An Indonesian Folklore Ratna Manggali

An Indonesian Folklore

Ratna Manggali

Afiyon Kristiyan

Illustrated by Janice Natanya Sumantri

An Indonesian Folklore from Bali
“Ratna Manggali”
Retold by
Afiyon Kristiyan
Illustrated by

Janice Natanya Sumantri

An Indonesian Folklore

Ratna Manggali

Afiyon Kristiyan

Illustrated by Janice Natanya Sumantri

Publisher Sekolah Terpadu Pahoa

An Indonesian Folklore

Ratna Manggali

Publisher: Sekolah Terpadu Pahoa
Jalan Ki Hajar Dewantara No.1, Summarecon Serpong, Kabupaten Tangerang, Banten
1st edition, January 2017
ISBN: 978-602-61749-0-1

Retold by : Afiyon Kristiyan
Illustrated by : Janice Natanya Sumantri
Editor : Naning Pranoto

Translator Jenny Elfrida Naibaho
Layout : Veronica Indrayati
Administrators : Agung Priambodo
Tutors : Erlin Shanti Tirta & Faustine Valent
: 1. Naning Pranoto

2. Hanta Tan

Copyright under Law on Copyright No.19/ 2002

Article 1 Paragraph(1)
Copyright shall mean an exclusive right for an Author or the recipient of the right to publish or reproduce
his Work or to grant permission for said purposes, without decreasing the limits according to the
prevailing laws and regulations.

Article 72 Paragraph (2)
Any person who deliberately broadcasts, exhibits, distributes, or sells to the public a work or goods
resulting from an infringement of copyright or related rights as referred to in paragraph (1) shall be
sentenced to imprisonment of at most 5 (five) years and/or a fine of at most Rp. 500,000,000.- (five
hundred million rupiahs).

 

Preface

This Folklore story book is a part of the ‘informative literacy learning’ programme which is conducted
by the library division of Sekolah Terpadu Pahoa. In the process of publishing this book, the library
has coordinated with Naning Pranoto and other language teachers to guide the students to develop
their skills in retelling the stories and their critical analysis in comprehending its contents.

The process starts with the assignment of finding and reading the sources of a story, continued
with rewriting the story the student selected. Upon the completion of the stories, the division then
collaborates with a particular student who has excellent skills in drawing thus can be the illustrator
of the book. All of which, the whole processes cannot be separated from the guidance of the school
teachers in implementing the learning value into the national culture.

Other than this book, there are different Folklore series rewritten by both students and teachers of
Sekolah Terpadu Pahoa.

Introduction

The story of “Ratna Manggali” is extracted from the legend of “Calon
Arang” from Bali. Taken from the original book, the author wishes to retell the
story from a different point of view.

Ratna Manggali was a kind-hearted and beautiful girl. She was the only
daughter of Calon Arang from Girah village. Despite her beauty, none of the
young people there intended to propose to her. Rumors said that they were
afraid of her mother, Calon Arang. Calon Arang was well-known as a sorcerer
who possessed dark magic. Until one day, Calon Arang was furious and put
her anger onto all the villagers. From this point forward, the story begins from
Ratna Manggali’s point of view.

The moral value we can take from this story is that we should be always
cautious and kind to others, so that we can live happily and peacefully with
other people.

(Etiquette)

A long time ago, there was a very pretty girl
in Girah village.

Her name was Ratna Manggali. She was the only
daughter of Mpu Kuturan and Calon Arang.

Girah village was located in the Daha Kingdom
dominion ruled by King Erlangga.

Ratna Manggali collected all the flowers she found around the tree. She
united the flowers into a wreath as a part of the offerings to Gods. When
she had finished praying in a temple, she usually took her time to walk
around the village and helped whoever need her helps.

Once, there was a man named Rakajasa, who wanted to charm Ratna
Manggali. He was the son of the Girah village leader.

“Hi…Ratna Manggali, will you be my wife?” Rakajasa asked and flirted
with her.

“Pardon me, but it is not a respectable manner for a married man to
flirt with other women,” Ratna Manggali responded.

“You dare to turn me down? You, ungrateful woman!” Rakajasa was
very angry when Ratna Manggali turned him down. He glared and spat bad
words to Ratna Manggali.

Calon Arang happened to see the clash between Ratna Manggali and
Rakajasa. She was upset to learn that her daughter was hurt.

Every morning Ratna Manggali always collected the cape flowers which grew in the yard of her house.

“Take this!” Calon Arang then read a spell and casted the spell on Rakajasa’s
body.

“Aaargghhh, help me!” Rakajasa suddenly put his hand on his chest. It felt
very painful.

His face became paler and paler. All of his body turned black without any
causes.

The villagers rushed to help him, but there wasn’t anything they could do.

Calon Arang read her spells book, and casted a spell on Rakajasa’s body.

All the people locked their gaze on Ratna Manggali, as if they blamed her
for what had just happened.

“What in the world have you just done to him?” they asked her.
“It wasn’t me, I don’t know anything!”
Feeling desperate, she ran home.

Ratna Manggali cried and drew herself from the crowd.

