsang Tuban is integrated with the kabatinan
verses. Before talking up this point, a word first about the verse
section of the novel.
In his younger years PadmasusEistra studied under the famed bel-
letrist of Surakarta, Raden Ngabei Ranggawarsita, and this study, at
least in part, concerned mysticism. (14) Great as the influence of
Ranggawarsita must have been on Padmasusastra, it appears that the
character of his mysticism owed most to a more radical teacher, Raden
Panji Natarata, later known as Raden Sasrawijaya. According to Brata-
kesawa, (15) who is practically my only source of information on
Natarata, Natarata was born in Yogyakarta around 1820, and after a period
in the administrative service of Yogyakarta, took up a position around
1873 as a teacher of Javanese at the Kweekschool (teacher training school')
in Surakarta. (16) It was at this time, while Padmasusastra was a
judicial official in the Surakarta government, (17) that the two met. Na-
târaita had a considerable reputation as a man of letters, and, according
to Bratakesawa, studied numerology, physics, astrology, astronomy,
biology, anatomy and other sciences. (18) Unlike many priyayi he
seems to have been a man of decidely independent ideas. As a mystic
he was a follower of Seh Siti Jenar, the semi-legendary figure, who,
in the early, days of Islam's propagation in Java, was put to death, it

(12) The translations which folow here are biased on the dictionaries of Gericke and
Roorda (1901) and Poerwadarminta (1939).
(13) They are the personal names Endang (wife of Kyai Umbul of Mudal) and the
Arab sayid Syeh Jumadil Kobrahim Muhamadas, and the place names Mount
Kenaka and Mount Rancakardi.
G4) See Imam Supardi (1961) p. 11.
(15) Bratakesawa's Falsafah Sitijenar (no date)
(16) ibid. pp. 19-21.
(17) Imam Supardi's biography (1961) provides an account of Padmiasusastra's checkered
career.
(18) Bratakesawa op. cit., p. 21
 179

is said, by more orthodox teachers for revealing to the people that

God and man are in essence one. (19) Natarata's interest in Siti Jenar's
heterodox teaching was expressed in a biography of the mystic, a work
with which Padmasusastra must have been familiar. (20) Padmasusastra
also sought other avenues to familiarity with Siti Jenar. He must have
been familiar, for example, with the passages on Siti Jenar's teachings
in the Sevat Cabolang, since an adjacent passage from this book, a
version of the Suluk Artati is reproduced almost verbatim in the first
canto of the kabaiinan verses in Rangsang Tuban. (21).
The kabatinan verses in Rangsang Tuban exhibit what one
observer, speaking of another work similar in character, describes as an
"unsystematic disposition". (22) The verses are indeed "difficult" and
the subjects treated seem to be ordered in random fashion. The
explanations given for the various phrases and terms mentioned in the verses
are so brief or imprecise that they are more enigmatic than helpful.
But this is precisely the quality ot suoh verses which the Javanese mystic
welcomes. Mystical teachings are to be regarded not so much as factual
substance
a" (though they do have this character to some extent) but as
tool to push the student towards a more deeply felt, non-verbal,
knowledge of the essence of reality. A somewhat prejudiced
appreciation of this is given in Hardjaka's study of the ratu adil' (just king)
in Java. Sihe writes:
The doctrine is, as. Prof. P.J. Veth rightly says, "a form of
inextricable abracadabra" to the sober-minded thinker. It is indeed
a mental discipline, but without any firm foundation. This is done
on purpose, and the ngelmu pupils like to have it that way. The
very paradoxes exercise a magnetic power over them. C. Tjipta-
kusuma comments : "The very contrariety of these expressions
makes them a favourite subject for speculation". ...The problem
here (and the ngelmu wisdom seems to consist in this) is to
discover in a maze of everyday statements, comparisons and
symbols, gathered into a specific ngelmu combination, the special
ngelmu secret. (23)

