Depictions of Music Making and Theatrical Dynamism: The Reliefs of Candi Penataran in East Java, Indonesia

This article explores the aesthetic context of music iconography on the reliefs of Candi Penataran in East Java as part of re-evaluation of the interpretation by Jaap Kunst (1891–1960) in the colonial era. From the perspective of an interdisciplinary study of the ethnomusicology and archaeology, we particularly focus on the narrative sequence of a relief arrangement embodying a Hindu creation myth. Construction of Candi Penataran began in the twelfth century and was completed in the fourteenth century. The relief images of musical instruments at the site appear on the rectangular stage (pendopo teras) and the main temple (candi induk). The pendopo teras incorporates images of xylophones, cymbals, and dumbbell-shaped percussion instruments within illustrations of local literature, while the first floor of the candi induk depicts the Ramayana epic, including sculpted gongs, a flute, a bronze percussion instrument, and a drum in the battle scenes. Significantly, the two reliefs are arranged in a counterclockwise order (prasawya), while a relief of the Krisnayana eulogy on the second floor of the main temple is conversely arranged in a clockwise order (pradaksina). Recent archaeological research has related the regularity of these arrangements to the dichotomous philosophy of Samudra Manthan, a Hindu myth of amerita (the water of immortality), as generated by the two opposing powers of the pradaksina movements by gods and the prasawya movements of demons. Given that this emblematic structure reflects the interplay of Hindu traditions of circumambulation and elements of the theocratic rituals (pendharmaan) of medieval Java, the epistemological value of the narrative reliefs appears to have been intricately linked to the highly physical movements of ritual practice. Hence, amid this theatrical dynamism, the musical iconography embedded in the impure prasawya context would have served as a significant aspect of symbolic preludes, evoking a state of fascination with the divinity of kingship.