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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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