Archipel

Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger : Local Applications of a Myth

Robert Wessing

Abstract
Robert Wessing
This paper explores the position of Nyai Roro Kidul in the local pantheon of ancestral and other spirits in the fishing village of
Puger on the south coast of East Java. It notes how the spirit queen serves as an explanation of the perils faced by fishers in the
dangerous Indian Ocean currents and her connection with various aspects of their daily lives. The paper also maps specific
locations of spirits within Puger, sorting them into those associated with the village and those belonging with Nyai Roro Kidul,
defining a boundary across which interaction between these two domains takes place. Finally the offers brought to the spirit
queen are looked at in terms of how these return to her some of the prosperity she has given, by symbolically offering her the
essence of the community itself.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Wessing Robert. Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger : Local Applications of a Myth. In: Archipel, volume 53, 1997. pp. 97-120;

doi : 10.3406/arch.1997.3395

http://www.persee.fr/doc/arch_0044-8613_1997_num_53_1_3395

Document gnr le 17/03/2016

 ETUDES

Robert WESSING

Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger :

Local Applications of a Myth <o

Introduction
Just as historical persons may have all kinds of actions and ideas
posthumously ascribed to them, eventually giving them a legendary position,
so too may mythological figures become a focus for all kinds of social values
and fears. One such mythological figure in Java is the goddess Nyai Roro
Kidul, the Spirit Queen of the Southern Ocean. Nyai Roro Kidul is known all
along the southern coast of Java where the island faces the sometimes
horrendous waves of the Indian Ocean, and is relevant to the lives of
categories of people as different as the rulers of Yogyakarta and Surakarta,
fishermen, and bird's-nest gatherers, each of which observes particular rules in
its relationship with her.
This paper presents data dealing with beliefs about Nyai Roro Kidul that
are current in the fishing community of Puger in East Java. These beliefs both
provide an explanation to the villagers of the dangers of the fishermen's trade
as well as a way of allaying the fears that these dangers arouse. The figure of
Nyai Roro Kidul is furthermore related to such fundamental aspects of life as
the family, specifically wives, and aspects of the human soul. Before presenting
these data, a general overview of beliefs about this Spirit Queen is in order.

1. I would like to thank my many informants as well as Drs. Dominikus Rato of the Universitas
Jember, Mr. Halim and Mr. Musta'in of Puger for the help they gave me while collecting this data.
Thanks are also due to Dra. Kalsum of the Universitas Pajajaran for the information she sent me
about various aspects of Nyai Roro Kidul and to Ibu Nahariyah of Jember and Drs. Kusnadi of the
Universitas Jember for their letters about the tidal wave that hit the south coast of East Java in the
summer of 1994. Finally I am indebted to discussions with Dr. Jos Platenkamp and Dr. Roy
Jordaan as this paper was developing. The maps were drawn by Hans Borkent of Studio Metafoor
in Oegstgeest, The Netherlands.

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98 Robert Wessing

Nyai Roro Kidul

Nyai Roro Kidul (2> is often described as a beautiful young woman
although, according to Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX, her appearance varies
with the phases of the moon ; young and beautiful when it waxes, old and ugly
when it wanes (Tempo 1988:156). She is variously said to have been a virgin
princess of, among others, Kediri, Pajajaran or Galuh, who did not wish to
marry or, alternately, became ill with a skin disease and thus could not
marry/3) In both cases she was expelled from the palace and ended up on the
south coast of Java where she entered the ocean and became the ruler of the
spirit world of Java, including the spirits of the dead (cf. Anonymous 1918;
Jordaan 1984; Pigeaud 1960-1963, IV:211).
She is often depicted riding a golden carriage with a naga (dragon) motif
through towering waves, pulled by a black and a white horse. Her favorite
color is said to be green and people visiting the shores of the Indian Ocean are
advised not to wear this color as she is thought to become jealous and take the
offender away to her underwater palace, to be made into a servant or one of
her warriors or lovers. In fact, according to an informant, even viewers of
movies about her are loath to wear green. In advertisements for these films,
scales or a fish-like lower body are sometimes suggested, tying in, as Jordaan
discusses, with the notion of skin disease.
Her palace, located at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, is thought to be
iridescent and sumptuous, looking just like the kraton (palace) of the Sultanate
of Yogyakarta (Intisari 1991:130). It is filled with "the wondrous beauties of
the deep" and is staffed with courtiers and ladies-in-waiting who fulfill the
Queen's every wish (De Cock Wheatley 1931:205).
While, as I will briefly discuss below, Nyai Roro Kidul is part of a
mythological and symbolic pattern with roots deep in Southeast Asian history,
she became well-known in Java in the late 16th century when, according to the
Babad Tanah Jawi (Olthof 1987:80-82), Panembahan Senapati went to
meditate on the south coast of Java at Parang Kusumah. His meditation had
such power that the ocean boiled and its tranquillity was disturbed. Nyai Roro
Kidul is said to have come to the surface to ask him to temper his meditation,

2. She is known under a variety of names. Ricklefs (1974:200, n. 67, 203, n. 74) mentions Retna
Dewati, Prabu Rara Rat Jawi, Sang Retna, Prabu Kenya, Sang Dewi, Sang Prabu Wanodya, Sang
Retna Dewi, Sang Retna Tanah Jawi, Sang Prabu Dewi, and Prabu Rara Surya Dewati while ; Van
Hien (1912:173) calls her Rara Wudu and Dra. Kalsum (letter, 5 June 1990) mentions Nyi
Gelereng Putih.
3. Rara Kidul's name is often also written Nyai Lara Kidul. Pigeaud (1960-63, V:315) glosses lara
with maiden, a gloss given by Zoetmulder (1982, 11:1510) for rara. Lara, however, can also have
the meaning of sickness, sadness, and suffering (Zoetmulder 1982, 1:985), adding the possibility of
suffering, i.e. from a skin disease, to Nyai Lara Kidul's name. Dra. Kalsum (letter, 3 September
1990) notes that in the 18th century in Surakarta lara and rara tended not to be differentiated, a
phenomenon not unknown elsewhere in the case of III and III. She feels, however, that the original
name was Rara Kidul, as ra is an appropriate honorific prefix for her, found as well in words such
as ratu (king) and the like. In regard to her virginity, there are stories in which she was married,
even several times, before entering the ocean to become the Queen of the Spirits (cf. Dominikus
Rato 1992:18-20; Wachtel 1977:19-20). In Puger it was told that she had a son named Raden
Panji, although it was uncertain who the boy's father was. In spite of this virgin."
and her frequent
marriages, she remains, as Jordaan (1984:106) points out, "an ever-rejuvenating

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 99

Map of East Java

which he did. They then went to her palace where she instructed Senapati in
state-craft and they made love for three days and nights, although this latter
detail is sometimes omitted or denied (cf. Purbatjaraka 1962, 1:21). Since then
she has been the consort of each successive ruler of the 17th century Muslim
state of Mataram and its successor states of Surakarta and Yogyakarta,
functioning as the protectress of these realms.
While there are those who feel that Panembahan Senapati, or perhaps his
grandson Sultan Agung, created this story in order to gain legitimacy for what
was in effect an upstart royal house, it is clear that some of the details of the
story were not made up for the occasion. Rather, as De Graaf and Pigeaud
(1974:222) point out, the veneration of a divine power resident in the southern
(Indian) ocean predates the arrival of Islam in the area (cf. Purbatjaraka 1962,
II: 19). This divine power is part of a wider pattern of belief in chthonic beings
in Southeast Asia and symbolic connections can be made between Nyai Roro
Kidul and the rice goddess (Dewi Sri) as well as other mythological figures
like Nyi Blorong and snake spirits who will bring a petitioner wealth at a price
(cf. Jordaan 1984:101 ; Wessing 1988b). <4) The details of these various

4. Nyi Blorong, said to be either the daughter of Nyai Roro Kidul (Jordaan 1984: 109 ; Bamar Eska
n.d.:58) or to be one of her followers (Hermanadi 1992:18), seems to be positioned between Nyai
Roro Kidul and the ipri (snake spirit). Both Nyi (sometimes Kyai) Blorong and the ipri bring
wealth for a certain period to male petitioners who marry them while they are in human form.

