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Signs of Success to be a Great Dalang
Ki Manteb firmly believes that his successful way to be a great Dalang was mainly due to : a lot of hard-work, training and learning ceaselessly, and as a traditional Javanese he believes that it could happened only by God's blessing.
A part from this confession, some elder people who were close to him, had seen the signs of his top achievement since he was a kid.
He was born having a black spot birth mark at his leg, it predicated that he should be wellknown dalang. His leg should be very strong to continuously beat "the Keprak", this is one of the pre-requisite to be a dalang - strong and healthy.
When he was a very small boy, one night he had a dream. He was chased by a tiger, afraid to death he was running away, as there was no other place to shelter, Manteb ran away by circling bamboo trees nearby his house. Unfortunately he stumbled to a stone and fell down. The tiger sank its claws into Manteb's shoulder and torn it. In the morning he told his mother about his "terrible" dream. His mother convincely told him that he would be a famous man, in that case dalang and would associate with prominent figures.
When he was in the 5th class of grammar school, he went riding a bike with his father to see a wayang kulit (leather puppet) performance in Sriwedari (a recreational park in the downtown of Solo city). They were watching the performance from outside the fence, as they could not afford to buy tickets. They stayed until the end of the performance. The dalang on his way home was picked up by the city mayor using a jeep. His father told him, if he could perform well, then one day his fate would be like that dalang. The young Manteb was deeply moved. He day dreamed that one-day, he would be a great dalang, going around with cars. Years later, the signs proved to be true. Nowadays, who's in Java does not know Ki Manteb Soedharsono, the great dalang from Surakarta.
Mental and Spiritual Experience
Ki Manteb Brahim, his father had taught him to be always patient and accept whatever God's gift with gratitude, he should not envy to others' success. He had to learn to refrain his emotion. He had to face an angry person with good words and manners. Since his childhood, he was used to fasting and self-denial to improve moral behavior. As a traditional villager, he get used to see exercise to develop inner power. He saw how his father easily could bend a crowbar with his barehands. He, too, enjoyed that kind of exercises. He had the ability to lighten his body then he could jump highly. He witnessed also something magic. When he was young, he learn to play Rebab (a kind of violin in gamelan) to a noted master of rebab, a handsome courtier by the name of Mr. Panji. When Mr. Panji attended the sekaten ceremony (click the garebeg procession for detail), all people who were there became also handsome! Believe it or not!!!
Once, he was meditating in a cave in alas (forest) Purwa, Banyuwangi, East Java, for eight days. His supply was only enough for three days. The rest five days he had to eat whatever fruits found in the forest and drank uncooked water. The last day, in his dream, he was given a "Cempala" - a tool used to strike percussion gamelan music especially a gong by the late Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia. After receiving the cempala, he was told to go home.
Ki Manteb is also a collector of many Keris - one of the keris was a gift from Haji Mansyur from Kendal, 20 km west of Semarang. Ki Manteb was very impressed by Haji Mansyur, upon his explanation of sincere good conduct blessed by Allah the Allmighty!!!
Following traditional Javanese custom, he also celebrates his Javanese "Weton" birthday every Thursday Legi, that's mean every 35 days. "Weton" birthday ceremony is a sign of gratitude to God that he has been created to live happily in the world, at the same time respected his mother and father, through them as a God's tool, he was born and took good care of him until he becomes an adult.
Experience with "other" world
Some say that dalangs are also sometimes invited to perform in the "other" (spiritual) world. Ki Manteb would never forget his experience, one day in 1974 when he lived in Sragen, he was visited by a woman who came to his house by becak (pedicab). The woman was very beautiful, he has never seen such a beautiful lady before and even up to now. She asked Ki Manteb to perform wayang in her village, in Pekalongan. She gave an advance payment of Rp 100.000 (one hundred thousand rupiahs), approx. US$ 200 - at that time. She gave her address, a village on the coast of Pekalongan. Her name was Nyi L.
On the agreed day, he went there to search the place, as he could not find the place he went to the police precinct. None of the policeman knew the address. He made a written statement in the police office, that he had arrived in Pekalongan to perform the wayang, but he could not find the address as given. The statement was important to prevent any claim later on. At around 07.30 PM, Ki Manteb, tired and hungry went to a restaurant to eat. He met several guys in the restaurant asking him what is he doing here. He told them what was going on. The guys told him that Nyi L was not a human, she is a spirit, ruler of north beach. They said that he was lucky, otherwise no one would know what would happen with him. Ki Manteb astonished to hear the story, but he was positively sure that the money he had received was real money.