East Java Tourism News

The Ancient Remain in Trowulan

November 7th, 2006

Trowulan is the name of a village and a district in Mojokerto regency. It is only twelve kilometers to the West of Mojokerto town. The district is well-known because it is assumed to be the site of the capital of Mojopahit kingdom in the past. This is based on fact that the ancient remains indicate that there were once a great palace and a city dated back from the era of Mojopahit kingdom.

The remains include some temples, huge gates, foundations of buildings, parks with pools, decorated tops of building roofs, tiles, and wells. Beside, lots of home-made ceramics, imported china wares, drainage, dams, swimming pools, some inscripsions on stones, and literary books have been found there. The names of the places and villages in the area such as Kraton. Kedaton, Sentonorejo and others have some connection with the past existance of a palace.

Unfortunately, the ancient remains found there are not in their well-preserved conditions. This is due to several factors such as natural disasters, unstable geological conditions, the civil wars that made the capital of the kingdom move from one place to another, the building materials that did not last long, the population growth, the illegal digging, and the roberry.

The ancient remains and artifacts in Trowulan can be categorized into: sacred ones which were used for religion rites, and profane ones which did not have any connection with sacred religion rituals. The profane remains are among others the wall foundations surrounding the place, the site of Pendopo Agung, the site of Sentonorejo column bases, the sites of Gapura Wringin Lawang, Gapura Bajang Ratu, the wells, the swimming pools, and the dams. Pendopo Agung was renovated on December 15, 1966, which was initiated by Colonel Sampoerno. In 1973 it was again renovated as it is now.

In the Pendopo Agung there are two stone columns erected aslant. They are known as Cencangan Gajah. One of them is erected in the southern part of the pendopo yard and the other in the western part of the same yard. The site where the Sentonorejo column bases are, is about 100 meters to the south of Upas well. The bases of the columns are octagonal and are made of boulders. Gapura Wringin Lawang is situated in Jatipasar village, which is about 100 meters to the south and on the left side of the road from Mojokerto to Jombang. Gapura (the gate) is made of bricks. lt is 13 meters long, 15.5 meters wide and 13.7 meters high. It is called the gate of Wringin Lawang perhaps because there is a banyon tree near the gate. The construction of the gate resembles a temple which has been split into two halves. In Bali such a construction is called Candi Bentar.

BAJANG RATU

Bajang Ratu is located in Kraton, Temon Village, which is about two kilometers in the south west of Segaran swimming pool. Its area is about 1221 square meters. The construction of Bajang Ratu is eleven meters long, 6.74 meters wide and 16.1 high, and it resembles Gapura Wringin Lawang. What is different between the two is the roofs. The roof of Gapura Bajang Ratu is not split. Such a construction is called Paduraksa. Gapura Bajang Ratu is made of bricks, and it has a wing on both of its sides. On one of its wings there are some reliefs showing two giants who are still fighting. In addition, there is also a relief of Sri Tanjung. Above the gate opening there is a kala decoration. This temple was renovated in 1935. The name of Bajang Ratu means the king who fail (ratu means king and bajang means fail). This means that when he was still a child the king failed to become the king. In the south of Gapura Wringin Lawang site, there are a lot of old wells, some of which are round and some are square.

The only swimming pool that can be seen and enjoyed is Segaran swimming pool which is ituated in Segaran Village. The pool was renovated from 1976 to 1982. The area is 6 hectares wide, or 375 meters long and 175 meters wide. The water for the pool comes from the spring in the southern side of the swimming pool. It is said that formerly in this place the kings of Mojopahit entertained their royal guests at a party. After the party all the utensils such as plates, spoons, forks, cups and others were thrown into the pool.

According to some studies, in Trowulan there was a very good drainage system with 18 reservoirs. The existence of the reservoirs is proved by the names of the villages such as Kedung Wulan, Tlogogede etc. Which all refer to the reservoirs that were formerly used for irrigation.

