Princess Mandalika - Grade: C PDF

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Princess Mandalika; the Origin of Bau Nyale Festival, West Nusa Tenggara – Indonesia

Long time ago on the island of Lombok, Tunjung Bitu Kingdom was a mere authority holder on the island of Lombok. It was headed by a wise and kind ruler named King Tonjang Beru. Under his reign, the kingdom and its people lived in harmony and prosperity. His wife, Dewi Seranting, gave birth to a beautifully charming girl named Princess Mandalika. She grew up in peaceful situation and she was a polite, wise, and kind girl which made everybody on the island took care of her. The astounding beauty of Princess Mandalika came to the ear of many crowned princes from the neighbouring kingdoms. One by one they took a visit to the royal palace of Tonjang Beru Kingdom with hope to get the heart of Princess Mandalika. However, none of them could attract her attention. A series of wars then finally broke up between those kingdoms as a consequence of the competition to get Mandalika. The winner, according to their agreement, then would automatically possess the rights to marry her, but the destiny might talk different thing. One day in the royal palace of Tunjung Bitu Kingdom, King Tonjang Beru called his daughter Princess Mandalika soon after knowing the news on the war between the neighbouring kingdoms to get his daughter. “Mandalika, I heard about a war competing for getting your heart will immediately break up. Have it come to your ear?” the king asked. “Yes, I have heard it once, Father,” Princess Mandalika answered. “What will you do to stop the war, Mandalika?” “Pardon me, Father. So far I don’t know what to do. That was my mistake. Would you please allow me to cope with that, Father? “Yes, of course. I think you know the best thing for this, and the best one for you!” “Alright, Father. After all, let me accomplish asceticism with hope I would get the best solution for this, Father,” For several days ahead, Princess Mandalika went to a forest from nearby the royal palace. There she sought for a divine inspiration on the problem she and the kingdom

was facing at that time. It was once flashed on her mind to nominate ten of the crowned princes; then from those ten nominees, she would choose one to be her husband. However, that idea was considered wrong to her lately. She got another idea; that was sacrificing herself. For her, that way was much better than sacrificing thousands of innocent people when the war broke up. Based on the divine order she got during the asceticism, she was obliged to assembly those crowned princes, along with their people, on Seger Kuta Beach on day 20, month 10 of the Sasak calendar. On that day, all had to be on the beach before the sun rises; hence some of them had been on the beach two days before the day. Seger Kuta Beach turned crowded on that day. Soon after the sun rose, a golden carriage shouldered by four men arrived at the location. Inside the carriage was Mandalika dressed beautifully in royal silky clothes. It stopped near a big stone; then she went down from it. She then stood up at the stone, looking at the mass. She starred at the crowded; making the heart of every single crowned prince beat so fast. They were impatient to know who the one would be her husband. After that, Princess Mandalika spoke up….. “O… Father… Mother… And all of you here… I would like to announce you that today; I wouldn’t choose any one of you. My destiny lies on this beach, becoming nyale. I would emerge on several occasions along with the number of the nyale. From this, I wish that my sacrifice would be beneficial to all you for now and then.” All were shocked to hear that announcement; including Mandalika’s parents. Just after she stopped telling her decision, she plunged into the sea, and disappeared leaving no traces at all. At the spur of the moment, the sky turned dark and the wind roared hard along with the thundering storm coming back and forth. The crowded was in panic for several minutes; and the situation turned normal again. Some people then sought for her at the sea, but nothing they found. In a few moments, thousands of sea worms emerged from the bottom of the sea. In the present, such a kind of worm is known locally as nyale. The local people believe that the nyale is the reincarnation of Princess Mandalika. Until now, a number of people gather on Seger Kuta Beach during the Bau Nyale festival to collect nyale because they do believe in the benefit of it. ***...