Candra Malik

Showering in water filled with flower petals is the final part of a traditional Javanese ritual to ward off bad karma. (Photo: Candra Malik, JG)

Coming Clean With Karma

The sun had barely begun to rise as hundreds of people gathered one morning this month in Tamansiswa, a revered education institute in the ancient Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

All those present wore batik sarongs in somber hues, the men pairing them with formal jackets and stiff cloth hats shaped like turbans, and the women with fine kebaya blouses, their hair twisted into buns adorned with konde hairpieces.

They had come to take part in and witness a traditional Javanese ritual to ward off bad karma for sukerta — people deemed to be spiritually blemished or predestined to encounter misfortune.

Condroyono, who heads Yogyakarta’s Institute of Javanology, which organized the event, said the Ruwatan Sukerta ritual was aimed at cleansing people from bad karma.

“A sukerta is not always the bearer of spiritual blemishes or bad luck. Sukerta also describes those who wants to right their wrongs before they themselves suffer  misfortune,” Condroyono said.

The ruwatan ritual can also be conducted on material or substances, such as the earth, so as to prevent calamities.

According to Javanese tradition, 28 different types of people are sukerta by birth. They include only children; children with one sibling, including twins; children who are one of three siblings of the same gender, or all of the same gender except for the middle child; children who are one of four or five siblings of the same gender but one; and children who are one of six siblings, in cases when there are three children of each sex.

Children born with umbilical cord complications, children born in the caul, premature babies, children born at dawn, at noon or at dusk, children with birth defects, as well as albinos and children with unusually dark skin, children born during a journey and children born while a wayang shadow puppet show was being performed in their village are also on the list of sukerta.

And some accidents, such as falling on a pot of boiling rice or breaking a gandik, a small stone used to pulverize herbs to make jamu tonics, can also turn a person into a sukerta the ritual stems from a Javanese tale about Buta Kala, a sukerta-eating ogre. In the story, sukerta can escape being eaten only by taking part in the ruwatan ceremony.

 “It is not really obligatory, but it is strongly urged that this be heeded and done, for the sake of the children’s future,” said Suharjendro, the head of the organizing committee for the ritual.

He said ruwatan could be organized by anyone provided that a dalang, or shadow puppet master, presided over the ceremony.

The reason is that dalang are versed in Javanese mysticism and literature, and are also accustomed to the various rites they must first undergo before leading a ruwatan, including fasting and holding a certain pose for a prolonged period of time.

The leader of the ceremony should also be able to read ancient Javanese script and to sing out the “Balasewu” incantation to protect the sukerta, Subronto said.

As the chant builds, the ceremony site is cleansed.

Subronto said it was important for all those in attendance to remain alert so that they would not fall under the power of the words.

“Infants, pregnant women and women who are menstruating should leave,” he said. “We cannot be held responsible if they do not. The Balasewu mantra is very strong.”

At the Tamansiswa complex, Ki Lurah Suko Cermo Subronto, a dalang who is also a court officer at the Yogyakarta Palace, led the ruwatan.

The dalang, who hails from Selopamioro, near the ancient burial complex of Javanese royals in Imogiri, said he had conducted ruwatan ceremonies for more than two decades, including leading ruwatan at the Tamansiswa complex for the past 13 years.

Subronto said the number of participants in this year’s ceremony was the most to date. There were both adults and children taking part, the youngest of whom was 7.

“A total of 66 couples registered 110 children. They come from Yogyakarta, Semarang, Magelang, Jakarta, Bogor and even from the United States,” Subronto said.

Anna Sue Reynolds, who was an only child, was the American participant. The tall Caucasian woman was dressed in the local fashion but with her hair loose, and her Balinese husband, I Made Widana, was dressed in the manner of his home island.

“I came here not with my parents, but with my husband,” she said. “We came here in the hope of being able to wipe away our bad karma and be able to live our married life in happiness,” said Reynolds, a Hindu convert.

Made said that many traditional Balinese rituals were similar to Javanese ones, including truwatan. 

“As a member of a traditional community, I am convinced this ritual is a good and appropriate one,” Made said.

The ruwatan begins with the sukerta prostrating themselves at the feet of their parents. Usually the sukerta and their parents are paraded around the village, but at the Tamansiswa event, they only went around the main hall in the complex. The parents then handed over their child or children to the care of the dalang, after which participants were asked to change into white linen sarongs and wraps.

“There is a strong Islamic influence in this ceremony. Just look at how they are dressed,” Suharjendro said, comparing the cloth wraps to the long white garments of the hajj.

The peak of the ritual was a puppet play, held in daylight rather than after dark as is traditional in Java.

“This performance is different because it is performed only for the Ruwatan Sukerta,” said Subronto, the dalang.

The story presented was titled Murwakala and was about the ogre Batara Kala, who, as well as sukerta, also has the habit of eating the moon every now and then, thus causing eclipses.

Offerings were arranged by the performance area, including batik cloths of seven different motifs, a sheet of plain linen as well as one made of rough fiber, and meat from seven pairs of different birds, including chickens, ducks and doves.

Also among the offerings were seven agricultural products — various seeds, roots and nuts — seven agricultural tools and implements, and seven kitchen utensils, Subronto said.

“And that is not a comprehensive list,” Subronto said. “The proceedings are complex and require expert supervision.”

“The Murwakala story originates in ancient Javanese literature, which tells about gods and goddesses who are cursed, change forms, and live in suffering. To return to their original forms and to be able to live happily, they have to undergo ruwatan,” Subronto said.

Pratomo Nugroho, who works at the  Central Java agricultural office, believes in the ritual. His twin 24-year-old sons — Bimo Suryo Pratomo and Seno Suryo Pratomo — who are about to enter married life, needed to take part in the ruwatan to prevent bad fortune, he said.

Pratomo came with his sons from Semarang, some four hours away by car.

Panut, 60, also expressed hope that the ritual would be able to protect his only son, Muhammad Roofi, 13, from misfortune.

“He has been suffering from nerve disorders and epilepsy all his life,” said Panut, who comes from Kotagede, just south of the ceremony site.

After cutting a little of the hair of each individual, symbolically cleansing them, the dalang chanted a magic chant.

He then scooped up water that had been floating with seven types of flowers and purified by the blade of an ancient kris and showered the sukerta, who were now considered no longer cursed.

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