When she reached her home, she held her mother while she was still
crying. She told her mother what had just happened.

“Just calm yourself down. Your mother will always take care of you.” Calon
Arang caressed Ratna Manggali’s head.

Calon Arang tried to calm his daughter down.

The next day, Ratna Manggali helped a neighbour who was ill. Suddenly
her neighbour said, ”I heard that Rakajasa died unnaturally yesterday, and it
happened after his conflict with you. Was it true?”

Ratna Manggali was shocked to hear it but she didn’t say anything. She
only smiled although she was sad that her neighbour asked her so.

Ratna Manggali was treating a sick neighbour.

All day long the village people were gossiping about Ratna Manggali and
what had happened to Rakajasa. They accused Ratna Manggali of being a very
cruel woman. Soon none of the single men in the village wanted her as a wife.

Calon Arang was very pissed off to see that the village people had judged
her daughter unfairly. She wanted revenge for her daughter. She planned to
cast a magic spell to the whole villagers.

When the night came, Calon Arang read the spells and burnt incenses,
and her followers carried out the ritual dance to call Durga the Goddess. Thick
smokes, stormy rain, and roaring thunders accompanied the arrival of the
Goddess.

“Why did you summon me?” the Goddess asked.

“Forgive me, Goddess. Please grant me your permission to punish the
people of Girah village,” she bowed before the Goddess.

“I know what you want. I will help you, but your punishment should be
limited only upon those who have evil intentions towards your daughter,” the
Goddess said.

“Yes, Goddess. I understand.”

Then Durga, the Goddess, disappeared.

Calon Arang didn’t want to involve Ratna Manggali in this
action. She asked her followers to keep it as a secret among
themselves.

Starting that day a lot of the Girah people got sick and
died right away. The atmosphere of the village got more
and more unnerving. Every night there were people who
cried or whimpered in pain.

Ratna Manggali was very sad. The disaster in Girah
village seemed to come from a very strong dark magic,
and not even she could do anything to help the people.

“What is going on in this village? Who is doing this
evil to the people?”

She thought about it and it came across her
mind that the only one with such a powerful
magic was her mother.

What happened in Girah village soon spread to other villages,
and it finally reached Erlangga, The King.

King Erlangga then delegated a palace guard to
investigate the epidemic in Girah village and what or
who caused it.

The guard was informed that this was
probably caused by the magic from Calon Arang
and her daughter. The villagers reported that
both were the only people in the village who
possessed magic.

Other villagers reported that Calon Arang might
do it because she was very
concerned of Ratna Manggali
who was still unmarried, and
she was upset because the
villagers accused her daughter for
Rakajasa’s death and kept gossiping
about it.

King Erlangga was curious to learn that what happened in Girah village is
related to a widow named Calon Arang and Ratna Manggali, her daughter.

They were guarded by five strong followers named Lendi, Guyang, Weksirsa,
Mahesa, and Wardana.

King Erlangga was more surprised because he knew the five of them. They
were the trusted guards of King Udhayana from Bali.

“Which means that Calon Arang and Ratna Manggali are related to Mpu
Kuturan, the trusted and high-skilled advisor of King Udhayana,” King Erlangga
then realized.

King Erlangga then called the respected members in his kingdom. They
had a meeting to discuss and solve the problem in Girah village.

The magic spread by Calon Arang got stronger and darker. More people
had suffered from it. King Erlangga reluctantly sent ten of his best soldiers to
arrest Calon Arang and her followers, dead or alive.

When the soldiers arrived in the village, Calon Arang’s followers fought
them fiercely. Because of Calon Arang’s magic, the soldiers were easily defeated
by her followers.

Calon Arang told her followers to leave one of the soldiers alive to be sent
back to Daha Kingdom.



“Tell King Erlangga to never mess with Calon Arang!” Lendi told the soldier
as he let the soldier go.

Calon Arang and her followers then disposed the bodies of the other Daha
soldiers, cleaned themselves and went home.

Lendi sent one of the soldiers back to Daha Kingdom.

When Calon Arang was home, she was shocked to see her daughter
crying.

Ratna Manggali apparently had found out the source of the dark magic
which caused all the misery to the villagers.



“My dear daughter, I have done all of this because the villagers have been
mean to us. Remember that you are the daughter of Mpu Kuturan, the trusted
advisor of King Udhayana! Yes, we are common people now, but they should
not have disrespected us.”

“But you didn’t need to go this far. Have some mercy on them. Please cut
your magic and stop torturing them,” Ratna Manggali answered and turned
her face so as not to look at her mother.

“You’re too kind to the Girah people. They shouldn’t have hurt you!” Calon
Arang’s voice raised when she spoke back to her daughter.

Calon Arang explained that everything she had done was done to protect Ratna Manggali.

King Erlangga was saddened to hear his soldier’s report that Calon Arang
and her followers had fought the soldiers fiercely.

King Erlangga kept trying to find a way to beat Calon Arang’s magic.

He decided to have a meeting with the leaders of the spiritual and social
communities to discuss this matter.

The leaders suggested that King Erlangga meet Mpu Baradah from Lemah
Tulis village. He was a very powerful monk, and a relative to Mpu Kuturan.

