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KRATON


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kraton: When the temple-city idea arrived from India, the kraton was the Indonesian outcome. These walled fortified palaces of Javanese rulers became the center of political power and culture. Containing several thousand people, each of these self-contained regent cities was tied to a dynasty and each new dynasty founded a new kraton. As in India, these fortresses incorportated all that the surrounding region would need in the way of commerce, art, religion. There were banks, baths, shops, temples, massage chambers, schools, workshops, scribes, concubine quarters- everything, both body and soul, the royalty has a use for. Only the kratons were open to all the new values and attractions which the new Indian civilisation had to offer. The further away from the kratons, the more the indigenous customs and animism held sway among the rural population. The kratons adopted, and then modified, first the caste system of Hinduism, then the philosophical structure of Islam. Being the home of the leisured aristocracy, it was only in these courts where enough wealth existed so that architecture and handicrafts could flower.

Craft objects were made as ornaments and utensils for the king and members of the court. The finest wayang puppets, masks, and dance costumes in Indonesia were produced here and are still being produced. The kratons were their origin, but soon crafts spread beyond its walls and into the villages. Dance also found a home in the kratons. The four princely courts of Solo and Yogya, including the Paku Alam and Mangkunegaran courts, all created a theatre of their own and their dance styles all evolved differently. During the colonial period, a time of peace when money wasn't going to war, artistic expression was even more intense. The princes, though politically powerless, were still extremely wealthy and indulged in all the more pompous, grandiose ceremonial occasions. During the years of the Forced Cultivation Period (approximately 18301869), the twin kraton regents of Java were partners with the Dutch in the ruthless exploitation of their own people. Yet the kratons have always been regarded as the center of the world for the masses, symbolic of spiritual power. They were even built in such a way as to represent a microcosm of the universe, Cities have grown up around them. The titles of the hereditary, rulers who live in them today testify to their supernatural cosmic function: the Susuhunan of Solo'iscalled Paku Buwana (Axis of the World) and the Sultan of Yogya is called Hamengko Buwana (He Who Cradles the World in His Lap).


 

 



 

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