(19) por summaries of Siti Jenar's teachings see Zoetmulder (1935) p. 343 ff. and
Soebardi (1975) pp. 35, 36.
(20) This history did not see publication until 1958 when it was put out by Keluarga
Bratakesawa with the title Serat Siti Jenar, see Soebardi (op. cit.) p. 161.
(21) Pigeaud (1933) p. 35 zang 295, and p. 30 zang 207.
(22) Kraemer, quoted in Drewes (1969) p. 22.
(23) Hardjaka (1962) p. 10.
180

When Kyai Ageng Wulusan summons Udakawimba in order to

impart the "true teachings" to him, he tells the young man that the
wisdom will be conveyed in two stages. Presumably the verses which
he instructs Udakawimba to read constitute the first stage. No second
stage is mentioned, but this is not surprising. The Javanese teacher of
mysticism does not teach the ultimate truth as such, indeed the very
nature of this truth precludes formulation of it in verbal terms. The
teacher gives only a possible method. As Hardjaka puts it :

When an adept has already had sufficient instruction from the

teacher of his choice, he receives as his last instruction, "Saiki
golekanaj dhewe nganti ketemu, — Now seek on your own
account, until you find it." What it comes to is nothing else (at
least as outsiders see it) than preparing oneself to grasp the
supernatural by making one's being a tabula rasa. (24)
The kabatinan verses in Rangsang Tuban are to be approached then
somewhat in this light. But there is a further, crucially important
dimension to them, one which can only be appreciated when the
verses are seen integrated with the prose narrative. This integration, as
I have remarked, is wrought through the image of fresh water.

Water in Javanese culture, especially fresh, running water, is

frequently believed to be imbued with special power, even miraculous
power. Rivers, streams, pools or springs may be thought to have, for
example, medicinal efficacy, or the power to transform one's
appearance or to alter one's fortunes. Not surprisingly, water is used as a
metaphor for the spiritual power (kasekten) and mystical knowledge
(ngelmu) which one may obtain through contemplation and meditation.
Places of meditation (patapan) have invariably been sited close to or
surrounded by fresh water. The patapan set in watery surrounds is in
fact almost a cliche in Javanese literature. Here is a fairly typical
example in a passage from the Serat Centhini.
The mosque of Munggul stood on the beautiful, wooded slopes
of Mount Slamet. The building was surrounded by carefully
tended trees and beds of flowers. Fresh, clear water ran past in
channels, rippling and bubbling as it flowed along. The mosque was
situated in the curve of a bay looking out over the clear,
sparkling waters of a beautiful lake. And there, at tihe lake's edge, sat
the teacher, the venerated ascetic of the mountain. (23)

(24) Ibid., pp. 8,9.

(25) Serat Centhini. Vol. II, p. 40, pupidi 38, verses 8 and 9.
 181

The terms normally used in Javanese literature to describe the

communicating of mystical knowledge are derived from the root tetes
(drip, drop). Kyai Ageng Wulusan studies under the Arab Syeh Ju-
madil Kobrahim Muhamadas, and is tinetesan ing ngelmi kesampurnan
(sprinkled with the ultimate knowledge). When the same knowledge
is passed on to Udakawimba the phrase used to describe the transfer
is Raden Udakawimba tumunten badhe katetesan ngelmi sajati (Raden
Udakawimba was then to be sprinkled with the true knowledge).
The very essence of reality, knowledge of which is the ultimate
end of mystical enquiry, is described in terms of water. Harun, drawing
on Zoetmulder, says:

The word rahsa (mystery) and rasa (feeling and mystery) are
very often used in the Javanese mysticism. Concerning rasa, Dr.
Zoetmulder remarks that the meaning which comes most to the
front is that of "feeling", but then especially the higher feeling
of the presence of God and of "mystery" with which usually is
indicated the object of that feeling. The object is like an
indefinable fluidity, which is present in man, by which man not only
comes in contact with God, but also is one with Him. It is the
one Being, the one wujud, which is in all things and by which
all things in its deepest essence are identical. This fluidity is
considered as that which experiences everything as a substance of
life or a spirit of life, which comes forth from God without being
separated from Him, as the life of God itself, which proceeds in
man and other living things. (26)
In Natarata's Serat Sifi Jenar, Siti Jenar, while in debate with Sunan
Benang, speaks of the presence of the water of life within man's body,
equating the water of life with God's Essence. The passage runs :

