The work was commissioned, directed, and partially written by Crown Prince Mangkunegoro, later enthroned as Pakubuwono V of Surakarta, with contributions from three court poets from different palaces.
[1][2] The events depicted in Serat Centhini take place in the 1630s when Sultan Agung of Mataram's army besieged and captured the city of Giri Kedaton in Gresik, East Java.
The school grew and became famous as a center of Muslim teaching, which gave it political influence in the surrounding region.
His journey began on the southwest route to Cilacap Region and then turned to the east, through Mataram Sultanate's capital (Kota Gede), and moved to the eastern part of Java Island before finally going back to Sokoyoso.
Before letting them leave his hermitage, his adopted father suggests they change their names: Jayengresmi became Ki Amongrogo, and Gathak and Gathuk became Jamal and Jamil.
Journey of Jayengresmi, Jayengrogo and Kulowiryo Fourteen months had passed since Seh Amongrogo left his father in-law (Ki Bayi) and his wife (Nyi Tembangraras).
Ki Jayengresmi, being the only religious character among the group, always avoid the debauchery while patiently preach his brother and uncle.
Nuripin is a character who is always bullied (yet always manage to escape and throw honest mockery on Kulowiryo's debauchery and his misfortune) by Kuliwiryo.
The group only have a short distance of journey and they went back to Wonomarto empty handed and only received clues from all the hermits they met, that they would meet Amongrogo later on in a place called Wonontoko.
Within Amongrogo's journey, he kept having a vision of a lotus, which means, his search for the perfection of life would only be gained through Sultan Agung's help.
Amongorogo then has to attract his attention by building a grand mosque at Kanigoro and performing magic show which gathered thousands of followers.
He concluded that such activity was breaking Islamic law and therefore he sentenced Amongorogo for death penalty by drowning him to an ocean.
The debauchery scenes of this section is what makes Serat Centhini famous of its porn contents which unfortunately often overshadow the other knowledge being elaborated.
At this point Ki Bayi's brothers, Jayengresmi and Jayengrogo, left Wonomarto once again to find their niece, Nyi Tembangraras/Selobrangti and Centhini.
In the middle of their journey, they received a message from Ki Montel (Amongrogo's attendant) that Tembangraras had met her husband and that they had lived together in Wonontoko in a specific place called Jurang-Jangkung.
The Island of Black Marble Seh Amongrogo and Nyi Tembangraras, within their incorporeal world, made a journey to Banten, West Java.
Meanwhile, Nyi Tembangraras was being pickekup by Seh Amongrogo and they return to Wonontoko, leaving the Black Marble Island and its beach to its original dreadful state.
Seh amongrogo and Nyi Tembangraras wished to go back to the real world in order to put discipline to the people and that it can be done through Sultan Agung's lineage.
This means that Seh Amongrogo and Nyi Tembangraras had arrived at the end of their lives' journey, from their birth to their death.
The wanderers often evolve into independent rebels or local heroes such as being popularized by The Legend of Si Pitung or Prince Diponegoro's guerrilla volunteers from Bagelen.