Nyi Roro Kidul Pdf

[Ogier Dudley]

InJavanese mythology, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul is a creation of Dewa Kaping Telu who fills the realm of life as the goddess of harvest and other goddesses of nature. Meanwhile, Nyi Roro Kidul was originally the daughter of Sunda Kingdom, who was expelled by her father because of her stepmother.

Nyi Roro Kidul is also known by various names that reflect different stories of her origins, legends, mythology, and hereditary stories. She is commonly called by the names Ratu Laut Selatan and Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Kidul. According to Javanese customs, the use of honorifics such as Nyai, Kanjeng, and Gusti to refer to her is essential for the sake of politeness.

Sometimes people also refer to her as Nyai Loro Kidul. Javanese loro is a homograph for "two - 2" and "pain, suffering". While the Javanese of rara (or roro) means "girl". A Dutch orthographer predicted a change from the old Javanese roro to the new Javanese loro, resulting in a change in meaning from "beautiful girl" to "sick person".[1]

The legend of Nyi Rara Kidul originated from the Sunda Kingdom Pajajaran of the 15th century and is older than that of the Islamic Mataram Kingdom of the 18th century. However, research into the cultural anthropology of the Javanese and Sundanese peoples suggests that the legend of Java's Queen of the Southern Sea may have originated from a much older prehistoric animistic belief, a pre-Hindu-Buddhist goddess of the southern ocean. The fierce Indian Ocean waves of Java's southern coast, its storms and sometimes tsunamis, may have evoked a sense of reverence and fear for the forces of nature, which came to be regarded as the spiritual realm of the gods and ancestors inhabiting the southern seas led by their queen, a goddess, later identified as Ratu Kidul.

One of the Sundanese folktales tells the story of Dewi Kadita, a beautiful princess of the Sunda kingdom Pajajaran who fled to the southern ocean after being cursed. The curse was cast by a shaman at the behest of a rival in the palace and left the princess with a disgusting skin disease. She jumped into the violent waves of the ocean but she instead was cured and restored to beauty. The phantoms then made her the legendary Phantom Queen of the Southern Sea.[2]

A similar version is Kandita, the only daughter of King Munding Wangi of Galuh Pakuan. Because of her beauty, she was nicknamed Dewi Srngng ("Sun Goddess"). Despite having a beautiful daughter, King Munding Wangi was saddened that he did not have a son to succeed him as king. The king then married Dewi Mutiara and had a son from their marriage.

Dewi Mutiara wants her son to become king without any obstacles in the future, so she tries to get rid of Kandita. Dewi Mutiara went to The King and asked him to ban Kandita away from the palace. The King said that he would not let anyone who wanted to be rude to his daughter. Hearing this, Dewi Mutiara smiled and spoke sweet words until The King was no longer mad at her.

The next day, before sunrise, Dewi Mutiara sent her servant to summon a shaman. She told the shaman to cast a curse on Kandita. By nightfall, Kandita's body was itchy with scabies, foul smelling, and full of boils. She cried not knowing what to do. The King invited many healers to cure Kandita and realized that the disease was not natural, it must have come from a curse. Dewi Mutiara forced The King to ban his daughter away as she would bring bad luck to the whole kingdom. Since The King did not want his daughter to be the talk of the whole kingdom, he was forced to agree to Dewi Mutiara's proposal to exile his daughter from the kingdom.

Kandita wandered alone aimlessly and could hardly cry anymore. She did not hold a grudge against her stepmother but requested for Sanghyang Kersa to accompany her in her suffering. After almost seven days and seven nights, she finally arrived at the Southern Sea. The ocean water was clean and clear, unlike other oceans that were blue or green. Suddenly she heard a supernatural voice telling her to jump into the Southern Sea. She jumped in and swam, and the waters of the Southern Sea removed her boils without leaving a mark, making her even more beautiful. She had power over the Southern Sea and became a goddess called Nyi Roro Kidul who lived forever. The place of Palabuhanratu Bay is particularly associated with this legend.

Another Sundanese folktale mentions Banyoe Bening (meaning clear water) becoming Queen of the Djojo Koelon Kingdom. She suffered from leprosy and later traveled to the south where she was taken up by a huge wave to disappear into the Ocean.[3]

According to spiritual teachers, of course, they have defeated her power, Nyi Roro Kidul or Princess Aurora Balqis was born when the Queen of Sheba exiled herself and meditated on sadness after the decease of King Solomon because the land was again on the verge of destruction and misguidance, In her hermitage she married the King of Djinn and Aurora Balqis was born without a physical body as a pure djinn, finally she ordered her troops to throw her child into the sea of Aljawi and was found and raised by The Queen of the Southern Sea. Although in Kejawen and spiritual beliefs, Princess Roro Kidul is an outcast princess from the land of Sheba.

