COSMOS MATRIMONY BETWEEN KEBO WULAN AND PWAH APSARI JABUNG ON KAWIN CAI

Abstract

Kawin Cai was a worship ritual toward water and land conducted by the people in Jalaksana, Kuningan. The ritual based on a myth of the wedding of Kebo Wulan and Putri Pwah Apsari Jabung. Pwah Apsari was a very beatiful princess that makes Kebo Wulan fell in love with. But, he didn’t have the heart to marry her. However, they change into Kebo Bule (white buffallo) and Kijang (deer) so that they was able to marry. They bore the reincarnation of Sang Hyang Sri named Pwah Bungatak Mangaleale. It was pointed as a sacred spot which was signed by the Kawin Cai. It was the ritual of combining water from the place of Kebo Wulan (Cikembulan) and Pwah Apsari Jabung’s bathing place (Tirtayatra). Kawin Cai was then turned into a site called Batu Kawin which was located in the area of Balong Dalem. The site and the ritual were now believed as the source of God blessing and the symbol of fertility. The belief was a paradox unity between male and female on the upper world (between abode of the gods) and the human beings in the middle one. It was considered as a cosmos matrimony by the Sundanese society. The study was based on cultural analysis to reveal the paradox issues, either related to the site, the person, or the ritual appliances in the life of the old society through the aesthetic of paradox itself.

Keywords: Kawin Cai, cultural analysis, the aesthetic of paradox