Kelana Mask (Yogyakarta Style)

Kelana is the name generally used for the demon king Rahwana in wayang topeng, or Javanese masked dance performances of the wayang stories. It is likely that the wayang topeng shows rose to wide popularity in the 14th century, which saw the flourishing of the Majapahit Empire, a powerful Hindu state in Central Java. The masks appear in two basic types, personifying noble and evil characters, respectively. Masks of the first category are identified by their highly stylized, refined and elongated features. The archetypal form of the evil characters, or demons, with their goggling eyes, flat thick noses, long sharp fangs, etc., goes back to the same source. These stylistic conventions were derived from the iconography of the wayang kulit shadow theatre, which foredated the appearance of the wayang topeng tradition by several centuries.

In the epic Ramayana, Rahwana is the demon king of the land of Lanka and the main adversary of Rama, his brother Lakshmana, and their ally Hanuman. Rahwana kidnaps Rama's wife Sita, who is eventually found by Hanuman and his monkey army and rescued by Rama.

Wayang topeng dances are performed at harvest festivals, tourist events, and village celebrations. The dances were originally used to collect then disperse negative supernatural powers. Masks are traditionally believed to contain magic, which is transferred to the dancer who wears it. Old masks are particularly valued, as they are believed to have accrued more potent magic, and the dancer who wears it will thus give a more powerful perforrmance. In the first part of the drama, the dancer is unmasked. At a certain point the dancer takes up a mask, places it on the face,.and instantly is transformed into the character of the mask, whether prince, demon, or clown.

Image: Wood, pigment, metal staples; 16.5 x 11.5 x 14cm.

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