I, Siti Jenar, enclose within me the water of life, what in Buda

terminology is called tirta nirmaya and in Arabic is called banyu
kayat. Within my body there are three times three trees of the
knowledge of the Essence, that is a total of nine trees branching
throughout my body and bearing the water of life. Three of them
control desire, one of them is for clear perception, three are the
channels of the power of nature, and two are the domain of the
power of life. We are not aware of the presence of these trees
within our bodies because of the obscuring factor of three senses,

(2») Harun (1967) p. 128.

182

sight, hearing and smell. Although the water of life is the

controlling power within our bodies, the senses conceal its presence
from us because they are divided, always receiving a variety of
impressions. If the three doorways of the senses were united into
a single inwardly perceptive sense, then we would see God. witihin
us. <»)
The kabatinan verses in Rangsang Tuban stand in relationship to-
the prose narrative in the same way as the sage's patapan does to the
surrounding world. The water which flows through and around the
patapan bears the sage's spiritual power out into the countryside,
bringing fertility to the fields, and health and harmony to the people.
The kabalinan verses in the novel are read cut in a mosque built by
the sage Kyai Ageng Wulusan. The mosque and its surrounds are des^
cribed as follows :
He built a great mosque. Its portico was broad and at each
end led into the area set aside for female worshippers at either
side of the mosque. The mosque stood at the centre of a pool of
water. The water had come from the bowels of the mountain,
emerging in a spring which spouted down on to a giant rock
jutting from the banks of a deep, dark cleft. Below, a pool formed
behind river rocks, and the water gushed from it clown between
ridges of the mountain, through channels and into the lush fields
around the ashram. A stream was diverted into the mosque
compound where it flowed into the pool. The water brimmed clear
and sparkling in the pool, to the delight of worshippers in the
mosque. ...Raden Udakawimba travelled along the -banks of the
river until he reached Sumbereja. The settlement faced the river
with the mountain at its back. Fertile rice terraces, bubbling and
winking with water, lay spread out on both sides, (pp. 61,62)
A mosque is a place of assembly where people come at all hours
to meet one another and pray to God. At certain times it is jammed
with worshippers. In Javanese mysticism, the mind is often likened
to a house or mosque, within which one's myriad thoughts meet- and
jostle, and where, if one turns inward, it is possible to meet God. This
inner mosque is called the betal makmur (the house of populous
assembly). The betal makmur is mentioned in the last stanza of- the
kabatinan -verses. Like Kyai Ageng Wulusan's mosque, the betal makmur
— in physical terms the brain — is surrounded with water.

(27) Bratakesawa (op, cit.) p. 42.

 183

In the Koran there is a verse which says that the betal makmur,
or place of populous assembly, is the brain, which floats in water.
Mixed with this water is the water of life (tirta kamandhalu).
It fills the veins which extend out into the eyes, ears, nose and
mouth. If tihe water of life becomes exhausted within the body,
grave sickness is bound to follow, and, unless the greatest care
is taken, death will ensue, (p. 76)
Drawing together the strands of my argument. Rangsang Tuban
is essentially concerned with depicting God's immanent presence in
man and in the world. The view of God's presence given in the novel
has its source in the variant of Javanese mysticism expounded by Ra-
den Panji Nataratai, a variant which ultimatelv derives from the
teachings of Seh Siti Jenar. The structure of the novel represents visually,
or diagrammatically, the author's vision of the relationship between
Essence and reality.

