Mahabharata
Mahabharata or the Great Epic of the Bharatas is another Indic epics played in the repertory of wayang purwa or classical wayang. The story is attributed to the sage of Vyasa and consists of at least 200,000 lines narrating the tragic conflict between two families of the Bharata clan: the Pandawa and the Kurawa. The Pandawa consists of five brothers – the sons of King Pandu and of semi-divine origin. The eldest of the brothers is Yudistira who descended from Dharma, the God of Virtue. Yudistira is followed by the brave and powerful Bhima, the biggest in proportion compared to the rest of the Pandawas.
The third son is noble Arjuna, one of the most beloved and popular characters and a reincarnation of Indra. The last of the brothers are the twins Nakula and Sadewa. The Kurawa, on the other hand, is one hundred in number and are the sons of Pandu’s brother, King Dhrtarashtra, who was born blind. Both the Pandawa brothers and the Kurawas were raised together and vied for the throne of the Kingdom of Hastina. The story is filled with plots by the Kurawas to drive the Pandawas away from the Kingdom through multiple schemes that drew the brothers into adventures and battles. During their exiles, the Pandawas managed to secure alliances with King Drupada and King Krishna.
The culmination of the epic is the Great War of the Bharatas where the Pandawas and the Kurawas engaged in a battle for eighteen days in the fields between the two holy rivers of the Ganges and the Yumna. Recorded in the Bhagavad Gita, the Great Battle is preceded by the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna as Arjuna felt the inner turmoil of having to face and kill his own kin, Karna, who sided with the Kurawas
The eighteen-days war is narrated in detail day by day ending with the defeat of Kurawas. Even so, the war was filled with tragic incidents with loss on both sides as Arjuna lost his heroic sons, Irawat and Abhimanyu.
In the compilation of stories that Claire Holt wrote in 1962, she noted the prominent place of Arjuna and Bhima as the Pandawa heroes in Java. Arjuna is revered for his charm in love and conquests and superior power in combat, while Bhima is known for his courage and physical might. One of derivative stories from the Mahabharata, Arjuna Wiwaha, tells the adventure of Arjuna in love and in conquest. Of many Arjuna’s wives, Srikandi who is known for her skill in archery and battle and the nymph Suprabha appear frequently in Javanese wayang plays. In addition, Bhima’s son, Gatutkatja, who is known for his superman-like power, also occupies an important place in Javanese plays. His character and stories were often remade into popular movies and games.
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