After growing up, she was given abilities and power with a jeweled scepter and shawl, his scepter was stronger than Nyi Blorong's, and the shawl weapon could be used to summon huge waves and winds in the southern sea coast.

Then she built a kingdom on the right of the southern coast to accompany the Queen of the Southern Sea who loved her very much as a daughter. She always waited for orders from The Queen of the Southern Sea as her adoptive mother and is said to have never married.

Nyi Roro Kidul is sometimes depicted in the form of a mermaid with her lower body in the form of a snake or fish, sometimes also depicted as a very beautiful woman. She is believed to take the soul of anyone she wants.[4] Sometimes she is said to have the form of a snake. This belief may stem from the legend about the Princess of Pajajaran who suffered from leprosy. Her skin disease was probably thought to be the same as a snake shedding its skin.[5]

Nyi Roro Kidul is believed to be the pati of Kanjeng Ratu Kidul who leads the army of phantoms in the southern sea. Kiai Iman Sampurno from Blitar, East Java (19th century) issued a prophecy that Nyi Roro Kidul and Sunan Lawu would lead their respective armies and spread the plague to humans who behaved badly.

There is a local belief that wearing a green garment will bring the wearer bad luck, as green is Nyi Roro Kidul's favorite color.[6] Sea green (gadhung m'lathi in Javanese) is Nyi Roro Kidul's favorite color and no one should wear the color along the southern coast of Java.[7] Warnings are always given to people visiting the southern coast not to wear green garments. The myth is that they could be targeted by Nyai Rara Kidul to become her soldiers or servants (slaves). Logically, the reason arises because water on the southern coast tends to be greenish so drowning victims wearing green garments will be difficult to find.

Sarang Burung are Javanese bird's nests and are some of the finest in the world. The edible bird's nests, in the form of bird's nest soup or sarang burung, find a ready market in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore are dedicated to Nyi Roro Kidul, mentioned by Sultan Agung in reports.

There are three harvests which are known as the Unduan-Kesongo, Unduan-Telor, and Unduan-Kepat, and take place in April, the latter part of August (the largest), and December. The places Rongkob and Karang Bolong along the south coast of central Java are famous for the edible bird's nests, made by the little sea swallows (so-called, but actually swiftlets), called Salanganen or Collocalia fuciphaga. The harvests are famous because of the wayang performances which are held, and the Javanese ritual dances which are performed with gamelan music as the traditional ceremony.

This happens in a cave (Karang Bolong) and when these are ended specially prepared offerings are made in a shed in what is known as "Ranjang Nyi Roro Kidul". This relic is hung with beautiful silk batik clothes, and a toilet mirror is placed against the green-colored pillows of the bed.[9]

Nyi Roro Kidul is the patron goddess of the bird's nest gatherers of South Java. The gatherers descend the sheer cliff face on coconut fiber ropes to an overhang some thirty feet above the water where a rickety bamboo platform has been built. From there they must await their wave, drop into it, and be swept beneath the overhang into the cave. Here they grope around in total darkness filling their bags with bird's nests. Going back needs very precise timing, to avoid misjudging the tides, and falling into the violent waves.[10]

Palabuhanratu, a small fishing town in West Java, Indonesia, celebrates an annual holiday in her honor on April 6. A memorial day for the locals, offering a lot of ceremonial "presents" to appease the queen. The local fishermen annually send the sedekah laut ceremony, offering gifts and sacrifices; from rice, vegetables, and agricultural produces, to chicken, batik fabrics, and cosmetics, to be larung (sent afloat to the sea) and finally drawn into the sea to appease the queen. The local fishermen believe that the ceremony will please the Queen of the Southern Sea, in return, this would provide plentiful catches in fisheries and bless the surrounding areas with better weather, and fewer storms and waves.

Nyi Roro Kidul is also associated with Parangtritis, Parangkusumo, Pangandaran, Karang Bolong, Ngliyep, Puger, Banyuwangi, and places all along the south coast of Java. There is a local belief that wearing a green garment in these areas instead of blue, purple, lavender, magenta, pink, and violet will anger her in the process and will bring misfortune to the wearer, as green is her sacred color.[11]

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