Eunike Nugroho

Back home in Java, I spoke with my 79-year-old mother-in-law, who grew up in rural Kulon Progo. Every part of the coconut is featured in her daily life. From a very young age, she learned to weave roofing from the leaves—welit (dried), getepe (fresh). Her mother taught her how to make doormats and cleaning brushes from the husks (sêpêt, ꦱꦼꦥꦼꦠ꧀), bowls and dippers from the shells (bathok, ꦧꦛꦺꦴꦏ꧀), and brooms from the secondary ribs of the coconut leaf (sada, ꦱꦢ or lidi, ꦭꦶꦣꦶ). Her father worked in a coir factory until a tragic accident involving one of his children. Despite this trauma, the coconut remained ever-present, from nourishment to shelter.

The Bausastra Jawa (Poerwadarminta, 1939), a comprehensive dictionary of the Javanese language, lists dozens of specific terms for the coconut’s parts and life stages. From the root (oyod, ꦲꦺꦴꦪꦺꦴꦢ꧀) to pondhoh (ꦥꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦝꦺꦴꦃ), the sweet, tender tip of the stem; from dêgan (ꦢꦼꦒꦤ꧀), the young fruit with sweet liquid, to kiring (ꦏꦶꦫꦶꦁ), the mature dry fruit — each term is sensory and embodied, understood not through analysis but through lived experience. The richness of this vocabulary reveals how Javanese people perceive the coconut not merely as a plant, but as an inseparable part of life, language, and culture.

In its native archipelago, Cocos nucifera is embedded in rituals, offerings, food, shelter, children’s games, and everyday speech. In seeking to bridge two ways of knowing — the scientific tradition of botanical illustration and the cultural intimacy of Javanese life — I turned to a traditional Javanese symbol: the Gunungan.

The Gunungan, literally “mountain-like,” is a triangular figure found in Javanese wayang (shadow puppet) performances. It represents the cosmos: the world and all life within it. Tree-of-life forms resembling the Gunungan date back to 9th-century temple reliefs at Mendut and Prambanan. Today, it remains a visual expression of wholeness, change, and balance, familiar in both sacred and popular contexts across Indonesia.

In this spirit, I arranged the coconut’s elements within a Gunungan-shaped silhouette:

• The inflorescence (manggar, ꦩꦁꦒꦂ), including its protective bract (mancung, ꦩꦚ꧀ꦕꦸꦁ)
• Pollinated female flower or young developing fruit (bluluk, ꦧ꧀ꦭꦸꦭꦸꦏ꧀)
• Very young fruit (cêngkir, ꦕꦼꦁꦏꦶꦂ)
• Tender young coconut (dêgan, ꦢꦼꦒꦤ꧀), typically cracked open and enjoyed fresh from its own shell—cool, lightly sweet liquid and endosperm—deeply refreshing in the tropical heat.
• Mature coconut (klapa, ꦏ꧀ꦭꦥ or krambil, ꦏꦿꦩ꧀ꦧꦶꦭ꧀)
• Dried coconut meat/endosperm (koprah, ꦏꦺꦴꦥꦿꦃ)
• Fibrous husk or mesocarp (sêpêt, ꦱꦼꦥꦼꦠ꧀)
• Hard inner shell or endocarp (bathok, ꦧꦛꦺꦴꦏ꧀)
• Fully mature and dried coconut (kiring, ꦏꦶꦫꦶꦁ), split open to reveal the emerging shoot (kênthos, ꦏꦼꦤ꧀ꦛꦺꦴꦱ꧀ and cikal, ꦕꦶꦏꦭ꧀)
• The leaf (blarak, ꦧ꧀ꦭꦫꦏ꧀), shown in seedling, mature, and woven forms

This time, I chose to illustrate without a scale, relying instead on feeling, memory, and my own closeness to the coconut to convey its sensory qualities. I let memory guide the process—much like how a recipe passed down by heart often tastes more alive than one followed strictly from a book.

For instance, I included a carved shard of coconut exocarp—a simple tool used to eat dêgan—drawn from my own childhood experience. It also helps to evoke the juicy, tender, translucent texture of young coconut flesh. I portrayed the dêgan with characteristic scrape marks made by a bottle cap—a common method still used today—visible as faint brownish lines on the soft white surface.

Rather than arranging the parts in a linear sequence, I allowed them to flow freely, each element finding its place within the silhouette of a Gunungan. All of it was “felt” into being. I hope this enables those who view the work to feel it too.

This is my attempt to convey the coconut not merely as an exotic object to be dissected or exploited, but as a fellow being—an integral part of a lived cultural ecosystem—approached with slowness, reverence, and deep connection.

References

Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2025. “Coconut Palm.” Accessed June 30, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/plant/coconut-palm.

Poerwadarminta, W.J.S. Baoesastra Djawa. Batavia: J.B. Wolters, 1939. https://budiarto.id/bausastra/.

Tim Enabling Wayang. Wayang sebagai Media Ekologi: Buku Pintar Kreativitas pada Masa Perubahan Iklim. Yogyakarta, 2020. Pages 160–63.