Prince Pande Gelang
and Princess Cadasari
Pandeglang District -
Banten - Indonesia
Pande Gelang is a
handsome prince who possesses supernatural power. Once upon a time, all his
power is stolen by a fellow apprentice, Prince Cunihin. With the magical
strength, Prince Cunihin turns Prince Pande Gelang into an old man in order to
win the heart of Prince Cadasari, his lover. Can Prince Pande Gelang take his
power back from Prince Cunihin? Find out in the story Prince Pande
Gelang and Princess Cadasari as follows.
***
The story goes that in
Banten, there was a princess named Arum. She was so beautiful. Her skin and
heart were as soft as silk. No wonder all princes dreamed of taking her as
wife. Of the many princes, there are two who wanted her the most, namely Prince
Sae Bagus Lana and Prince Cunihin. They trained under the same guru, but their
characters were poles apart. Their traits were just like their name suggested, Sae
Bagus Lana meant a kind man and Cunihinmeant a lady’s man.
Prince Arum, finally, picked Prince Sae Bagus Lana to be her husband.
Apparently, Prince
Cunihin could not accept the bitterness. He was jealous, bearing a grudge for
Prince Sae Bagus Lana that he had intention of stealing his power so that he
could take Princess Arum from him.
Prince Cunihin
succeeded. Possessing great power, he transformed Prince Sae Bagus Lana into an
old man with dark skin.
Prince Sae Bagus Lana
felt helpless and then went to his guru to ask for advice. He was told to make
a big metal ring. That ring should be able to defeat Prince Cunihin. Once he
went through it, his powers would vanish and turn back to Prince Sae Bagus.
Prince Sae Bagus Lana
went away to a kampong to make the ring secretly. Since then, he was called
Pande Gelang, the Ring Maker. His neighbors, though, called him Ki Pande.
One day, when walking
about Manggis Hill, Pande Gelang saw a beautiful girl sitting alone, looking
sad. She seemed familiar to him. Indeed, she was Princess Arum. She was
mourning over her upcoming marriage with Prince Cunihin, the cold and ruthless
man. Despite knowing that she was his lover, Prince Sae Bagus Lana did not
intend to reveal who he really was. He did not want to add to her sorrow.
“Sampurasun!”
greeted Pande Gelang.
“Ra… Rampes,”
answered the princess surprisedly.
“I am really sorry for
surprising you, young lady,” said Pande Gelang saluting her.
The princess did not
respond right away. She was struck dumb looking at the stranger. Although the
dark-skinned old man had a dull face, the princess could feel he was harmless.
So she finally answered his greeting.
“Who are you old man?”
asked the princess.
“My name is Pande
Gelang. People call me Ki Pande,” answered the man. “Why, young lady, if you
don’t mind, are you looking so depressed?”
The princess was again
quieted, then shedding tears. She wanted to tell him her sadness, but it was
really hard. She thought it would be useless to tell other people about it as
nobody could help her anyway.
“Oh, I beg you pardon
for my improper question,” said Ki Pande.
He just took some steps
away when the princess stopped him.
“Wait! Don’t leave,
Ki!” shouted Princess Arum. “I will tell you why. I have never told anyone
about this before. It makes no difference anyway,” explained the princess.
“Why so?” asked Pande
Gelang.
“It is a really heavy
problem I’m facing, Ki,” the princess sighed.
Princess Arum went on
telling that she was under threat of Prince Cunihin.
“I’m so sad, Ki. Prince
Cunihin forces me to marry him. He is agreeable indeed, but he is cruel and
coldblooded. I can do nothing about him. He has enormous authority and
supernatural power,” said Princess Arum.
For a while, Pande
Gelang was speechless. He was furious to hear how Prince Cunihin had treated
the lady. He could not wait to beat the evil prince. However, he concealed his
anger and tried to comfort the lady.
“My condolences, young
lady,” said Pande Gelang in a shaky low voice.
“Thank you, Ki. Stupid
me, I was hoping that the inspiration was true,” said Princess Arum.
“What do you mean by
inspiration?” Pande Gelang was curious.
“I received an
inspiration through a dream that I had to spend some time on this hill to calm
down myself. Someday a kind-hearted prince would come to help me. But now I
began losing hopes. I’ve been waiting here for long but the prince never came.
Oh, God! Prince Cunihin will come to marry me in three days,” moaned Princess
Arum.
Pande Gelang did not
say a word. He realized that the prince was nobody but himself.
“Forgive me for saying
this. I think you should accept Prince Cunihin’s proposal,” said Pande Gelang.
The princess was
surprised by such an inconsiderate counsel. How could she allow herself to
marry Prince Cunihin, a man whom she really hated? But then, the old man
explained what he thought, that the princess should accept his proposal on a
condition. He told her to require Prince Cunihin to make a big hole on a huge
sacred coral lied not far from the coast. He then had to move the coral to the
beach, close enough to the water too. The prince should be given three days to
do all that. The princess now understood.
