Carriages on view at Yogyakarta palace

By Tarko Sudiarno

YOGYAKARTA (JP): In the next century or two, Sultan Hamengku Buwono X's Baby Mercedes Benz may well share the same fate as the carriages owned by his predecessors, and be preserved in a museum as sacred heirlooms.

Horse-drawn carriages owned by Yogyakarta sultans, from Sultan Hamengku Buwono I to Sultan Hamengku Buwono VIII, are now well- kept and well-maintained as sacred objects in the Ndalem Ratawijayan palace carriage museum in Yogyakarta. They are all in good condition and in their original form.

These royal carriages are called Titihan Dalem and each has its own story. In the museum are, among others, the Kanjeng Nyai Jimat, Kanjeng Kyai Garudhayeksa, Kyai Harsunaba, Kyai Wimanaputra, Kyai Mandrajuwala, Kyai Maniqretna, Kyai Jaladara, Kyai Jongwiyat, Kyai Jathayu, Kyai Guthokaharya, Kyai Puspaka Manik, Kyai Kusgading and Kyai Ratapralaya carriages.

As is true of other royal heirlooms, these horse-drawn carriages bear the royal honorific title of kanjeng kyai or, when referring to a male, kyai. Just like other heirlooms kept in the palace, these carriages are given offerings on certain days and washed in the month of Sura in the Javanese calendar in a special ritual.

Every time the ritual is held, hundreds of people gather and compete with one another to collect drops of the water used to wash the carriages. This water is believed to have magic properties.

Of all the carriages in the royal museum, the oldest and the one that earns the greatest respect is Kanjeng Nyai Jimat. This was used by Sultan Hamengku Buwono I and is estimated to have been made between 1750 and 1760 by a carriage maker in the Netherlands. Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I received the carriage as a gift from Dutch governor general Jacob Mossel.

For most of the year the carriage is covered with a spotlessly clean cloth, the type usually used as a mosquito net. It is removed only once a year, when the carriage is washed.

This carriage used to be drawn by eight horses. A guide, locally known as a plaer, would ride the leading one. The sultan would ride in this carriage when there were major official ceremonies, such as the ceremony marking the coronation of a king.

Kanjeng Nyai Jimat is addressed as a married woman because there is a statue of a mermaid with uplifted palms under the seat of the coachman. Now the statue is rather darkened in color because of the incense which is often burned near it.

There is an interesting story about the origin of this carriage. Traditional Washing Rites for Heirlooms at Yogyakarta Palace, published by the education and culture ministry in 1988/1989, contains a folk story featuring the carriage that smacks of mysticism.

According to the story, the carriage was dragged from the sea by Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I while fishing in the South Sea (the Indonesian ocean). The sultan heard a magically whisper that he should take good care of the carriage so he made it one of the palace's heirlooms.

Legend also has it that the carriage originated in an Indian kingdom. At one time the kingdom was suffering a terrible plague. A healer attributed the plague to the royal carriage and suggested that it should be thrown in the Indian ocean. The king and his people did as the healer suggested and the waves took the carriage to Yogyakarta.

The other royal carriages in the museum were also made in Europe. The Kanjeng Kyai Garudhayeksa carriage, for example, was ordered by Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono VI in 1870 and used by the three sultans who followed him.

It is pulled by eight horses and was made by a Dutch carriage maker. During the ceremony marking the coronation of the present ruler of the Yogyakarta sultanate, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, the carriage was used in a procession round the palace.

Sultan Hamengku Buwono VI also ordered a large carriage from the Netherlands. Previously, he had ordered some smaller carriages from Barendse, a carriage maker in Semarang, Central Java. In 1860, he ordered two carriages each drawn by four horses, later called Kanjeng Harsunaba, to attend events of less significance, and the Kanjeng Wimanaputra, which was specially made available for the crown prince.

Other European-made carriages include Kyai Mandrajuwala, made by a Dutch carriage maker under order of Sultan Hamengku Buwono III; Kyai Jongwiyat, made in 1880 by Hermans & Co., a Dutch carriage maker based in The Hague, the Netherlands; Kyai Guthokaharya, made by Ed Kulitsteni in Berlin, Germany; Kyai Puspoko Manik, made by Spyker Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Kyai Kusgadhing, made by Henrich Veth Arwhem, also in the Netherlands.

The museum also keeps a fairly large carriage made by a carriage maker in Yogyakarta in 1938 when the sultanate was under the rule of Sultan Hamengku Buwono VIII. The carriage is called Kyai Ratapralaya because it is drawn by eight horses and is used as a hearse. The body of Sultan Hamengku Buwono VIII and that of Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX are among the royal corpses that the carriage has carried.

All these royal carriages now occupy their own place as heirlooms in the royal museum. Who knows if in a century or two they will be joined by the Baby Mercedes Benz now being driven by Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X?