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Bathari Guru or Permaisuri Retno Dewi Utami
(Panuju, 2004) The women who also had a very
close relation to Arjuna in AMM were Srikandi and
Banowati. Those two characters were presented as
Arjuna’s wives. In the wayang world, these two
women were indeed Arjuna’s wives. Dewi Srikandi
was described as a beautiful woman, good at
military knowledge. Moreover, some puppeteers
mention, Srikandi wore a complete military costume
when she was delivered to this world. She was good
at archery for Arjuna taught her (Tim Penulis Sena
Wangi, 1999).
In AMM, Srikandi’s skill at archery was not
visible. The dominant thing about her was that her
jealousy. She was jealous for Arjuna loved Banowati
so much (Panuju, 2004, p. 127). In the wayang story,
Dewi Banowati was a beautiful and spoiled princess
of Prabu Salya from Mandukara Kingdom. She was
the wife of Duryodana, although she was badly in
love with Arjuna. All puppeteers agreed that Dewi
Banowati was a kind of disloyal wife. After getting
married to Duryodana, she kept on loving Arjuna
(Tim Penulis Sena Wangi, 1999). In AMM, it was
told that Banowati married Arjuna although her
husband was still alive, and it was shown as if
Arjuna was the one who admired her, not Banowati.
Whereas, Banowati herself still felt affection to her
husband, that was why she was determined to do
emasculation to Arjuna (Panuju, 2004).
In AMM, the story fact element, particularly the
setting and characters, were not slightly different.
Even so, the sequences and characters’ behaviour
got reversed and diverged. For instance, Cakil or
Buta Cakil was a giant character in the wayang
world, but he had small body. He appeared in many
stories with various names, such as Ditya Kala
Gendir Penjalin, Ditya Kala Carang Aking, Kala
Klantang Mimis. He was the one and only giant
weapon called keris, not one but two, but sometimes
three. But he always died being stabbed by his own
keris. Because of this, in Javanese society he was
frequently used as a model of bad behaviour. When
somebody got trouble because of his/her behaviour,
he/she was considered resembling Buta Cakil (Tim
Penulis Sena Wangi, 1999) Nonetheless, in AMM
Cakil was a protagonist character for his help to
Tegar when he was robbed by mask burglars
(Panuju, 2004).
In the wayang and Mahabharata epic, Dursasana
was Duryodana’s young brother. In wayang shows,
especially living actors, he was easily recognized for
his big tall body and hands and legs movement. He
was the symbol of less educated, unethical, and
uncivilized person (Tim Penulis Sena Wangi, 1999).
In the contrary, in AMM, he was a kindly-hearted,
polite and tried to help others (Panuju, 2004).
The characters who also showed different
characteristics are punakawan or servants, namely
Semar and his sons. Semar or Ki Lurah Semar, was
the main servant in the wayang world. Like other
servants, he was the original wayang figure from
Indonesia. In Mahabharata epic, nothing mentioned
about these unique characters. Semar and his sons
were narrated to always follow Pandawa clan. It
pointed out that they went along with the right
people. In the opposite, in AMM, Pandawa clan was
the center of corruption, collusion and nepotism, and
Semar was supposed to resuscitate them.
Unfortunately, Semar, who was mentioned as
Goddess offspring, even conspired with the clan and
tried to betray Duryodana, Sengkuni, dan Tegar
(Panuju, 2014).
In the wayang story, Arjuna finally married to
Dewi Banowati. Yet he did it after Banowati became
a widow, as her husband died in Kurusetra battle
field. In AMM Arjuna arrogated Banowati from
Duryodana after Yudistira shoving aside Duryodana
from Astina Kingdom. Here Arjuna seemed to love
Banowati so much, while Banowati still admired her
husband so that she was determined to emasculate
Arjuna.
Manliness and Pasopati were Arjuna’s pride.
From that moment, Arjuna did not live his life any
longer so he went for adventure to look for death.
Loosing those two weapons led him to give up his
life. He thought everything came to the end (Panuju,
2004).
4.3 The Mapag Perang Barata (MPB)
Sundanese Novel by Ahmad Bakri
The MPB were generally same as the wayang story,
particularly Mahabharata and Bharatayuda. Even so,
there were some differences emerged. There was no
punakawan or servant appeared, such as Lurah
Semar and his sons, whereas they were the special
characteristics of wayang characters, especially in
Indonesia, which has never found in Mahabharata
epic.
Relating to Mahabharata epic, there were a
number of similar facts discovered. However, in
terms of plot, it seemed that the novel removed the
event of dice match between Pandawa (Yudhistira)
and Kurawa (Sakuni). In fact, this was slightly
crucial event that led to the Barata or Bharatayuda
war. In MPB, the event considered crucial was
Pandawa adventure after the incident in
Waranawata, or in the wayang story, it was well-
The Arjuna Myth within Two Indonesian Novels and One Sundanese Novel: A Comparative Literature Analysis
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