Centhini - Kekasih yang Tersembunyi
A book review that contains my own perception haha.. This will be very subjective. Sorry.
Centhini was a servant. A faithful and loyal servant of her beautiful Princess, Tambangraras. Some said it was a big shame that this book of songs and stories was named after her. Some believed this was an honor for the truth that, on her wedding night, Centhini disappeared and nobody could find her; not even the three poets who wrote this book of songs.
Centhini - Kekasih yang Tersembunyi starts with a book [or song; in Bahasa Indonesia: tembang. Starts from now, I’ll use the word ‘song’] of family tree [silsilah] which explains the connections, relationships and reincarnations between all of its characters, men and women. Then it continues with other twelve books of songs: Perang, Penggembaraan, Minggatnya Cebolang, Terjadilah asmara, Empat puluh malam dan satunya hujan, Ia yang memikul raganya, Buku Kesembilan, Alih rupa, Dendang awan mencari matahari, Pulau Besi, Termakan and Nafsu terakhir. Each book of songs contains numbers of songs; 152 songs in total.
The main frame that builds the book’s story is the war between Sultan Agung, the king of Mataram, Central Java, with Sunan Giri who didn’t want to bow to Sultan Agung; God was his reason. After Sultan Agung won, the three children of Sunan Giri ran away from his land separately. Jayengsari ran away with his younger sister, Rancangkapti and a servant named Buras. Meanwhile, the eldest son, Jayengresmi was always on the search of his two siblings. Later in the book, Sultan Agung in the appearance of a very humble priest said to Sunan Giri’s eldest son that his father died because “he desired the greatness [blessings] of God a lot more than to serve God”.
Another parallel story in this book that goes on together with this war tale is about Cebolang, a very handsome -as beautiful as a silk young girl in appearance- boy that would make anyone men and women seeing him turned on [mostly sexually], the only son of Syekh Akhadiyat and Siti Wuryan. The story, again, is about a fugitive. Cebolang consciously and secretly ran away from his parents for his intolerable mistakes, full of this boy’s young blood’s desire; that he thought his parents and everyone would not be able to forgive him. He took his four best friends with him: Nurwitri, Saloka, Kartipala and Palakarti. The last two friends with flipped names had made a speculation that both were twins, or else, lovers.
Although the two stories seemingly don’t have any relation at the beginning, as the stories flow, we find out that some characters finally met - almost like coincidences; and that would make a complete, well written story.
Apparently, religion is a very important thing in this book. It happens because the book’s era was when Wali Songo; the founding saints of Islam, their child and grandchild spread Islam across Java. Poems, quotes and the words of wisdom mostly taken from the Quran, their holy book. Religion was always mentioned when the adventurers introduced themselves once they met other people on their way, and so did the strangers. Often they met someone with different religion, yet they respect each other.
Other major discussion in this book is sexuality. While Indonesian people nowadays mostly [pretend to be] allergic to this topic, the fact is: it’s openly discussed in plenty traditional or ancient arts and literatures; including in Centhini – kekasih yang Tersembunyi. Description, dialogues and poems often included sexual things, both physically and mentally. Even when the songs are not about human and his desire. Free sex and homosexuality –man on man, women on women- are among the usual topics in this book. It is so blurred that we will find the contradiction between their faithfulness on God and their sexual behavior. After someone did a sexual intercourse with someone else, whether this person is someone else’s wife, another male, other person that he rape, a horse or everything else, he prayed to God and God seems easily forgive him. The blessings of God never stop to this person. Now this is another clash of what we believe. What we [as modern humans] called taboo are widely told even in very obvious descriptions. The power of women also stands out in this book. Some songs telling that women are strong creatures, able to do complicated things and smart; although sometimes in very minor cases, the issue of gender appears as unfair.
With these two provisions: religion and sex, and despite the characters’ physical aims of adventuring [finding each other, true love, shame, etc] there was one true spiritual thing that each character seek: the knowledge of perfectness. It is accumulated at the end of their journeys as they always find some wisdom through every single battle, every name changing, or every time they meet others be it a saint, priest, king, farmer, widow, angel, etc.d
4 comments:
Beautiful review Dai. Really, I enjoyed it. It's a shame that I didn't finished the book yet, hehe. I really think that I should read it again.
Anyway, it's very interesting to see that the classic Indonesian literature exposed sex, homosexuality, and religion in the same place. Centhini had become one of the example used by Indonesian writers to confront RUU Pornografi when the first version introduced (you know, when the government seems to forced people to dress according to the weird rule). It was one of the most annoying RUU ever produced, isn't it? Centhini show us that sexuality is not an 'enemy'. I believe that we should come with something smarter and more civil to fight our problem regarding to so called 'pornography'.
