There the daughters of the palace are no longer ashamed to take off their clothes. They enjoy themselves in their nakedness. When they feel stiflingly hot, they climb out of the valley without difficulty. In an instant they have arrived at Bengawan Gangga lake. This lake is not deep at the edges. It is precisely there that the daughters of Maespati's palace bathe, having fun, without fear of being seen by people. Indeed, the soldiers guarding them are very far away from them. Indeed, the joyful and seductive voices of the women who are bathing by the lake are carried by the wind and reach the ears of the soldiers on the hillsides. These soldiers want to see up close, but the distance only allows them to imagine the nakedness of the beautiful daughters of Maespati.
She enjoys refreshment in her body again. She feels as if she was bathing in Sunyalaya lake, where Sumantri accompanied her nakedness.
Dewi Citrawati is also among the beautiful women. At first, the Princess of Magada just keeps silent. But in the end she is tempted too to join in the joy of the palace daughters. Isn't she the one who asked the king to build a beautiful lake to please the daughters of the palace? Now that the lake is in front of her, why doesn't she bathe there? Who knows, she might be able to wash away her sadness into Bengawan Gangga lake? So she takes off her clothes and plunges into the lake. She enjoys refreshment in her body again. She feels as if she was bathing in Sunyalaya lake, where Sumantri accompanied her nakedness.
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The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (134)
When Prabu Arjunasasrabahu is asleep in his meditation and the queen and Maespati daughters are having fun in Bengawan Gangga lake, it is said that there is the story of Nusa Manik along with Rahwana. Rahwana is the king of Alengka. He is a powerful giant without contenders. Thanks to his trickery, he is able to get the magical spell of Aji Pancasona from Resi Subali, a hermit in the form of a very powerful monkey. This Aji Pancasona makes Rahwana unable to die whenever he touches the earth. Rahwana is a disobedient giant and his blood is full of the feeling of anger. No one can soften his heart when he has planned his crime. He does not care at all about the wise advice of his uncle, Patih Prahasta, and his two sincere brothers, Kumbakarna and Wibisana.
Rahwana is also a giant who is thirsty for women. Whenever he hears about a beautiful woman, he wants to snatch her away, no matter who she belongs to. He even once ransacked heaven, forcing the gods to hand over Dewi Tari, an angel he wanted. Many beautiful women have been possessed by his force, but still his lust for women has not subsided and will not until he can get the incarnation of Dewi Sri. He has never seen the woman who is the incarnation of Dewi Sri, but imagining her makes him addicted to the point of madness. He will snatch anyone's daughter if he thinks she is the incarnation of Dewi Sri.
Rahwana's indiscriminate lust makes the gods restless. Candradimuka Crater boils, and the heat stings heaven. This is caused by the fact that Rahwana wants to live as long as possible. It is not an order of destiny that he cannot die, and he believes that his life will be eternal. That desire is identical to identifying himself as a god. The gods search for way to extinguish the desire that violates destiny. The king of the gods, Batara Guru, sends Batara Sambu to deceive Rahwana by giving him the water of life. Batara Sambu disguises himself as a priest in order to meet the giant king and give the water of life to him.
Rahwana thinks he has drunk the water of life, but in reality he has drunk a divine potion that makes him unable to sleep. The gods hope that Rahwana will wonder
what the use is of a long life if he has to suffer, being tormented by sleeplessness? For months Rahwana cannot sleep. His head is dizzy, making it easy for him to imagine scary and life-threatening things. He asks his subordinates to find a cure. He gathers priests from all corners of the country. Because they can't cure him, he kills the priests.
They drink, get drunk and express joy, honoring and glorifying Rahwana as a king who will not be defeated by any king.
The gods are restless when they see that Rahwana does not want to repent, instead killing so many holy people in the world. Therefore Batara Guru sends Batara Indra to remove his illness. Batara Indra disguises himself as a priest and is able to heal him, on the condition that he is willing to give up part of his life. Rahwana thinks it will be better to give up some of his life rather than live continuously but suffer. He wants to fulfill that condition. But because of his cleverness, he finally realizes that it is all a trick of the gods. He kicks and tries to kill the priest who heals him. The priest runs away and turns into Batara Indra again. Rahwana gets fresh again, and he still cannot die. After that, his crimes escalate. He expands his empire by conquering the kings. He allows his soldiers to plunder and rape women in the colonized countries he conquers. They drink, get drunk and express joy, honoring and glorifying Rahwana as a king who will not be defeated by any king.
At that time Rahwana and his entourage of soldiers arrive at the hill of Nusa Manik and take a rest there, before they continue their journey to expand their colony. Under this hill flows quietly the Gangga River. At Nusa Manik, Rahwana and his entourage have a party, enjoying what has been looted along the way. They enjoy themselves for a long time, without anyone bothering them. But one day when the weather is very hot, they are suddenly in a panic. They see that the water of the Gangga River rises slowly to inundate the hill of Nusa Manik. What is happening that the water of the Gangga River no longer flows into its estuary but instead climbs up the hill? Why has nature suddenly changed? This fact alone makes Rahwana angry, and he thinks that nature has been guilty of interfering with his power. His anger will get worse if he discovers the cause of why the nature of the Gangga River has changed. Therefore, he sends two giants, Suka and Sarana, who used to be his secret agents. The giants Suka and Sarana can disguise themselves as anything, so they can easily infiltrate the Maespati army who is on guard and quickly find out what is really going on at the mouth of the Gangga River. They return to Nusa Manik, and bring news to their lord, King Rahwana.
(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)