He also had a son named Bahula. Bahula was a handsome and skillful
young man.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, King Erlangga ordered his guards to
fetch Mpu Baradah and escort him to Daha Kingdom.

When the guards met Mpu Baradah in Lemah Tulis, they told him the
problem King Erlangga was having. The guards also explained that Calon Arang
and her magic were the source of the problem.

It was rumored that all this time
Calon Arang was agitated because
Ratna Manggali hasn’t married yet,
and because she was upset with the
villagers who likely disrespected both
of them.

“Why weren’t there any men to propose to her daughter?” Mpu Baradah
asked the guards.

“There have been some before, but they were all turned down. One was
even dead unnaturally,” a guard answered him.

“Calon Arang also possesses a spell mastery from a book which was
written on palm leaves. So please be careful not to anger her,” another guard
suggested Mpu Baradah.

Calon Arang’s Spell Book

After a long thought, Mpu Baradah decided to send his son, Bahula, to
steal the spell book. But first, Bahula had to propose to Ratna Manggali.

Bahula agreed with his father’s plan and accepted the task.

Mpu Baradah reminded his son to be careful when speaking to Calon Arang

Bahula set off to Ratna Manggali’s village. Calon Arang welcomed him right
away and invited him to chat in the living room. A drink and a plate of fried
cassava were served as they were having a chat.

Bahula then expressed his intention to propose to Ratna Manggali. Calon
Arang was surprised to hear that. She was very happy that a dashing young
man had come to propose to her daughter. Her face lit up at once.

Both of them stop talking when Ratna Manggali suddenly came out of the
kitchen.



The beauty and grace of Ratna Manggali caught Bahula’s heart as well, as
if Bahula could not believe what he saw. Ratna Manggali was also happy to
learn that the brave young man had come to propose to her.

Calon Arang noticed the way they looked at each other. She could see the
joy on her daughter’s and Bahula’s faces.

Ratna Manggali asked for her mother’s permission to have a private talk
with Bahula outside of the house.

Ratna Manggali was impressed to see Bahula’s confidence when he was speaking to Calon Arang.

Calon Arang let them both talk outside.
“ Very well, if that is what you need. You can both talk outside.”
And so they started to talk and get to know each other.
“Where do you come from, Bahula?”
“I am from Lemah Tulis village. It’s one day on foot to get there from here.”
“What do you know about me?”
“I heard that Calon Arang has a kind-hearted and beautiful daughter, but
everyone here is afraid of her because she is known as a cruel sorcerer.”
“Then why do you dare to propose to me, Bahula?”
“You’re beautiful and kind-hearted. I am sure that Calon Arang will accept
my proposal as my intention is pure.”
“Aren’t you afraid of Calon Arang, my mother?”
“Through our marriage, Calon Arang will change her heart. She will be
kind. All she wanted was that her daughter to be happy.”

Ratna Manggali and Bahula was talking under the cape flower tree in front of her house.

Ratna Manggali started to realize Bahula’s intention. It took her a while to
decide whether to accept or turned down Bahula’s proposal.

“All right, I accept your proposal to me, but you also have to accept Calon
Arang as your own mother.”

“Yes, I promise,” Bahula agreed.

As they were walking back to the house, they both had agreed to get
married.

“Mother, I’ve agreed to get married with Bahula,” Ratna Manggali informed
her mother.

Calon Arang was very happy to hear it. She wanted them to get married
soon.

Happiness radiated from Ratna Manggali’s and Bahula’s faces.

A big wedding party was held the next week. The people of Girah also
attended the party. They were happy, too. They thought they would soon be
free of Calon Arang’s dark magic.

Ratna Manggali and Bahula’s wedding

After getting married, Bahula and Ratna Manggali lived together with Calon
Arang. Every night Bahula could hear Calon Arang and her followers read their
spell at the temple in front of the house.

Until one night, Bahula silently sneaked into Calon Arang’s room and stole
the spell book.

Bahula and Ratna Manggali then rushed to Mpu Baradah’s hermitage and
handed over the book to him.

When Calon Arang woke up, she was shocked to realize that the spell book
was gone. Her rage only increased when she found out that Ratna Manggali
and Bahula were also gone.

“How dare you betray me! You won’t get away with this,” Calon Arang
hurriedly woke her followers up.

Bahula sneaked into Calon Arang’s room and stole the spell book.

Then they marched to Lemah Tulis village to take the book back.

Ratna Manggali worried more as Calon Arang furiously stormed into Mpu
Baradah’s hermitage.

Calon Arang yelled and called Mpu Baradah and Bahula as she was searching
around for her spell book. Her followers destroyed all ritual materials and
fixtures.

Eventually Mpu Baradah stepped down from his covert and met Calon
Arang.

Mpu Baradah asked Calon Arang to break her magic spell on the people of
Girah.

Calon Arang ignored him. She even got more furious and challenged Mpu
Baradah to fight her.

Without waiting for any instructions, Calon Arang’s followers attacked Mpu
Baradah.

Calon Arang released all of her spells, but amazingly nothing seemed to
hit Mpu Baradah.