Bangsacara Ragapadmi

Pada saat Kerajaan Majapahit sedang mengalami masa kejayaannya, pengaruh keberadaan kerajaan yang terletak di Kabupaten Mojokerto itu terekam di Sampang. Ini bisa dilihat dari ditemukannya Candra Sangkala di situs Pangeran Bangsacara Takobuh, Kelurahan Polagan, Sampang. Candra Sangkala tersebut, berupa angka 1305 tahun Caka yang tertoreh di sebuah batu berukir, yang berarti sama dengan tahun 1383 M. Angka tersebut menandakan tahun berdirinya sebuah candi Budha dengan relief rangkaian cerita Pangeran Bangsacara dan Ragapadmi.

Cerita Bangsacara Ragapadmi ini pernah saya baca sewaktu SD, meminjam dari perpustakaan sekolah. Sampai sekarang saya belum menemukan lagi buku tersebut, mungkin tak pernah dicetak ulang. Seingat saya ada dua cetakan dan ternyata setelah mencari di internet ditemukan memang ada dua cetakan, terbitan Balai Pustaka yang ditulis oleh Hadisutjipto, S.Z. dan terbitan Citra Budaya oleh Eka Santana.

Tahun 1999 saya pernah mencari di internet tentang cerita ini dan menemukan rangkaian cerita berikut yang ditulis oleh seorang anak SD di Australia, dan menyimpannya. Sayang saya tidak sempat mencatat alamatnya. Berikut gambaran cerita beserta ilustrasinya dalam bahasa Inggris.

The True Love of Bangsacara and Ragapadmi

Years ago there was a King named Bidarba. He had a beautiful Queen named Ragapadmi. They lived in a palace in Madura. The palace was a large, ornate building and very beautiful to look at. Having such a large palace they had many staff to look after it. One of the King’s best men was Bangsacara. His Prime Minister was Bangsapati. He was always jealous of Bangsacara because the King always gave him the most important jobs to do.

One day the King’s wife, Ragapadmi, caught a terrible skin disease. When Ragapadmi caught the disease the King was very worried about her. He asked many wise people in the country to try and cure the poor Queen but no-one could help her. The disease made her smell very, very bad indeed.

The Prime Minister met the King and suggested that Bangsacara take Ragapadmi home because Ragapadmi’s disease made her smell bad. The Prime Minister didn’t like Bangsacara and he suggested that Bangsacara should take Ragapadmi home so that he could get rid of his rival.

Bangsacara took Ragapadmi to his house and asked his mother to care for her. Bangsacara’s mother looked very carefully at Ragapadmi. Some time ago she had made a lovely smelling bath oil from leaves and flowers which she thought could cure Ragapadmi. The mother and Ragapadmi prayed that this would work. She succeeded. Every time Ragapadmi had a bath she felt better and began to look more beautiful. Bangsacara came back from work months later and was very excited to see her so beautiful and well again.

At last she got well again. When she was well she thanked Bangsacara’s mother for curing her skin disease. Bangsacara came back from work months later and he was very excited to see her so beautiful and clean again.

Bangsacara was astonished to find her looking so well. She was even more beautiful than she had been before she caught the disease.

Bangsacara said, “You are beautiful now, I should take you back to the King. He will be so happy to have you back.” Ragapadmi said, “No. He has given me to you and I was to marry you and become your wife.” The loving couple got married and were very happy. Bangsacara was so happy he forgot his job in the Palace for several months.

The King was worried because he had not seen Bangsacara for a long time. The King sent Bangsapati to Bangsacara’s house. Before Bangsapati got there he saw Bangsacara and Ragapadmi, the happy couple, together. Bangsapati came back to the Palace and said, “My King, Ragapadmi is well now. She should become your Queen again instead of Bangsacara’s wife.” The King thought about it for a long time. Then he said, “Bangsapati, make a plan. I will be happy if you can bring Ragapadmi back to the Palace.”

The Prime Minister went to Bangsacara’s house and tells him that the King has ordered him to go and kill some deer on Mandangin Island.

Ragapadmi said that she didn’t want Bangsacara to go because she had had a very bad dream the night before. But Bangsacara told her not to worry because he’d been to Mandangin Island to kill deer many times before. He also told her he would take his dogs to help him.

Bangsacara and the dogs swam across to the island and hunted for deer. They killed several deer for the King. Bangsapati came out of his hiding place behind some bushes and spoke to Bangsacara.

The Prime Minister told Bangsacara the King’s other order which was for hime to kill Bangsacara so that Ragapadmi should be Queen again. Bangsapati stabbed Bangsacara with his kris. As he lay dying Bangsacara said, “Ragapadmi, always remember me!” Bangsacara died on the island.

The dogs swam back home. Ragapadmi heard the dogs barking and ran outside because she knew something was wrong. Taking a kris with her she followed the dogs to the sea.

Ragapadmi ran to the beach and started swimming to the distant island She had to hold on to the dog’s tail to know where she was going. She became very tired but kept telling herself she must keep going. When she got to the other side she found Bangsacara lying dead.

Ragapadmi knelt beside her husband and cried for him. Then she took out her kris and stabbed herself in the heart.

When Bidarba found out that Bangsacara was dead he sent Bangsapati from the palace. He was also sad because Ragapadmi could not be found and he loved her so much.

One day a ship’s captain had just seen a young couple and their dogs lying dead on an island. He decided to bury them in graves because other people who came to the island wouldn’t want to see two dead people and two dead dogs lying on the ground.

The captain explained to the King that the young man was handsome and strong. The woman, was also young and very beautiful. He buried the man and the woman in one grave and the dogs in the other. The King realised when he heard the captain’s story that what he had seen was Bangsacara and Ragapadmi.

The King thanked the Captain for burying them. The King felt sad and guilty and he told the people to always look after the island where they were buried.

The story of Bangsacara and Ragapadmi is still famous. It has become a symbol of true love between husband and wife. It has also become a symbol of loyalty. The loyalty of a wife to her husband, of the people to their King and of animals to their masters. People still come to the place where Bangsacara and Ragapadmi were buried on Mandangin Island, a small island near Madura. If you go to the island, you will see a stone which marks the place where they were buried. You will also see another stone which marks the grave of the dogs.

none. Catatan ini ditulis Jumat, 3 Desember 2004 pada pukul 19:50 dalam Tag:nusantara. Anda dapat mengikuti respon semua catatan melalui RSS 2.0 feed. Anda dapat menulis komentar atau menulis trackback di situs anda sendiri.