Ruwatan Murwakala
Practice Jawa Tengah
Attenuated
A wayang performance releasing a person from the condition of sukerta — a set of birth positions and circumstances held to be exposed, such as being an only child — through the Murwakala play, which may be performed only by an authorised puppeteer and under requirements that cannot be substituted.
Sukerta: a list of conditions
Ruwatan releases a person from the condition of sukerta, a position which by Javanese reckoning makes them a target of Bathara Kala. What counts as sukerta are certain birth positions and circumstances: an only child, a brother and sister pair, five children of the same sex, a child born at sunset, a person who breaks a particular kitchen implement, and several dozen other conditions listed in the manuscripts.
The list states no fault. Sukerta is not sin and not punishment; it is a position that has come about, and ruwatan is the act that changes it. The distinction needs stating because rendering ruwatan as “casting out an evil spirit” imports a different structure into it.
A play not performed as a show
The play performed is Murwakala, which tells of the birth of Bathara Kala and the conditions laid on his claim. Its performance is by puppeteers meeting certain qualifications, with prescribed offerings, at a reckoned time. Some puppeteers refuse to perform it, and some perform it only for the person being released and not for an audience.
The interview cited in this entry records those conditions as the puppeteer stated them, and this encyclopedia does not publish the part he stated was not for publication. The point is recorded so that a reader knows this account is incomplete, and incomplete for a stated reason rather than because the desk could not find the material.
Full entry 3 / 3
2 sections, 4 sources, one of them primary.
Full does not mean finished. It means this record clears the bar this encyclopedia sets before it will speak at length.