The remains of sacred buildings are Brahu temple, Petirtaan, Lemah Geneng temple, Minak Jinggo temple, Kedaton temple, Panjang tomb, Putri Cempo tomb, and Tralaya tomb. Brahu temple is in Bejijong village, which is 1.5 kilometers in the north of the road connecting Mojokerto and Jombang towns. The temple is 11.2 meters long, 6.75 meters wide and 16 meters high. Like any other temple in East Java, this temple faces west. According to the legend this temple has been claimed to be the tomb of Prabu Brawijaya, but there is not proof for that claim. It was reported that around the temple there had been some other temples such as Muteran, Jedong, Tengah and Gentong temples, but all of them had been destroyed. It is estimated that those temples were built in the fifteenth century.

In Dinuk, Temon Village, there is a temple called Candi Tikus (Rat Temple), which was once a place for taking a bath. This temple was discovered by RAA Kromojoyo Adinegoro, the regent of Mojokerto, in 1914. It is called Candi Tikus because before it was discovered, it looked like a heap of earth in which many rats were found. The rats disturbed the people in Dinuk. The temple is made of bricks. It is 25.4 meters 5 2 meters high. The base of the pool is below the earth surface. The walls of the pool were built terrace-like that are sloping down. On the northern side wall there are steps. On both sides of the top of the steps there are two small separate pools. The site where the temples are is called Petirtaan.

The precise function of the temples in the area is still unknown. It is now believed that the place was holy as the water flowing in the pools was believed to be sacred. By the way the temples were constructed and arranged, one gets the impression that they resemble Mount Mahameru in India.

SITI INGGIL

In Kedung Wulan, Bejijong Village, which is about one kilometer in the south of Brahu Temple, there is another temple called Candi Lemah Tulis or Candi Kedung Wulan. This temple is now known as Siti Inggil. Based on its name, this temple was built on a higher piece of land, and surrounded by a wall made of bncks. This place is regarded as a sacred place, and, therefore, on certain days, it is visited by many people.

In the east of Segaran swimming pool, people can see the ruins of some temples. Some of the ruins of the temple statues are kept in Mojokerto museum. One of the statues is called Menakjinggo, and therefore the temple is called Menakjinggo temple.

The temple site found in Sentonorejo Village is an area having four constructions each of which is 12.5 meters long, 8.5 meters wide and 1.6 meters high. They are Islamic tombs. People said that each of them is the tomb of Dewi Murni, Dewi Pandansari, Wahito and Puyengan respectively. The third construction resembles the mouth of a cave that looked like a well, with a millstone on the top to cover the opening. Above this construction, another house-like building was errected because the tomb is believed to be very sacred. The well is called Upas Well, meaning a poisonous well. The diameter of the well is 80 centimeters, but no one knows how deep it is. The fourth construction is beside the third, and it has a very narrow and short comdor that resembles a ditch.

Other sacred remains are the tombs of Panjang, Putri Cempa and Tralaya. The tomb of Putri Cempa is situated in Segaran Village which is about 25 meters in the east of Segaran swimming pool. The tomb of Tralaya is located in Sentonorejo village, the site that has a lot of ancient remains dating back from the beginning of Islamic expansion in Java during the Majapahit kingdom. The tomb stones are made of stone bars with the dates and the year written on them in Javanese writing system. One of the tomb stones has the relief of Surya Majapahit on it.

Eventhough the names of the people buried in the tombs were not mentioned or written on the tomb stones, there were many important things found about them as archeological data, such as the patterns of Javanese decoration on the tombs. Beside the Javanese writing, the Arabic writing is also used. The tombs dated back from 1290 C to 1533 C or from 1376 to 1611 AD.

Tralaya is situated in the south of Mojopahit Capital. Based on the data, the archeologists concluded that those burried there were the royal families of Mojopahit. This proved that during the golden age of Mojopahit, there were many of the people who became moslem.

Source: Panorama, January 1996, page 16-17.

Entry Filed under: East Java News