Finding past glories at Kasepuhan Palace
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java
"Welcome to Keraton Kasepuhan, my name is Usman and I will be your guide to the palace grounds," the lanky abdi dalem (court servant) informed us as he greeted us at the entrance of the Kasepuhan palace in Cirebon.
Claiming to be a descendant of the founder of the Cirebon line of kings, Sunan Gunung Jati, abdi dalem Usman directed us to the sitinggil (high ground) and sat us down on one of the small roofed structures there.
As the palace's official tour guide, Usman was adept with his facts and figures and fluent in the history of the place, so fluent in fact that I sometimes wonder whether he really understood all the things he said or whether it was all just rote.
According to the ancient text Babad Cerbon, Sunan Gunung Jati or Syarif Hidayatullah received the throne from his uncle, Cakrabhumi, in 1479 and established his rule in Lemah Wungkuk (what is now Cirebon). There he constructed the palace Pakungwati, which became the residence of Cirebon kings.
Sunan Gunung Jati himself was one of the Walisanga, or nine religious leaders considered to have spread the Muslim religion through Java, particularly along the north coast.
The name Kasepuhan was formed when Panembahan Ratu I, Sunan Gunung Jati's great grandson, rose to the throne in 1570 and established his own palace, thereafter called Keraton Kanoman.
"So the older palace was then called kasepuhan meaning elder, and the younger kanoman meaning younger," he said.
The construction that we sat on was in fact called the Mande Malang Semirang and used to be a place for the king to sit when he wanted to view the activities in the square. It is a raised structure surrounded by six carved pillars representing the Muslim pillars of faith. These in turn are surrounded by 20 more pillars, which represents God's attributes, according to Usman.
Surrounding the Mande Malang Semirang are four other smaller structures that are used to seat the king's advisors (Mande Semar Tinandu), the king's courtiers (Pandawa Lima), for the court musicians (Mande Karesmen) and for guards (Mande Pengiring).
As with other ancient palaces in Java, Keraton Kasepuhan is laid out in the north-south orientation, while the city layout is centered by a city-square and a great mosque to the west.
The city square is where all the city's activities are centered, especially on festival days such as Muludan (a misnomer from maulid, the birth of prophet Muhammad) when the monarchy's sacred objects are paraded and sanctified with holy water.
Usman then took us to the inner courtyards, where a building housing a 1549 royal carriage stands. Inside the dusty room, the Singabarong carriage looked imposing. A horse-drawn carriage fashioned in the nature of a mythological creature, a mixture of eagle, horse, elephant and dragon.
Usman said for the Nusantara Keraton Festival in 1997, an imitation of the Singabarong carriage was made, but the imitators did not succeed in repeating the ingenuity of the original.
"This is proof that our engineers then were superior. We cannot even recreate it when we have the original in front of our eyes!" he said, elaborating that the wings part of the carriage moved when the vehicle was moving, creating the illusion of flight.
The main palace was remarkable in itself, a low-roofed open pavilion gave way to a cool meeting hall, a fitting place for a king to receive guests.
Further in, on a raised platform decorated with European decorated tiles and Chinese carvings, lies the royal bed covered with multicolored draperies.
One of the palace's unique characteristics are its ceramic decorations, made from Chinese and European decorated tiles, saucers, and bowls. Some even have stories from the bible printed on them.
Along with the split portal (candi bentar) and lintel (paduraksa) gates, the calligraphic paintings, and the ceramics, the Kasepuhan palace successfully represents Cirebon's assimilation of the various influences that once prospered there -- Hindu-Buddhist, Muslim, Chinese and European.
Unfortunately, despite the apparent efforts to maintain the palace, evidence of a lack of funding is conspicuous. In several places ceilings have rotted away letting in the rain, watermarks on walls where the rain has seeped in, rooms full of dust that no amount of sweeping and scrubbing could quite take away.
"I am here because it is my duty as a descendant, I make only Rp 50,000 (US$5.4) a month," Usman said, explaining that most of the abdi dalem working at the palace relied on visitors' tips.
The last place that Usman took us to was the ancient well, a water well that he likened to the holy zamzam well in Mecca, the Muslim holy city.
"Even in a draught like now, the well doesn't ever dry. The water keeps clear no matter how long you store it away," Usman boasted.
There, an old man will pray for your prosperity and health after you take a drink and bathe your face with the clear water of the well.
After he prays for you, the man will show you a row of one- liter Aqua bottles he sells for Rp 2,500 each! So much for holy water.