Obtaining the Life Meaning

from Yogyakarta Palace

Saturday, November 18, 2017 was the day that students and activists of Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta waited. The day gave them a chance to learn about Kraton Ngayogyakarta, history and its role in national struggle, education, culture and life. Siti Amirul, one of the palace tourist staffs who guided the participants to Gadri Kasatriyan explained parts of the palace, like ‘bangsal Srimanganti’ a place to wait the presence of Sultan, ‘bangsal Trajumas’ a place to hear the consideration of Sultan, ‘Panitrapura’ or the administration of Kraton and ‘Prabayeksa’ or ‘kedhaton’ as the main building of the palace. Although the palace is more than 200 years old, it is still used as a residence complex of the sultan until now and listed as a world heritage building by UNESCO in 1995.

KPH Yudohadiningrat and KRT Rinto Isworo welcome the group of Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta and opened the dialogue and expressed his delight feeling for the visit. Ariani Narwastujati, the director of Stube-HEMAT expressed her gratitude for the group of students got a permission to visit and learn about Sultan's palace. Students from various backgrounds of study, ethnics and local origin feel that Yogyakarta has a good tolerance by accepting them to study in the city, of course Kraton Yogyakarta became interesting part to be known deeper.

KPH Yudohadiningrat clearly narrated the history of Ngayogyakarta Palace started from the Giyanti agreement on February 13, 1755 stating the division of Mataram kingdoms into two parts, namely Surakarta Hadiningrat Sunanate, led by Susuhunan Paku Buwono and Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Sultanate, led by Prince Mangkubumi, or Hamengku Buwono I.

The initiation process of the construction of the center of Ngayogyakarta was started with ‘God’s revelation’ through Prince Mangkubumi’s dream about a holy and clean place between Mount Merapi and Parangkusumo beach, located between several rivers, namely Winongo, Bedog and Progo on the west and Code, Gajahwong and Opak on the east. When the place was found, it was a jungle called Beringan, with a small village called Pacetokan. October 9, 1755 was the beginning to open the forest and build kingdom center. The construction was completed on October 7, 1756 and began to be occupied by the royal family. The date is set as the anniversary of Yogyakarta.

The building of Kraton Ngayogyakarta consists of several parts, namely Kedaton or Prabayeksa (under renovation), bangsal Kencana, regol (gate) Danapratapa, pendhapa Srimanganti, regol Srimanganti, bangsal Ponconiti, regol Brajanala, Siti Hinggil, Tarub Agung, pagelaran, north square with 64 banyan trees. The south part are Siti Hinggil Kidul, south square, plengkung Nirbaya and panggung Krapyak. There are various meaningful plants planted in the palace, for example, in the middle of the north square there are two banyan, the east banyan tree called Janadaru (light of humanity) and the west banyan tree called Dewadaru (divine light). The others are pakel, kweni, pelem, burahol, tanjung, sawo kecik, gayam, and asem. Another uniqueness is the imaginary axis of Mount Merapi, Tugu pal putih, Kraton Yogyakarta, panggung Krapyak and Parangkusumo beach. This uniqueness made Yogyakarta is listed as the City of Philosophy from UNESCO.

In the palace environment there are palace servants who work sincerely for the palace. They wear special clothes, namely 'peranakan' with headband and practice barefoot inside the palace. This means that the servants are brothers and they are living in simplicity without discrimination even having diverse backgrounds of education, religion and age.

Answering the students' curiosity about Yogyakarta and its privileges, KPH Yudohadiningrat explained that governor and deputy governor must be Sultan and Paku Alam who reign at that time. The history of the privilege began in 1945, Sultanate of Yogyakarta declared to join Republic of Indonesia and President Soekarno declared Yogyakarta as a Special Region through State Law no 3/1950 and completed by State Law no 13/2012. The consequence was the change of Yogyakarta from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, so the Sultan as governor adjusted the period of per five years and reappointed for the next five years.

Regarding the student's question whether the Sultan must be a man? KPH Yudohadiningrat revealed that Sultan Hamengkubuwono X want to be an example for the community as a king or sultan who has one wife. Further, there is no Kraton literature saying that the king must be a man, even it is found that Sultan Hamengkubuwono V wrote 'Serat Puji' saying that 'the king of the palace should be a man but if the sultan who reigns does not have sons and there is only women, then the woman is entitled to be the king.' The main point is either man or woman who has a good figure, is able to protect and brings prosperity to the community deserves to be the king.

The dialogue also revealed the life philosophy of Sultan Hamengkubuwono I, saying in Javanese mangasah mingising budi, ambasuh malaning bumi, and hamemayu hayuning bawono, which means to sharpen the sensitivity of the heart, clean up the dirt on earth and protect and maintain the harmony of the world, focus more on works for society than personal ambition.

A visit to the Sultan's Palace brought students to discover not only the buildings and symbols but also the inheritance of life values that have continued to live till now. Students studying in Yogyakarta are expected to find the values of life and actualize it in daily life to be useful for society. (TRU).