In the performance of the wáyang, in which the heroes of these historical romances are exhibited, the common people of Jawana never exhibit that part of the history which relates to the juvenile days of Krésna, from a superstitious apprehension, that the alligators would, in such event, overrun the country, these animals being supposed to be the transformed followers of Kángsa. At Pamalang, also, there is a similar prohibition with regard to representing Arímba, the brother-in-law of Bíma, under a dread, that if the Dálang should, by accident, not represent the story with exactness, he would inevitably fall sick on the first mistake.
The country of Parakisit, after the Brata Yudha, is supposed to have been near Semárang, and on that account the Dálang will not perform that part of the history which relates to his reign, although it forms a very principal portion in the performances elsewhere.
To these superstitions may be added, that although with these local exceptions the wáyang may represent any portion of the Bráta Yudha, or of the preceding or subsequent histories of the same class, there is a prevalent superstition, that a great war will be the inevitable consequence of performing, at one sitting, the whole of this poem. It is gravely asserted, that a chief of Kendal tried this experiment about fifty years ago, but that the performance was no sooner completed, than his country was laid waste and destroyed: and also that, previous to the Javan war, the grandfather of the present Susunan, Sida Langkungang, ordered the whole of the Bráta Yúdha to be performed at once; the consequence of which was the dreadful war which ensued, and the dismemberment of the empire.
These impressions and superstitions may seem to evince, how deeply rooted is the belief that the scene of this poem was in Java.
The scene of the Rámayan, on the contrary, is not believed to have been on Java; but there is an impression, that after the death of Rawána, Hánuman fled to Java, and took refuge in the district of Ambaráwa, near Semárang, on a hill called Kandali Sáda, the place named in the Ramayan where Hanuman performed tapa (penance). There is still a post or pillar preserved to distinguish this spot at the summit of the hill; and such is the superstition of the neighbourhood, that they never perform the wáyang representing any part of the history of Ráma, lest Hanuman should pelt them with stones.
The annexed plate shews the situation of the principal places mentioned in the Bráta Yúdha, according to the prevailing notions of the Javans.
[145] The Padawa, or five Sons of Pándu.