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 kings—things that are never preordained.
In the old stories that circulate among Javanese—historiography nurtured by folk theater from village to village—we 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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