Purbasari

Purbasari Ayuwangi is the heroine of the sacred Sundanese pantun Lutung Kasarung. Youngest of the daughters of Prabu Tapa Agung, king of Pasir Batang, she was designated his successor, whereupon her eldest sister Purbararang had her disfigured and banished to a hut in the forest. There the strange black monkey given to her as a servant proved to be her heaven-sent protector: he bathed her in a wondrous pool that restored her beauty and met every impossible task her sister set, from farming contests to the final trial of producing the more handsome bridegroom. Vindicated before the court, Purbasari became ruling queen of Pasir Batang and the bride of the revealed god Guru Minda. In Sundanese tradition her patience and gentleness under persecution made her a model of feminine virtue, and her story remained a staple of pantun performance into the twentieth century.

Domains

• sovereignty

Relations

• spouse: Guru MindaPurbasari weds Guru Minda, the heavenly prince who had served her in the guise of the lutung, once his true form is revealed and her throne is restored.F.S. Eringa, Loetoeng Kasaroeng: Een mythologisch verhaal uit West-Java (Verhandelingen van het KITLV 8; The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1949) (secondary)

Sources

• Purbasari is the exiled youngest princess of Pasir Batang in the Lutung Kasarung pantun, restored to her throne through the help of the divine monkey and married to Guru Minda.: F.S. Eringa, Loetoeng Kasaroeng: Een mythologisch verhaal uit West-Java (Verhandelingen van het KITLV 8; The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1949) (secondary); Ajip Rosidi et al. (eds.), Ensiklopedi Sunda: Alam, Manusia, dan Budaya (Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya, 2000) (secondary)