The concept of envy and jealousy of Galuh Ajeng towards Galuh Cendera Kirana that raise the dramatic issue in Hikayat Panji Semirang.

The concept of envy and jealousy of Galuh Ajeng towards Galuh Cendera Kirana are the main factors that raise the dramatic issue. First and foremost what do jealousy, envy, and dramatic mean? Who is Galuh Ajeng and Galuh Cendera Kirana. Envy derives from a feeling of dissatisfaction of other people’s pleasures in accordance to Pendeta Za’ba. On the other hand according to Sidney William she states that jealousy is the feeling of wanting someone elses possessions, positions or advantages. Finally, dramatic means an issue that is deeply critical to bringing a story forward with at least a solution at the end of the story. Galuh Cendera Kirana sociologically is the only princess of Ratu and Permaisuri Puspa Nigrat. She is also the elder sister to Galuh Ajeng and she is also niece to Ratu Gagelang, Paduka Biku Gandasari, and  Ratu Kuripan. Psychologically she is a kind person, well-mannered, soft-centered, and firm in making decisions. On the other hand Galuh Ajeng sociologically, is the only daughter of Ratu Daha and his concubine Paduka Liku, younger sister to Galuh Cendera Kirana and she is also wife to Raden Singa Menteri. Psychologically she is an ill-mannered person, envies a lot, full of jealousy, and always throws a tantrum to get what she wants.  

Jealousy comes from the base word ‘jealous’. According to the Oxford’s Dictionary [Third Edition], ‘jealous’ means a feeling showing unhappiness and a wish to be unkind because of another person’s success, better luck, and wealth etc. Based on a psychology research about men and women conducted by Sidney Williams, a graduate trainee at the University of Alabama of Birmingham with double degrees in Neuroscience, jealousy gives different meanings to both gender. “Men’s infidelity focuses on the act of sex itself rather than emotional involvement. Women obviously don’t worry about passing on some other women’s genetic: their jealousy tends to be much more benign.” (Sidney Williams, pg. 12). This means that different genders shows different kinds of jealousy although it is the same. However, at the early part of ‘Hikayat Panji Semirang’, the jealousy  occurred between women. Galuh Ajeng shows her jealousy towards Galuh Cendera Kirana, her eldest sister. For example, Galuh Cendera Kirana receives a gift of anak-anakan made from gold that is wrapped with old cloth and a black strap while Galuh Ajeng choose a gift that is wrapped beautifully with pink silk cloth, but the anak-anakan she received is just made from bronze. Galuh Ajeng feels jealousy towards Galuh Cendera Kirana as to why her sister gets the gold anak-anakan when she, Galuh Ajeng chooses one of the presents first before Galuh Cendera Kirana. Example from Chapter 4 (pg 32) shows that Galuh Ajeng suddenly finds out that Galuh Cendera Kirana’s anak-anakan is better than hers;

            Galuh Ajeng yang berada di pintu terlihat cara kakandanya berman dengan anak-anakan itu. Dia pun turut menimang-nimang anak-anakannya yang diperbuat daripada perak itu. Diambilnya selendang yang bertabur emas dan permata lalu digendongnya anak-anakan itu sambil menyanyi seperti lagu Galuh Cendera Kirana. Tiba-tiba dilihatnya anak-anakan Galuh Cendera Kirana daripada emas, matanya daripada baiduri dan kilat-kilat cahanya.In the same chapter, page 33, Galuh Ajeng’s jealousy is trying to persuade her sister, Galuh Cendera Kirana to exchange their anak-anakan. However, Galuh Cendera Kirana made her mind up on  not giving the gold anak-anakan to Galuh Ajeng.

“Aduhai kakak,” seru Galuh Ajeng, “berilah anak-anakan itu hamba pada hamba, kerana hamba ini masih kecil lagi. Kakak ambillah anak-anakan perak ini kerana kakak sudah besar.”

            Jawab Galuh Cendera Kirana, “Wahai adinda, mengapakah adinda memilih yang itu tadi? Bukankah adinda memilih dahulu daripada kakak? Kakak hanya menerima sisa adinda.”

            “Bukan adinda yang memilih terlebih dahulu,” ujar Galuh Ajeng. “Ayahanda Sang Ratu yang memilih dan memberikannya kepada adinda. Adinda tidak berani memilih dahulu, kerana adinda takut kepada kakanda.”

            Kata Galuh Cendera Kirana, “Tidak akan kakanda beri kepada adinda. Yang kakanda terima ini hanyalah sisa.”

            Another example is when Galuh Cendera Kirana and Galuh Ajeng were in the garden to pick out flowers. There, Galuh Ajeng saw a bird flying in front of her and tried to catch the bird, but she and her dayangs were unable to catch it. However, Galuh Cendera Kirana’s dayangs were able to catch the bird when Galuh Cendera Kirana asked them to, they gave the bird to her. Hence, Galuh Ajeng felt uneasy with it and tried to ask the bird from her sister. (Cahpter 1, page 10).

            Galuh Ajeng menangis sambil meminta burung itu, katanya, “Berikan hamba burung itu kakanda, kerana hamba yang melihatnya terlebih dahulu.” Ia pun terus menangis dengan amat pilu. Mahadewi pun berkata, “Ya anakku, berikanlah burung kepalang itu kepada adikmu.”

