Kota Gede
by prudence on 25-Feb-2011
Kota Gede was the the first capital of the Mataram kingdom. Panembahan Senapati Ingalaga, the first king, founded not only the capital, but also a dynasty that is still represented by the royal lineages of Yogyakarta and Surakarta. By the second quarter of the 17th century, Mataram had become the "new hegemon" of central and east Java. Senapati, together with his family and court officials, are buried in the palace complex in Kota Gede, and this was what we went to see today.
Kota Gede is now a little suburb of Yogya, but it does still feel a bit more countrified. We rode past rice paddies, and becaks that had roosters as their sole occupants. On the main street, we also rode past an extraordinary stall with chicks for sale: on the top deck were just your ordinary chicks, but on the bottom were chicks in purple, green, pink -- all the colours of the rainbow. Apparently, they airbrush them...
We topped up the bike with a 5,000-rupiah bottle of petrol from one of the ubiquitous places that sell such things. And then we arrived at the palace complex.
This was much bigger than I'd imagined. It's serene and beautiful, with imposing old arches and courtyards and bathing pools, intricate stonework, and the usual tropical plethora of trees and plants and moss.
To visit the royal tombs, you have to don Javanese dress. For women that's a batik kain (a wraparound skirt secured with a string -- as opposed to a sarong, which is worn by men, and consists of a tube of fabric pleated at the front), and two batik selendangs (lengths of fabric -- one wrapped tightly around your upper body, and one draped round your shoulders). The men wear the sarong, with a plain shirt, and a cunningly folded bit of headgear.
With appropriate garments on and shoes off, you enter the royal graveyard. You can't take photos here, which is understandable, but with its old, weathered stone and bright green moss, this place is extraordinarily picturesque.
The building beyond the graveyard (a former mosque) houses dozens more graves, including the first and second kings of the dynasty. It's wonderfully atmospheric in here. As you stand in the dim light, dwarfed by beautifully carved beams and posts, and smell the incense drifting in from outside, and let your eyes rest on the rows and rows of tombs scattered with flower petals, you really do feel transported into another world. You have to pick your way carefully through the tombs (which are small if you're not that important; bigger if you're more important; canopied if you're really important) to reach the king's and his brother's canopied tombs at the back. Little groups of people were seated in front of each, keen to ask the old kings to grant their petitions. It started to thunder while we were there, adding to the atmosphere.
As we went back to disrobe, it absolutely bucketed down with rain, so we had to let it ease off a bit before attempting to look round the rest of the complex.
This was a very rewarding destination -- an amalgam of the spiritual, the historical, the traditional, and the natural.
We followed it up with an equally rewarding culinary experience -- goat's meat sate, with a sweet spicy sauce, rice, and hot orange to drink. Normally, this warung would have run out by the time we got there, but the rain had dampened trade. You see, every cloud does have a silver lining...
Kota Gede is now a little suburb of Yogya, but it does still feel a bit more countrified. We rode past rice paddies, and becaks that had roosters as their sole occupants. On the main street, we also rode past an extraordinary stall with chicks for sale: on the top deck were just your ordinary chicks, but on the bottom were chicks in purple, green, pink -- all the colours of the rainbow. Apparently, they airbrush them...
We topped up the bike with a 5,000-rupiah bottle of petrol from one of the ubiquitous places that sell such things. And then we arrived at the palace complex.
This was much bigger than I'd imagined. It's serene and beautiful, with imposing old arches and courtyards and bathing pools, intricate stonework, and the usual tropical plethora of trees and plants and moss.
To visit the royal tombs, you have to don Javanese dress. For women that's a batik kain (a wraparound skirt secured with a string -- as opposed to a sarong, which is worn by men, and consists of a tube of fabric pleated at the front), and two batik selendangs (lengths of fabric -- one wrapped tightly around your upper body, and one draped round your shoulders). The men wear the sarong, with a plain shirt, and a cunningly folded bit of headgear.
With appropriate garments on and shoes off, you enter the royal graveyard. You can't take photos here, which is understandable, but with its old, weathered stone and bright green moss, this place is extraordinarily picturesque.
The building beyond the graveyard (a former mosque) houses dozens more graves, including the first and second kings of the dynasty. It's wonderfully atmospheric in here. As you stand in the dim light, dwarfed by beautifully carved beams and posts, and smell the incense drifting in from outside, and let your eyes rest on the rows and rows of tombs scattered with flower petals, you really do feel transported into another world. You have to pick your way carefully through the tombs (which are small if you're not that important; bigger if you're more important; canopied if you're really important) to reach the king's and his brother's canopied tombs at the back. Little groups of people were seated in front of each, keen to ask the old kings to grant their petitions. It started to thunder while we were there, adding to the atmosphere.
As we went back to disrobe, it absolutely bucketed down with rain, so we had to let it ease off a bit before attempting to look round the rest of the complex.
This was a very rewarding destination -- an amalgam of the spiritual, the historical, the traditional, and the natural.
We followed it up with an equally rewarding culinary experience -- goat's meat sate, with a sweet spicy sauce, rice, and hot orange to drink. Normally, this warung would have run out by the time we got there, but the rain had dampened trade. You see, every cloud does have a silver lining...