Finding past glories at Kasepuhan Palace

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.