At the heart of the novel, (physically the centre, halfway through)

the enigmatic kabattnan verses invite the reader to reflect, to seek tihe
direct, inner knowledge of God's presence which, paradoxically perhaps,
both negates his own independent existence and refreshes him with
the spirit of divinity. For true knowledge of God's Essence is possible
only through union with that Essence, a state wherein enquiry and
the object of enquiry become one. The image of water in Rangsang
the'
Tuban is not simnlv a svmbol of God's Essence, but represents also
immanent possibility of knowing that Essence and the fundamental
union of all things in It. (Zs) The pattern of waiter images, ranged
symmetrically within the prose narrative on either side of the verses links
God's Essence, It's immanence and the quest for knowledge of It, with
the mundane world of passion, politics and uncertain fortune.
Rangsang Tuban opens up some tempting vistas of speculation on
Javanese literary aesthetics. Although I have called it a novel, it is
impossible to characterize it in the terms normallv applied to the
modern European novel. The story opens violently, proceeds in the
oscillating fashion I have described, and closes violently. There is no
character development, nor, once the structure of the story has been
grasped, is there any • progressive revelation of its theme. Although there

(28) Soebardi makes a similar point in his study of the Dewa Ruci story in the Serat
Cabotek. He says : "What is meant by the water of life ? The teaching of the
God Dewa Ruci to Bhima gives us a very brief answer to this question. The
water of life is the ultimate mystical goal which is the pamoring Kawula Gusti
(the Union between Servant and Lord)", see Soebardi (op. cit.) p. 48.
184

is a climax and denouement of sorts at the end of the novel,, it is not

dictated logically by the events which have preceeded it. The series
of battles and the resolution which closes the novel seem to occur whe->
re they do, and have the character they have, because of the dictates
of structural symmetry. The novel's real "climax" (if that is the right
word to describe the kabatinan verses) occurs halfway through, and
the nairrative which follows merely balances what has preceded it in
much tihe same way as an artist, having painted his central subject,
moves on to fill in the space between it and the edge of his canvas.
I use a metaphor from the art world advisedly, because it seems to
me that Padmasusastra's literary imagination as reflected in Rangsang
Tuban is intensely visual. It is worth considering, for a moment, the
character of this "visualness".

In modern fiction — the product of a world marked by a

fundamental mutability — the writer has to create certainty in his work. He
has to scrupulously prove that his story has substance. Space and time
are minutely discriminated. Characters should be wrought in such a
fashion that they live as individuals. They must be explicated with
such care and detail that they and the situations in which they find
themselves come alive visually in the mind's eye of the reader. Detail
and exact orientation in time and space give the modern novel a three
dimensional visuality. Padmasusastra, by contrast, lived in a world
in which' the distinction between past and present was not as clear as
it is now generally conceived to be. The cosmic order was essentially
much more stable, values were relatively clearly defined and generally
accepted. The various qualities of human character and society were
universal and permanent so that characters in literature tended to be
static representatives of immutable types, and writers could conjure
up a character or situation by reference to the shared assumptions of
their readers. The visual element in literature of this kind was
two-dimensional.

The notion at the heart of Rangsang Tuban is that of the betal

makmur, the inner place, the mind in contemplation of and in .union
with God Who is conceived of as a fluidity extending beyond the mind
and throughout the world. To express this notion visually
Padmasusastra draws upon a conventional representation, two-dimensional or
diagramatic in character, used in some variants of Javanese mysticism.
The mind is represented by the brain, God by the water of life whicih.
flows within the cerebral and other bodily fluids, and the outer world
or cosmos by the members of the body. The diagram is repeated at
another level in the image of <the mosque set in a pool of water which
 185

