Al-salam ‘aleikum! Hei sahabat-ku Mambang Tali Harus, Yang berulang ka pusat tasek Pauh Janggi, Sampeikan-lah pesan-ku ini, Bangunkan Jambalang Ketam Gergasi!
Peace be upon you! Hey my friend the Spirit of the currents (water), Who tos-and-fros to the pusat tasek Pauh Janggi, Realize this request of mine, Raise the Giant Crab!
Sang Nabil Utama turns crab around to show color and pierces it into the banana stem.
In the Pokok Pauh Janggi Performance, the panggung was designed to echo the traditional Balinese set-up for daylight puppet display known as Wayang Lemah. Also the seating followed the traditional arrangement when the pawang or bomoh joins the dalangto conduct the upacara membuka panggung. At the heart of this performance was thepresentationand initiation of two long forgotten Kelantanese pupppets – the Pokok Pauh Janggi and the Ketam Gergasi. I exorcized the bad spirits from the deer hide (membuang badi rusa) and invoked the spirit of each puppet (memanggil jambalang patung).
This ceremony (upacara) involved the presence of two other more familiar puppets – Pak Dogol who is black and Wak Long who has a red counternance.During the performance, the Koboi wore his habitual black koboi outfit and sat on the side of Pak Dogol. The Koboi’s collaborator, Sang Nabil Utama, wore red baju and kain batik and sat with Wak Long. In the course of the performance the I exchanged my Western hat for a songkok, alluding to the fourth question of the previous post in this series – Sejauh manakah seseorang warga tanah Melayu sezaman boleh masuk Melayu tanpa masuk Islam?
In my Pokok Pauh Janggi performance at Kapallorek Artspace, I presented a Pak Dogol puppet and a Wak long puppet, both of which I collected in Kota Baru, Kelantan over 20 years ago. In Kelantanese Wayang Kulit, or Wayang SIam as it was referred to locally, Pak Dogol is a minder or caregiver of Sri Rama. He presents as black, bald (botak), old, pot bellied man with a protruding belly button (pusat perut), an pronounced nipple (tetek), large buttocks and a large nose. He holds a machete (golok). In fact he is Dewa Sang Yang Tunggal, a supreme demigod (dewa) who descended to earth (dunia) from the heavenly realm (kayangan) with this unsightly appearance (wajah) as a disguise, in order to find his son. Pak Dogol is the principal peran (humourous figure) in Wayang Siam. He is ritually speaking, the most important of all Wayang Siam characters. This puppet is considered to be magical and possessing of a sometimes sinister spirit (keramat) that resides in tree stumps (tunggul Kayu mati). The puppet is stored wrapped a yellow cloth, signifying the a regal status of its character. Pak Dogol is always the first to receive praise and offerings (puja) in the course of the upacara buka panggung (blessing of the stage) ritual.
Wak Long, who isPak Dogol’s companion, was created out of the former’s spirit and dirt from his body. He, like Pak Dogol, is a peran, only, he is funnier than his friend.Wak Long presents as a Red figure with a distinctive topknot. He does not hold a weapon. Both characters do not appear in the Ramayana which forms the narrative basis of Wayang Siam. Pak Dogol and Wak long are indigenous to Nusantara, analogous to Semar in Wayang Kulit Jawa. At the heart of my own performance was thepresentationand initiation of two other long forgotten puppets. – Pokok Pauh Janggi and Ketam Gergasi puppet. I exorcized the bad spirits from the deer hide (membuang badi rusa) and invoked the spirit of each puppet (memanggil jambalang patung). Both of these puppets were made following designs from late 19th Century examples collected and photographed by Walter William Skeat. They too are rooted in Malay folklore and metaphysics and are not found in the Ramayana or the Mahabharata, the great epics that form the core of the culture of what some have called Greater India. As these puppets made their return to the panggung, I felt that it was important to have Pak Dogol and Wak long, present to bear witness to the proceedings.
The puppets were made by Greta Burley from deer hide using a laser cutter. It was decided that the Pokok Pauh Janggi should be 27.5″ in height, (69cm) and the Ketam Gergasi would be scaled proportionately based on the original photograph. A key issue in determining the size of the puppets was the dimension of the largest art portfolio that would conform to the 62in dimension limit for checked baggage on international flights. Greta first I cut a small shape out of the deer hide to determine the nature and extent of the cut. She found a setting that worked fairly well although the laser did burn some of the material around the edges. Colour was applied using leather dyes.
Pokok Pauh Janggi exhibition by Niranjan Rajah runs from 5th Aug – 30th Sept 2023.
For the Pokok Pauh Janggi performance at Kapallorek Artspace, I worked with Greta Burley to remake two Kelantan Wayang Kulit puppets that seem to be known only from a photograph in Walter William Skeat‘s Malay Magic. The Pokok Pauh Janggi and the Ketam Gergasi puppets were collected by Skeat in the late 19th Century. The new puppets were made in Vancouver from deerhide using a laser cutter.
Pokok Pauh Janggi performance and installation by Niranjan Rajah runs from 5th Aug – 30th Sept 2023.
The Koboi Project 
You must be logged in to post a comment.