The Water Garden of Sunyaragi

About travel in Indonesia and it's culture in Bali, Yogyakarta, Sulawesi, Celebes, Riau.

The Water Garden of Sunyaragi
(Gua Sunyaragi)

The monuments inherited by the Sultan of Cirebon are: the Palace, the Mosque, and the buildings that are known as Gua Sunyaragi or the water garden of Sunyaragi. These buildings are located in the Graksan Area, southwest of Cirebon. It’s very easy to reach; besides it is close to the intersection of the Cirebon-Semarang highway.
Gua Sunyaragi was built by Prince Arya Carbon (Prince Salahudin, the younger brother of Sultan Sepuh II) about the year of 1700. During the reign of Sultan Sepuh V (Prince Arifin, who was called as Sultan Matangaji), the monuments has been widened and redecorated. The buildings were used as a training centre for the Sultan’s soldiers; they were also used as a workshop.
Sunyaragi is derived from the word Sunya, which means quiet and peaceful, and ragi = raga, which means physical appearance. As a whole the word Sunyaragi means a place for meditation to ask for some help from the Almighty. During the reign of Sultan Matangaji, the Gardens of Sunyaragi were widened, improved and completed with new buildings. They were used as a concentration camp for the soldiers, for a warehouse and as a workshop for making weapons. Later, when the Dutch ruler (VOC) sensed the danger of Sunyaragi, they attacked the compounds of Sunyaragi and Sultan Matangaji died in defending his Sultanate in 1787. Many buildings in the compounds were destroyed or damaged. In 1852, during the reign of Prince Adiwijaya (Prince Syamsuddin IV), Gua Sunyaragi was renovated with the help of a Chinese architect. But unfortunately, when the Chinese architect was caught by the Dutch, he was forced to tell the Dutch anything he knew about Gua Sunyaragi. Knowing this situation, Sultan Adiwijaya ordered his ‘adipatis’ and soldiers to run away and hide with all their weapons. So, when the Dutch attacked Sunyaragi again, there was nothing left concerning about weapons. The Dutch people were frustrated of course, but from that time on, they took controls on Sunyaragi. And so the maintenance of Sunyaragi was neglected.

The Architectural Styles of Sunyaragi
Considering that these compounds were very wide and had certain architectural style with decorative elements, we assume that these monuments were formerly beautiful. They also have historical and spiritual values. The compounds were formerly divided into two main groups of buildings. The first consisted of a huge building with a beautiful surrounding, landscape and a man-made lake. The second one was a cave-like building that was constructed by using coral stone. Inside this building, there was a water distribution system with gardens around the building. There was also a man-made lake with a very classical exterior. The gate was clearly Islamic.
The gardens of Sunyaragi have a certain architectural style that was a manifestation of cloud and coral motifs. In Cirebon, these motifs are usually found in batik designs, that they call “mega-mendung” (cloudy clouds). The cloud and coral motifs were also found in temples and other important buildings during the Majapahit era. It was a tradition in Majapahit architectural art of that time. The tradition of Majapahit architecture had developed and mixed up with the Islamic influence. We can see it in the north coast of Java in the town of Gresik, Bonang, Kudus, Demak, Mantingan, Madura, and Cirebon.
Beside the motifs above, there are some other interesting things that we can find in the form of the gates. The gates facing east and west are known as Candi Bentar gates because they remind us of the architectural designs of Bentar temple in east Java that was built during the 13th and the 14th century.
On the east-side wall of the main building, there are reliefs on the panels that show us a snake fighting against an eagle or sometimes a snake alone or an eagle only. The story in the relief’s can be traced in the famous story of Mahabarata, especially the Adiparwa. The story of the snake, for example, tells us about the gods who fight against the giants to get sacred water of Amerta, which can give eternal life. Another assumption shows us that the reliefs tell us about the character of Dewa Ruci, and Bima, who was meditating to regain his strength after having fought against the giant snake. But the relationship between the stories and the relief’s above are still vague. More studies in this subject should be done in the future.
Beside the relief’s, there also find a statue of an elephant and a woman. The meanings of these statues have not been clear. It’s still need times to solve the mystery. If we compare the statue of the woman with the building structures of Hindu culture, it can conclude that the statue of the woman represents of “dwarapali”, a goddess who stand guard against incoming danger.