The Tangkubanparahu Mountain volcano is much more than just a landmark on the horizon; it has great significance beyond that as a part and parcel of the minds and hearts of the people living in that region who view the mountain as a magical, mystical, fantastic place.

The view of Tangkuban Perahu mountain

Any sign of volcanic activity on the mountain is sure to stir rapt attention among the human populace. The mountain’s long history of activity, some of it construed as warnings or portents, has been observed and recorded and passed down through the ages from generation to generation. 

Long before modern earth science emerged, the local people sought answers for natural events, which played out in human history in several forms, including what we now know as legends. Among the many legends emerging from this region are those concerning the origins or formation of Bandung Purba Lake, Mount Tangkubanparahu, and Sang Kuriang. These stories, some of which date back to the 15th or 16th centuries or even earlier, are the human response to natural events occurring in their habitat. In the year 1500, Bujangga Manik, a knight and the crown prince of the Pajajaran Kingdom, wrote down this legend during his spiritual retreat in the outer reaches of Cekungan Bandung. He wrote the following:
…   
I traveled to the west,
Into the Patenggeng foothills,
The ancient site of Sang Kuriang,
Who attempted to contain the waters of the Ci Tarum,
But failed because he had come too late …
(J. Noorduyn and A. Teeuw, Tiga Pesona Sunda Kuna, Pustaka Jaya, 2009).

The most amazing thing is that this legend precisely mirrors the chronology of the eruptions of Mount Sunda, the formation of Bandung Purba Lake, and the emergence of  Mount Tangkubanparahu.

Modern experts of the caliber of R.W. van Bemmelen (1949) and J.A. Katili (1962) were so interested in the Sang Kuriang-Dayang Sumbi legend that they inserted parts of it into their scholarly writing, which was published in book form. Since 1949, this legend has become widely known among geologists around the world. And since 1962, the entire legend, initially published by the Balai Penataran Guru Bandung teachers’ institute, and later republished by the National Research Body, has been used as reading material for Natural Science courses throughout Indonesia.  

The legend is told in four part, as follows:

In the first part, Sang Kuriang cuts down a lametang tree, which falls to the west. The stump formed Tunggul Hill, while the branches, stems and leaves formed Mount Burangrang. Sang Kuriang then begins fashioning a canoe from the tree trunk as a part of a challenge set out by Dayang Sumbi that he meet several requirements for winning her hand in marriage before the rising of the sun. At this time, Mount Burangrang and Tunggul Hill, were just as small part of the massive Mount Sunda.

In the second part of the legend, after cutting down the tree, Sang Kuriang begins to try to dam off a river to form a lake as also stipulated by Dayang Sumbi. He hopes to use the lake to travel by canoe to finally claim Dayang Sumbi. At this point, Mount Sunda erupts and volcanic debris blocks off the flow of the Ci Tarum River north of Padalarang, forming  Bandung Purba Lake.

In the third part, once the river has been damned, the water pooled up and the lake formed, Sang Kuriang, who is delighted at this turn of events, hurriedly finishes up the making of his canoe, while fantasizing about taking Dayang Sumbi out in it to see the newly formed lake.

However, Dayang Sumbi has other thoughts. It seems that the challenges Dayang Sumbi had set out were simply ways to try to avoid marriage to Sang Kuriang because she knew that he was her son.  

Upon seeing that Sang Kuriang had completed to tasks she had set out for him, Dayang Sumbi picked seven kingkilaban leaves, wrapped them in white cloth that she had woven, and cut up the resulting packet of leaves. She sprinkled the pieces toward the east as she climbed into the safety of the canopy of the forest to escape detection.

The Higher Power granted her wishes; suddenly the eastern horizon began to brighten with the arrival of the dawning sun. Dayang Sumbi was greatly relieved and grateful. To the contrary, Sang Kuriang, who was rushing to complete his canoe, became enraged at the sight of the rising sun because it meant he had failed to meet the requirements set out by Dayang Sumbi, and kicked over his canoe, which landed bottom up to form Mount Tangkubanparahu.

The further events in this third part of the Sang Kuriang legend mirror natural events in which Mount Sunda began to erupt, spewing lava and volcanic debris from several vents in its crater. These volcanic explosions reshaped the mountain range, which runs from the west to the east, to look like an up-ended canoe if viewed to the south from Bandung. 

The fourth part of the legend tells of how Dayang Sumbi continues to flee to the east to escape Sang Kuriang whose rage and desire are driving him to try to hunt her down. He almost catches her, but she suddenly disappears. The peak from which Dayang Sumbi disappeared is now known as Mount Putri.

Like the ending to the third segment of the legend, the fourth part also reflects natural events, while also providing some advice on how to escape lava by vacating valleys and climbing quickly to higher ground to seek a safe place where the lava will not flow and the hot gases and debris cannot reach.

It is also worth noting that Sang Kuriang is the first story of that region to set forth the idea of damming up a river to form a lake for recreational purposes. ***

T. Bachtiar,
Member of Indonesian Geography Community (Masyarakat Geografi Indonesia) and the Cekungan, Bandung, Research Team.

The article is translated from Bahasa Indonesia from Ci tarum Mengalir Sampai Hati
in the Citarum Knowledge Center