Carriages on view at Yogyakarta palace

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?