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 f.VJ

100 Robert Wessing

mythologies also tend to spill over into each other. Purbatjaraka (1962, 1:20),
for instance, has people obtaining wealth from Nyai Roro Kidul and suffering
the subsequent tortures usually associated with Nyi Blorong (cf. Van Hien
1912:173).
Marriage between a ruler and a chthonic being, such as a snake or a maiden
coming out of the ocean foam was not unknown in wider Southeast Asia
(Jordaan 1984:109; Wessing 1990) or China (Lai 1992) and India (Jordaan
1987: 124-5). ^ In India snakes are further associated with leprosy and other
skin diseases as well as with childlessness in women (Crooke 1955:413-5),
which we can relate back to Nyai Roro Kidul's origin as an unmarried princess
suffering a skin disease.
One aspect of Nyai Roro Kidul that is noted time and again is the
ambiguity (6) that adheres to her character (cf. Jordaan 1984:104); she is
venerated and feared at the same time (SJs et al. 1992) : an old man I
attempted to interview said that the hairs on the back of his neck stood up
when I asked my questions, a definite warning not to talk, he said. It is
pantang, forbidden.
She is connected with demons and death as well as protection and
prosperity. She is associated with fertility; Tisnawati, a form of the rice
goddess Sri, is said to be her si-ster (De Cock Wheatley 1931 ; 209 ; cf.
Wessing 1988b) and she is venerated by hunters (Wormser 1920:211),
fishermen (De Cock Wheatley 1931:206), and bird-nest gatherers, the latter
marrying a woman belonging to Nyai Roro Kidul's court in order to assure
safety and a good harvest (Tempo 1982:75). Finally, she is the consort and
protectress of the kingdoms of Java.
At the same time, however, she is also said to send storms and big waves
when angered W and has a reputation for being jealous and lustful (pengemis
cinta) (Gow 1992:1) with an insatiable appetite for sex with handsome young
men, whom she gathers from those foolish enough to venture too far away
from shore. This aspect is played up time and again in both popular magazines

After this time the petitioner dies and must become part of the house of his benefactor, either as
aservant or literally as part of the structure (cf. Wessing 1988b; Van Hien 1912:145). While the
ipri is always a were-snake (itself an ancient motif; cf. MacCulloch 1955) who lives in caves or
holes, Nyi Blorong may be found in a swamp (Van Hien 1912:145) or in an underwater palace off
the southern coast (Jordaan 1984:108) and may appear as a woman with a snake-like lower body
(Drewes 1929:23) or even as a snake (SJs and Fury 1992:16).
5. Even on Java the House of Mataram and its successors are not the only ones to have sexual
relations with female spirits of the southern coast. As reported in the news magazine Tempo (21
April 1990, p. 42), an ancestor of a well known Javanese family was once visited by a putri jin
(spirit girl) while meditating at the shore of the Indian Ocean. They married, resulting in the birth
of the ancestor of this house, who was physically a normal person but had supernatural powers.
6. One reader of this paper interpreted the word ambiguous to mean unclear or vague. It is used
here, however, in the sense of "an expression that admits of two or sometimes more
interpretations ... [and] does not in itself suggest [a] ... lack of explicitness..." (Webster's
1973:38).
7. In the summer of 1994 several villages were totally destroyed when the south coast of East Java
was hit by a tidal wave resulting from an earthquake near the island of Bali. Informants wrote that
she had been angered because the wrong wayang story (lakon) had been performed at a
circumcision at Pancer, one of the worst hit villages. Ceremonies were held afterwards in several
villages in order to ward off further disasters.

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 101

and the films made about her and her daughter, Nyi Blorong (cf. Kartini 1986 ;
Intisari 1991:127 ; Wis 1992). Every time a young man is washed away by the
strong undertow, people say that Nyai Roro Kidul gathered yet another sexual
partner to her palace under the waves.
Both the fertility and the disasters can best be understood as aspects of her
power. As Woodward (1989:169) mentions, Nyai Roro Kidul's power, as well
as that held by rulers is " simply one of the forces of nature " and therefore
neutral, capable of being used for both good and evil. As was shown by Bowen
(1993:187), the same is true of supernatural power in general and it is its very
ambiguity that makes it both fearsome and desirable (cf. Anderson 1972). Lai
(1994:34-35) points out in a different context that "there are two sides or faces
to nature ...the river can be good and evil. When water flows in an orderly
fashion, it is good; when the same water floods, it is evil. ...The river and its
god are one : the same river with two faces that can nurture as well as kill.
...Good and evil are not moral opposites : they could just as well be the river
in its two moods." These same observations could just as well be made of the
Indian Ocean.
As was mentioned earlier, Nyai Roro Kidul is the ruler of the spirits who
live along the south coast as well as, at least temporarily, of all the spirits on
Java (Stange 1975:171 ; Ayiek Syarifuddin 1989:15). These include both the
spirits of the ancestors, generally perceived to be a force for good, and those
who inhabited Java before the coming of humans. Many of the latter were
caused to move from their original habitation and sent to stay on the south
coast (C. Geertz 1960:24; Woodward 1989:168) and, partly because of the
ambiguity of their power and partly because they have been disturbed, these
spirits are often feared. In popular film and belief these spirits are often
depicted as brutal, cursed beings, adding to the general aura of fear that
surrounds them (cf. Intisari 1991:127).
In her role as protectress of the House of Mataram, Nyai Roro Kidul acts as
one of the quarter guardians of the state (Woodward 1989:199; Triyoga
1991:94). As such, as well as in her function of penunggu (tutelary spirit) of
the Indian Ocean, she can best be understood as a dhemit, a place spirit with
functions on the national level (see below). Others (Bocquet 1980:58) have
classified her as a lelembut (a kind of troublesome spirit) and these days, under
the growing influence of Islam, she is often said to be a jin (At. jinn; genie).
Muslim purists, who frown on all beliefs of this sort, tend to classify all these
spirits with the devil (Bamar Eska n.d.:7, 10, 132), even though there is a
general understanding that some jin have embraced Islam and may be called to
the aid of those in need (Bamar Eska n.d.:12; Julizar Kasiri et al. 1992:32).
Some disagree with calling her a jin for technical reasons. Hermanadi
(1992:19), for instance, writes that she is not a roaming spirit (gentayangan),
as jin are, and that it is therefore more correct to call her a tutelary spirit
(penunggu), which elsewhere seems to be how jin are defined as well (cf. Tim
Liberty 1992b: 16).
degree"
In any
(Woodward
case, Nyai1989:261,
Roro Kidul
n. 27),
"has
as have
been other
Islamicized
spirits ontoJava
a remarkable
(Wessing:

