Pararaton

Power never exists in perfect form. It is rather the sign of something lacking, but it is effective because it produces main actors who can differ from one another, yet be of one desire: to overcome that sense of lack.

Goenawan Mohamad

October 3, 2022

FROM Tumapel and Singasari, we have come to know power and kingsthings that are never preordained.

In the old stories that circulate among Javanesehistoriography nurtured by folk theater from village to villagewe come across Ken Arok. He, the storytellers say, was an outsider. 

The word ‘outsider’ here has many meanings. Ken Arok’s lineage is unclear, as are his origins; it is said that as a baby, he

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