[ 印 尼 ]
-Indonesia -

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state in the world with hundreds of different ethnic groups, languages and religious traditions. Indonesia is a multicultural nation due to its archipelagic features and dynamic business activities in the past few centuries.

Like its ethnic groups, languages and religions, Indonesian puppetry, wayang, is also diverse. The most renowned puppetry tradition in Indonesia is wayang kulit, which is popular in Java and Bali and often appears in religious rituals and holiday festivals. Puppet masters of wayang kulit are often known as dalang. In addition to controlling multiple shadow puppets, playing different roles and delivering stories, dalang is also respected by Indonesians for their wisdom, philosophy, and ability to communicate with the spirits. Besides dalang, there are also singers and gamelan, another important cultural heritage of Indonesia, in each show which usually lasts for hours.

There is a wide spectrum of opinions on the origin of wayang kulit. The earliest records of it can be traced back to the documents in the 9th century A.D., and there were three possible origins of wayang kulit: from local Austronesian culture, China or India. The word wayang only exists in Javanese, and many professional terms used in wayang kulit are from Java and Bali. Additionally, wayang puppetry is deeply associated with the Indigenous animist belief; therefore, scholars believe that wayang kulit is an Indigenous culture of Indonesia. Another possibility accentuates the connections between wayang kulit and Indian culture. Hinduism and Buddhism were brought to some islands of Indonesia as early as the 1st century B.C., along with commerce products, Indian epics and other cultures and arts, and there was sophisticated puppetry tradition in India. Moreover, many plays for wayang kulit are from Indian epics, such as Mahabharata and Ramayana. Hence, even if wayang kulit was not directly brought from India, it is undoubtedly that Indian culture had a prominent influence before Islam became the major religious belief in Indonesia. Lastly, though fewer people consider China the origin of wayang kulit, like Indian culture, Chinese culture certainly had an influence on the development of wayang kulit.

The golden age of wayang kulit in Java is during the Hindu-Buddhist empire. It was until the 16th century when Majapahit declined and was replaced by the Sultanate that wayang kulit began to incorporate Islamic culture and became the current Indonesian traditional puppet theatre with both Hindu and Islamic religious features. Recently, wayang kulit further demonstrates a new facade through innovation and reformation, and became more lively and diverse.

Wayang kulit has a huge influence on the development of shadow puppetry in many Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos, and is one of the most renowned shadow theatre traditions in the world. In 2003, wayang kulit was designated as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

In addition to wayang kulit, there are also other genres of puppetry in Indonesia, such as wayang golek (rod puppetry), wayang topeng (mask theatre), wayang klitik (wood shadow puppetry), and more. There is also wayang wong that has humans imitating the movements of puppets. Wayang golek appears mostly in West Java. The commonly performed plays are also Indian epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the language used for performances is Sudanese.

There is also Chinese wayang potehi in Java. Wayang potehi was first brought to Indonesia between the 16th and 19th centuries by businesspersons and immigrants from the southeast coastal region of China. It often appears at temple festivals and other religious rituals. In the past few centuries, wayang potehi has gradually been localized. In addition to Chinese and Hokkien used in traditional performances, there are also shows in Indonesian to attract local audiences of both ethnic Chinese or other ethnic groups which demonstrates the multicultural features and integrations.