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 102 Robert Wessing

1995). Some even propose to see her as a special envoy from God, who for
this reason cannot be considered evil (Hermanadi 1992:19; Intisari 1991:129).
Aside from the fact that Mataram, of which she is the protectress, was an
Islamic state, and that she was prophesied. to be destined to marry a Muslim
(Purbatjaraka 1962:23) there are stories of her urging the Javanese to read the
Koran and to pray to Allah (Ricklefs 1974:203) while she is said to have told
Prince Diponegoro, who rebelled against Dutch rule on Java in the 19th
century, to adopt the name Ngabdulhamid, "Servant of God" (Wachtel
1977:20).
To summarize, Nyai Roro Kidul is an Islamised chthonic being, functioning
as dhemit (tutelary spirit) of the Indian Ocean, who rules the spirit world of
Java in the absence of Semar. She has relations with the underworld and water,
power over life, death, and fertility and is of a two-faced or ambiguous nature
(Jordaan 1984:10G-7).
With this description as a background, we can now take a look at the
information from Puger, in order to see how these local data fit into. the
general picture and to what use the myth is put there. While these local beliefs
to a considerable degree reflect the general pattern described above, they are
adapted to local circumstances. I will not attempt a Lvi-Straussian exercise in
transformations between these local data and the general pattern, as I believe
this to be unnecessary for an understanding of the local data. Local elements
do indeed enter local versions of myths, as Lvi-Strauss has eloquently shown
(1968), but rather than as transformations, one may see this as a local myth-
maker's exercise, interweaving mythic elements from a general reservoir with
local observations for the explanation of the local facts.

Puger
The community of Puger consists of two villages, Puger Kulon and Puger
Wetan, located at the mouth of the Bedadung river, about 38 kilometers south
of the regency capital of Jember in East Java. In 1990 they had a combined
population of 17.212 persons; 8.438 men and 8.774 women (Tim Peneliti
1990:6). Ethnically this population is made up of Madurese, Javanese and
Bugis people with an additional sprinkling of Osing from the Banyuwangi area
and in the past people of Mandarese and Malay extraction (De Stoppelaar
1927:81). As Tim Peneliti (1990:6) points out, these days the Javanese and
Madurese dominate, the others having been absorbed by these two ethnic
groups. The majority (99,49%) of this population is Muslim while the
remainder are Catholic and Hindu (Tim Peneliti 1990:15).
Even though over half the population of the two villages claims to make its
living from agriculture and only roughly 39 % is involved with fishing (Tim
Peneliti 1990:7), the general aspect of the villages, and especially of Puger
Kulon, where the fishers quay is located and the greater part of this research
was done, is that of fisheries. Between 1984 and 1988 the size of the fishing
fleet increased from 150 to 281 larger boats (8>, driven by auxiliary motors
8. The majority of these are Madurese type boats that are said to handle better in the rough seas
common on the south coast (Dominikus Rato 1991:10).

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 103

{motor tempel), while the fleet of smaller, oar-propelled boats went from 135
to 171 in the same period, with a high of 205 in 1987 (Anonymous 1988:57).
The figure of 39 % is in any case somewhat deceptive in that it only counts the
persons actively involved with catching fish or the owners of boats. An
undetermined number of people are active, either full or part time in
processing or drying fish and shrimp to make, among other things, the trasi (a
pungent condiment), for which Puger is well known.
At its mouth the river Bedadung becomes quite broad, aided by the fact that
at this point the rivers Besini and Kapuran, which flow together a short
distance away, also empty into it. Because of the angle at which these two
waters come together, a comparatively calm bay is created with a relatively
narrow opening to the Indian Ocean, protected on the western side from the
ocean's onslaught by a narrow peninsula (see map). Opposite this, the eastern
edge of the opening is the steep slope of Mt. Watangan. The opening is called
the pelawangan (lit. gate keeper) and it is this point that forms one of the foci
of the relationship between the people of Puger and Nyai Roro Kidul.
The width of the gate varies with the tides. During flood tide this is about
15 meters while at ebb tide the effective width is reduced to 7 meters, with the
deepest channel right near Mt. Watangan (Soetikno 1990:1).
Aside from the narrowness of the passage, there is a further problem. Along
the eastern edge of the gate, between 15 and 8 meters from the mountain wall,
lie nine large rocks, some individually named; the first (counting from the
Indian Ocean) is the Watu Lumbung, the second the Watu Rasul and the third
the Watu Mandi, the bathing rock. The distance between these rocks varies
from 20 meters between the first and the second to a couple of meters between
the others, with the exception of number 9, which lies about 55 meters from
number 8. These rocks form a considerable navigational hazard to fishing
boats coming home to port, particularly at times of low water.
The season in which the fishers can expect good catches (musim ikan)
comes between July and October, which is also the dry season in the Puger
area (Van der Stok 1897:charts) and this, according to informants, is both
when the river's water is at its lowest and thus when the channel is at its
narrowest, and the season in which big waves occur. These latter are not
continuous, however. There may be days on end when the waves are high, up
to several meters, they say, and then a week or so of calm weather, followed
again by large waves.
The fishermen cannot predict, therefore, when it will or will not be safe to
leave port ; they might sail when the sea is calm and catch a lot of fish and on
returning find that the wave action has suddenly picked up. They could, of
course, stay out and ride it out, but since they have no refrigeration on board,
their catch would certainly spoil. And thus they head in, taking to the deepest
channel near Mt. Watangan and risk hitting the rocks. If this happens, they
jump overboard and are carried by the current. Should this current be going
inland, they end up in the bay and are safe. Should, on the other hand, the
current be out, there is a heavy suction from the ocean and they are carried
away, often never to be seen again. It is no wonder that the rocks are called

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104 Robert We s s ing

watu mayit (corpse rocks) and the gate is known as pelawang maut (the gate of
death) (Tim Liberty 1992c: 16 ; Fury Afrianto 1990:3 1)/9)
Reliable figures are difficult to come by, but accidents and deaths are
regular occurrences. Local authorities gave me the following figures : 1986 -
17 dead, 1987 - 37, 1988 - 30, 1989 - 29 and 1990 - 13 dead (to August 5th).
Others claimed 32 dead in 1987 and 29 in 1988 (Fury Afrianto 1990:33) and a
local newspaper reported that 10 people died between August and October
1992 {Surya 1992b:9). The worst months, according to local information, are
July and August, which are also the months of least rain and thus lowest water
in the rivers (Van der Stok 1897:charts).
Clearly, going out to sea brings significant hazards from which the
fishermen need protection and which need an explanation. While people in
Puger are aware of some of the tales about Nyai Roro Kidul mentioned above,
and some even referred to the story of her liaison with Panembahan Senapati,
their explanations of local events tended to involve the spirit world
encompassed by the local area of Puger and its relation to the Spirit Queen.
One young man in Puger told me that he thought that the beliefs about Nyai
Roro Kidul had originated in Puger, because, he claimed, this area receives,
comparatively, the largest waves in East Java.

