Narrative strategy of myth and power in the play Dumadine Jeneng Dina Jawa

This article discusses the narrative strategy of myth and power in the play Dumadine Jeneng Dina Jawa (The Origin of Javanese Day Names), composed by Ki Purbo Asmoro. Javanese culture's time and space system is constructed in the shadow puppet play and presented in the performing arts. How the puppeteer's narrative strategy builds the concept of power, the play's structure in the performance as a text, and the time and space system as a context is a problem that needs to be solved in this article. This article aims to compile and formulate the relationship between Javanese human life and nature through the names of the days by examining the structure of the play text in the performance. The methodology for solving the problem uses Creswell’s qualitative procedures, narrative strategies developed by Darmoko, Van Peursen’s concept of myth, and Anderson’s theory of power, supported by Suseno. The results of the discussion show that (1) narrative strategies are built through the formation of supernatural characters (gods and goddesses) images, supported by instruments of time, place, and events, by arranging the names of days as a system of knowledge in the Javanese human life order. The time and space systems are visualized as living and non-living objects by placing narrative texts as dramas (conflicts) so that antagonists and protagonists emerge; (2) the concept of power is structured in the relationship between subject and object. Humans surrender to God diligently in a quiet place as a manifestation of the object. Power is manifested in the knowledge that comes from the perfection of the inner core of man.