By Mehru Jaffer

It may be true that crowds are swelling at Indonesian mosques for the Friday prayer and many more women are seen lately with their head covered. But 39 year old Sujiwo Tejo, master puppeteer or dalang does not fear that this will distract audiences in the world's largest Muslim country from continuing to enjoy Java's celebrated shadow puppet theatre. 

The night long puppet performances or wayang have been telling tales for centuries primarily based on the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the epic tales of Hindu origin. The Mahabharata first tickled the imagination of the Javanese even before it was rendered into their language way back in the 10th century. According to archeological records the date of the first recitation here is reported to be in 996. Since then both heroes and hermits along with their adventures from the pre-historic epic have taken on a most local colour and pervade every sphere of Indonesian life. 

The mythology is woven into suluk or mystical poems of the Javanese that proceed to ponder in a most effective way about all the riddles of life that puzzle human beings combined with powerful performances that are rich in rites and rituals. "For all those who care to listen there is great wisdom in the way the stories are told," says Tejo who was introduced to the wayang while he still played in the lap of Soetejo, the traditional puppeteer from the east Javanese town of Jember, and also Tejo's father. Out of Soetejo's six children, Tejo is the only one to follow in the footsteps of his father. However when Soetejo eventually saw a wayang performance by his son he was horrified. For unlike his father Tejo grew up to specialise in wayang acappella where he does away with the paraphernalia of the traditional gamelan orchestra to make music with the help of about 15 vocalists, including himself. Before Soetejo died in 1996, he was to see Tejo perform again. Although the elderly puppet master was never full of praise, Tejo recalls that later he was not as critical either. What Tejo is trying to do with his art is to keep the traditional spirit of wayang alive. But he insists on being allowed to use his creativity to make sure that his performances do not just entertain but are relevant to the dreams and aspirations of the younger generation. Confusion is caused in the mind of children when they are forced to believe that black is purely bad and white is purely good, feels Tejo who spends much of his time flirting with the colour grey. 

That is why he feels that any resurgence in Islam here can not wipe away all that is embedded in the sacred recess of the soul of this country from a thousand years ago. He is prepared for the clash that is expected between what is, and what wants to be. As far as he is concerned there is the birth after any battle of something fresh which is always more interesting and more dynamic than what has been, Tejo explains. At some stage Catherine Jones, an English teacher at the Jakarta International School (JIS) discovered Tejo's passion for sharing the wisdom of his ancestors, especially with young people. Catherine is of course aware that with a population of more than 200 million Indonesia remains the home of the majority of the world's Muslims. The pre dawn voice of the muezzin from the neighborhood mosque often acts as her wake-up call. And she is most accustomed by now of seeing women with the traditional jilbab or head covers. But she also keeps bumping into an array of characters and customs that seem distinctly un-Islamic and yet treated here with great sacredness. She thought it would be a real pity if she left Indonesia without knowing why so many women here refer to their sweet hearts as Arjuna, former president Gusdur is constantly compared to Semar or Tommy Soeharto often called Wisanggeni? All the characters are from the epic poem Mahabharata. She discussed these characters and thoughts with her high school students who admitted that they too were not aware of many aspects of what the people of their host country were most proud of. They were excited at the suggestion that Tejo could visit the JIS campus to bridge the gap between their own view of the world and that of people here. 

Finally Tejo will involve over 200 students between the ages of 15 years and 18 years for a series of workshops. Considering that many of these children may possibly flower into future leaders of the world, a better appreciation of the Javanese shadow puppet play is exactly what they need as each performance is said to be a cosmos in itself.

Tell us what you think of this article