Long
time ago in West Java, lived a beautiful girl named Dayang Sumbi. She
was also smart and clever. Her beauty and intelligence made a prince
from the heavenly kingdom of Kahyangan desire her as his wife. The
prince asked permission from his father to marry Dayang Sumbi. People
from Kahyangan could never live side by side with humans, but his father
approved on one condition, when they had a child, the prince would
transform into a dog. The prince accepted the condition.
They
get married and lived happily in the woods until Dayang Sumbi gave
birth to a baby boy. The prince then changed into a dog named Tumang.
Their son is named Sangkuriang. He was very smart and handsome like his
father. Everyday, he hunted animals and looked for fruits to eat. One
day, when he was hunting, Sangkuriang accidentally killed Tumang. His
arrow missed the deer he was targeting and hit Tumang instead. He went
home and tells her mother about the dog. “What?” Dayang Sumbi was
appalled. Driven by sadness and anger, she grabbed a weaving tool and
hit Sangkuriang’s head with it. Dayang Sumbi was so sad; she didn’t pay
any attention to Sangkuriang and started to cry.
Sangkuriang
feel sad and also confused. How can his mother love a dog more than
him? Sangkuriang then decided to go away from their home and went on a
journey. In the morning, Dayang Sumbi finally stopped crying. She
started to feel better, so she went to find Sangkuriang. But her son was
no where to be found. She looked everywhere but still couldn’t find
him. Finally, she went home with nothing. She was exhausted. She fell
asleep, and in her dream, she meets her husband. “Dayang Sumbi, don’t be
sad. Go look for my body in the woods and get the heart. Soak it with
water, and use the water to bathe, and you will look young forever,”
said the prince in her dream. After bathing with the water used to soak
the dog’s heart, Dayang Sumbi looked more beautiful and even younger.
And
time passed by. Sangkuriang on his journey stopped at a village and met
and fell in love with a beautiful girl.He didn’t realize that the
village was his homeland and the beautiful girl was his own mother,
Dayang Sumbi. Their love grew naturally and he asked the girl to marry
him. One day, Sangkuriang was going on a hunt. He asked Dayang Sumbi to
fix the turban on his head. Dayang Sumbi was startled when she saw a
scar on his head at the same place where she, years ago, hit Sangkuriang
on the head.
After
the young man left, Dayang Sumbi prayed for guidance. After praying,
she became convinced that the young man was indeed her missing son. She
realized that she had to do something to prevent Sangkuriang from
marrying her. But she did not wish to disappoint him by cancelling the
wedding. So, although she agreed to marry Sangkuriang, she would do so
only on the condition that he provides her with a lake and built a
beautiful boat, all in one night.
Sangkuriang
accepted this condition without a doubt. He had spent his youth
studying magical arts. After the sun went down, Sangkuriang went to the
hill. Then he called a group of genie to build a dam around Citarum
River. Then, he commands the genies to cut down trees and build a boat. A
few moments before dawn, Sangkuriang and his genie servants almost
finished the boat.
Dayang
Sumbi, who had been spying on him, realised that Sangkuriang would
fulfill the condition she had set. Dayang Sumbi immediately woke all the
women in the village and asked them to wave a long red scarf. All the
women in the village were waving red scarf, making it look as if dawn
was breaking. Deceived by false dawn, the cock crowed and farmers rose
for the new day.
Sangkuriang’s
genie servants immediately dropped their work and ran for cover from
the sun, which they feared. Sangkuriang grew furious. With all his
anger, he kicked the unfinished boat. The boat flew and landed on a
valley. The boat then became a mountain, called Mount Tangkuban Perahu
(Tangkuban means upturned or upside down, and Perahu means boat). With
his power, he destroyed the dam. The water drained from the lake
becoming a wide plain and nowadays became a city called Bandung (from
the word Bendung, which means Dam).
