The Origins of the Sekar Langit Waterfall By Agda

Sekar Langit is the name of a beautiful waterfall located in Tlogorejo village, Grabag District, Magelang Regency, Central Java Province, but behind the beautiful scenery and its name, there is a legend about how this beautiful waterfall is named Sekar Langit waterfall. Let's see the story.

The Origins of the Sekar Langit Waterfall

By Agda Faisal Aziz

In ancient times, a young man named Baladika lived with his mother, named Mbok Bogem. Meanwhile, Baladika's father had long since died. Baladika and Mbok Bogem meet their daily needs by farming in the fields.

Then, one night, Baladika dreamed that he met and married a woman who was very beautiful, even like an angel. When Baladika woke up, he smiled because he was happy with his dream last night. Until noon, Baladika was still thinking about her beautiful dream. He sat pensively happy in his yard.

Baladika is a young man who loves and is good at hunting, like his father used to be. Then, one morning, he decided to go hunting instead of working in the fields. Baladika also prepared all kinds of hunting equipment he needed: bows, arrows, knives, and swords. After he was ready, he said goodbye to his mother.

In the forest, Baladika shoots a deer. His heart felt happy and satisfied because he could cook this deer with his mother for the next few days. When he was on his way home, suddenly a tiger approached him. Baladika panicked, and he let go of the deer that was on his hip so he could run away quickly. The tiger immediately ate the deer it had hunted. Baladika walked back home hungry because he didn't find any game along the way. He also didn't bring anything with him because he didn't think he would be spending quite a long time in the forest today.

When Baladika entered his village area, he saw many residents walking hurriedly in the same direction as him. The closer he got to his house, the more residents gathered. Baladika's heart was even more confused; he did not know what was happening. When he entered his house, Pak Ranu and many other people tapped him on the shoulder to say he had to be patient and accept his fate because his mother had passed away.

In the days that followed, Baladika spent his time hunting and sharing the results of his catch with the residents. Only by hunting Baladika could he forget his sorrow for a moment. Until one morning, when he was hunting in the Gandaria Forest, he felt bored because he couldn't find any animals. Feeling thirsty and tired, he went towards a waterfall. As he was almost there, he heard the voices of several women talking and chuckling, the sound getting clearer and louder as Baladika approached the waterfall. Apparently, there were seven beautiful girls who were bathing in the waterfall. Baladika was shocked beyond words, and his heart was pounding very fast. Baladika watched the girls in the waterfall one by one. All of them are very beautiful. From their conversation, Baladika knew that the seven girls were angels who had descended from heaven. "Is this the meaning of my dream at that time?" He thought with a very happy heart.

Baladika saw a pile of nymphs' clothes on a large rock. All the clothes have different colors. In their clothes there is a shawl with which they can fly back to heaven. Baladika also thought of taking one of the clothes along with the shawl, so that one of the seven angels would not be able to return to heaven. Finally, he quietly took one of the clothes and a red scarf.
As the sun approaches, these angels want to return to heaven. However, one of the nymphs could not find his clothes. The other six angels tried to help find her clothes, but to no avail. From this incident, Baladika heard that the nymph whose clothes he took was named Amaranggana. Amaranggana cried in panic because, without her clothes and shawl, she would not be able to return to heaven. By compulsion, the other angels had to leave Amaranggana because it was getting dark.

Amaranggana looked desperate. Suddenly, without realizing it, he said, "Whoever can give me clothes, I will make a sister if he is a woman, but if he is a man, I will make him my husband." Baladika rushed home to hide Amaranggana's clothes and bring the clothes of the deceased's mother to lend to Amaranggana.

After arriving back at the waterfall, Baladika approached Amaranggana and gave him clothes. After Amaranggana was dressed, he fulfilled the promise he had made: he would marry Baladika. Their marriage lasted a long time, and they were blessed with a son, whom they named Nareswara.

Since getting married, Baladika has finally been able to find happiness again, but there is one thing that still sticks out in his mind. He was surprised why the rice in their barn did not decrease even though it was cooked every day. In fact, the regular harvests made their barns barely fit anymore.

Then, one morning, when Amaranggana wanted to go wash at the Ndaru River, he entrusted his child to Baladika. She also reminded her husband not to open the lid of the steamed rice he was cooking. Because it felt like a long time ago, Baladika wanted to see if the rice was ready---he opened it and forgot about Amaranggana's message. Baladika was astounded when she saw what was in the steamer. Amaranggana only cooked a sprig of rice. He immediately remembered their rice supply, which was getting more and more The question has been answered so far.

When Amaranggana got home, she saw her husband angrily because he had forgotten what he had sent her. "I've lost my power to turn a sprig of rice into a basket of rice," said Amaranggana. From then on, Amaranggana had to pound rice to be cooked, and her husband had to provide a mortar for her.

Since that day, their rice supplies have been dwindling. Even now, the rice is left at the bottom of the barn. As usual, the next morning, Amaranggana went to the barn in the backyard to collect rice. While he was pulling the few remaining rice stalks, Amaranggana felt his hand holding something soft. Out of curiosity, Amaranggana kept pulling the object. Amaranggana's face immediately went pale with surprise when he saw that the thing he had just managed to grab was the red maiden's dress and shawl.

Amaranggana felt disappointed and angry at Baladika because he felt he had been deceived all this time. When Amaranggana met Baladika, Amaranggana decided to return to heaven and leave her husband and child. However, Amaranggana would not forget his child, so if Nareswara wanted to meet his mother, Baladika had to take him near the waterfall where the nymphs often bathe and then sprinkle flowers around the waterfall and a rose in the center so that Nareswara could meet his mother. Of course, with the condition that Baladika was not allowed to be near him and was not allowed to show himself because Amaranggana no longer wanted to see him, Baladika could only lament all this. He knew that this was all his fault, and he would have to pay the price.

That's why this waterfall is now called Sekar Langit Waterfall, because in the Javanese language, Sekar means flower, and the flower is a condition that must be met so that Baladika's child, Nareswara, can meet his mother, and Langit, which means space or heaven, means there will be an angel, namely Amaranggana, who will descend from the sky or heaven. So this waterfall is called Sekar Langit Waterfall.

The moral message that can be taken from this story is that no matter how smart we are at hiding something, it will eventually be exposed. Therefore, we should not lie to other people to get what we want. It can lead to bad things and harm ourselves and others!

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#The Origins of the Sekar Langit Waterfall By Agda Faisal Aziz