Wayang Kulit, the shadow puppet theater, has been designated by UNESCO as the best masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity and why not, it is both the most ancient and most popular form of puppet theatre in the world! Long ago, in Indonesia,the Hindus had through the theater, introduced stories from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana to the local populace but then, they were said to have used rod puppets. Islam forbids the display of God or gods in human form and when the religion took root in Indonesia, the Muslim religious leaders forbade King Raden Patah of Demak, Java from watching the theatre in its traditional form. Instead, the theatre was modified to display only the shadow of the figures which had been chiselled carefully out of leather with very fine tools and so,wayang kulit was said to have been born.In the museum in Universiti Sains Malaysia, besides wayang kulit puppets, some very big figures were on display. They look rather gross compared to the traditional puppets but somehow, drew peals of delights from the younger set who recognised some of these figures as their favourite characters from the blockbuster, Star Wars. Figures, no matter how gross, attract!
Gross exhibits in the museum...
Gross exhibits in the museum...
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