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Islam and Malay Shadow Play/Puppet (Wayang Kulit)

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Islam and

the

Malay Shadow Play

-Aspects of the Historical Mythologyof the Wayang Siam--

BARBARA

.

WRIGHT

Yale University,

New

HavenIntroduction

:

Folk Islam as practiced by the majority of village Malays is a syn-cretic religion, bearing traces of the Hindu and Animistic influencespresent in the Malay Peninsula before the arrival of Islam in the fifteenthcentury. While Modernist Islam, particularly as practiced in Malaysia'surban areas in the current revivalist climate, disapproves of most of thetraditional Malay arts, Malay Folk Islam is more tolerant. Islam andthe Wayang Siam shadow play are linked in popular belief in Kelantan;the nature of this link, as well as Kelantanese ambivalence towards thearts and religion, is the focus of this article.*The Setting: KelantanThe state of Kelantan on the northeastern coast of peninsular (orWest) Malaysia looms large in the Malaysian imagination. It is famousfor the vitality of traditional Malay arts, which remain viable in fewplaces other than Kelantan, and for the Islamic piety of its citizenry. Itis geographically remote, and possessed of a dialect nearly unintelligibleto speakers of Standard Malay. It is one of the poorest and least de-veloped states; Kelantan's economy is agricultural, based upon rubberand rice, and much of its traditional economy and concommitant village

*

This article is based on field research carried out in 1977-1979 in Kelantan,Malaysia, funded by the Yale Concilium on Interantional and Area Studies.My thanksto my teachers, the

dalnng

Abdullah Baju Merah, Yusoff Hassan, Abdul Rahman Has-san, and Hussein Che' Lah, and to Harold C. Conklin, Rufus

S.

Hendon and DouglasA. Raybeck for their comments and criticism. All errors are of course

my

own.

An

earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Asia Society, October 29, 1979.

52

BARBARA

S.

WRIGHT

life-style is still intact.Kelantan's population is nearly

93

0/,

Malay. The ethnically homo-geneous character of the state, particularly in comparison to the polyglotnature of Malaysia's national population,' has made possible the variedand active complex of Malay arts native to Kelantan. It has also fostereda strong self-identity among the Kelantanese, set apart by their etiquette(budi bahasa), dialect (loghat Kelantan), and perhaps a certain culturalarrogance concerning their artistic heritage.Kelantan enjoys a reputation as a particularly conservative Islamicstate. To be a Malay is to be a Muslim, both according to Malay cus-tom, and the constitution of the Federation of Malaysia. Kelantan hasbeen, and continues to be, an Islamic center. It is renowned for itspondok (religious scliools), and religious teachers.2 The Kelantanesepeasantry actively participates in Islam on the village level, obeying theprecepts of Islam, for the most part. Certainly nearly all Kelantaneseare

'

believers,' even those who are lax in the observance of some oftheir religious duties.As Islam is an integral component of Kelantanese Malay identity,no less so is Kelantan's artistic tradition. The Malay arts and crafts ofKelantan are a vital and thriving complex in which great numbers ofKelantanese participate. Kelantan has long been famous for its silk andbatik (wax-print) fabrics, as well as its wood-carving and silver-work.At the turn of the century, Kota Bharu, the capital of Kelantan, was awell-known gaming center, featuring bull-fights, ram-fights, cock-fights,and fish-fights, in addition to the more placid contests of kite-flying andtop-spinning. Animal fights have since been declared illegal, but topsand kites are still popular. Kelantan remains one of the few places inMalaysia where Malay performing arts draw large and enthisiasticcrowds.The Vehicle

:

Wayang SiamAmong the performing arts in Kelantan, the Wayang Siam (Siamesedrama: so-called because of its alleged Siamese origins) shadow puppetplay is the most popular.3 It is performed in Kelantanese dialect. Thetechnique of shadow puppetry is found in many parts of Southeast Asia;notably Java and Thailand, both of whose traditions have influenced theKelantan shadow play. The Kelantanese dalang (puppeteer) is the solepuppeteer, though he is accompanied by eight or so musicians. Bothhe and they perform in a raised hut, called a panggung, with a whitescreen (kelir), stretched across the front. The dalang sits behind thescreen, manipulating the flat, carved, hide puppets in front of the lamp,which allows the audience to see the shadows cast on the screen by the

ISLAM AND

THE

MALAY SHADOW PLAY

53

puppets.

Wayang Siam

is the folk form of the shadow play in Kelantan. Thecourt form,

Wayang Jawa

(Javanese

Wayang)

is essentially the Kelan-tanese version of the Javanese

Wayang Purwa.

It takes its aestheticsand repetoire from the Javanese, though it, too, is performed in Kelan-tanese dialect.

Wayang Jawa

was patronized by the Icelantanese court,and when this patronage ceased,

Wayang Jawa

fell into a decline.* Itis now rarely performed. In contrast,

U'ayang Siam

was and is a vil-lage art, and not dependent upon the courts. Within the past fifteenyears, performances of

U'ayang Siam

have begun to be sponsored by vil-lage entrepreneurs as business ventures (see Sweeney

1972: 26)

;

ticketsare sold to shadow play audiences.

IVayang Siam's

potential for profithas encouraged the sponsorship of even more performances, and duringits season (roughly from February through August) there is considerable

Wayang Siam

activity in Kelantan on any given night.The repetoire of the

Wayang Siam

is based upon the Malay folkrendition of the Ramayana-the

Cerita Mahraja TVana

(Mahraja Wana'sStory-Mahraja Wana is the Malay equivalent to Ravana. The literaryversion is the

Hikayat Seri Rama:

Seri Rama's Tale-Seri Rama is theMalay Rama).J Stories most often performed are not

'

runk

'

sto-ries-from the

Cerita Mahraja Wana

itself-but

'

branch

'

stories-spinoffs from the main tale featuring the star characters in different set-ting. The stories are chosen, and branch stories often composed, or atleast doctored, by the

dalang

himself.The

dalang

manipulates the puppets, imitates the voices of thecharacters and guides the orchestra. He composes the dialogue spon-taneously as he performs, fleshing out the plot as he does so. Thus the

dalang

can control the tone and character of the story by emphasizingeither the comic or tragic aspects of the plot, by drawing out certainepisodes, and minimizing or eliminating others.The

d(1lang

is also responsible for the supernatural aspects of the

Wayang Siam

performance. An invaluable part of a

dalang's

trainingis the training he receives in

ilmu dalam

(inner knowledge, magic), and itis also the most difficult to find. Magical knowledge is a closely guardedsecret; most teachers pass it down to pupils of whose loyalty they feelsure, and only after all the technical aspects of

FVayang Siam

have al-ready been taught. All performances are prefaced by the reading ofspells to protect the

dalang

and musicians from malign influences, toattract an audience, to keep it calm, to

'

praise

'

the puppets, and to keepevil spirits away from the

panggung. Wayang Siam

can also be per-formed for magical reasons, and as a kind of exorcism. The

dalang's

role places him squarely within the magico-religious world of Kelantan.

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