Gunungan....Hills In A Land Of No Hills
Trip Start
Mar 22, 2012
1
19
25
Trip End
Mar 26, 2012
Where I stayed
Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Gunungan that is situated in Taman Sari a.k.a. Taman Sari Kingdom, is the symbol of Sultan Iskandar Muda's love to Putroe Phang, his wife who is also the princess from Pahang, Malaysia. As the story goes by, the princess always felt alone since the Sultan was always busy with his administrative works as he was the head of state.
And having been brought from her homeland Malaysia to Aceh, she kept feeling home sick and realizing this, the Sultan built a mock hills for the princess to give here a feeling that she is at home. As you may have already known, the state of Pahang in Malaysia is basically a hilly terrain filled with mountains and hills. Thus said, whenever the princess felt home sick, she used to come here with her maids and friends and spent time playing on this Gunungan.
From the narration of the story, it feels to me that the princess may have been still very young when she was married to the Sultan of Ache, else there would be no need to create such simulations. Anyway, that is just my feeling.
The Gunungan itself is not that big either. It is just a hexagonal shaped structure, in the form of a flower with three stories of levels built to it. On the side, there is a small gate leading top the top floor of this simulated hills.
Besides this structure here, there is another building by the side which is also known as Kandang Baginda to the locals. It is the Royal Mausoleum for the Aceh Sultanate. Among the graves present here, there is one that stands out and that is of that Sultan Iskandar Muda's adopted son, Sultan Iskandar Tsani who ruled Aceh from 1636 to 1641. He is supposed to be from the Johor Sultanate of Malaysia. Very interesting to see how various cultures criss crossed paths and the relational hierarchy of these various sultanates.
We were here for a while and then we moved on to the next destination.
Comments
A very interesting historical account. Makes me think if the princess was actually forced into child marriage.
Hi Jay, I did have those thoughts too when I was there but kept it just with me..... interesting that you had the same thoughts too.