Shadow puppet

Wayang Kulit

Note: The following text is taken from a 19th-century collection catalog and, in its language and perspective, partially reflects colonial thought patterns. We present the text in its original version to make the collection's history transparent and promote a critical examination of the colonial legacy. Certain terms and formulations may be perceived as problematic today. A 2009 research project concluded that most descriptions are factually correct and still usable; only a few details were found to be inaccurate or incorrect. The results of this project were published in the following collection catalog: https://khm-wmw-tm-library.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1457155265

"463 - 466. Puppets - "Wajang" 
Figures cut out of buffalo leather, about two "shoes" high, colorfully painted and richly gilded. The figures represent fantastic beings with typical Hindu profiles, the heads adorned with Indian crowns, the body unshaped, the nose large, hands and feet small. The joints of the hands and arms are moveable, as with marionettes, and connected to sticks hanging down with which they are moved by the directors, who sit below the figures. The figure itself is also held from below by a stick of horn, which tapers toward the top, runs through the whole figure and stiffens it. The most remarkable thing about these figures is the meticulous cut-out work of the decorations, a lacy, finely open-work which is done with small half-round and round chisels. These figures are used to present truly national theater performances, "Wajang", which are so wide-spread and popular on Java.
There are two types of theatre performances on Java, the "wajang" and the "topeng". The first is performed with the present figures, the second uses humans, like our theatre. When the prince is portrayed the person must always be masked. The "wajang" has several types, best differentiated by the contents of the play. With "wajang purva" it is the mythical history of Java, the actors represent gods, semi-gods and heroes, which are represented by these figures cut from buffalo leather. These are put up behind a transparent screen and moved by a director, "dalang", who recites the roles of the characters in the play, whereby he is accompanied by the music of the national orchestra, called "gamelan". This orchestra consists of, as already mentioned, large and small metal cymbals and plates which are hit with drumsticks, of drums and a violin, which the conductor himself plays. Several different kinds of gamelan can be distinguished, depending on the number, size and form of the metal cymbals and the kind of playing itself. Thus there is a war gamelan, a wedding gamelan, a theatre gamelan, etc. The theatre performance, just described, begins in the evening and continues the whole night until the dawn with few interruptions. The "wajang gedog" is only different in content, it recounts the history under the Prince "Pasidji" from the realm "Djenggala". The wajang "Kalitik", usually performed during the day, is the story of the kingdoms "Madjapahit" and "Padjadjaran". The figures are not made of buffalo leather but of wood, which will be described later. The "dalang" sits in front of the marionettes, and slightly below them, and is hidden by a type of screen from the audience. The "wajang beber", where the figures are only painted on paper, which the dalang unrolls as he sings, like our wandering musicians. The princes usually own their own wangan figures which are used for the different performances; several hundred are needed, and the dalang is in his employ. But there are also dalangs who own their own marionettes and who travel from village to village to give performances. In western Java, the so-called Sunda lands, there are also the "wajang-orang", where people take the place of the dolls. The content is different, there are comedies from the life of the common people, the actors are always women and girls who dress like men when they act and who have yellow-painted faces. They do not speak and only accompany the recitations of the dalang with the necessary gestures and mimic and pantomime. These performances also take all night up to the break of dawn. The "topeng", mentioned above, are performances which treat historical subjects and are also performed by humans where the dalang recites the role and the actors accompany his words with the necessary pantomime. The "topeng babakan" are, finally, the street performances, such as are to be seen daily in the streets and in all of the larger places in Java. Here a man and a woman alternately sing the typical little songs, "pantums", while accompanied by men crouching on the ground and playing drums and metal cymbals. They are usually surrounded by a large crowd of half-naked people interested in the arts and they are given more applause and laughing than cash. All the natives of the Indian Archipelago are great friends of music, dance and these theatre performances. Hundreds sit together for hours with open mouths and staring eyes and quietly listen to the monotone primitive music; or they look at the stage without turning away, crouching on the ground, where the fantastic figures behind the transparent screen move and the dalang with his disgusting nasal voice recites the hero's tales of Java. Silent like the Buddha pictures, these brown bodies sit in a half-lit room without the slightest movement, not showing the least interest, throughout the night."