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Old 15th September 2019, 12:40 PM   #17
Gustav
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,192
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Alan, thank you once more - actually I understand quite well all you have written in your last posts - I would say, it's the basic knowledge for somebody, who is really interested in Wayang.

Once more - the reason why all this started is my fundamental problem to understand just your sentence:

"This is where the problem arises, because it seems probable that the comic nature of the wayang panakawans did not arise until wayang golek was replaced by wayang purwa in the 15th century in Demak, the replacement occurred because of Raden Patah's prohibition that applied to the wayang golek puppets."

Please correct me if I am wrong -

Wayang Golek in context of Wayang is a PUPPET constructed in a specific style from specific materials.

Wayang Purwa IS NOT A PUPPET, in context of Wayang it is a certain repertoire, a compendium of stories (presented using puppets or dancers, as per Zoetmulder, who forgets Wayang Beber). How can a puppet be replaced by a repertoire? This is my first problem with your sentence.

My second problem - the Wayang Purwa repertoire is the main repertoire of Wayang. It absolutely surely existed in Majapahit and before Majapahit. Why should Raden Patah replace something (you write Wayang Golek, a puppet style) with a repertoire (Wayang Purwa), which was ancient already in Raden Patah's time, was anyway the main repertoire and moreover deals with non-Islamic themes?

My third problem: I have not seen any academic publication, in fact no publication, which would mention Wayang Golek puppet style before Raden Patah's time, in Raden Patah's time, and at about a century after Raden Patah's time. Nothing similar to Wayang Golek is known on Bali (except for 4 modern performances between 1995 and 1998), which most probably would be the case if Wayang Golek or some kind of "puppets in the round", as you write, would have existed in Majapahit. There seems to be an general agreement that Wayang Golek with a quite big certainty originated in West Java and specifically in Cirebon, the puppet construction style is close to Chinese puppet construction style and the big part of repertoire played with these puppets is Islamic/deals with Islamisation of Java.

I hope I explained my thoughts clearly this time.
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