Research Article
The Representation of Sexuality in Putri Jaleka Manuscript
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.27-4-2019.2286884, author={Niken Putri Andana Kusuma and Turita Indah Setyani}, title={The Representation of Sexuality in Putri Jaleka Manuscript}, proceedings={Proceedings of the 1st Seminar and Workshop on Research Design, for Education, Social Science, Arts, and Humanities, SEWORD FRESSH 2019, April 27 2019, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia}, publisher={EAI}, proceedings_a={SEWORD FRESSH}, year={2019}, month={9}, keywords={mijil putri jaleka manuscript representation of sexuality sembah catur }, doi={10.4108/eai.27-4-2019.2286884} }- Niken Putri Andana Kusuma
Turita Indah Setyani
Year: 2019
The Representation of Sexuality in Putri Jaleka Manuscript
SEWORD FRESSH
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.27-4-2019.2286884
Abstract
Putri Jaleka (PJ), beside Sĕrat Centhini, Sĕrat Nitimani, Sĕrat Gatholoco is one of the Javanese manuscripts which discusses sexuality. This paper examines sexuality aspect in PJ manuscript. PJ is written in the form of tembang macapat in which canto of the tembang constitutes certain characteristics related to its content. This mode of writing affects the function of tembang to convey the sexuality depiction. Therefore, this article is aimed at describing the representation of sexuality in PJ by referring to the meaning of the sembah catur (four worship) concept in Javanese culture by Roland Barthes’ semiotics. The theory allows this paper to read the sexual depiction in PJ as signifier and their relations with sembah catur as the signified concept. The results show that the representation of sexuality in PJ in the form of mijil cantos conveys the beginning of Jaleka’s sexual intercourse with Yusup. At the same time, mijil can also be understood as the beginning of her spiritual journey towards perfection. This study concludes that the depiction of sexual activity in PJ represents Javanese view on sexuality, that is as a spiritual means to achieve the union with God through the manifestation of sembah catur (raga, cipta, jiwa, rasa).
