Characters from the Mahabharata: The Great Chronicle of the Bharata Dynasty
These rod puppets (wayang golek) depict characters from the Mahabharata, an Indian epic involving the battle between the Pandava (Pandawa) brothers and their cousins the Kaurava (Kaurawa) brothers. The Mahabharata has been known for centuries in Indonesia and has been adapted and embellished there with the addition of new characters and episodes. The jesters Semar, Cepot, Petruk, and Togog are purely Javanese creations.
Note: The characters’ Indian names are followed in parentheses by their Indonesian names.