Maybe you've eaten rice. But maybe you don't know the story of the origin of rice growing on this earth according to legend.
In this article, we present to you a Sundanese folklore in Indonesia about the origin of the plant. Let's see the story.
The Story of the Origin of the Rice Tree.
Long ago there lived a person named Sunan Ibu in a beautiful garden called Taman Sorga Loka.
At that time Sunan Ibu was waiting for Dewi Sri Pohaci to return from earth. After arriving, Dewi Sri Pohaci told Sunan Ibu that there is an area on earth that does not yet have Cihaya or something that sustains human life. The place was called Buana Panca Tengah.
After hearing Dewi Sri Pohaci's narrative, Sunan Ibu then gave orders to Dewi Sri to go to the Middle Panca Buana country.
Dewi Sri Pohaci agreed to the orders given by Sunan Ibu, but she requested that her departure be accompanied by Prabu Guruminda.
Sunan Ibu granted Dewi Sri Pohaci's request. Sunan Ibu then called Prabu Guruminda and ordered him to accompany Dewi Sri Pohaci to go to the Middle Panca Buana country.
Before leaving Taman Sorga Loka, Prabu Guruminda asked for time to meditate in order to ask for Hiang Dewanata's instructions.
In his meditation, Hiang Dewanata gave instructions to Guruminda to turn Dewi Sri Pohaci into an egg.
After receiving instruction, Guruminda ended his meditation. Then with his magic, he turned Dewi Sri Pohaci into an egg.
Down to Earth
After all the preparations were completed, then Prabu Guruminda go to the Middle Panca Buana country by bringing Dewi Sri in the form of an egg. The egg is stored safely in a box called Cupu Gilang Kencana.
With his magic, Prabu Guruminda flew to every corner of the north-south-west-east looking for a country called Buana Panca Tengah.
Unintentionally, Cupu Gilang Kencana opened and the egg inside fell to the earth. The egg fell in an area inhabited by the Dewa Anta. Dewa Anta then took the egg and kept it safe.
Dewi Sri Born Again.
The time flies, the egg hatched and a very sweet princess was born, which is none other than Dewi Sri.
Of course Dewa Anta is very happy with the birth of a baby girl who is so beautiful. Dewa Anta took care of Dewi Sri until she grew into a beautiful teenage girl.
In just a short time, the beauty of Dewi Sri spread to many parts of the country. So the kings from many kingdoms came to meet Dewi Sri Pohaci with the intention of wanting to propose to her to become queen.
But Dewi Sri rejected the king's proposal, the reason being remembering her unfinished task of giving Cihaya to the land of Buana Panca Tengah.
If she accepts the proposal, it means that she has neglected the task assigned to her.
To every king who was interested in asking for their hand, Dewi Sri explained that the purpose of her birth into the world was to carry out the task of Sunan Ibu in Taman Sorga Loka, namely to bestow Cihaya to the land of Buana Panca Tengah.
However, the kings did not care. Proposal after proposal kept coming until Dewi Sri fell ill. She always thinks about her unfinished task, the longer Dewi Sri's illness gets worse.
Feeling that her life would not be long enough, Dewi Sri then gave a final message.
"When the time comes for me to die and when I am buried, then don't be surprised if there are oddities in the grave."
Not long after, by the will of the Almighty, Dewi Sri Pohaci died.
Strange Plants in the Tomb of Dewi Sri Pohaci
Dewi Sri Pohaci's last message was proven. Her tomb was overgrown with vegetation that had never existed before.
At the head of the grave grows coconut trees, fruit trees grow on the hands, sweet potato trees grow on the feet, while palm trees grow on the belly.
Also grew another very strange plant that had never existed before.
The Origin of Rice Plant.
One day, there were husband-wife who were looking for firewood in the forest.
Unintentionally, they arrived at the tomb of Dewi Sri Pohaci which was overgrown by strange plants.
The two of them had never seen such a plant before. A plant that has good leaves, still green fruit, has good hair too.
They finally decided to routinely clean the tomb of Dewi Sri Pohaci and take care of the strange plant every day.
Thus, from day to day, week to week, they with great patience and perseverance cleaned the grave and took care of this strange plant.
By the 5th month, the green fruit was already full, so that the stalk of the fruit was bent down, because it was heavy.
Towards the 6th month, they looked back at the flora and found that the fruit had turned yellow and looked very beautiful.
The oldman then tasted the fruit and tasted it sweet. They prepared their incense sticks to burn incense to ask Hiang Dewanata's permission.
Give a Name
After the incense burning ceremony, the strange plant was cut and how surprised they were because the stalk that was cut emitted a clear and fragrant liquid.
Then came their intention to replant it. The fruit seeds were planted again around Dewi Sri's tomb.
Then the strange plant grows very much and bears a lot of fruit. They were confused because they didn't know what plants they were growing. They found it difficult to come up with the perfect name for the new plant.
Finally, the name Pare was chosen. The reason is, in Sundanese, the behavior of making difficult decisions is called "Paparelean". Until now, the new plant is known as Pare or Rice in English language.
Read the other folktale: Si Kabayan Disguised as Hajj
That is the legend of the Origin of the Rice plant according to Sundanese folklore in Indonesia. Hopefully this story can provide insight to the readers. See you again.