The Queen, the Pelawangan and the Spirit Guards

Nyai Roro Kidul, then, is thought to be the ruler of all the spirits on Java,
especially the ones along the southern coast. Some special ones among these
have a permanent location along the coast, while others are her palace
servants, warriors and the like. In addition to those taken at sea, people in
Puger are often possessed by Nyai Roro Kidul and some who work in her
palace do not go there in body, but only in spirit. There they cut grass, herd
cattle and the like.
One occasionally hears tales of women being taken, even invited, to join
the courtiers in her underwater Palace ; according to local lore she wants a
virgin each year. Primarily, however, she takes young men, whom she is said
to marry, one after the other. Should the victim already have a family ashore,
his body is returned to wash up on the beach. The bodies of single men are
never found again ; they were invited to come and play in the palace.
As was mentioned, she does not like people to wear green along the beach,
as this is her favorite color, worn by her warriors, and she is likely to take an
offender in anger (Intisari 1991:129). She also does not just take any kind of
man, but prefers young, good-looking ones for her prospective husbands
(Sentot Js. 1992:15). Their personality seems to matter less, however. Local

9. It has been suggested, among others by the Bupati (regent) of Jember (Surya 1991a:9) that this
hazard might be removed by, for instance, exploding the rocks. A study to this end was made by
the Indonesian navy in 1990, but while a detailed report, including cost estimates up to Rp.
15.000.000 (ca. US $ 7.500.-) exists, nothing had been done about it by the time I left East Java in
1993. Objections to this project included environmental concerns as well as the idea that if the
rocks were removed the boats would only run into Mt. Watangan instead. Local people further
objected that these rocks belong to Nyai Roro Kidul' s servants and to disturb them would be to
invite disaster (cf. Soetikno 1990:2-3, 5).

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 105

1>\W'<O>
V

Mt.Wotangon

The Mouth of the Bedadung River and the Pelawangan

informants claim that those taken at sea tend to be over-confident and careless.
Intisari (1991:129) calls them hotheads (kemende) and those pretending to be
superior (sokjagoan), even screaming to Nyai Roro Kidul to show herself. (10)
Inside, adds Surya (1992a: 8), they are empty and reckless.
Even though they have gone to the Queen's palace, the victims are not
necessarily dead. Panembahan Senapati, it must be remembered, spent three
days and nights there before returning to found his kingdom. Those who now
live in the palace may be contacted in a trance, while unconscious (semapui)
or in a fever.
Another reason she demands these victims is as a sacrifice (tumbal) in
return for the abundant harvest of fish that she allows to be caught. She

10. Such behavior, said to especially occur among young men, is felt to be quite improper in
Javanese culture, which demands respectful behavior from the young. In acting " un- Javanese "
therefore, these young men somehow stand outside, beyond the protection of society and are thus
liable to punishment by the spirit world (cf. Wessing, 1995).

Archipel 53, Paris 1997

 106 Robert Wessing

determines as many victims as she wants and until she has taken her fill,
usually somewhere around 25 lives, there will not be large catches. The
victims, then, can be seen to serve the dual functions of sexual partners as well
as payment for the wealth she provides.
To summarize, Nyai Roro Kidul is commonly thought to take lives,
especially of young men, as a sacrifice in return for the abundance she
provides from her realm. These young men serve in her palace as either lovers
or soldiers, or perhaps both.
These are not the only ideas about her current in Puger, however. She is the
ruler of the ocean and protectress of the villagers. She is a mother and we are
her children, who honor her, they say. Sentot Js (1992:17) similarly reports
that not all agree with the picture of her as a harvester of sexual partners and
he claims that Nyai Roro Kidul is not an evil being. Perhaps, he continues,
those who take the young men are devils or her servants, but not Nyai Roro
Kidul, because she is not cruel. She brings wealth, Sentot's informants said,
but for this she demands a sacrifice which may consist of an offering or, if this
is not forthcoming, a human life.
This idea of protection agrees with her own presentation of herself as the
patroness of the sea (Olthof 1987:80), which was beautifully depicted in a
painting I saw in a restaurant in Probolinggo, in East Java. In this picture, in
which she was dressed in green with half her body above water, she towered
over a three-mast ship that lay in the protection of the crook of her right arm
while her left arm was stretched out, holding off a storm. One possible
conclusion, therefore, is that she is indeed seen not as evil but as beneficent, if
one obeys her rules. Those taken at sea were perhaps bad sailors who with
their reckless behavior endangered the lives of their ship-mates.

Local Guardians
We must now turn our attention to the spirits along the coast and in Puger
that are ruled by Nyai Roro Kidul. Among these we must differentiate between
spirits belonging to Puger proper, i.e. those of the founder and his companions,
who here do not have a direct connection with the Spirit Queen, and those that
stand in an immediate relationship to her.

Village Spirits
First of all, the southern coast is not an undifferentiated whole. Rather, it is
divided up among different spirits that each have their own territory. The area
around Ambulu, to the east of Puger, is thought to belong to the spirit Sri
Tanjung, who originally came from Banyuwangi, further to the east.^11) To the
west, Puger' s borders are guarded by Joko Tamu (or Embah Jaduk), who lies

11. Sri Tanjung, according to informants, was the wife of the Patih (chief minister) of the
kingdom of Banyuwangi. The king of Banyuwangi desired her and sent her husband away on a
mission. When the Patih came back, the king told how Sri Tanjung had tempted him which she
denied. The Patih took her into the forest near a river and persisted in the accusations. Finally she
told him to kill her. If her blood stank this would be evidence of her guilt but if it were fragrant,
it would prove her innocence. The Patih killed her and threw her body into the river, giving the

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 107

buried at Mojosari. Even further west, at Ngliyep, the coast is guarded by

Kanjeng Ratu Mas who always wears purple and is said to be Nyai Roro
Kidul's right hand (Ayiek Syarifuddin and Fury Afrianto 1992:40). Finally,
the offshore island of Nusa Barongan is the territory of the spirit of a dragon
(Surya 1991b:8).<12>

