The History of Dewi Sri

The History of Dewi Sri

One day, Batara Guru – the highest command of all gods and goddesses in the heavenly kingdom known as Kahyangan in Javanese – ordered all of his subordinates to participate in building a new palace. He imposed a harsh consequence, “I will hack the hands and legs of those who disobey my order!”

Upon hearing this mandate, Antaboga was getting very anxious since – as the god of snake – he had neither hands nor legs. “With my condition, how can I obey Batara Guru’s order?” thought he in retrospect. But, to him, the worst torment of all was the thought of the consequence. If he was to be punished, the only thing he had left for Batara Guru to cut was his neck. And that meant death, even for a god like him.

He then went to Batara Narada – the brother of Batara Guru – for advice. To his disappointment, Batara Narada could give him none. Antaboga cried in despair thinking about his imminent death. Miraculously, three of his teardrops transformed into eggs with very beautiful shiny shells. Batara Narada suggested Antaboga to present those eggs to Batara Guru as an offering to appease Batara Guru’s heart.

Antaboga went to Batara Guru’s palace right away, brought the three eggs in his mouth. On his way to the palace, he was attacked by a crow who was very upset because Antaboga did not answer his greeting. Two of the eggs fell out of his mouth during the assault but he went on. Unwavering, he struggled to keep the only one remaining egg and managed to get to the palace somewhat unscathed.

Fortunately, Batara Guru accepted his offering contentedly. However, when he discovered that it was a magic egg, he instructed Antaboga to incubate the egg. A menial task for a god but definitely better than losing his neck, Antaboga thought.

The egg was finally hatched. But, to his astonishment, in the hatching egg he found a very adorable baby girl. When he presented her to Batara Guru, he and his queen fell in love with the beautiful baby and decided to adopt her. They named the baby girl Nyi Pohaci Sanghyang Sri. Or Dewi Sri.

Years gone by and Dewi Sri grew into the most beautiful goddess in the entire heavenly kingdom. But, she was not just another pretty face. She was also smart, kind-hearted, generous and very humble. Everybody loved her and many men fell in love with her, Batara Guru included. Deep in his heart, the king of gods himself was enchanted by the beauty of his own stepdaughter. He wanted to marry Dewi Sri.

Other gods and goddesses were very concerned when they realized what happened between their king and his stepdaughter. Some of them secretly met to find a way to avoid yet another big scandal in the heavenly kingdom. They concluded: Dewi Sri must die.

The plot to assassinate Dewi Sri was very simple. They put a very potent poison into her drink and the most beautiful goddess dead almost instantly. Her death created panic and guilt, nevertheless, for the gods and goddesses now realized that they had just killed an innocent young woman.

In tears, the gods descended from the heavenly kingdom to earth to bury the body of Dewi Sri in a hidden place. After being buried another miracle happened. From her body parts grew many plants that later would turn out to be very useful and vital for human life.

From her head coconut trees were emerged. From her lips arose spices and vegetables. Her hair became many kinds of grass and beautiful flower shrubs. From her breasts grew many kinds of delicious fruit trees. Teak, oak, sandalwood and many other big trees appeared from her arms and hands. Various kinds of bamboo trees grew form her thighs. Her legs materialized into many kinds of tubers and cassava. Finally, paddy rice – the main staple food of Indonesian – grew from her belly (another version mentioned that the paddy rice grew from Dewi Sri’s eyes).

Source: Wawacan Sulanjana (Sundanese folklores), author unknown. Translated and adapted by Arie S. Hartanto