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Oetari Siswomihardjo-Prawirohardjo

BEFORE she got married, Oetari K.W. Siswomihardjo, the author of this book, was known as Oetari Prawirohardjo. She was born on October 8, 1930 in Salatiga, and raised in a Javanese-Indonesian community in the city of Sala. Although her formal education was in Law, her passion for culture has always been profound. Despite her family’s strong awareness of their Javanese heritage, they believed that it is essential that each region in Indonesia develop and preserve its unique culture to ensure that the country remains united in its diversity, upholding the spirit of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity). Now, at the age of 94, she is a grandmother of four and a great-grandmother of two, who is fully dedicated and committed to sharing her thoughts on preserving classic batik patterns. Throughout her life, the author spent her life surrounded by gamelan music in her parents’ home, which was located in Sala.Gamelan was not just for personal enjoyment but was available for the local community to practice playing the instruments, dancing, singing (nembang), and enjoying all-night shadow puppet (wayang kulit) performances. It was during this time that she first became
fascinated with the cultural significance and symbolism behind the batik patterns. At around the age of twelve, her family needed a new set of shadow puppets. Her parents specifically brought a shadow puppet craftsman to their home to create the puppets. She watched as the process unfolded—from preparing the cowhide as the raw material to intricately carving, and finally applying colors. Throughout the process, the author was captivated by the artisan’s stories about the significance of the various patterns they carved (tatah) and hand-painted (sungging) on each of the puppet characters and the hidden meanings behind them. Several patterns seen on the shadow puppets were also found in batik patterns. This experience gave her an understanding of the importance of batik in her family’s daily life, both materially and spiritually. Batik, in this context, refers to the long batik cloth commonly known as jarik or jarit.

For a long time, the author had wanted to contribute to preserving the role of classic batik in Indonesian society. She decided that writing a book would be the best way to share her insights about the meanings embedded in these traditional batik patterns. However, as she had no prior writing experience, the process took a considerable amount oftime and faced many challenges. She found inspiration from her late mother who, even before passing away at the age of 95, continued to write letters to the editor in a local newspaper, encouraging peoplenot to forget the Javanese language. The memory of her late mother inspired her to continue preserving one of the nation’s cultural assetsthrough writing. She hopes that readers will come to appreciate batik as one of the Indonesia’s cultural treasures, which holds hidden values and meanings about life.