Marica - (Wayang Kulit)

Kala Marica - son of Sunda

Title	Marica - (Servant) - All stories
Other names	Mareecha,Talamariam, Kalamariam, Kalamarica
Size	60 cm
Personal data	Kala Marica was a giant, he is the son of Sunda and Tataka. Marica lives with his mother Tataka in the Dandaka forest. He is trusted by Prabu Dasamuka and becomes Rahwana's prime minister in the Alengka kingdom.
Appearance	The Kala Marica puppet resembles the Buta Cakil puppet, here Cakil is shown wearing a helmet, with hair flowing down to his back. It was once seen that the Kala Marica puppet form was replaced with Buta Cakil, because the real Kala Marica puppet was not available. Because Kala Marica was a close servant to the king, namely Prabu Dasamuka, here it is interpreted as Cakil wearing a hat, right or wrong, each puppeteer is free to give his own interpretation.
Collection	Private collection

Marica – (Servant) – All stories

It is said that Marica's grandfather was a Yaksa named Suketu, he had no children and asked for a gift from the God Brahma. Brahma granted his request and gave Suketu a gift that he would have a beautiful and strong daughter who would have the strength of 1,000 elephants.

When Tataka attained marriageable age, she was given in marriage to Sunda. From this marriage, they were blessed with a son named Marica.
Sunda was killed by Resi Agastya's curse. Enraged, Tataka went with her son Marica to kill Agastya. The sage cursed Marica and said he would become a demon. He said Tataka would become ugly, and a live by eating human flesh. She would repulse people with her looks. From then on, Tataka became a ferocious demon and began, together with her son Marica, to destroy the beautiful land that had once been prosperous because of the boon of Indra.

Tataka and Marica then lived in the Dandaka forest and terrorized the people, and Rama and Laksmana came from Ayodhya at the request of Resi Wismanitra. Rama managed to kill Tataka while Marica escaped. When Wiswamitra performed the ceremony, Marica returned and disturbed him with Subahu and other giants. They dirty the ceremony place with mentahu meat and blood. Seeing the actions of Marica and the other giants, Rama and Laksmana immediately took action. Rama asked Laksmana to catch Marica alive. Laksmana's weapon wrapped around Marica's body and Marica's body was thrown into the sea. While Subahu was not given mercy, Rama released Agni's weapon, and Subahi's body was burned to ashes.

Prabu Dasamuka found out that Dewi Widowati had transformed into Dewi Sinta, the wife of Sri Rama Regawa, who at that time was in exile in the Dandaka forest. He went to his prime minister and asked for help to kidnap Sita. However, Marica rejected the plan. He advised Rahwana to cancel the plan, because the plan could be the destruction of Alengka and the giants. Rahwana accepted Marica's advice and abandoned his intention to kidnap Sita. But after he returned to Alengka, his younger brother, Surpanaka, came and complained that he had been humiliated and abused by Rama and Laksmana. From Surpanaka's incitement, his intention to kidnap Sita arose again.

Rahwana then came again to see Marica to ask for her help. Marica had no choice, rather than dying at the hands of a giant like Rahwana for refusing his request, it was better for her to die at the hands of a great knight like Rama. Marica agreed and was able to help Rahwana. Marica disguised himself as a golden deer whose job was to attract Sita's attention and then distract Rama from hunting him. Sita was left in the hut with Laksmana. After arriving in the middle of the forest, Rama managed to kill Marica who was disguised as a golden deer. Marica's form changed into her original form, when he was dying, Marica groaned loudly imitating Rama's voice. Sita heard Marica's groans and asked Laksmana to follow her husband, while she stayed alone in the hut. Rahwana, who disguised himself as a Brahmin, acted by deceiving and asking for mercy from Sita, until finally he succeeded in pulling Sita out of the protective line created by Laksmana, and Rahwana succeeded in taking her away.

In the era of Prabu Arjuna Sasrabahu, Kalamarica with all his cleverness was able to deceive the empress Dewi Citrawati and eight hundred Princess Domas, so that they committed suicide. Kala Marica died after being caught by Kapi Pramujabahu, sentenced to torture to death according to his actions. According to the Encyclopedia.

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Source: Wayang Kulit Purwo - Suwadi Krijo Taruno - 2012
Blog: Hadisukirno – Yogyakarta - 2012