Basically, accoding to Za’Ba, envy is derived from a feeling of dissatisfaction of other people’s pleasure. Which means, a person who cannot stand or dislike with what other people get or have, he or she will find ways to get or to have the same thing or similar. In ‘Hikayat Panji Semirang’, Galuh Ajeng is the one who feels dissatisfaction towards Galuh Cendera Kirana. This explains why Galuh Ajeng envies Galuh Cendera Kirana when Galuh Cendera Kirana always gets more than her. Their father, Ratu Daha always gives more attention to Galuh Cendera Kirana compared to Galuh Ajeng. These situations can be be reviewed in Hikayat Panji Semirang in page 7 when Galuh Ajeng says, “ Memamnglah hamba ini anak terbuang, lagi anak gundik, bukan anak permaisuri; sebab itulah diperlakukan begini. Pakaian hamba dibezakan dan tidak disamakan oleh Sang Ratu dengan pakaian paduka kakanda Galuh Cendera Kirana”. Whereas, this makes sense why Galuh Ajeng feels envy to Galuh Cendera Kirana because she is also the daughter of Ratu Daha even though her mother, Paduka Liku is only Ratu Daha’s mistress. Galuh Cendera Kirana gets the best and nicest undung-undung (a scarf) while Galuh Ajeng gets a common version. Of course, she envies to her sister. To her, why should they get the different undung-undung because in a way, they are both princesses. Another example is when Galuh Cendera Kirana gets anak-anakan (a doll) which is made from kencana (gold) and the eyes of the doll are diamonds. As in chapter four, page 32, Galuh Ajeng wants her sister’s doll after she finds out that her doll is only made up from silver. In the place, Galuh Ajeng is the one who chose the dolls first before Galuh Cendera Kirana. Unfortunately, her doll was wrapped with nice box and cover. In her mind, things with nice box and covered nicely is the one which is expensive. Unluckily, she misthought about that. Again, Galuh Ajeng envies with Galuh Cendera Kirana and she says, “berilah anak-anakan itu pada hamba, kerana hamba ini masih kecil lagi. Kakak ambillah anak-anakan perak ini kerana kakak sudah besar”. These two examples explain why Galuh Ajeng envies her sister, Galuh Cendera Kirana.

The Dramatic issue in the story “Hikayat Panji Semirang” starts when Princess Galuh Cendera Kirana feels hurts with Galuh Ajeng and Paduka Liku, that causes princes cendera kirana to assume a new identity “Panji Semirang”. From this dialogue or quotes we can see why Princess Galuh Cendera Kirana feel hurts with her sister and her stepmother.

“hai Cendera Kirana,” bentak baginda,” “mengapa kamu tidak mahu memberikan anak-anakan emas itu kepada adikmu? Jikalau kamu masih berdegil, nescaya ku gunting rambutmu.” Apabila melihat ayahdanya datang dengan murka itu, Galuh Cendera Kirana pun sujud meniarap menyembah kaki ratu daha sambil berseru “lebih baih ayahda bunuih sahaja anakada. Tiada gunanya hidup menanggung derita dan sakit hati. Anakanda tidak akan berikan anak-anakan ini kepada galuh ajeng kerana anakanda pun hanya mendapat sisa pilihan, lagipun anakanda sangat sayang pada anak-anakan ini. Anakanda rela  mati dibunuh ayahanda.”

“Sang Ratu Daha semakin marah mendengar ratapan anakandanya itu lalu berkata dengan kasar. “hai Cendera Kirana, kalau kamu tak mahu beri juga, aku akan gunting rambutmu.” Sembah Galuh Cendera Kirana, “ tidakkah ayahda kasihan sedikit pun melihat anakanda? Bonda permaisuri telah mangkat dan anakanda pula piatu. Lebih baik ayahanda bunuh anakanda. Anakanda lebih rela mati daripada menanggung hidup menanggung sengsara.” (page 35& 36)

            In the next quote we can see a statement that causes  princess galuh cendera kirana to want to assume a new identity “ Panji Semirang”.

“Aduhai, mamanda, tak tertahan lagi anakanda menanggung rasa sakit hati ini. Anakanda bercadang untuk menghiburkan hati dengan mengembara ke mana sahaja, pada malam ini juga, tetapi janganlah diketahui sesiapa pun. Anakanda minta agar mamanda menteri dan bonda menyimpan rahsia ini supaya tidak di ketahui oleh ayahda Sang Ratu Daha dan Paduka Liku. Semoga Sang Ratu Daha hidup bahagia bersama-sama Paduka Liku dan Galuh Ajeng yang dikasihinya”.

With the understanding that a story is moved forward with regards that can constantly be traced back to it’s dramatic issue, it seems well in-line to conclude that the concept that plays the bigger role to fuel the dramatic issue takes the spotlight. In which case, with respect to the definitions of the concepts that have been presented within the story and it’s examples in which they occur. It can be said that envy takes center-stage being the main reason for to link directly to the dramatic issue. This is because it is a concept that does not put reliance on what you get from a partner unlike Jealousy which as pointed out by Sidney Williams clearly by definition would require the character to have a romantic/sexual relationship with the person in which the concept occurs. Envy seems to be a concept that acts on it’s singular stance in the case of how the envy towards the princess fuels the need to do something to act upon that dissatisfaction which directly leads to the dramatic issue because the princess is patronized by Galuh Ajeng and Paduka Liku who acted upon their envy.

References 

Krishen Jit. (1998). Berjaya Bersama Teater. Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka.

Sidney Williams. (1998). How To Succeeed With Women. Parker Publisher Company.

Sidney Williams. (2002). The Science of Dating. Parker Publisher Company.

Zainal Abidin Ahmad. (1934). Ilmu Mengarang Melayu. Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka.

Zainal Abidin Ahmad. (1962). Pelita Bahasa Melayu I. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

Zainal Abidin Ahmad. (1966). Pelita Bahasa Melayu II. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

Zainal Abidin Ahmad. (1967). Pelita Bahasa Melayu III. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

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