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.