| Description |
The painting portrays two characters from the wayang shadow plays. Semar is one of the punakawan (clowns), but is in fact divine and very wise. He is the dhanyang (guardian spirit) of Java, and is regarded by some as the most sacred figure of the wayang set. The other character is the Hindu god Khrisna (Krisno spelled in Javanese) as portrayed with dark skin in the Javanese version of Mahabharata. In the epic, he is a cousin, an ally and advisor to the Pandhawa/Pandavas. The Pandavas refers to the five brothers namely, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, who are the main characters in the epic Mahabharata. They were the acknowledged sons fathered by Gods of Pandu, the king of Hastinapur and his two wives Kunti and Madri. The five brothers shared a wife, Draupadi. (Partly quoted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semar and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandava) |
