WHAT HAPPENED UNDER THE BANYAN?

Bequeathing a mystery          

                                             

The standout is a strangler fig.   It’s one of the nation’s five symbols representing unity:  One state with many cultural roots.

This particular specimen just outside Blitar in East Java is magnificent, colonizing almost 100 square meters. It may have started growing when the Dutch strutted Java.  If so the invaders noted nature’s expansion and did the same across the archipelago. 

One of the banyan’s relatives in India is reported to be more than 550 years old. 

The Blitar tree has thrived not just by living in fecund fields but because the water table is only a couple of meters down, easily visible in a large hole.

This has been excavated behind a small cluster of graves, so close that only a brick wall protects the remains of Yohanes Sunyoto from the elements.  His headstone has no date but we know his religion because the tiles form a symbol. 

This was a Christian cemetery used since Raffles’ visit.  Five of the eight graves, including two children’s, have been vandalized for there are no crucifixes, just jagged stumps of concrete.

Muslim burial grounds favor frangipani and there are none nearby.  Hinduism used to be the dominant religion in this area until the mid 16^th century.

There’s also a square wellhead.  Though this appears to be recent it suggests communal use, though sunk alongside graves is weird and unhealthy.

If this banyan had been in a city park it would be a regular hang out, though only during daylight.  When the sun sinks spirits appear.  Even the most rational can see spooks among the entangled roots.

In the Sanskrit epic Bhagavat Gita, Krishna, the god of compassion and love says: ‘One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas (Hindu scriptures)’.

Police officer Yomano patrols the site, the holster of his sidearm bristling with bullets, ready to gun down graverobbers. Too late – one tomb has already been pillaged, though many years ago.  

Fortunately he’s not overstressed guarding what could be another gem in the national treasure house.  Though only if archaeologists can prove this is the site of a temple recorded by Sir Stamford Raffles the British Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies  between 1811 and 1816, and later the founder of Singapore.

Raffles was a true Renaissance Man, curious and adventurous, a great admirer of the Javanese.  In his magisterial History of Java he savages Dutch claims of idleness: ‘They are as industrious and laborious as any people could be expected to be.’

His wife Olivia died in late 1814 aged 43 and was buried in Bogor under the Inscription:  Tho Fate Severe Hath Bid Us Part, Yet Still Forget Me Not.

To ease his grief Raffles turned to travel.  In 1815 he visited Blitar ‘formerly a capital but now reduced to a simple village.’  He was led to monuments smothered by jungle and ignored by the Dutch. 

One was the ‘chandi (temple) of Gedog … a structure in the usual style of brick but executed with superior excellence while much of the ornamental work is supplied of (sic) stone.  Several of the sides are still entire, but the base of the entrance or steps has gradually separated.’  There’s no mention of a banyan tree.

Move on a century.  On 19 May 1919 nearby Mount Kelud erupted causing great damage around Blitar so may have shaken down the temple. 

Kelud is small (1,731 meters) but brutal, infamous for its short eruptions and destructive flows of molten rock.  Along with Merapi (north of Yogyakarta) Kelud is the most dangerous of the nation’s 127 volcanoes.

It’s estimated to have taken more than 15,000 lives in the past 500 years, but also boosted the Blitar riceplains with mineral-rich ash.

After Raffles left and Java returned to Dutch control, the colonialists started showing an interest in antiquities.  This led to the plunder of many sites and the export of statues.  Even now there are reports of ancient bricks on the market, though sales are illegal.

Locals have been finding so many scattered carved stones in Gedog that last year the Cultural Heritage Preservation Center got interested.  This is based in Trowulan, 90 kilometers north of Blitar and the capital of the Majapahit Kingdom (1293 – 1527).

Archaeologists were sent to Gedog to dig around and collect artifacts which may well be from that golden era.  These are now stored in glass cases facing the banyan, but unlabeled, meaning amateurs have no idea of their provenance.

Two saber-toothed goggle-eyed kala, now cemented onto blocks to deter looters, reinforce the temple theory.  These fearsome faces are often found on East Java temple gateway lintels.

Atop one small kala is a garish plastic cup holding a couple of joss sticks, suggesting that ancient beliefs still thrive despite the government’s compulsory monotheism.

The presence of police from the Bhabinkamtibmas (trustees of public order and security) unit, high fencing, lighting, a red and white tent and some DO NOT CROSS yellow tape, suggests authorities are now taking preservation of the nation’s past seriously.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has nine World Heritage Sites in Indonesia with 20 more on a ‘tentative’ list.

Hilmar Farid, the Education and Culture Ministry’s culture director general, has been reported saying heritage sites should be preserved to offset the image that Indonesia is all about development and modernization.

Fine words, sadly not well rooted like the banyan.  The police got bored and left saying locals will keep an eye on the site.  There were no other visitors.

There’s a big gap in the fence so thieves wouldn’t need to sneak – they’d just stride in, smash and grab a few carved stones then sell their nation’s precious legacy. 

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(First published in The Jakarta Post 27 February 2020)