TOWARDS SELF-ALIENATION TO COLLECTIVE APTITUDE: WEST JAVANESE S FOLKLORE PUTRI KANDITA

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1 TOWARDS SELF-ALIENATION TO COLLECTIVE APTITUDE: WEST JAVANESE S FOLKLORE PUTRI KANDITA Putriyana Asmarani asmaraniputriyana@gmail.com Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University of Malang Abstract Discerning behaviour of society either diminishing or respecting is the concern of the study of oral folklore as it is presenting collective belief and ideology. This collective activity could be seen as neither moral bearer nor the appraisal of social critic. This study scrutinizes the West Javanese s floklore entitled Putri Kandita who experienced the suffer of social alienation because of the royal dictates. As a first birth of royal princess deserving the throne, Putri Kandita was expected to be the next ruler of his father, which means at the same time she bore the responsibility and the highest respect amids society. Thus, this study examines the suffering that does not only occur between the poor and the rich but between the rich. A princess who bore honor and respect faced alienation, which punnishment was sentenced by his own father. This royal phenomenon is intersting to be studied in the sight of social memory on how collective aptitude is politicized by royal history. Hence, the concept of this study is a theory proposed by Maurice Halbwachs On Collective Memory (1992), which maintains research method on how the history is told in the sight of powerful and how does the impact towards the masses. This study also the occurence on how royal dictates could significantly impact the masses decision to either hate or respect the princess. Keywords - Collective memory, alienation, aptitude, folklore Introduction This research scrutinizes the past lamentation and predicament of West Javanese folklore entitled Putri Kandita as it has been documented in pdf online website entitled Cerita Rakyat Nusantara 2: Merajut Kearifan Menjemput Zaman. This article tends to inaugurate the social life posted in the story and the life of Putri Kandita (as the title presented) in facing her both social diminish and respect. The attaining of this article is not the way that it exposes social peril or even rather scorning the memory of West Javanese folklore bearer or reader, but it is rather revealing the public denunciation over West Javanese folklore in interpreting the story of Putri Kandita. In a brief nuance of the story, Putri Kandita is the member of royal family in West Java, it was the great Pakuan Pajajaran emporia under the reign of Sri Baduga Maharaja or Prabu Siliwangi. Putri Kandita was the most adored and loved princess who was born from the most loved queen in which the queen s name is unknown in the story. Apart from her social depiction over her beauty and grace, she was the kindest, smartest and the only daughter whose character remained the symbol of the great king himself. Therefore, she was subjected for bearing the next throne after the death of Prabu Siliwangi. Embedded in the royal respect and social trust impacted to the jealousy of other children and queens who intended to pursue the throne. The desperate children and queen by then used black magic to snare Putri Kandita in the most abhorrent ill. Then, when the story gained its end, self-alienation was becoming the princess s choice after the way that she lost the trust of both kingdom and society. In the general point of view, this theory has already been utilized by many researches. One of the closest is Literature and Social Memory: The Case of Suratman Markasan (2012) studied by Azhar Ibrahim Alwee. In ISBN

2 the young multicultural nation, Alwee emerges the existence of Malay writer s laments seen in Suratman Markasan s works. This research challenges the experiences that were undergone within the society versus changing of political, social and economic context. Depicted in the laments of Markasan works, this research adds the voice of Markasan s critics towards his environment. By this view, this article articulates the environment of Prabu Siliwangi in the challenge of Putri Kandita s laments over the legitimacy that is proposed by the family members who hated her. Methodology Arriving to the theoretical building towards social memory, Maurice Halbwachs (1992) in his On Collective Memory translated and introduced by Lewis A. Coser believed in the act of driving the self into the larger understanding upon society s collective memory. He begins his notion by stating that it is society that construct and recall the memory for each person in conversed. When this article tends to brings up the case of Putri Kandita, it means that this article would see Halbwachs theory in capturing single person on how the person contributes the crafting of social or collective understandings. The entanglement of individual and society becomes a major concern in the eyes of Halbwachs (1992). Thus, the reciprocal connection between individual and society determines his final judgment on shaping the collective aptitude. What Halbwachs intended to say in his first premise is that the way society and individual are linked to the same believe and even geographically bounded in the same place. Therefore he put his notion It is in the sense that there exists a collective memory and social frameworks for memory; it is to the degree that out individual thought places itself in this frameworks and participates in this memory that it is capable of the act of recollection (p.38) attends to the believe that individual also takes part in the recollection of the past. Therefore the attaining of collective memory is basically beyond what is summed, resulted, and combined. Social memory has many kinds that it could be derived from many ways. The process of recollection also constitutes validation on the past event facts chosen by present society. However, before attending to the further theoretical building of the present people interference, this article focuses only to the validation. This validation is the folkore Putri Kandita that becomes the collective images of social environment in the era when the story occurred, it was in the reign of Prabu Siliwangi. The crafting of collective aptitude, by then is determined by the owner of the power. The dominance of the elite in constructing collective identity plays significant role, because it authority lies in them (Halbwach, 1995). Mirroring in this statement, Putri Kandita is the member of royal family in Pajajran kingdom, thus she could be subjected for cultural symbol. In this theory furthermore, the mutual situation is still in a tendency of power relation. Even the collective and the individual experiences towards the past intermingles, it could be the powerful individual composing the past event. Discussion Stepping on in the point of discussion, the researcher designs the discussion in order to challenge two questions. These questions are whose folklore is Putri Kandita? and how does self-alienation shape the collective aptitude? These questions are aimed to figure out the significant role of one member of society in influencing the image of the society as general and how the self-alienation becomes an exposure of fruitful cultural predicament phenomena. The life of Putri Kandita, as a member of royal family is the 510 ISBN