Pembabat, Dhanyang and Dhemit

Before introducing the various local spirits, three general types must be
pointed out. It is generally believed on Java that before the arrival of people,
the whole island was populated by spirits. With the coming of humans and
their settlements some of these spirits are said to have been asked to move
elsewhere, both to the mountains and to the south coast. With other spirits, the
incoming human communities forged an alliance, usually through the agency
of the founder (pembabat) of the community, the one who first opened the
forest in an area.(13> The spirit with whom the alliance was entered into was
the tutelary spirit or owner of the territory brought into the human domain.
This spirit, in cooperation with the spirit of the founder, is thought to protect
the community from natural disasters and to maintain the fertility and thus the
prosperity of the human group as well as safeguarding the spirit world beyond
the community from unwarranted intrusions by humans. On the village level
this spirit is called dhanyang while on a higher, state level it is called dhemit.
Dhanyang have relationships with village founders and the succeeding village
heads while dhemit have similar relations with the founders of states and the
ruling dynasty that follows them. From the foregoing discussion, then, Nyai
Roro Kidul would be classified as a dhemit, as is indicated by her relationship
with the rulers of Java.
The spirit of the founder of a village also plays a crucial role, in
cooperation with the dhanyang, in the future welfare of the community. Often
indeed the spirit of the founder merges with the dhanyang into a dhanyang-
leluhur, the ancestral dhanyang. The founder's spirit is responsible for the
maintenance of custom (adat), these days including a proper adherence to the
tenets of the dominant religion, Islam, as a village can only prosper, both
materially and spiritually, through a faithful observance of ancestral rules. In
order to keep these spirits well disposed toward the villagers, offerings were
traditionally made at the location where these spirits were thought to reside, a
spot indicated by an offering stone (punden). These days, under pressure of
Islamic teaching, these offerings have been abandoned or are made less
obviously (cf. Wessing:in preparation) All three then, pembabat, dhanyang,

water a sweet scent, which lent its name to the river, Banyuwangi (fragrant water). Her soul
became a tutelary spirit of that area (cf. Prijono 1938). For a rather different myth about the origin
of this name, see Clifford (1931).
12f Nusa Barongan is also where most of the spirits of the whole area seem to have moved after
electric lights were installed in the villages and the whole of East Java became too ramai
(lively)for the spirit's tastes (cf. Wessing, 1995).
13. This definition of the dhanyang as a nature spirit is the usual one given in the literature which,
since the point is not crucial, I will follow here. There are, however, reasons for doubting this
characterization that will be discussed further elsewhere (Wessing in preparation).

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108 Robert Wessing

and dhemit protect and watch over their respective territories and assure the
continued welfare of the inhabitants.

Embah Tanjung and Kapten Srampon

In the area between Sri Tanjung and Joko Tamu, the area of Puger proper, a
number of spirits are found that have a direct relationship to the existence of
the village. The primary one is called Embah Tanjung, the founder (pembabat)
of Puger.
Most refer to him as a man who is locally counted among the wali (holy-
men) who brought Islam to Java and was there before the Wali Songo, the nine
holymen traditionally credited with converting Java to Islam. It is said that he
was either a man of Mandar or Buginese extraction, a ruler (raja) from
Blambangan in the east or that he came from Surakarta, on the run from the
Dutch whom he opposed before Prince Diponegoro did so.(14)
His grave used to be located on Mt. Watangan, along with that of his wife,
Dewi Sadiah. For the convenience of the many pilgrims who come there
seeking his spirit's blessing for health and wealth, it was said, they were
moved to a more accessible location in the Watangan forest. As founder of
Puger, his spirit is dominant among the ones said to reside there and, like
founders of villages elsewhere on Java, he is thought to guard the environs of
his village, here Mt. Watangan and all of Puger, and to protect those who live
in the village that he founded, as long as they obey the customary rules.
When founding Puger, Embah Tanjung had several companions, one of
whom was called Kapten Srampon. This Kapten was reportedly caught by the
Dutch and tortured. Even though the Dutch wanted him dead, the tale goes,
they could not kill him. Finally, tiring of all this, Kapten Srampon told his
captors to cut him into three pieces and bury these quite far from each other,
otherwise he would come alive again. This they did; his head lies buried in
Jakarta, his body in Puger and his legs in Mojosari/15) It is sometimes said
that his spirit now guards the pelawangan from one of the rocks.

14. He died while leaning on a tanjung tree (Mimusops elengi), which is why he is now known as
Embah Tanjung. Important figures are often known by the place where they are buried or by some
special circumstance surrounding their death. There is some confusion about the identity of this
person, who is variously also known as Senapati Pangeran Puger, Suryonoto, Hadisuryo, and
Sayid Al-Hinduan. Of these, Pangeran Puger was a historical personage who, contrary to the
wishes of the V.O.C., the Dutch East Indies trading company, was made Susuhunan of Mataram in
1677. This caused a conflict with the Dutch that was not resolved until 1681 (Stapel 1930:114-
116), probably giving rise to the current tale that the founder of Puger was on the run from the
Dutch. It is, however, not clear that Pangeran Puger was the founder of Puger, as his grave does
not lie near Mt. Watangan. It is likely that various persons are collapsed into one in this folk-
history. Others say that King Tawang Alun of Blambangan at the very eastern tip of Java
meditated (bertapa) on Mt. Watangan, accompanied by a woman, Sekar Tanjung, who in this tale
is the same person as Embah Tanjung. This could, of course, also refer to the Sri Tanjung figure
mentioned above. The connection with the Tanjung tree mentioned above is further interesting
because, as De Casparis (1956:304, n. 94) points out, in Old Javanese literature this tree is
connected with temple sites and royal courtyards and is considered as " the place where God would
descend when coming to earth, using it both as a ladder and as a payung [parasol] (1956:304, 324).
15. These themes of the hero who could not die and had to advise his captors on how to kill him
and the hero who had to be cut up are common themes in Indonesian mythology (cf. Wessing
1988a:161-163; 1988b:50).

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 109

It is possible, however, that Embah Tanjung and Kapten Srampon were the
same person. Like the Kapten, Embah Tanjung is sometimes said to guard one
of the rocks in the pelawangan, and the identical tale of the butchery of his
body is told of Embah Tanjung, except that the enemy was Adipati Ronggo
Jali.

Embah Demang
Another companion was Embah Demang, a Madurese from Sumenep whose
function was to prepare offerings for Embah Tanjung. The Javanese word
demang means secondary official or district-head, something like a camat
today. He was therefore probably a lesser member of Embah Tanjung's court,
perhaps in charge of ritual matters. Offerings are brought to him every
SeninlManis and KamislManisS^ A person having bad dreams should bring
an offering to him and recite certain Koranic verses while looking three times
to the left and right and spitting. He used to have apunden (offering stone) but
this was destroyed during the political troubles of 1965.

Pancoran Jenggot
The above two or three spirits are what might be called the " village
spirits " of Puger. The other ones frequently mentioned relate especially to the
pelawangan. Of these Pancoran Jenggot is an interesting case, because he is
listed as a associate of Embah Tanjung who stood watch on the coast against
attacks by the Dutch. Because his grave is underneath the water, near the
pelawangan, he is known as the man in the sea {lelaki dalam laut). His spirit
guards the gate from a position on the peninsula opposite the rocks. Because of
his guardian position on the land and his otherwise ill-defined relationship
with Embah Tanjung, this figure may well be the local dhanyang, although he
was not indicated as such by local informants, who did not mention the
dhanyang as such at all.

Embah Jirin and Embah Jiem and Srigati

The guardian (penunggu) of the Watu Lumbung is Embah Jirin, who is
venerated by the people. He was able to walk on water and could calm the
waters when it stormed. He died near the pelawangan and now guards it from
his rock.
His wife was Embah Jiem, who also had supernatural powers (sakti). Her
name is probably a form of the word jin (genie), which in current Javanese
usage indicates spirits in general. Her location is not clear.
The rock Watu Rasul is the seat of Srigati, the spirit of a person with great
supernatural powers, who now waits on Nyai Roro Kidul with great devotion.

