Nyai Loro Kidul

Nyai Loro Kidul

ALSO KNOWN AS:

Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Kidul; Batu Loro Kidul

ORIGIN:

Java

Nyai Loro Kidul, Queen of the South Seas, lives in the Indian Ocean off Java’s southern coast. She rules a luxurious underwater realm, where she is attended by a court of beautiful sea spirits, musicians, courtiers, and male guards whose green hair is encrusted with seashells and seaweed.

Before Islam, Nyai Loro Kidul may have been Queen of Java. (Nyai means “queen.” Her many names consist of various royal titles. She expects to be addressed formally. Very close devotees address her as Grandmother.) She was the guardian of the sultan’s palace in Jogjakarta and the spirit wife of Javanese kings who waded into her waters to request her guidance before doing anything important. Nyai Loro Kidul is also an ancestral spirit with many people claiming descent.

Various legends explain how Nyai Loro Kidul became Queen of the South Seas. One version envisions a Snow White scenario: she was once the exceptionally beautiful mortal daughter of the King of Java and possessed the proverbial, wicked, jealous step-mother. (Another version describes her as the most beautiful wife in the king’s harem, preyed upon by other jealous wives.) Her bathwater was poisoned so that her entire body was covered in painful, disfiguring boils. No longer beautiful, she was banished from the palace. The princess wandered the wild forests until she reached Java’s southern shores. A voice beckoned to her from the sea, telling her to jump in, be healed, and rule like a goddess. She plunged into the waters and emerged, more beautiful than ever, transformed into Nyai Loro Kidul. In the sixteenth century, Nyai Loro Kidul or an avatar returned to the palace to marry the King of Java. She taught him to shamanize and how to gain and maintain power over spirits.

Men, especially young, handsome ones, are cautioned not to wear green bathing trunks when swimming along Java’s southern coast lest Nyai Loro Kidul perceive that you belong to her. She may drown you and keep you in her realm.

Nyai Loro Kidul controls the Indian Ocean. She soothes and raises ocean waves. Devotees gather on her shores on Thursday evenings to seek guidance, offer petitions, and request prophetic dreams. She may be petitioned for virtually anything, from healing to romance to fertility, success, and prosperity. Nyai Loro Kidul is often accompanied by an entourage of Nymphs and Fairies. It’s considered good manners to leave offerings for the entourage as well as their queen.

Nyai Loro Kidul sponsors the annual springtime harvest of edible swallow’s nests (collected to make bird’s nest soup.) Harvesting the nests is exceedingly dangerous: no nest is touched (at least not traditionally) before Nyai Loro Kidul is invoked, propitiated, and honored in rites including a gamelan orchestra.

MANIFESTATION:

Nyai Loro Kidul, renowned for her breathtaking beauty, manifests as a gorgeous woman with long black or green hair dressed in a gold embroidered sarong. She may also manifest as a mermaid or a water snake woman. Fish, shells, and coral cling to her. In some versions of her myth, Nyai Loro Kidul is beautiful and benevolent from the new moon until the full, but as the moon wanes, she transforms into a malevolent hag.

Day: Thursday

COLOUR:

Green—don’t wear it; it belongs to her. Devotees traditionally refrain from wearing green, but her altar may be decorated in green, and she likes green offerings.

Time:

She is honored with a spring festival in the fishing village Pelambuhan Ratu (“Queen’s Harbor”).

Sacred site:

The Samudra Beach Hotel in Pelambuhan Ratu reserves a suite for Nyai Loro Kidul. She gave permission for the resort to be built, providing they reserved a room for her. Room 308 now serves as a shrine to the queen and may be visited.

ALTAR:

Nyai Loro Kidul’s altars resemble dressing tables: include a mirror so she can see herself, plus a comb, a brush, and cosmetics (face powder, kohl, perfume). A true devotee may decorate an entire room for Nyai Loro Kidul, similar to the rooms dedicated to the Vodou lwa Ezili Freda Dahomey.

OFFERINGS:

Although offerings may be placed on an altar, especially if you’re far away (Nyai Loro Kidul is perfectly capable of traveling wherever she will), it’s considered good manners to bring offerings to her home, if at all possible. Offerings are laid at the ocean’s edge, sometimes served on bamboo trays decorated with fresh flowers, shells, and streamers. Otherwise they may be respectfully tossed into the water. Offerings include bananas and other fruit, coconuts, rice, incense, bowls of fragrant flower petals, betel leaves, mirrors, cosmetics, clothing, and perfume.

SEE ALSO:

• Ezili Freda Dahomey;
• Fairy;
• Mermaids

SOURCE:

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.