Hunting ancient treasures with supernatural powers

Hunting ancient treasures with supernatural powers

Text and photos by Tarko Sudiarno

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Psychics have long offered their services in
the interest of science in the countries that made up the now-
defunct Soviet Union.

Many scientific studies have been conducted in these countries
to bring psychic phenomena closer to science.

Psychic abilities are no longer considered supernatural
phenomena that runs counter to science.

In Indonesia science has not gone that far yet. But people in
academic circles have begun to benefit from the services of
psychics.

Raden Slamet Karsodihardjo, 85, is one of Indonesia's many
psychics, and for many years he has used his supernatural powers
in the interest of science.

A high-ranking courtier at Yogyakarta Palace, he has helped
Professor Teuku Jacob, a physical anthropologist from Gadjah Mada
University, to hunt for fossils in Sangiran and Trinil, Central
Java.

He uses his sixth sense to detect fossils deep underground.

In recognition of his efforts and skill, Gadjah Mada
University's physical bioanthropology laboratory has awarded him
with a citation.

Fossils are usually found by chance by locals tilling their
land. But with the supernatural powers of someone like
Karsodihardjo anthropologists can look for fossils at any time.

Karsodihardjo recently discovered fossilized plants in the
basin of Code river, Yogyakarta.

This unexpected discovery was made while he was hunting for
ancient or antique artifacts, his area of expertise.

His supernatural powers led him to a bluish light which was
shining behind some stones.

Karsodihardjo, a former School of Biology employee at Gadjah
Mada University, sat cross-legged at the spot where the light was
coming from -- and meditated.

Soon he picked up the object sending out the bluish light.

It was a corn stem. The corn was still intact but it had
hardened like rock and was a yellowish white.

He also found red onions, peanuts and greater galingale, all
hardened like rock, although he could still smell the red onions
and the galingale.

He did not, unfortunately, consult an expert to determine the
age of the fossils.

But to his logical way of thinking they had been fossilized by
the magic powers of ancient people.

"These objects may have been used as offerings in agricultural
rites," he said.

Karsodihardjo, a father of six, has been involved in the
search for ancient artifacts since 1930.

He says his supernatural powers are God-given and that even as
a teenager he was able to find treasures.

Often, while playing with friends, he would suddenly find a
kris (ceremonial dagger), a spear or a piece of agate.

He developed his natural ability through meditation and
fasting, and by denying himself meat and avoiding killing
animals, and especially human beings.

Although he believes in Javanese mysticism (known as kejawen),
he never follows the usual kejawen procedures when hunting
artifacts.

He never, for instance, uses offerings, perfume or another
artifacts to lure the object he is seeking into revealing its
whereabouts.

He meditates on where the artifact is sending vibrations from.

And he doesn't need to go somewhere to know an artifact is
there.

"I can just meditate at home." he said.

According to Mbah Slamet, as he is affectionately known,
objects send out vibrations but they can only be felt by people
with supernatural powers.

He says the vibrations usually take the form of light.

And the object in question may be a kris, a spear, an agate
stone, a statue or a small item believed to possess magic powers.

But even when he feels the vibrations sent out by artifacts he
can't just go and collect them.

Certain conditions must be fulfilled first, particularly with
respect to objects believed to possess magic power.

Once, he said, he felt the vibrations of two kris, Nagasasra
and Sabuk Inten.

As he meditated he had a wangsit, or divine inspiration,
telling him that he was not allowed to wear trousers when going
to collect them.

Karsodihardjo understood this did not mean going naked, but
rather collecting the kris while wearing Javanese traditional
dress -- a surjan, a long-sleeved jacket usually of woven,
striped material, and a blangkon, a Javanese batik headdress.

He did this and found the two gilded kris.

As the Javanese believe that there are auspicious and
inauspicious days, Karsodihardjo will only go hunting for
artifacts on days that are auspicious according to the Javanese
calender.

His hunting grounds are usually the sites of old or ancient
buildings, such as temples, former palaces, archaeological sites,
some consecrated graves and rivers.

He has collected artifacts from former kingdoms in Java, such
as Majapahit, Pajajaran, Demak, Pajang and Mataram.

It is hard to work out a logical explanation for the way he
finds his treasures, locally known as menayuh.

"If an object is put under my pillow. Then I will dream about
its history," he said.

To discover the history of a kris, however, he just has to
lick it.

He can also find out whether or not the weapon has ever been
used to murder someone by licking the kris.

"If it tastes bland, it is a sign that it has never been used
to kill someone. If it tastes putrid, it means that the kris has
once been blood-stained," he explained.

Karsodihardjo keeps his hundreds of discoveries at his modest
house on the banks of the Code river in Yogyakarta.

There are many types of kris, statues of Buddha and Semar,
agate stones and a walking-stick with a handle fashioned in the
form of Jesus Christ.

Many collectors, particularly those who believe that these
objects possess magic powers, are keen to buy them.

"I cannot sell ... (them) because they are gifts from God," he
said.

If someone wants something from his collection and he thinks
they are fit to keep it, Karsodihardjo will simply give them the
piece.

People also frequently ask him to interpret their dreams.

A Yogyakarta regent once asked him about a recurring dream in
which an old man came to him, pointing to the north.

When Karsodihardjo explored the direction pointed out by the
old man, he found a spring and a kris.

It is still difficult for academic circles to accept the
existence of supernatural powers.

But as Dipoyono Haryo Muntiko, a cultural observer, says, a
supernatural ability is like, in principle, the ability of a
parabolic antennae to receive sound or picture waves transmitted
in the same frequency.

Muntiko, who has researched the collection of antique
artifacts, says that artifacts transmit certain waves which can
be received only by certain people.

"Only people who have the ability to match the frequency of
the waves transmitted from an object can receive these waves," he
said.