pilgrimages and fasts, Dipanegara took an Arabic name, either
Ngabdurahim or, later on, Ngabdulkamid.
P.J. Louw , op.cit.,
vol.I, p*925 has quite a different translation for what must
be the same passage. There Louw has read ’ratu ngerang-erang’
as ’ratu hir inr * » The difference may result from different
MSS. having been used.
Dipanegara also relates that he went to Tma g i r i , the burial place of Sultan Agung and the Mataram dynasty, and here he meditated at the junction of the Opak and Oja
rivers. Here the guardian of the Mataram dynasty the queen of the Southern Ocean, Njai Rara Kidul, visited Dipanegara and offered him assistance for the fulfilment of his
ambitions, just as she had offered to help Senapati, the founder of Mataram. Senapati, like Dipanegara, had
journeyed to the shores of the Southern Ocean and he began to pray at the mouth of the Opak river, but the power of his prayers upset the balance of nature and the sea was greatly disturbed. Therefore Njai Rara Kidul, protectress of the ocean, granted all his wishes, prophesying greatness for him and his descendants; ’You and your descendants shall surely all be kings and rule over Java and you shall have no
,1 equals.’
Dipanegara most certainly thought of himself as a
descendant of the Mataram dynasty and as one who had a right to share in the fame and fortune of that line. For this reason he records that he too encountered Njai Rara Kidul:
Djeng Ratu Kidul wus prapta
* \ N
neng arsa Seh Ngabdurah,im mapan padang djroning guwa ing djeng Ratu wus udani lamun Seh Ngabdurahim lagi suwung tjipatanipun datan kenging ginoda
T
dadya umatur ubanggi.
lamun bendjang tekeng masa bade prapta,^ 2
Like several kings of M a t a r a m before him, Dipanegara also received the royal lustre w h ich is the symbol of all legitimate kings. One day he was sitting me d i t a t i n g when from the heavens came a bolt of lightning, which then stuck in a rock. This was the arrow called Sarutama, or
excellent arrow, and Dipanegara had it fashioned into a
3
kris,' In this w a y Dipanegara claimed for h i m self the receipt of the royal lustre. E v e r y legitimate k ing should possess it in some form or other, and it is only to be expected that D i panegara should make such a claim.
The autobi o g r a p h y also records that during one of his pilg r i m a g e s Dipanegara was acclaimed by the R a t u Adil, the t raditional Javanese Messiah, Dipanegara was later to take on h im s e l f the title Erutjakra whi c h belongs to the Messiah,
but at this stage he was supposed to have m er el y accepted the armies of the Messiah:
1
Rusche, op.cit,, vol.I, p.4. R a t u Kidul came
before Seh Ngabdurajhim (Dipanegara) it was bright in the cave
the Queen knew
that Seh N g a b durahim
was deeply involved in his thoughts and he could not be disturbed
then she said
that when the time came, she would come, 2
In p a rt i c u l a r P a n ge r a n Puger (later Pakubuwana l) who received the royal lustre in the form of a tip of light on the penis of his dead predecessor, Amangkurat X, See Babad T a n a h D.jawi (jav, version), p.260 and S, Moertono, ’State
He spoke: "Hear me, N g a b dulkamidI I have brought you here to tell y ou that you must lead my entire army into battle. Conquer Java with it."^
T h o u g h T j a k r a n e g a r a makes no m e n t i o n of the M e s s ia h except in connection with Dipanegara's title w h e n proclaimed
Sultan, it is important to note that Dipanegara showed a great deal more interest in it. Finally Dipanegara claims that it was God who proclaimed him Sultan, even before the war had begun. How different an interpre t a t i o n is this from that put forward by T jakranegara. The autobiography states :
The Prince was sitting under a banyan tree, after the midday prayer, about h a l f — past three, in the garden called M od an g when he heard from the distance a clear voice w hi c h called out to him: * Lis ten N g a b d u l k a m i d I God A lm ig ht y
bestows on you from now on the name of Sultan Ngabdulkamid Erutjakra S a j i d i n Panatagama Djawa Chalifat Ra s u l u l l a h . " ^
The signs purported to be seen by Dipanegara v ary quite r a d i c a l l y between the babad of Tj a kr an e g a r a and D i p a n e g a r a 1s autobiography. Their very significance is made to vary. D i panegara h i m se l f claims to have been revealed only
fortuitous signs. T j a kr a n e g a r a on the contrary suggests by mea n s of a number of traditional symbols that the Java War was inevitable and that Dipaneg a r a ' s defeat in the war had
been foretold. This striking difference reflects the
different motives and prejudices of the authors and it also demonstrates the need to be aware not only of such prejudices, but also the traditional and often enigmatic w a y in which
they can be expressed in Javanese historiography. '^P.J.F. L o u w , op.cit., vo 1 .1 , p.131 •
2