16. The Javanese know several kinds of 'weeks,' one of which corresponds to the western seven
day one (Minggu, Sunday; Senin, Monday; Selasa, Tuesday; Rabu, Wednesday; Kamis,
Thursday ; Jumat, Friday; Sabtu, Saturday) and another one that has five days : Pon, Wage,
Kliwon, Manis
charged in different
and Pahing.
ways. Combinations
Both types ofofdays
themhave
are numerical
used in fortune
valuestelling
and areandcosmologically
to determine
ritually auspicious days.

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 110 Robert Wessing

According to Van Iperen (1825), Srigati is the hero-son of Dewa Vishnu from
a marriage with the beautiful human maiden Putri Midang from the court of
Watu Gunung, the first ruler of Java. The Watu Rasul is also the rock that is
the focus of many offerings and ceremonial meals (selamatan; Jav. rasul;
Mad. rasol) because it seems to create most problems.

Telenges
Telenges (also Celenges) is a member of the Spirit Queen's entourage, who
resides on the rock Watu Mandi. The Javanese word teleng means the deepest
point of, for example, a lake or the sea (Pigeaud n.d.:560), and thus the name
seems to point to the dangerous channel that the fishermen must use when they
come in. She was a person who became murca (possessed) and whose body
disappeared. Her spirit may still sometimes be seen on the shore, in the form
of an old woman, walking with a cane. Contrary to when she was alive and
used to cure people, Telenges is not a helpful spirit, but a rather ambivalent
lelembut. One should be polite to her or she will become angry and curse one.
In Puger it is told that Telenges, Embah Jirin, like Nyai Roro Kidul, wanted to
live forever which is the reason they became spirits. Note that Embah Jirin,
Srigati, Telenges, as well as Pancoran Jenggot and the dhanyang-leluhur
mentioned above, are all spoken off as having been living people of some
renown even though they now function in the realm of the spirits. This
phenomenon, in which the spirits of people turn into nature spirits instead of
ancestors is not unknown elsewhere in Southeast Asia (cf. Heine-Geldern
1917:26) and may be accounted for by the fact that the two categories are in
some way related to each other, on Java through Semar (C. Geertz 1960:23 ;
cf. Schefold 1989).
If we combine the figures of Embah Tanjung and the Kapten and place them
on the mountain, where they properly should be, along with Embah Demang, the
primary guardians of the pelawangan are Embah Jirin, Srigati, and Telenges on
the east side, and Pancoran Jenggot in the water and on the peninsula opposite.
These, according to a local curer (dukuri) are the only spirits to have any direct
connection with Nyai Roro Kidul. The others, such as Embah Demang and the
Kapten are part of the local spirit population and have their own functions, such
as bringing cures and watching over the general welfare, and are, of course,
always remembered when offerings are brought to the spirits.
When necessary these primary guardians are aided by Nyai Roro Kidul's
legions, because, according to local belief, the pelawang is the gateway to the
realm of the Southern Ocean. There are some, Fury (1990:33) reports, who
have seen the cluster of rocks suddenly change into a large gate, guarded by
many soldiers.
The Pelawangan must therefore be seen as the interface between the
community of Puger, successor to Embah Tanjung's domain, and the realm of
Nyai Roro Kidul. Both sides supply spirit guardians to watch over this
boundary because, looked at from another perspective, the pelawangan is also
the gate to Puger, and thus properly guarded by the spirits of the founder's
companions. This may be the reason why Embah Tanjung and the Kapten are

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 111

sometimes said to be at the rocks as well ; as founders they have the duty of
guarding the vital access to the village, while as spirits all of them fall under
the rule of Nyai Roro Kidul as well.
These spirit guardians receive frequent homage in the form of offerings that
are brought to Embah Demang every Senin/Manis and KamislManis. This may
not be forgotten because spirits generally, and perhaps especially boundary
guardians, tend to be very touchy about being paid the proper respect. Nyai
Roro Kidul and her followers are honored once a year during Sura, the first
month of the Javanese year.

Nabi Khidir and Nabi Ilys

The two domains of land and sea are also spoken of as divided between two
Muslim saints, Nabi Khidir and Nabi Ilys (or Ilias). Nabi Khidir, who
originated in the Middle East is said to be green, Nyai Roro Kidul's favorite
color, a condition he attained after bathing in the spring of eternal life. He
lives on an island and may originally have been a marine entity. He is referred
to as the patron of sailors and may be appealed to during storms (Wensinck
1978:905). He is also called God's representative on the sea and his wakil
(deputy) on the dry land, who protects people from theft, drowning, fire,
snakes, scorpions, kings and devils (Hooykaas 1937:183), some of which we
saw earlier as functions performed by Nyai Roro Kidul.
In his search for the spring of eternal life, Nabi Khidir is said to have been
accompanied, among others, by Alexander the Great and by Elijah, the latter
also being known as Ilys (Wensinck 1978:904), who also became immortal
(Hooykaas 1937:182). The two are also said to be brothers (Boratov 1986:5)
and may even be the same person (Wensinck 1978:904). In any case, they
share many attributes, such as responsibility for fertility and abundance and
the care for those who are in danger on the sea (Boratov 1986:5).
Tradition holds that the tasks of caring for the land and the sea were
divided among them ; Ilyas was to be the guardian spirit of the sea and Khidir
of the land, but these positions are usually reversed (Boratov 1986:5) ; in Java
Nabi Ilias, the ruler of the forests, was traditionally asked for permission to
make a clearing in the forest for a new settlement by the founder (Boeke
1937:806) while Nabi Khidir is the ruler of the sea. In Puger therefore, Nabi
Ilys and Embah Tanjung form a natural combination, while both Nabi Khidir
and Nyai Roro Kidul (as well as the spirits on the rocks) are entities who
originated on the dry land, he as its protective spirit and she as a princess of a
kingdom, who were then transformed into guardian spirits of the sea.
Aside from their similarity as rulers of the sea, there is also a mythological
connection between Nyai Roro Kidul and Nabi Khidir, primarily via the Indian
version of his myth in which he is a river-god on an island in the river Indus
(Hooykaas 1937:182). Nabi Khidir married the daughter of Batara Gangga (the
Lord of the Ganges) and this union produces the Putri Jungjung Buih, who is
one incarnation of the Spirit Queen (Jordaan and De Josselin de Jong 1985:285).
In the spirit-geography of Puger, when Nabi Khidir and Nabi Ilyas are not
mentioned, Nyai Roro Kidul is depicted as being in all of the sea as well as on

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 112 Robert Wessing

the whole of the southern shore. The central position is then taken by her
spirits that guard the shore and the pelawangan. When the nabi are mentioned,
Khidir controls all of the sea and Ilys the land, while Nyai Roro Kidul is
portrayed in the central position, between the sea and the shore. In this case,
according to one informant, she is located at the first three rocks in the
pelawangan, and thus she is subsumed among the spirits that she rules, both
those of the sea and of the land.

