One Idea at a Time

Before, I share a story about my first date with mahabarata tale around twenty years ago. That time, I thought that Mahabarata is an epic originated from Indonesia because in my grandfather era, the mahabarata story is a favorite show for Javanese society. They played part of mahabarata episode in many ways, as a puppets show (wayang golek and wayang kulit) and also as a drama played by persons (wayang orang and kethoprak).

I remember, when I was a kid, there was no television in my hometown. Only the chief of village had a television. Thus every afternoon, many kids gathered at his house to see television. It was black and white television with only one channel. Still it was very interesting show available at that time. I thought that situation can explain why wayang golek, wayang kulit and wayang orang were the favorite shows in the past time. Those were the only entertainment available for the society.

Wayang golek was a wooded puppets show to tell the story of mahabarata episode. Interested to know more about wayang golek. I just find a great website about wayang golek. If we visit www.wayanggolek,net, we will find many names of mahabarata characters. Wikipedia also have explanation about wayang golek in Indonesian language or in English.  

Wayang kulit  is a puppet show. The puppet is made from leather. It was two dimensional puppets. The show usually plays mahabarata episodes. The show usually will be held in the open area, like field or open theatre, and the usual show time is the whole night. Usually they will be started around nine PM and will be finished the next morning, may be two or three AM.

When I was a teenager, I really do not know that actually the mahabarata story that was played in every village through wayang orang or wayang kulit have came from India! Yes, there is a little deviation from the original story, but still all the characters are same.