Although BP is structured in a short and simple way, in fact it covers a wide geographical range, mentioning various places scattered from Wetan, or the East (in Java) to Banten, Lampung, Palembang and even Pathani on the Malay Peninsula. Altogether the chronicle mentions 23 places, in succession: Batuwangi, Cidamar, Cikawung Ading, Citamiang, the East (Wetan), Galuh, Karang, Lampung, Lebak Wangi, Madura, Malangkabo, Mataram, Minangkabau, Nagara, Palembang, Pandawa, Patani, Pulo Karimun, Semarang, Sumedang, the Nagara Gung, the Ocean, Timbanganten. These places are attached to the movement of the protagonists in the story. I will show that they are part of the signifying order provided by BP. The numbers of places are important in describing the range of the places designated by the text.

The custodian, who introduces the aim and the purpose of the chronicle, opens the narrative. In episode [A], the custodian appears to be the actual narrator for the reader or audience, or more precisely, to be the ‘presenter’ responsible for the story. His narration reveals two important factors in local reading conventions. First, the narrator reveals that BP should be received as a historical narrative (sajarah). Sajarah is a term found widely in Indonesian languages. It is derived from the Arabic sajarat (tree). Second, he states that the narrative is not only a ‘history’, but is also sacred material. In his introduction, the ‘presenter’ recounts that he needed to conduct a ritual purification before he translated the story from the Javanese language into Sundanese. These two factors 'regiment', to borrow Parmentier’s term (1996), audiences or readers. It ‘influences’ the signification process concerning the narratives.

After that, there are episodes describing a number of characters, who later become known as the chief forebears in Shaykh Abdul Muhyi’s genealogy [B]. Then come narrations of movements of characters such as Raden Malaya and Kiai Gedeng Mataram. The story mentions Sunan Giri Laya, who celebrated the birth of a new baby by his daughter, Raden Malaya, and journeyed to Raden Malaya's palace. However, on the way back to his palace, Sunan Giri died, his boat sank in the ocean. Sunan Giri was then called Pangeran Seda Lautan ‘The Prince who Died on the Ocean’.

There follows an episode recounting Raden Wiracandra, who, it soon becomes apparent, is a key character. He travelled to the West, settled in various places, married and fought as well as taught. He was the son of Raden Malaya and the grandson of Sunan Giri Kadaton. Raden Wiracandra married the princess of Harisbaya of Madura. However, after only six months, his wife died. He became depressed and set out towards the West. This episode, from a formalist perspective, is significant in transforming the plot. It is a point of departure for the whole story and contains a motif which generates the flow of the story. The dead princess of Harisbaya of Madura prompts ‘the hero’ to travel to the West. He sailed to Lampung. In Lampung, he taught the knowledge of invulnerability to royal familles such as that of Patih Haji Panji Lalana Mas Wisesa. From Lampung he moved to Pathani, which today is in southern Thailand, and later settled in Pariaman in Minangkabau. After that, he returned to Palembang. According to the narrator, he lived in this region for a long time.

After that, BP delineates good relations between three important rulers: the king of Mataram, the king of Sumedang, and the king of Palembang. Meanwhile, there is also information regarding the tension between the two kings in ‘the East’, that is, between Mataram in central Java and Madura.^[1] Unable to overcome this, the King of Mataram then recalls Raden Wiracandra to Mataram. In doing so, the King of Mataram asks his colleague from Sumedang to send an emissary to Palembang with an invitation for Raden Wiracandra. Raden Wiracandra then sets out for Java. He is ordered by the Sumedangese to go with the King of Sumedang to make war on Madura. They succeed in vanquishing the Madurese. The King of Mataram rewards Raden Wiracandra. Some followers return with Wiracandra to the West, i.e. to Sumedang. I mentioned the early episode of ‘the dead princess’ which triggers the main character to move westwards. From this episode, we can identify other motifs. The King of Mataram, who recalls Raden Wiracandra to Mataram indicates the importance of Raden Wiracandra as a protagonist.

The king of Mataram gives him a daughter as a wife in reward for his services. We find that the protagonist’s problem, which appeared in the first episode, is solved: Raden Wiracandra at last has his new wife. This motif is then transformed in subsequent episodes where the protagonist is also rewarded by various local kings in the West in recognition of his bravery.

The episodes recite, for instance, that Wiracandra is invited by Ranggalawe to defeat his enemy from Nagara Gung. Wiracandra defeats Nagara Gung and is rewarded with the daughter of Ranggalawe from Lebak Wangi. This episode also tells us that Wiracandra then marries the daughter of Ranggalawe and settles in Timbanganten. Then, he also is invited by another ruler to fight his enemy from Lampung.

Important events, which are grouped in the episodes in a linear direction, can be schematised as follows:

It is clear that the movement of Raden Wiracandra is contained along the horizontal axis. The protagonist travels from the East [A] to the West [D], back to the east [E] and returns finally to the West [G→K].^[2]

To borrow Levi-Strauss' term (1967:17), we have a 'geographic schema'. For Levi-Strauss, the linear story or myth represents the cognitive pattern of the people. This 'unconscious category' (ibid.) appears to be a cultural composition. He says that

Thus, the horizontal line in the narrative creates a dimension of mythical space, the geographic schema. What should be kept in mind here is that the metaphor of travelling clearly becomes an important theme grouping the episodes. It marks the structure of events associated with a particular character.