Sangkuriang

Sangkuriang
Long time ago in West Java, lived a beautiful girl named Dayang Sumbi. She was also smart
and clever. Her beauty and intelligence made a prince from the heavenly kingdom of
Kahyangan desire her as his wife. The prince asked permission from his father to marry
Dayang Sumbi. People from Kahyangan could never live side by side with humans, but his
father approved on one condition, when they had a child, the prince would transform into a
dog. The prince accepted the condition.
They get married and lived happily in the woods until Dayang Sumbi gave birth to a baby
boy. The prince then changed into a dog named Tumang. Their son is named Sangkuriang.
He was very smart and handsome like his father. Everyday, he hunted animals and looked for
fruits to eat. One day, when he was hunting, Sangkuriang accidentally killed Tumang. His
arrow missed the deer he was targeting and hit Tumang instead. He went home and tells her
mother about the dog. “What?” Dayang Sumbi was appalled. Driven by sadness and anger,
she grabbed a weaving tool and hit Sangkuriang’s head with it. Dayang Sumbi was so sad;
she didn’t pay any attention to Sangkuriang and started to cry.
Sangkuriang feel sad and also confused. How can his mother love a dog more than him?
Sangkuriang then decided to go away from their home and went on a journey. In the morning,
Dayang Sumbi finally stopped crying. She started to feel better, so she went to find
Sangkuriang. But her son was no where to be found. She looked everywhere but still couldn’t
find him. Finally, she went home with nothing. She was exhausted. She fell asleep, and in her
dream, she meets her husband. “Dayang Sumbi, don’t be sad. Go look for my body in the
woods and get the heart. Soak it with water, and use the water to bathe, and you will look
young forever,” said the prince in her dream. After bathing with the water used to soak the
dog’s heart, Dayang Sumbi looked more beautiful and even younger.
And time passed by. Sangkuriang on his journey stopped at a village and met and fell in love
with a beautiful girl.He didn’t realize that the village was his homeland and the beautiful girl
was his own mother, Dayang Sumbi. Their love grew naturally and he asked the girl to marry
him. One day, Sangkuriang was going on a hunt. He asked Dayang Sumbi to fix the turban on
his head. Dayang Sumbi was startled when she saw a scar on his head at the same place
where she, years ago, hit Sangkuriang on the head.
After the young man left, Dayang Sumbi prayed for guidance. After praying, she became
convinced that the young man was indeed her missing son. She realized that she had to do
something to prevent Sangkuriang from marrying her. But she did not wish to disappoint him
by cancelling the wedding. So, although she agreed to marry Sangkuriang, she would do so
only on the condition that he provides her with a lake and built a beautiful boat, all in one
night.
Sangkuriang accepted this condition without a doubt. He had spent his youth studying
magical arts. After the sun went down, Sangkuriang went to the hill. Then he called a group
of genie to build a dam around Citarum River. Then, he commands the genies to cut down
trees and build a boat. A few moments before dawn, Sangkuriang and his genie servants
almost finished the boat.
Dayang Sumbi, who had been spying on him, realised that Sangkuriang would fulfill the
condition she had set. Dayang Sumbi immediately woke all the women in the village and
asked them to wave a long red scarf. All the women in the village were waving red scarf,
making it look as if dawn was breaking. Deceived by false dawn, the cock crowed and
farmers rose for the new day.
Sangkuriang’s genie servants immediately dropped their work and ran for cover from the sun,
which they feared. Sangkuriang grew furious. With all his anger, he kicked the unfinished
boat. The boat flew and landed on a valley. The boat then became a mountain, called Mount
Tangkuban Perahu (Tangkuban means upturned or upside down, and Perahu means boat).
With his power, he destroyed the dam. The water drained from the lake becoming a wide
plain and nowadays became a city called Bandung (from the word Bendung, which means
Dam).
SANGKURIANG
The legend tells that, long ago, there lived a beautiful woman named Dayang Sumbi, the
daughter of the king of Sumbing Perbangkara. Her beautiful face made Dayang Sumbi
contested by the princes.
As a princess from the kingdom, Dayang Sumbi has a weaving hobby. One time, when she
was busy weaving cloth, suddenly her loom fell. Instead of taking it herself, Dayang Sumbi
said an oath: if the one who took the loom were a man, then she would take him as her
husband, but if the one who took the loom were a woman, she would make her a sister.
Unexpectedly, sometime later, there came a male dog named Si Tumang, which brought
Dayang Sumbi’s loom. Finally, to fulfill her oath, Dayang Sumbi married Tumang (long
story short, Tumang was a god who was expelled from heaven). From that marriage, a son
named Sangkuriang was born.
Time went on until Sangkuriang grew into a handsome boy. One day, Sangkuriang found out
that his mother wanted to eat a deer’s liver. Sangkuriang also hunted into the forest with
Tumang. While hunting, Sangkuriang felt upset because he hadn’t successfully hunted any
animals. Then, he decided to kill Tumang and gave Tumang’s heart to his mother.
Moments later, Dayang Sumbi found out that Sangkuriang had killed Tumang. Furiously,
Dayang Sumbi hit Sangkuriang’s head and threw him out of the house.
Years later, Sangkuriang, who was kicked out of the house, had grown into a handsome man.
While Dayang Sumbi remained young, this was because at that time Dayang Sumbi ate
Tumang’s liver. One day, Sangkuriang met Dayang Sumbi again, and they fell in love with
each other.
Dayang Sumbi, who finally found out that the young man was her biological son who had
been expelled for years, insisted on refusing and decided on Sangkuriang to do an impossible
assignment.
Dayang Sumbi said that if Sangkuriang wanted to marry her, he had to build a big boat in just
one night. Sangkuriang also agreed. With the help of the spirits, Sangkuriang almost
succeeded in the task before dawn.
However, Dayang Sumbi did not remain silent. She and the women around her pounded the
mortar and made it look like the dawn had come. The spirits fled, so Sangkuriang failed to
finish his boat. This made Sangkuriang furious and kicked the boat upside down. The
overturned boat is now known as Mount Tangkuban Perahu.

Sangkuriang

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