The Legend of "SANGKURIANG"
Once upon a time in west Java, Indonesia lived a wise king who had a
beautiful daughter. Her name was Dayang Sumbi. She liked weaving very
much. Once she was weaving a cloth when one of her tool fell to the
ground. She was very tired at the time so she was too lazy to take it. Then she
just shouted out loud. She shouted ‘Anybody there? Bring me my tool. I will
give you special present. If you are female, I will consider you as my sister. If
you are male, I will marry you’
Suddenly a male dog, its name was Tumang, came. He brought her the
falling tool. Dayang Sumbi was very surprised. She regretted her words but
she could not deny it. So she had to marry Tumang and leave her father. Then
they lived in a small village. Several months later they had a son. His name
was Sangkuriang. He was a handsome and healthy boy. Sangkuriang liked
hunting very much. He often went hunting to the forest using his arrow. When
he went hunting Tumang always with him. In the past there were many deer in
Java so Sangkuriang often hunted for deer.
One day Dayang Sumbi wanted to have deer’s heart so she asked
Sangkuriang to hunt for a deer. Then Sangkuriang went to the forest with his
arrow and his faithful dog Tumang. But after several days in the wood
Sangkuriang could not find any deer. They were all disappeared. Sangkuriang
was exhausted and desperate. He did not want to disappoint her mother so he
killed Tumang. He did not know that Tumang was his father. At home he gave
Tumang’s heart to her mother. But Dayang Sumbi knew that it was Tumang’s
heart. She was so angry that she could not control her emotion. She hit
Sangkuriang at his head. Sangkuriang was wounded. There was a scar in his
head. She also repelled her son. Sangkuriang left her mother in sadness.
Many years passed and Sangkuriang became a strong young man. He
wandered everywhere. One day he arrived at his own village but he did not
realized it. There he met Dayang Sumbi. At the time Dayang Sumbi was given
an eternal beauty by God so she stayed young forever. Both of them did not
know each other. So they fell in love and then they decided to marry. But then
Dayang Sumbi recognized a scar on his Sangkuriang’s head. She knew that
Sangkuriang was his son. It was impossible for them to marry. She told
sangkuriang but sangkuriang did not believe her. He wished that they marry
soon. So Dayang Sumbi gave a very difficult condition. She wanted
Sangkuriang to build a lake and a boat in one night! She said she needed that
for honeymoon.
Sangkuriang agreed. With the help of genie and spirits Sangkuriang tried
to build them. By midnight he had finished the lake by building a dam in
Citarum river. Then he started building the boat. It was almost dawn when he
nearly finished it. Meanwhile Dayang Sumbi kept watching on them. She was
very worried when she knew this. So she made lights in the east. Then the
spirits thought that it was already dawn. It was time for them to leave. They
left Sangkuriang alone. Without their help sangkuriang could not finish the
boat. Sangkuriang was very angry. He kicked the boat. Then the boat turned
out to be Mount Tangkuban Perahu. It means boat upside down. From a distant
it looks like a boat upside down.