3 evidence towards social status she gained since she was born. Most of the powerful narrative is simply derived from the elite narrative. As the validity of past event, folklore becomes a tool to pursue the identity of collective aptitude. Genealogically, Putri Kandita is the daughter of Prabu Siliwangi, the Great King of Padjajaran, West Java. Becoming the member of royal family, Putri Kandita is not the only child whom Prabu Siliwangi owned, she had step brothers and sisters from queens that Prabu Siliwangi had married. The names of them remained untold in the story, but later, they show their dominance even greater than Putri Kandita herself. From the way that the story is being told, telling a story of most beautiful princess signs social obstinacy. Being in the great pride of telling the predicament of most adored princess that was tortured by the jealousy is the nuance of the story if it is seen in the overall view. From the data gotten, Putri Kandita is the most beautiful daughter that Prabu Siliwangi had owned. She was the kindest and most adored by the society. One of the turbulent views is presented in the way that Putri Kandita s life was shifted from being adored to being hatred and banished. The further, respond of this critic in answering whose folklore Putri Kandita is, lies in to whom the story is being told. The answer is the story of the elite. On how there are jealousy and throne rapacity exist in the story. Following the nuance that leads the reader into the conclusion that the other members of kingdom family who topple black magic are bad is the sign that it is the collective view about kingdom atmosphere and life. The second view of this point is revealing the most adored princess life in which it becomes the lament of the society who had nothing to do with the royal legitimacy. By the verdict of the high king, the society had no choice whether to help Putri Kandita from the banishment. This point is not being told in the story but it is clearly seen in the surface that society was in great silence after the verdict. Therefore, it is the elite story in the sight of commoners. In the opposite nuance, by the appearance of black magic that raided Putri Kandita, the symbols of ideal princess fall apart. Black magic in this context is beyond destruction, it is rife. The abhorrent ill that patches Putri Kandita is something that could not be redeemed in which it is contaminating. By the immature scientific medical treatment in the time when the story happened, she was subjected by the claim that the ill would disperse. This situation was getting worse by the fact that there were no traditional healer in the whole kingdom could cure the ill, it is stated in the folklore All traditional healers across nations and kingdoms had already been trying to cure. However, none of them could cure the ill of Putri Kandita and her mother. Moreover, the ill was getting worse, it disperse foul 3 Responding to the feeling of Putri Kandita, there is antithetic disparate of affliction. The feeling of indomitable ardor that is aforementioned in this article and black magic that marred her, are the impulse of misery. Putri Kandita gained the respect of being true princess since she was born. In this case, she never experienced social seclusion made this condition is deplorable for her. For a princess who lived with pride and grown up with the honor of the king craft the identity of her. Thus, the way that she got the black magic in which other people think that it was disease laments her. There is also a bias in this part, when the elite is depicted as the one who knew better than the society. The practice of black magic is 3 Para tabib dari berbagai Negara telah didatangkan/namun tak seorangpun yang sanggup menyembuhkan penyakit Putri Kandita dan sang permaisuri/bahkan, penyakit sang permaisuri semakin hari semakin parah dan menyebarkan bau busuk yang menyengat. ISBN

