PUNAKAWAN
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Who is Punakawan
Character of Punakawan
Punakawan in Cultures
Gallery of Punakawan
Punakawan in Action
Who is Punakawan
Punakawan are the clown servants of Pandawa Five. They are Semar (the Father), Nala Gareng
(the Oldest Son), Petruk (the Middle Son), and Bagong (the Youngest Son)
In a Wayang performance, Punakawan is always performed as the fun part of the whole
performance. Yet in their comedy, they don’t just for laugh, beyond their funny acts and words
they try to send good and positive messages to the audiences.
However, they all are the loyal servant of Pandawa. They do what are told to them, but they also
are able to protest and tell they’re masters when they’re masters go on the wrong way.
Therefore, though they are described as servants which represent common people and loyal to
their master, but that doesn’t mean they can’t disagree with their master, especially when their
master go the wrong way. And as servant they do their works in happy and fun way.
Characters of Punakawan
Semar is the care-giver of Pandawa. His name is also
Hyang Ismaya. Even though his appearance is so ugly, he
has a supernatural ability that is greater than the gods'.
He is actually one of the three sons of Sang Hyang
Tunggal.
His brothers are Togog (the servant of Kurawa) and
Batara Guru. One day, because of Batara Guru’s trick,
Semar and Togog did a mistake and were sent of to the
earth to make up their mistake
Characters of Punakawan
Gareng is one of Semar's sons which means he is
revered. Nala Gareng cannot speak well; furthermore,
whatever he says can be totally wrong.
However, he is a very funny and hilarious man. He has
been a king of Paranggumiwang and has a name
Pandubergola. He was elected to be a king in the name
of Dewi Sumbadra. He is so powerful and can only be
defeated by Petruk.
Characters of Punakawan
Petruk is Semar's son with the sweet face and smile. He
is a smart speaker and a funny man. He likes to ridicule
atrocity with his comedy.
Petruk has been a king at the state of Ngrancang
Kencana and is named Helgeduelbek. In one story, he
took the Kalimasada amulet. Nobody can defeat him
except Gareng.
Characters of Punakawan
Bagong means shadow of Semar. When Semar was sent
to the earth, the gods stated that his shadow became his
friend. Suddenly, his shadow was transformed to be
Bagong.
Bagong has unique personality: he is assertive and like to
pretend to be stupid. He is also so funny.
Punakawan in Cultures
Punakawan has different names in some other cultures. Below are some names of Punakawan in
different cultures.
In Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Sunda, and East Java, Semar is always acted though he performed with
different teams.
In Central Java, Punakawan is performed by all four members and accompany with two others
which are Togog and Bilung.
In the year of Amangkurat I, the king of Mataram (1645-1677), Bagong character were deleted
because the Netherland government didn’t like him.
In Sundanese puppet show, Semar’s children have different names, they are Cepot, Dawala and
Gareng.
In Bali there are two kinds of Punakawan, on knigts’ side are performed by Tualen and Merdah,
on bad guys’ side are performed by Delem and Sangut.
Gallery of Punakawan
Gallery of Punakawan
Gallery of Punakawan
Punakawan in Action