is surrounded again by the water-filled paddy fields of the

countryside. (29) Finally, the novel itself is structurally a diagram, its kaba-
tinan verses corresponding to the betal makmur, its water-linked
personal and place names embodying God's fluid Essence, and its prose
narrative representing the outer world. It is scarcely necessary to add
that this latter image can only be apprehended in the manner
characteristic of visual perception, that is in a basically instantaneous, all-
encompassing way, when the narrative has run its full course. Much
of its firm, static power derives from the clear symmetry of the text,
a symmetry which only "becomes apparent in the concluding lines of
the text. Symmetry suggests field and space rather than line and
progress, and it thereby emphasizes, indeed is indispensable to the visual
vividness of the image and its generalized, timeless quality.
I have indicated that the betal makmur image appears at several
levels, and that the patterns of motif in the prose narrative are
carefully organised in an iambic, layered fashion. This feature of Rangsang
Tuban seems to have much in common with other traditional Javanese
arts and may reflect something fundamental in the traditional aesthetics
of the Javanese. In gamelan music there is relatively little variation
in melodic motif, and repetitious, layered embellishment often
dominates. Likewise, a fine piece of bathik consists of a repeated motif, or
motif complex, with copious embellishment. The very making of bathik
is a process of applying pattern layer upon layer.
It would be erroneous, I think, to conclude that the prose section
of Rangsang Tuban is substantially subordinate to the verse section,
that it simply provides a spatial matrix for the novel's central image,
or is merely the bed within which the water image is ranged, or is
primarily an intricate, contrastive accompaniment to the verse section
two sections may be even closer than I have suggested. It is possible,
as the gamelan accompanies the dancer. The integration between the
for example, that the tripartite pattern of setting makes some kind of
reference to the triadic doctrines and diagrams so prevalently used in
Javanese mysticism, and the dualistic pattern of plot and character
clearly relates, I think, to kabatinan notions of the outer (lair) and
inner (batin) life.

(-9) la at least one image in Rangsang Tuban it seems possible that Padmasusastra
has sought to merge bodily and topographical représentations of the core idea,
namely in the description of Kyai Ageng Wulusan's mosque quoted above. In this
description bodEy overtones are, I think, unmistakable, and especially call to
mind the yogic practice of raising divinely imbued fluid from the base of the
abdomen {usually the genitals) through the spine or chest to the head or fontenel.
186

In his Kalangwan Professor Zoetmulder argues persuasively

that the Old Javanese poem was conceived of as a receptacle for the
god of beauty, into which he was called down and wherein he dwelt
as in his temple. In yogic fashion, the poet sought ecstatic union with
the god in the beauty of the poem. (30) The vision of the poem as a
yogic yantra in temple (candhi) form was the seminal point for a poetic
flowering which took a highly organised form. Padmasusastra's novel,
too, seeks to bring God almost palpably into the presence of the reader
in a manner reminiscent of the Old Javanese Poet.

(30) Zoetmulder (1974) p. 185.

References Cited

Anderson, Benedict R. O'G.

1972 "The Idea of Power in Javanese Society" in Holt, C. et. al.
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Babad Tanah Jawi
1941 Edited by W.L. Olthof, M. Nijhoff, 's-Gravenhage.
Bratakesawa
n.d. Falsafah Sitijenar, Yayasan Penerbitan "Jaya Baya",
Surabaya, 6th. imp.
Drewes, G.W.J.
1969 The Admonitions of Seh Bari, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.
Gericke, J.F.C. and Roorda, T.
1901 Javaansch-Nederlandsch Handwoordenboek, Johannes Miiller,
Amsterdam, E.J. Brill, Leiden.
Hardjaka Hardjamardjaja, Andrea Corsini
1962 Javanese Popular Belief in the Coming of the Ratu-Adil A
Righteous Prince, Pontificia Univcrsias Gregoriana, Rome.
Harun Hadiwijono
1967 Man in the Present Javanese Mysticism, Bosch and Keuning
N.V., Baarn.
Imam Supardi • •
1961 Ki Padmosusastro, Panyebar Semangat, Surabaya.
 187

Padmasusastra
1913 Serat Rangsang Tuban, N.V. Budi Utama, Surakarta.
Pigeaud, Th. G. Th.
1933 De Serat Tjabolang en de Serat Tjentini, A.C. Nix & Co.,
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Poerbatjaraka, R.M.Ng.
1952 Kapustakan Jawi, Penerbil Jambatan, Jakarta/ Amsterdam.
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1939 Bausastra Jawa, J.B. Wolters, Groningen/Batavia.
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1976 Kalatinaken miturut aslmipun, U.P. Indonesia, Yogyakarta,
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1975 The Book of Cabolek, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.
Sunarno Sisworalhardjo
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