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Panji Museum: Preserving fabled prince’s tales
A museum in Malang, East Java, is dedicated to preserving the cultural significance of the legendary Prince Panji.
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Panji in the shadow: A visitor walks past a row of wayang (shadow puppets), which are said to have been made in 1030. (JP/Nedi Putra AW )
H
e is known as Inao in Thailand, Inaung in Myanmar and Panji Asmara Bangun in his said hometown of East Java. The stories of the legendary prince are estimated have emerged in the Majapahit kingdom’s heyday in the 13thcentury and have spread across Southeast Asia.
So significant its cultural impact that Panji tales manuscripts were inscribed in 2017 in the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Register.
There are so many differing episodes and versions of the Panji legend, but one of the most well-known versions centers on his search for his long lost bride, Princess Candra Kirana (also known as Dewi Sekartaji) of the Kediri Kingdom.
While the stories of Panji can be easily found in wayang (shadow puppet) performances and traditional mask dances across Java, the fabled prince is largely unknown to the younger generation.
Dwi Cahyono from the Inggil Foundation aimed to change that by setting up a museum in Malang, East Java, solely dedicated to promoting Panji tales.
“This museum was built in 2016 on a plot of about 3 hectares,” Dwi said at the museum, located in Slamet village in Tumpang, Malang.
The museum revealed many sides of the Panji tales and how they were manifested not only in the arts but also in the fields of governance, defense, even agriculture and nature conservation.
