Batara Guru & Uma(rda) : Arrogance or Tolerance?

I found this interesting story about the creation of Batari Uma (a.k.a. Batari Durga), the wife of Sanghyang Manikmaya (a.k.a Batara Guru; a.k.a. Shiva). This story came from the East Java shadow puppet school. What makes it interesting? Because this is different from the mainstream story, and quite interestingly, contained transsexualism and homoeroticism. Quite a surprise eh, for such an origin story of such high gods and goddesses.

FYI, in the Javanese shadow puppet tradition, Batara Guru is the highest god, second only to Sanghyang Tunggal. Since Sanghyang Tunggal doesn’t mind human business, thus Batara Guru is often regarded as the highest in rank. He is the father of most gods.

Batari Uma, in the mainstream tradition, was a transsexual at first, but mostly into sexual ambiguity. Taking form of a very beautiful woman, but with man’s voice. After being Batara Guru’s wife, Uma was turned into a real woman. Yet, in this version, something more radical and vulgar happened.

The story started with the expansion of Prabu Jumakjujo to Suralaya (a.k.a. Heaven). He intended to rule Suralaya, thus became the ruler of gods.

Responding to this, Sanghyang Tunggal offered his children to be the next ruler of gods, under the condition of beating Prabu Jumakjujo. Surely Sanghyang Puguh (later known as Togog), Sanghyang Punggung (later known as Semar), and Sanghyang Samba (later known as Batara Guru) pledged their readiness. They were soon departing to the battlefield with the expectation of being the supreme ruler of gods.

Shortly after their departing, the twin sons of Sang Hyang Banijan from Jagat Sunya Ruri Haven came. Sang Hyang Pongat and Sang Hyang Umarda also pledged their power to defeat Prabu Jumakjujo. Within their heart, they also wished to be the next supreme ruler of the gods. Seeing their powerful might, Sanghyang Tunggal permitted them to go to battlefield.

The twin gods directly went to the battlefield, whereas Sanghyang Punggung, Sanghyang Puguh, and Sanghyang Samba had some quarrels. This led into a fight among them. The fight delayed them in reaching for the enemy.

When Sanghyang Samba finally reached Prabu Jumakjujo, he saw the fight between Sanghyang Umarda and Prabu Jumakjujo. Seeing that Sanghyang Umarda is so handsome, he deeply fell in love with him. The fight was not equal, leading to Sanghyang Umarda’s defeat. At the end of the battle, Prabu Jumakjujo threw Sanghyang Umarda away. Unfortunately, he fell right in front of Sanghyang Samba.

Sanghyang Samba was so happy seeing his lover fell in front of him. He reached Umarda, embraced him, and kissed him deeply. His lust and love had mixed, that he asked Umarda to marry him. As Umarda a man, he was very afraid. He tried to run away from Samba, flew away towards Gunung Geni (Flame Mountain).

In the pursuit of Umarda, Samba had been blinded by his beauty. Upon reaching the peak of Gunung Geni, Umarda’s cloth was opened, exposing his beautiful lap. Seeing Umarda’s lap, Samba couldn’t hold his passion anymore. He spurted his sperms on the peak of other mountains. The sperms were later transformed into 30 pairs of gods and goddesses.

In order to seize Umarda, Samba asked for additional hands. At that moment, Samba finally had 4 hands. He successfully caught Umarda and grabbed his genital, crushed it, and threw it away until transformed into vines of cloud. From the broken genital, blood was spilling everywhere. Umarda screamed as loud as he could, but nothing he could do, since Samba’s seize was so tight. Samba directly reached for Tapel Adam (kind of apple) to block the bleeding. Therefore, the blood ran to the upper side of the body, creating a swell in the chest. This swell turned into breasts. Having an opening in the genital and a pair of breasts, Umarda turned into a woman physically.

Observing Samba’s actions, Sanghyang Tunggal was very furious. He came directly to Samba and charged him. The infuriated god was so bloodcurdling, triggering Umarda’s sense of mercy. He then approached Sanghyang Tunggal and begged him to forgive Samba. Sanghyang Tunggal couldn’t do anything with Umarda’s mercy, so he turned Umarda into a real woman. Adjusting to his new condition, Umarda changed his name into Uma. Uma was later becoming Samba’s wife after Prabu Jumakjujo’s defeat.

See what is so different? In the mainstream, Uma was a tranny since birth, but in this version, Uma was a man turned into woman by force. Still from the mainstream, Samba fell in love with Uma because of his beautiful woman face and appearance. But in the East Java version, he fell in love with Umarda as a man to man. Homoeroticism, eh?

So? Well, the question is whether this happened to portray god's arrogance or in terms of permissive and tolerant behaviour. Whatever it is, the East Java area is famous for their openness and directness.