TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Sonobudoyo Museum exhibited tools and tablewares used by Sultan's of Yogyakarta to host a state dinner as part of diplomatic practice. The exhibition will be held starting from December 16 until December 25, 2016.
It turns out that initiating political diplomacy and state diplomacy affairs through banquets, as often practiced by heads of states, is also common practice among Javanese kings. While the western world called it table manner, the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman (Duchy) call it 'bujana'.
"There are collections from the Sonobudoyo Museum, the Sultanate Palace, Sultanate families and Pakualaman, and collections from other museums," said Riharyani, Head of the Sonobudoyo Museum in Yogyakarta on Sunday, December 18, 2016.
The term 'bujana' is derived from a Sanskrit word that means banquet.
The opening event of the exhibition was held on Sunday evening. In addition to tableware, the exhibition also displayed royal delicacies favored and often prepared by past Sultans to treat their guests in state dinners.
The exhibition, which titled "Between Conflicts and Negotiations", was inspired by an episode of the 'Bharatayudha', story of a war that erupts between two major families often depicted in Javanese leather puppet shows.
Meanwhile, the bujana, is part of a diplomatic efforts carried out in an attempt to solve the threats of a the war.
"The exhibition also displayed the original manuscript of the classic Bharatayudha literature written before the reign of the 2nd Pakualam," Riharyani said.
Head Curator of the exhibition Gregorius Sri Wuryanto, said that traces of state dinner diplomacy can be tracked through the Bharatayudha story written during the era of His Excellency Duke Aryo the 2nd Pakualam in 1830-1858. However, there is no exact information on what year the tableware presented in the exhibition was made.
MUH SYAIFULLAH