Women and Spirits

At this point we must shift our focus from the concerns of sailors at sea to
life in the community, because, as ruler of the spirits of the land, Nyai Roro
Kidul influences affairs there as well. In this part of the discussion, two things
must be kept in mind : first, that Nyai Roro Kidul is a spirit and that spirits are
somehow related to people and second, that this Spirit Queen is a woman. For
this reason we must briefly look at the role of women in the development of
the human spirit on Java. These are obviously very broad topics that can only
be touched upon here and are being developed in greater detail elsewhere
(Wessing in preparation). (17)
To begin with, we may discern two categories of spirits on Java : nature
spirits and human ones, the latter category subsuming two sub-categories,
namely ancestors and living people. The two major categories are in some way
related to each other. While these days people are said to have souls {ruh,
jiwa, sukma, etc.), the relation of the Javanese to the spirit world in fact
becomes much clearer if we understand people to be just another category of
spirits, those inhabiting bodies. The source of this human spirit for each
individual is the person's mother. From her flow the person's inner qualities
(batin) that are the essence of the spirit. These, however, do not originate with
her, but flow through her from the ancestors, especially those in the female
line. It is only when we keep the above in mind that we can understand the
informants' statements that follow.
The home, as has been discussed before (i.e. Wessing 1978:53-63), has two
aspects, namely a male, outer one and a female, inner one. Within the home it
is generally the wife or mother who has the dominant spiritual influence, while
outside it the men commonly have a primary voice in political and public
matters. It is in fact the woman who is seen as primarily responsible for the
proper upbringing of the children, ensuring that they know the ancestral
customs \adat) on which the welfare of the community is based (H. Geertz
1961:105-107). In seeking wives for one's sons one looks at the mother of the
prospective bride, to see how she maintains the traditions, including, from a
man's point of view, whether she is devoted (berbakt) to her husband. Thus

17. It should be pointed out here that these data were collected from male informants and that a
female point of view, to which I did not have access, might well be quite different. It should also
be noted that some of the data to be presented in this section did not come from the general 'man
in the street'. Rather, they were obtained from some of the more spiritual leaders of the
community who serve as reference points for the larger population.

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 113

Gow (1992:1) writes about Nyai Roro Kidul that she is depicted as the
stereotype of the traditional woman, dedicated to her husband.
Nyai or nyi, observed one of my informants, can indicate both a married
woman and a penguasa (holder of power). The Javanese conception of married
women is as a symbol of fertility through their wadah or rahim (womb). The
woman is the konco wingking, the friend at the rear, innermost part of- the
house. She is the one who cools one's frustrations but also the one who holds
the purse strings and pressures one for money. (18) She may at the same time be
lemah lembut (graceful, kindhearted) and murko duroko (angry, selfish and
sinful), the cause of the breakup of the home(19), especially when she is
unfaithful.
This ambivalent view of women, who, according to both male and female
informants, are moreover often seen as sexually much more passionate
(bernafsu) than men (H. Geertz 1961:1 19) C20)^ corresponds closely with the
picture of Nyai Roro Kidul as a good woman who is the source of fertility but
at the same time represents danger, both physical and sexual (cf. Jordaan
1984:104). Given that the women shape the spirits of the children, these are
important considerations.
Nyai Roro Kidul symbolizes the human being, said an informant, in that
she reflects the person's physical desires. The human being consists of three
things; the body or self, life and sustenance, and awareness or intelligence,
which he called Nur Ilahi, the ray of godliness. If these three are in balance,
the person's life will be harmonious and the search for life and sustenance (i.e.
the relationship with Nyai Roro Kidul) will be selamat (blessed).
If, however, one seeks prosperity without reference to Nur Ilahi or to the
self, the body will be destroyed. This, he went on, is what is meant by Nyai
Roro Kidul' s anger and greed. Without Nur people are not aware of their
limitations so that they become arrogant and get into accidents at the
pelawangan and at sea. This is where the danger lies.
Given that the woman is seen as shaping the human spirit, including its
awareness of the spiritual, i.e. Nur Ilahi in the Islamic context or more
generally kesakten (cosmic power), her position is of considerable importance.
She represents the link between the world and the supernatural {manunggaling
dunyo), said the first informant. She is the fount of cosmic power because
there is much of alam sakti (supernatural realm) within her.
Nyai Roro Kidul is seen as located between the (physical world) bawono
lahiriah, the bawono lenggeng (realm of the gods) and the bawono rohaniah
(the place of the ancestral spirits). She is the boundary, which is why she is
located on the border, at the pelawangan, the meeting point between the river

coffers
18. Keeler
is the(1987:53)
most common
notesreason
that the
for husband's
divorce on Java.
failure to keep money coming into the family
19. This is reminiscent of the tales in which the princess who is to become Nyai Roro Kidul is
forced to leave the palace owing to a woman's machinations.
20. For a similar perception of women in Thailand, see Terwiel (1994:18) : "...those [spirits] who
had a great amount of greed in matters of sensual craving changed into women, while those who
had a lesser amount of greed in sexual matters became men..."

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 114 Robert We ssing

Bedadung and the Indian Ocean. She stands between the sea and the land,
between Nabi Khidir and Nabi Ilyas, and this is, of course, precisely the
source of her ambiguity.

Acts of Assuagement
This ambiguity, which lies at the very heart of human life in Puger, cannot
be resolved. Attempts are made, however, to alleviate it at least temporarily.
Sailors seek protection from amulets made for them by local kyai (person
learned in Islam). These might consist of green bells containing yellow kernels
of maize and green or yellow flags that, properly prayed over, offer protection
against large waves. (21> Offerings are furthermore made, both to the spirits at
the rocks and to the protector of Puger, Embah Tanjung.
It is recognized that Nyai Roro Kidul must be recompensed for the bounty
the sea provides and that this is the reason that she takes human lives. How
many she will demand is uncertain, but it is hoped that the number can perhaps
be limited by offering her a public sacrifice in a ceremony called selamatan
pancer (a feast of thanksgiving and an exorcism of the beach), held during the
month Sura. It would take us too far afield to describe this ceremony fully
here, but it must be noted that Sura, as the first month of the Javanese year, is
a liminal period which according to Tim Liberty (1992a: 15), has an aura of
sacredness to the Javanese. It is a month full of challenges and people believe
that during this month more accidents, evil, and disasters happen than at other
times. It is also the month during which amulets must be cared for and bathed
(Bamar Eska n.d.:181-182).(22)
The ceremony centers around the launching (labuhari) <23) of a model
fisher's boat, laden with offerings symbolizing various aspects of the life in
Puger. Two of these, a red umbrella and king's bananas (pisang raja; a form
of Musa paradisiaca) refer to Nyai Roro Kidul and her royal status. Two
others, consisting of various fruits of the earth, indicate fertility and the
agricultural aspect of life in Puger. A further four, black coffee, betel leaf and
its accompaniments (sirih), ritual flowers (kembang te Ion) and sweets are the
gifts usually given to spirits invited to ritual events.
A next category deals with Islam and consists of porridge (jenang) in five
colors : red, to indicate the soul, black as a symbol of light (nuriah), white
refers to the light of the Prophet (Nur Muhammad), green to the Prophet's
authority (Wahyu Nabi), and yellow indicates guidance or leadership (Nur
Mahd), placing these proceedings centrally under the banner of Islam.

