Plate 20.—Fig. 1. Musical Instruments.
A. Drum. B. Drum. C. Staccato instrument. D. Flute. All used by ’Che ʿAbas in the shadow-play (main wayang.)
Fig. 2. Demon Mask.
Side view of mask, representing a forest demon, showing profile.
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“‘Peace be unto Thee! I am about to remove from thee my Grandsire who art styled Pĕtĕra Gûru, the original teacher, who art from the beginning, and who art incarnate from thy birth. Teacher who dwellest as a hermit in the recesses of the Moon, and who practisest thy magic arts in the womb of the Sun; teacher of mine whose coat is wrought of green beads, whose blood is white, who hast stumps for bones, the hairs of whose body are turned the wrong way, and the veins of whose body are adamant, whose neck is black, whose tongue is fluent, whose spittle is brine![187] Oh, because thou, my Grandsire, art a man of magic, whose prayers are answered, whose desires come to pass, do not, O Grandsire, show cruelty, or afflict with poverty or with punishment any of the actors or actresses, the musicians and bridegrooms, and the buffoons both young and old! And I pray thee, O Grandsire, to stretch forth thy feet—the feet at which I prostrate myself; and thy hands—the hands which I take in salutation. And I beg from thee, O Grandsire, the white charm (antidote), the mĕdong bĕr-sîla; cause to descend upon me three drops thereof together with thy magic, O Grandsire; I wish to sprinkle therewith all the actors and actresses, the buffoons both young and old, together with all the musicians and bridegrooms, and suffer them not to be destroyed or injured, and let them not be laid open or exposed to any evil influence; I pray thee not to suffer them to be injured, maimed, or battered. And now I will arouse all the actors and actresses from within the seven Chambers of the seven Palaces, the seven Pavilions—the Palaces which are on high, the Palaces which were from the beginning, which in the beginning came into being in their entirety.[188] I am about to open the portals of the seven Chambers of the seven Palaces; I am about to open the closed doors from the exterior even unto the inner portals of the seven chambers of the seven Palaces. Let them be opened together with the Gates of Lusts and Passion, together with the Gate of Desire and Faith, together with the Gates of Longing and Supreme Desire. The Longing which lasts from Dawn unto Dawn, which causes food to cease to satisfy, and renders sleep uneasy, which remembering causes to remember unceasingly, hearing to hear, seeing to see! I will awake all from the exterior even unto the inner Chambers of the seven Apartments of the seven Palaces! remain not plunged in slumber, but awake! One and all awake and hear my tidings and my words! Awake and hearken unto my words, for they vanish not, neither are my senses slumbering, nor is my memory a blank! Awake, O actors and actresses, and await one upon another! Awake, O buffoons, together awake! Awake, ye drummers, together awake! Awake, ye gong-smiters, together awake! Awake, ye bridegrooms, together awake! Be not removed far from your means of livelihood, nor destroyed or injured! Oh, suffer them not to be hurt or damaged—all this company of actors and actresses, all this company of players who sit within this shed!’
“When this incantation is finished the player, whose turn it is to begin the performance, prostrates himself before the Hĕrbab, or large Malay fiddle, washes his face in some imaginary essence which the gong is supposed to contain, and then arises and begins to act his part.”[189]