I really think that I should read it again though. In fact, I have to buy the book as soon as possible (ga sabar). Thanks for the great review, Dai! :D
yessssssssss gue berhasillll hakhakhakhak *ketawa puas*
[eh pake Bahasa Indonesia aja ya Gal :p]
setelah gue baca ulang ternyata nggak panjang ya reviewnya? anyway, pada akhirnya gue memercayai bahwa Tuhan dalam bentuk apapun sebenernya terbentuk dari kesukaan/ketidaksukaan manusia; makanya terdapat masyarakat dan Tuhan yang menerima homoseks dan sebaliknya ada pula yang tidak. pornografi menjadi sangat buram karena seks memang sifat dasar manusia.
nggak tau juga kenapa akhirnya ada yang bilang itu suci, tabu, dosa, dll dan apa pula landasan menyebutnya seperti itu. norma apakah yang dipakai karena toh segala aturan yang merumuskan [dan membukukan/mematenkan/mewariskannya kepada orang lain atau keturunan] adalah manusia kan? oke, walaupun berdalih tuhan. gue mau nulis tentang si tuhan itu *dalam proses*
gue tidak pro seks bebas dan pornografi ya, cuman memang definisi2 ini kagak jelas banget di Indonesia Raya ini. inget gak lo pada suatu waktu di tangerang, ada peraturan yg blg bahwa seorang wanita yang berada di pinggir jalan setelah pukul sekian malam [lupa] akan dikategorikan sebagai pelacur. ini sungguh sangat bodoh dan herannya disahkan. dan ada pula yang ketangkep. padahal beliau seorang guru yang lagi mau pulang nyari angkot.
*udah ah ngomel2nya*
thx ya gal *smug* walaupun menurut gw msh kurang oke alias msh ada yang perasaan harus diungkapkan tp gak tau lagi mau ditulis di mana :p
Hahaha iya dai pake bahasa Indonesia aja deh biar gampang kekekek. Hmmm kalo menurut pengamatan gw ya, mungkin bisa dibilang kalau serat Centhini dikembangkan di kala perubahan sosial budaya lagi berkembang di Jawa, yakni dari budaya Hindu Buddha ke Islam. Perubahan itu pasti lumayan bikin shock, secara agama Islam adalah agama yang termasuk 'agama keras'. Gw nggak bilang kalo Islam memperbolehkan kekerasan, tapi kita harus mengakui latar belakang turunnya agama2 Samawi (Yahudi, Kristen dan Islam) memang sarat dengan kekerasan. Ini diperkuat juga dengan background Timur Tengah yang memang alamnya sungguh keras. Kita bisa liat sendiri berapa banyak pertumpahan darah yang terjadi selama proses turunnya Yahudi, Kristen dan Islam.
Kebetulan, budaya Hindu Budha nggak segitu2nya, terutama yang berkembang di pulau Jawa. Dan mungkin nih, para cendikia Jawa waktu itu ngerasa ada yang aneh waktu mereka merumuskan ajaran Islam yang dipadu dengan kebudayaan Jawa (di Jawa sendiri Islam dan Hindu Budha sebenernya menyatu dengan indahnya hehe), dan bisa jadi kalau Centhini ini ditulis di atas kegelisahan tersebut. Karena orang Jawa sangat terbuka dan kompromis dengan kebudayaan luar, jadi mereka berusaha mencari jalan tengah akan perbedaan2 tersebut. Sampai sekarang pun pencarian itu belum berakhir sepertinya.
Semoga Jawa - dan Indonesia - bisa menemukan jati dirinya lagi ya. :D
lo sungguh sangat sejarawan sekali ya Gal hahahaha pissssss duluuu Galll :p
gue mengerti yg tentang kekerasan itu Gal, seperti mengapa tuhannya agama samawi mengijinkan saling berperang, bahkan kalo sebuah bangsa taat sm si tuhan, maka dijanjikan kemenangan2 perang untuk bangsa tsb. sedangkan terjadi pula perintah 'jangan membunuh'. akhirnya timbul ironi-ironi yang sampe jaman sekarang masih terus ada [walaupun nggak sekasar 'jangan membunuh']
yang menjadi kritik gue terhadap manusia jawa adalah, saking terbukanya terhadap sesuatu yang bukan berasal dari dirinya, kadang pemahaman menyeluruh atas sesuatu itu menjadi sangat ragawi. misalnya di centhini, perkenalan2 selalu dimulai dengan: 'sultan X adalah bla bla bla, ia beragama islam'. atau dalam kalimat langsung: "saya bla bla bla. islam agamaku." atribut agama menjadi sangat penting kan kesannya. namun tetap dalam berperilaku, mereka nggak islam2 amat. perbauran dengan hindu buddha seperti yg lo bilang pun masih ada. jadinya kayak menyangkal sesuatu yang padahal ada mengakar di dalam dirinya. dan ini pun sadar tak sadar juga masih terjadi jaman sekarang. nggak hanya orang islam aja. hampir semua. tak jarang karena telah begitu berkembangnya dunia, ada yang akhirnya menjadi fanatik padahal nggak ngerti 'luar dalam'.
yang menjadi masalah memang manusia jaman sekarang deh. maling teriak maling. haha. *komentar mulai nggak cerdas*
*lama2 blog ini [dan blog lo] bisa jadi kajian antropologi nih heeee..
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