“So what next, Ki?”
asked Princess Arum again.
“Don’t worry. If you
don’t mind, princess, you can leave the rest to me,” said Pande Gelang.
The princess was even
more confident now. Pande Gelang took her to his place to work out a plan. But
his place was very far that Princess Arum passed out on their way. She fell on
a sandstone right on the fringe of Pande Gelang’s kampong. People who happened
to be around hurried to help Pande Gelang carry her to a nearby house. They
treated her well. According to the village chief, the princess would recover
right away after drinking the water pouring out from the sandstone.
It was true. Princess
Arum suddenly regained health after taking some gulps of the water. Since then,
the kampong people called her Princess Cadasari, the Princess of the Sandstone
Spring.
Next morning, Princess
Cadasari went back to her palace accompanied by some people from the kampong.
Pande Gelang, meanwhile, was busy making the ring he would put on the sacred
coral.
Prince Cunihin came with
the marriage proposal on the given day. As planned, Princess Arum said she
would accept it on a condition.
“I will marry you, but
I have a condition. There is a sacred coral not far from the coast. I want you
to move it closer to the water and make a big hole on it,” explained Princess
Arum.
“What are you kidding?
That is so easy, princess. What do you want from that?” said Prince Cunihin.
“I want to have a
honeymoon upon it. We can sit upon it while savoring the beautiful moment and
scenery of the ocean. Wouldn’t it be nice, prince?” Princess Cadasari made it
clear.
“Oh, that sounds
perfect. A good idea of yours, princess,” praised Prince Cunihin.
Having no suspicion,
Prince Cunihin did what the princess asked. In three days, he took the coral to
the beach. He made a hole on it with his power, then rushed back to the palace
to pick the princess up.
By that time, Pande
Gelang, who had been hiding behind the bushes all along and wathching
everything the prince do, did not waste the chance. He put the ring on the huge
hole on the coral’s side. Too bad, though, Prince Cunihin caught him walking
away from the shore. The evil prince was now with Princess Cadasari.
“Hey, old man! What are
you doing here?” thundered Prince Cunihin.
“Me? Just trying to
take back my power and lover from you,” said Pande Gelang.
“Oh, it’s you again, my
friend! Didn’t I tell you before that you don’t deserve all these? Look, the
princess is mine. Hahahahaha!” Prince Cunihin mocked him.
Princess Cadasari was
at a loss listening to the conversation. They sounded like they had known each
other before. Just when she wanted to ask about it, Prince Cunihin grabbed her
wrist and led her to see the coral.
“See, princess! I have
done what you wanted me to do. A beautiful place it is for our a couple like
us,” said Prince Cunihin.
Calmly, Princess
Cadasari tried to look happy. She knew she still had to make the prince sit on
the hole.
“I’m sorry, prince.
Maybe I’m too happy to be able to see the hole you made from here. Would you go
down there and show me there is really a hole? I’ll be waiting here,” asked
Princess Cadasari.
Prince Cunihin went to
the coral and did not think twice to walk through the hole. Then, just a few
steps through, suddenly he felt unbearable pains all over his body. He yelled
out, rolling on the ground. After that, all his power vanished. He became
sapless, even to stand up. A moment after, he turned into an old man. It was as
if he had just gone through a long tunnel of time.
At the same time, Pande
Gelang could feel that an enormous energy went into his body. He possessed the
power he had used to own. His look changed too. Slowly, he turned younger and
younger, and finally back into a handsome man.
Princess Cadasari could
not believe what she saw. She finally found out that the old man who helped her
was her lover, Prince Sae Bagus Lana.
“Oh, dear! How could
this all happen to you?” wondered Princess Cadasari.
Prince Pande Gelang,
the name by what he was called now, then told her everything, from when Prince
Cunihin stole his power to the magical occurrence that just happened. Prince
Cadasari realized that the inspiration she received was proven true.
The couple walked away
together. Soon, they got married and lived in happiness.
***
That is how the story
of Prince Pande Gelang and Princess Cadasari from Pandeglang, Banten,
Indonesia, goes. Until today, where Prince Cunihin takes the sacred coral (batu
keramat) is now known as “Kramatwatu”, while the coast where he put it
is called “Karang Bolong” (“Holed Coral”). Meanwhile, where the princess waits
in Manggis Hill became known as Kampong Pasir Manggu. The word manggu is
derived from Sundanese language, which meansmanggis (mangosteen),
and pasir means hill. Later on, where
Princess Cadasari passes out is called Cadasari area, situated in Pandeglang,
the place where Prince Pande Gelang stays to make the ring.
The moral the story
conveys is that jealousy and spitefulness can make one do bad things, just like
what happens to Prince Cunihin. He is blinded to the point where he will do
anything to get what he wants, even though it means he has to harm a close
friend. In the end, though, Prince Cunihin finally loses his powers and
transforms into a weak old man.
