Madya Puppet
Wayang Madya was created when Pangeran Mangkunegoro IV (1853 - 1881) tried to combine all types of wayang into one unit and adapted to Javanese history from several centuries ago until the entry of Islam in Java and processed in sequence. Initially Sri Mangkunegoro IV received the book Serat Pustaka Raja Madya and Serat Witaradya from Raden Ngabehi Ronggo Warsito (1802 - 24 December 1873) in 1870 (1792 Caka).
The book contains the story of the history of King Aji Pamasa or King Kusumawicitra from the Mamenang country in Kediri, which then moved the kingdom to Pengging or called Pengging Witaradya. The conclusion from the contents of the book is related to the book Serat Pustaka Raja Purwa, which tells the history of the gods, the history of the Pandavas until the end of the Bharatayuda war. Then came the idea of Sri Mangkunegoro IV to create a new kind of wayang, which could connect the Purwa era with the Jenggala era with Panji stories.
From this idea, a new kind of wayang called wayang Madya was created. Wayang Madya is a type of puppet that depicts from the middle body upwards the form of the Purwa puppet, while from the middle body downwards the form of the Gedog puppet. The Madya Wayang uses a keris and is made of leather, encrusted and sungging.
Gusti Pangeran Aryo Adipati Mangkunegoro IV divided the history of wayang into three periods according to the types of wayang for the three periods, namely the first period from 1 - 785 Caka (78 - 863 AD), from the arrival of King Isaka (Ajisaka) until his death. Maharaja Yudayana in the kingdom of Astina, called wayang Purwa, the second period from 785 - 1052 Caka (863 - 1130 AD), until King Jayalengkara ascended the throne, which was called wayang Madya (Sanskrit: madya = middle), the third period of the year 1052 - 1552 Caka (1130 - 1431 AD), until the entry of Islam, which is called wayang Wasana (Sanskrit: wasana = end)
 |
| Prabu Jayalengkara(Madya Puppet) |
The puppets who dominate the end of the wayang purwa are the sons of the Pandavas, including Sasikirana, the son of Gathotkaca, Sangasanga, the son of Satyaki, Dwara, the son of Samba, and the children of Parikesit descent, namely Yuda-yaka, Yudayana, and Gendrayana. Gendrayana is the grandson of Perikesit who is the last character of the Purwa puppet and then followed by Prabu Jayabaya, son of Gendrayana, as the Beginner figure of the Madya puppet.
One of the Madya puppet stories originates from Serat Anglingdarma which was originally found in Sasana Pustaka Kraton Surakarta with wayang figures such as Angklingdarma from the kingdom of Malwapati and Batik Madrim as his patih.
Characteristics
The distinctive feature of the Madya puppet is a combination of the wayang Purwa and Gedog puppets in which none of the puppets wears a curved urang, while all Madya puppets use hair that falls down like in the wayang character Purwa Lesmana Mandrakumara, the son of Prabu Duryudana from the country of Astina, the Kurawa family.
This article has been published on plengdut.com with the title: Wayang Madya