4 only known by the other member of family. Both the king, Putri Kandita and the mother of her did not know about black magic. They did not even feel suspicious about the way that no traditional healers could cure the ill. The portrayal of the story is clear that King Siliwangi fell in the deep mourn after the death of his wife then he was even sadder knowing that there were no traditional healer could cure Putri Kandita. This is the absence of consciousness. The figure of King Siliwangi and Putri Kandita are too dim in the story. They were illustrated as the most beautiful, the high, the great and the honor, so then do these labels do not work for the ability of being intelligentsia or even to hark the conscience? If this reasoning departs to the hand of society, it could be the illustration that royal family did not really familiar with black magic. However, if it is so, why did the other member of family who were drawn in hatred familiar with black magic? Therefore, the dispersing of black magic remains confusing in the story. Because both the advisor and society remain silent in the banishment of Putri Kandita, black magic is the driving force of self-alienation of Putri Kandita. Based on the story, she did not know that she got the black magic. Therefore, during the banishment she had nothing to do about to accuse her family member. The nuance of court in this case is depicted as the representation of old Pajajaran kingdom, in which in the eyes of society, another elite s deplorable life was included. There was no testimony or trial, the advisor is the high speaker. Therefore, the powerful voice could put aside the one who is accused. However, is it the banishment which is going to carry the meaning of self-alienation in this article or is the self-alienation is the way that people choose to alienate from other people? Self-alienation in this point of view is the sign of Putri Kandita s choice. Banishment was seen as the distance the King had verdict. The story depicts Although she was cured from the disease, she doesn t want to return to the palace. She chose to stay in the shore in the Southern area of Pakuan Padjajaran 4. Question raise in this case, on what becomes the major concern of doing self-alienation. First of all, Putri Kandita did not know that she was raided by black magic. Second, the king s verdict towards banishment was based on the abhorrent ill that might contaminate. Therefore, the self-alienation done by Putri Kandita is the way that she loses respect from the society and the lost of her beauty. Self-alienation is illustrated not in the way that she felt unfair verdict and deplorable jealousy in her family but it is in the way that she was too stressful of being loosing pride. Similar with the depiction of the king, in this case Putri Kandita has bias illustration. The symbol of true princess of high honor and benevolent who someday bear the throne was desperate of loosing pride. Furthermore, in dealing with trust, this folklore evokes the way that once we betrayed once it was not forgiven. After the banishment, Putri Kandita walked down to the shore by the summons of Gods. The Gods stated that Southern sea water would cure her. She was finally cured, then thought that she would never be coming back to the palace. In the sight of collective depiction, palace did not deserve the kindness of Putri Kandita. It is told in the nuance that by then Putri Kandita owned sacred wisdom then created her civilization. Many people came to learn her sacred wisdom and Putri Kandita remained staying in her banishment place for the rest of her life. 4 meskipun is sudah sembuh dari penyakitnya/ia tidak mau kembali ke kerajaan/ia memilih untuk tinggal di pantai di sebelah selatan wilayah Pakuan Padjajaran/ see ISBN

5 Although there are appearing two biases in the story in the depiction of Putri Kandita and King Siliwangi, the story flows to affirm them and keep incriminating the jealousy member of family. Jealousy was illustrated as devilish feeling of throne rapacity. Even, in the quintessence discussion, jealousy might be normal in this case because Putri Kandita s future of bearing the throne was just because she was born from the most beautiful mother and the story stated that she was the smartest in the absence of other children s intelligentsia s information of the story. However, since in the story keep affirming Putri Kandita as the object of black magic crafts most dominant point of view in the story. Hence, self-alienation is depicted as a good choice in which it creates the myriad pleasing ending that flourish over the story. Conclusion Finally, there are two major parts that have been discussed in this study. The first is the perspective overview on whose sight is the story told and the second is towards selfalienation to collective aptitude. The first appraisal is the nuance of the story that is crafted by the sight of society in portraying the life of elite. The hallmark of true princess and powerful king are both in bias but the existence of their ardor remained strong until in the end of the story. The second challenge towards self-alienation to collective aptitude lies in three major beliefs. One to negate the black magic as a force of malice practice to subjugate Putri Kandita is the sign that black magic was rife, two is the banishment, and three to affirm the value on responding the betrayal or the decision to commit selfalienation References Alwee, Azhar, Ibrahim. (2012). Literature and Social Memory: The Case of Suratman Mangkasan. Kent Ridge Guild House: The National University of Singapore. Cerita Rakyat Nusantara 2: Merajut kearifan menuju jaman. Retrieved from December 4 th Liu, J. H. (2013) Narratives and Social Memory from the Perspective of Social Representation of History. University of Minho Maurice Halbwachs, The Social Frameworks of Memory, ed. and trans. L. A. Coser, On Collective Memory (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 38;quoted in Rafael Rodriguez, Structuring Early Christian Memory: Jesus in Tradition, Performance and Text (London & New York: T & T Clark, 2010). Tom Thatcher, Why John Wrote a Gospel: Jesus Memory History (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 56. For a brief overview of social memory theory, see also Alan Kirk and Tom Thatcher, Jesus Tradition as Social Memory in Alan Kirk and Tom Thatcher, eds., Memory, Tradition, and Text: Uses of the Past in Early Christianity (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005). ISBN