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Who is PunakawanCharacter of PunakawanPunakawan in CulturesGallery of PunakawanPunakawan in Action

Who is PunakawanPunakawan are the clown servants of Pandawa Five. They are Semar (the Father), Nala Gareng (the Oldest Son), Petruk (the Middle Son), and Bagong (the Youngest Son)

In a Wayang performance, Punakawan is always performed as the fun part of the whole performance. Yet in their comedy, they don’t just for laugh, beyond their funny acts and words they try to send good and positive messages to the audiences.

However, they all are the loyal servant of Pandawa. They do what are told to them, but they also are able to protest and tell they’re masters when they’re masters go on the wrong way.

Therefore, though they are described as servants which represent common people and loyal to their master, but that doesn’t mean they can’t disagree with their master, especially when their master go the wrong way. And as servant they do their works in happy and fun way.

Characters of Punakawan

Semar is the care-giver of Pandawa. His name is also Hyang Ismaya. Even though his appearance is so ugly, he has a supernatural ability that is greater than the gods'. He is actually one of the three sons of Sang Hyang Tunggal.

His brothers are Togog (the servant of Kurawa) and Batara Guru. One day, because of Batara Guru’s trick, Semar and Togog did a mistake and were sent of to the earth to make up their mistake

Characters of Punakawan

Gareng is one of Semar's sons which means he is revered. Nala Gareng cannot speak well; furthermore, whatever he says can be totally wrong.

However, he is a very funny and hilarious man. He has been a king of Paranggumiwang and has a name Pandubergola. He was elected to be a king in the name of Dewi Sumbadra. He is so powerful and can only be defeated by Petruk.

Characters of Punakawan

Petruk is Semar's son with the sweet face and smile. He is a smart speaker and a funny man. He likes to ridicule atrocity with his comedy.

Petruk has been a king at the state of Ngrancang Kencana and is named Helgeduelbek. In one story, he took the Kalimasada amulet. Nobody can defeat him except Gareng.

Characters of Punakawan

Bagong means shadow of Semar. When Semar was sent to the earth, the gods stated that his shadow became his friend. Suddenly, his shadow was transformed to be Bagong.

Bagong has unique personality: he is assertive and like to pretend to be stupid. He is also so funny.

Punakawan in Cultures

Punakawan has different names in some other cultures. Below are some names of Punakawan in different cultures.In Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Sunda, and East Java, Semar is always acted though he performed with different teams.In Central Java, Punakawan is performed by all four members and accompany with two others which are Togog and Bilung.In the year of Amangkurat I, the king of Mataram (1645-1677), Bagong character were deleted because the Netherland government didn’t like him.In Sundanese puppet show, Semar’s children have different names, they are Cepot, Dawala and Gareng.In Bali there are two kinds of Punakawan, on knigts’ side are performed by Tualen and Merdah, on bad guys’ side are performed by Delem and Sangut.

Gallery of Punakawan

Gallery of Punakawan

Gallery of Punakawan

Punakawan in Action