Character Design of Mahapatih Gajah Mada Based on Visual References from Bima and Brajanata/Kertala Statues

Mahapatih Gajah Mada was a great figure who united the archipelago in his time, but no statues have been found that depict the figure. Archaeologists disagree on the accuracy of the human head statue artifact referenced by Mr. Muhammad Yamin, as it does not have any markers that indicate it is a statue of Mahapatih Gajah Mada. To design an accurate visualization of the character design of Mahapatih Gajah Mada, this design is divided into 2 stages: data mining and character design. Data mining involves a data search related to Mahapatih Gajah Mada and culture during the Majapahit Kingdom Era. Character design involves designing the character design of Gajah Mada using data from the references that have been obtained. Data searches have revealed that Mahapatih Gajah Mada is likely to be the Brajanata/ Kertala character in the Panji story and the Bima character in the Mahabarata story. The character has a large, tall body, strapping, crossed mustache, and wavy curls, using a headdress in the form of a foreheadband with carvings, upper arm bands made with snake motifs, a belt with a Kala head patterned buckle, and an upawita (caste rope) that crosses from the left shoulder to the right waist depicting Gajah Mada's caste. For weapons, Gajah Mada carries a keris with a cundrik type (not notched) and an oval mace, which means that Gajah Mada is one of Lord Vishnu's attendants who has a guardian nature. The design of the oval mace takes reference from door guard statues.


INTRODUCTION
Mahapatih Gajah Mada is one of the famous figures from Indonesia who was recorded in history during the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom of the Pre-Independence period (Widyawati & Andalas, 2020;Rofiqoh et al., 2021). The term mahapatih at this time was probably equivalent to prime minister. Mahapatih Gajah Mada came from the Majapahit kingdom on Java Island which is believed to be located in Trowulan Mojokerto (Dendi et al., 2018;Sulaksono et al., 2023). Mahapatih Gajah Mada was a great figure who succeeded in uniting the archipelago (Indonesia) in his time. Quoted from an interview with Mr. Sumarwoto, a culturalist who once served as Chairman of the Majapahit Lovers Community, stated "Indeed Gajah Mada is not among those who have been named Indonesian Heroes, because he did not live in the present era. But the heroism of the "deceased" in uniting the "archipelago" is a very extraordinary effort. Which deserves and must be appreciated by all Indonesians today and in the future." (Budi, personal communication, December 09, 2022).
The heroism of Gajah Mada is still told orally by the Indonesian people, seen from various stories and folk legends from various regions in Indonesia that raise this figure showing that he is one of the great figures in history (Widihastuti, 2020).
Several legends about the figure of Mahapatih Gajah Mada are spread in various regions, especially Java and Bali (Alpiyah & Purnengsih, 2019;Hal, 2019).
According to Mr. Gunawan Sambodo, an archaeologist and cultural scientist, there are various stories and legends that tell the origin of Mahapatih Gajah Mada such as Gajah Mada came from Bali Island, some say he came from Lamongan, and so on. Many legends have developed about the birth of Gajah Mada, for example he was born from a coconut. There is also a legend that states that Gajah Mada's father is Lord Brahma, and his birth process is accompanied by natural signs that indicate the child will become a great figure. (Budi, personal communication, February 11, 2023).
In the early days of independence, Indonesia needed a figure who could be an inspiration for the Indonesian people who could foster a sense of nationalism and love for the country (Agus et al., 2021;Santoso et al., 2023)

RESEARCH METHOD
In order to portray the character of Mahapatih Gajah Mada more accurately, appropriate and reliable related data is needed. Therefore, this design is divided into 2 stages. The first stage is the data mining stage. At this stage, a search for data related to Mahapatih Gajah Mada and culture during the Majapahit Kingdom Era was carried out. After the data is collected, the design enters the second stage, namely character design based on the collected data (Davidson et al., 2019).
The data search stage related to Mahapatih Gajah Mada and the culture of the Majapahit Kingdom Era was initially carried out using literature studies. Literature related to the story of Mahapatih Gajah Mada and the culture of the Majapahit Period was collected and used as a reference. In addition to literature studies, to strengthen the data, research was conducted using qualitative methods using purposive procedures by interviewing resource persons as research informants.
The informants selected have the criteria of having expertise and in-depth knowledge in the field of Majapahit period culture and archaeology. In this method, the theory of saturation (the point in data collection when new data no longer brings additional insights to research questions) is used with key informants/key persons (Alam, 2021).
After the data from the results of the literature study and interviews were collected, the next step was to design the character design of Mahapatih Gajah Mada using the data from the references that had been obtained (Chauvette et al., 2019). In the character design process, communication with key informants is maintained to ask for opinions and to provide input related to the character design that has been made. This was done to improve the accuracy of the character design of Mahapatih Gajah Mada from the Majapahit Kingdom Era.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Before the design process begins, benchmarking of the visualization of the Mahapatih Gajah Mada character that has been raised in various types of popular works is carried out. Benchmarking against existing works is needed to assess what elements are appropriate, and improve those that are still not in accordance with historical data so that they can become notes and improve the next work that raises In the qualitative data collection stage, several informants were selected as sources.
From the informants, data collection will be carried out using the interview method. The following is a table of informant data and the focus of the questions asked.   It is not enough for the figure of Gajah Mada to be made into a relief, but also to be carved for his services. Despite his death, Gajah Mada is still remembered by the Majapahit community and is considered a great figure who is seen as a god who can be asked for help for people who are suffering from war.
Over time, people's views changed. Gajah Mada was then depicted more as Bima.
In the late Majapahit period, mid-15th century, many statues of Bima were made that were similar to the statue of Brajanata. Based on these findings, it was decided to use the Bima and Brajanata statues kept in the National Museum of Indonesia as a reference to create the character design of Mahapatih Gajah Mada, (Budi, personal communication, February, 2023).

The Character Design Process of Gajah Mada
At first, the images of the statues were analyzed first to determine the design elements that would be displayed when designing the character design. After analyzing the images of Bima and Brajanata/Kertala statues, the visual elements that will be displayed are determined.

No Statue Part Analysis
1 On the head, there is hair with large curls and a mustache.

The sleeves are wearing arm bands
There is a belt around the waist The wrist is wearing a bracelet Ankles wearing anklets 2 The head features hair with large curls, a moustache, and a plait (jamang).
The chest is seen wearing a necklace The waist is visible with a belt The arms and wrists are wearing arm bands.
Legs with no visible bracelets The following is an illustration of the final design of the Gajah Mada Mahapatih character as a result of data collection and processing in this research.

CONCLUSION
The conclusion that can be drawn from the entire design process is that an in-depth research process should be carried out and involve experts who have competence and a good reputation when making a visualization of a character that really exists in history, so that the level of accuracy in depicting the character is high enough and the work can be accounted for. Inaccurate references when creating works that raise historical figures can result in disinformation and lead the audience to misleading knowledge.
Indeed, there are still various shortcomings in this design, especially the absence of a statue that states that it is a statue of Gajah Mada, but the results of the study and interpretation of key informants can be academically accounted for as a reference in designing the Mahapatih Gajah Mada character. The role of key informants in the design is very important so that important details of character visualization can be described precisely and accurately.
The research process in this design can be a reference to raise other historical figures, especially those that until now have not been known with certainty how to visualize and embody them. In future designs, especially designs that raise historical figures, and or certain regions should involve competent experts to avoid errors and inaccurate data as a source of reference for creation.