21. It is not allowed, on the other hand, to bring a life-vest aboard the boat, as this would be a
prediction of disaster. Other prohibitions include bringing a rice-cooking pot aboard which would
bring on large waves. Eating fish while at sea causes the catch to be small.
22. This is also done during muludan, the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birth and death
day (cf. Wessing 1978:98).
23. Pigeaud (n.d.:225) links labuh with offerings, i.e. on a mountain or in the water, but further on
also glosses it with the start of the rainy season (Sept-Oct), a time of beginnings, i.e. a liminal
time. Since most of the accidents seem to occur as a result of low water during the dry season, the
labuhan ceremony may also be a plea for rain.

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 115

The fifth and last categoryjefers to people : a goat's or buffalo's head and
its blood as a substitute for the lives the Queen takes at sea ; two dolls made of
dough (golekan) representing a bride and groom, for the virgins and young
men she desires ; kupat lepet, rice cooked in leaves, symbolic of joy and
sorrow; kelapa gading, a kind of coconut, representing the body and the soul ;
a red and white flag as well as red and white porridge, indicating femaleness
and maleness (blood and semen); a live, white chicken and a black, roasted
one, signifying life itself and the sacrifice of it in the offering; and finally
damar kambang (incense) symbolizing the spiritual tie to the ancestors. Note
that almost all the items in this final category refer to either sexual duality
(male and female) or to the duality of the body and the soul.
The launching of the model boat is preceded by an all-night wayang
(shadow puppet) presentation <24) in the balai desa (village hall) as well as, for
the younger people, a gandrung dance performance, featuring beautiful, nubile
but (at least in theory) virginal dancers (Scholte 1927). During this time the
laden model boat stands at the rear of the balai desa, surrounded by model
houses into which the next day food offerings brought by the general populace
are placed. These are decorated with symbols of domesticity and the ancestors,
the latter in the form of a tiger.
At first light, a second, special wayang using the story (lakori) Murkawala
is presented, to ruwat (exorcise) evil and disorder from the village. After this,
the model boat and the structures filled with food are carried around the
village, preceded by the gandrung dancers, likely symbolic of fertility, and
accompanied by village officials and the general public. A stop is made at the
kecamatan (district) office where the district head makes a speech, invoking
such national symbols as development and national unity (Panca Sila), placing
these events symbolically in a national context. After this the model boat is
brought aboard one of the fishing boats of Puger' s fleet and a prayer is said by
one of the ritual specialists, in which God, the earth, sky, Adam and Eve are
addressed and offered the fruits in the boat, begging their aid in securing
protection from all evil for the people of Puger/25) This boat, followed by a
large part of the fleet, then sails to the peninsula at the pelawangan, the location
of Pancoran Jenggot. Here the offerings are landed, more prayers are said, and
the dancers dance in the possible presence of the village dhanyang until the
model boat is brought back aboard the fishing boat which then sails through the

24. I use the word presentation rather than the more commonly used performance or play (cf.
Keeler 1987:3 ; Ulbricht 1970:xv) because wayang is a making present, an actualization of events
that, from another point of view, did not necessarily occur at the same time or in the present. I am
indebted here to a long-ago conversation with Dr. John Emigh of Brown University. See also
Becker 1979:223-224.
25. Dumatheng bumi pertiwi, bopo koso, ibu pertiwi, bopo Adam ibu Hawa, sampun kaget gingsir
kulo asum pasugatan ngaturi kasumerapan segul suko prawito saringe dupo, monggo.
Ageng ingkang kulo suwun kedhik ingkang kulo athuraken milo kulo ngaturi kasumrapan dathang
panjenengan sedaya, kulo suwun sawipipun Ian dayanipun mugi sageto ingkang sedaya
kawilujenganipun sedaya rakyat Puger Kulon ingkang dathos wewengkonipun Bapak Imam
Djoeremi ingkang wonten pertanian soho ingkang wonten nelayan sedaya sageto angsal
pangayomanipun Gusti ingkang Maha Agung sampun ngantos wonten balak sengkala ingkang
tumomo.

Archipel 53, Paris 1997

 116 Robert Wessing

pelawangan out to sea. Here, about 150 meters out, the offerings are launched,
after which the fishing boat returns to port and the ceremony is over.

Conclusion
In Puger, as we have seen, Nyai Roro Kidul embodies the various
contradictions and vicissitudes of life ; in her those aspects of life that are
locally most important are highlighted and accounted for. Like any
supernatural or Cosmic power, hers is both a positive and a negative force,
depending on the context. She is the demure, faithful, loving woman within
whom a sexual wanton may hide. She is the source of a great part of the
community's livelihood and prosperity, within which lie danger and death. She
brings disaster along with abundance, and yet, because she is a protectress as
well as a good mother, disaster is visited on those who deserve it ; the vain and
arrogant (takabur), in the words of one informant, who are out of touch with
God's light. When one's soul is in balance, he said, in touch with Nur Ilahi,
good things come forth from Nyai Roro Kidul. However, when one is out of
touch with God, and becomes arrogant, she brings one down (diterjang). This
is where the danger lies.
The exchange across the pelawangan is one of life for life, because for the
life she provides in the form of good catches, she demands sacrifices from the
community; the lives of fishers and/or an annual offering. Note that the
contents of the offering-boat mirror the community of Puger and can be
understood to be a model of that community. It contains substitutes for humans
in the form of a goat's head and the two dolls while life itself is represented by
the live chicken. It furthermore contains symbols of rulers, sociability,
religion, the agricultural component of the village, and humanity that taken
together and placed in a model fishing boat, form a statement about what and
who the people of Puger are. These are paraded around the village and placed
in a wider, national context by the speeches made at the camat's office. After
this they are carried across the pelawangan in a fisher's boat which, as
Dominikus Rato (1991) has shown, is itself a model of the larger cosmos of
which both Puger and Nyai Roro Kidul are part, and they are offered to the
spirit world in the hope that all will be well. But as the Spirit Queen waxes and
wanes with the phases of the moon and the cycle of the seasons, discrepancies
and chaotic elements reappear in the social fabric of the community that must,
in the end, be expelled with another ruwatan (exorcism) and another offer (cf.
Hubert and Mauss 1981:89, 93).

Sageto kales lir ing Sambikala. Penghasilan ingkan wonten laut, sageto malimpah-limpah Ian
sadaya nelayan bidal Ian wangsulanipun sageto pinaringan rahayu selamat. Selamat sangking
kersani Gusti Allah. Kados sampun cekap athur kulo, pilih wonten lepet kula mugi dingampunten
langkulonyun gungik pangaksami. Assalamalaikum.
Such offerings are not unknown elsewhere as well. Cf. Hosen Hory (1992); Ahmad Baraas 1992;
Schipper n.d.; Kusnadi 1992). As Dr. Roy Jordaan pointed out to me, the word pasugatan in this
prayer may be an indication that the ceremony is much older than the Islamic era on Java. He
linked the word with sogata (Buddhist) and kasogatan (the Buddhists, Buddhist foundation,
monastery) (Zoetmulder 1982,11:1802-1803).

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 Nyai Roro Kidul in Puger 117

Yet, informants say that the prayers are made to God and that Nyai Roro
Kidul is His instrument. The scope of her rule, under God, over both spirits of
the land and of the sea, added to the contradictions she embodies, allow her to
participate in the power of Islam and give her an extraordinary multi-vocality,
which is the source of her power as a mythological figure who cannot be
denied, because the myth in which she lives gives expression to the truths of
life in Puger.

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