The Origin of Prince Samber Nyawa

RADEN Mas Said or Prince Mangkunagara I, an Indonesian National Hero, carried a legendary name: Prince Samber Nyawa (Soul Catcher). I used to imagine an extraordinary mystical occurrence that possibly begot the name, but it wasn’t the case.

Among the pivotal Javanese figures in the 18th century, there were the illustrious two: Prince Mangkubumi, who became the Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwana I (reigned 1749–1792), and Prince Mangkunagara I (1726–1795), founder of Pura Mangkunagaran (Mangkunagaran Palace) in Surakarta in 1757. During the era of fierce strifes and civil wars, the two were recognized as brilliant leaders.

Mangkunagara sided with the rebels from 1740 (when he was 14) and continued fighting until 1757 (when he was 31). His main opponents were initially Susuhunan Pakubuwana II (reigned 1726–1749) and the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

At first, Mangkubumi was against Mangkunagara, but after Mangkubumi himself revolted in 1746, the two made an alliance against the Surakarta Palace and the VOC. Mangkubumi was the chief leader while Mangkunagara took the role as the commander or senapati. It's indisputable that Mangkunagara was one of the most accomplished and seasoned military commanders throughout the history of Java, leading a massive amount of followers and devotees.

The combined force of the two princes was the biggest and most treacherous threat Kompeni (may refer to the VOC or the Dutch colonialism) ever faced in Java. During the Third Javanese War of Succession, the land and people of Java were deprived. However, in 1752-1753, the two princes separated ways and fought against each other.

The rift led to a favorable situation for the VOC, although in the end the Kompeni admitted it was impossible to triumph over the increasingly convoluted civil war. Enormous funds and casualties were at stake, both from the side of the Javanese and the Europeans in the VOC forces. As a result, in the 1755 Giyanti Agreement, the Dutch agreed on Mangkubumi's claim to divide the Javanese kingdom into two: Surakarta and Yogyakarta.

Since then, Mangkunagara was left without significant allies and was embroiled in a dangerous situation. The Prince, however, tirelessly fought.

From 1755 to 1757, as the war between the Surakarta Palace and Mangkubumi ended, the Surakarta Kingdom started to flourish. However, Susuhunan Pakubuwana III (who was only 25 years old and almost without war experience) had to admit his inferiority to his uncle, Sultan Mangkubumi in Yogyakarta (who was 40 years old with unrivaled experience). He then decided to invite Mangkunagara (aged 31 and a prominent officer) to make peace and reside in Surakarta to strengthen his kingdom's influence. Mangkunagara subsequently entered Surakarta, leaving his war life behind and became Miji Prince, a prince whose rank was the highest among the other princes.

The Kompeni concurred with the reconciliation as they admitted it was impossible to achieve their main objective, which was to assassinate Mangkunagara. Sultan Mangkubumi was furious about the peace established among the Surakarta Palace, Mangkunagara, and the Dutch, but he had to adjust to the newfound circumstance.

During his life in Surakarta, Prince Mangkunagara–who we can call now as Prince Mangkunagara I, the founder of Mangkunagaran pura (palace) and trah (lineage)–had to face unfamiliar situations. Living a peaceful life was apparently very strange to him.

Over the course of his life, as it can be learned from the Javanese and  the Dutch sources about the era of Mangkunagara I himself, he was never called Prince Samber Nyawa. The name came into use only after his death. So, how exactly Prince Mangkunagara I got the epithet Prince Samber Nyawa?

<div class="quotes-center font-g text-align-center">A war flag in the color of wulung (blackish blue) named Samber Nyawa, with a white moon on it (almost certainly a crescent). So, it is clear that the name Samber Nyawa originated from the Prince's war flag.</div>

The War Flag

Based on the Javanese primary sources, the question can now be answered. First, we have to be familiar with the meaning of "samber nyawa". The word samber in the Javanese has the same meaning as its counterpart in Indonesian, "sambar" or catch. The Javanese word nyawa also has the same meaning as the Indonesian "nyawa" which means soul or life. Therefore, samber nyawa means someone or something that catches or seizes something, like an eagle catching a chick or a fisherman catching fish with his net. However in this case, the one who is caught is a soul.

The name samber nyawa appears in two remarkable primary sources from the era of Prince Mangkunagara. The first one is from the autobiography written by the Prince himself–the earliest autobiography in Javanese so far known, which was entitled Serat Babad Pakunagaran. The title reflects common variations of the Javanese names at that time: Mangkunagara was sometimes written Pakunagara, Mount Merbabu was mentioned as Mount Prababu, and so on.

The manuscript of Serat Babad Pakunagaran mentioned explicitly that it was Mangkunagara I who wrote it after he made peace and returned to Surakarta, which was in 1757: ingkang murwa carita, Kangjeng Pangeran Dipati, ingkang saking lalana andon ayuda.

The copy of the manuscript was currently kept at the British Library, London, but instead of the 1757 version, the manuscript there was a copy made to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Prince in the month of Ruwah of the Javanese year 1705 (17 August 1779). There is also a small fragment kept at the Radyapustaka Library in Surakarta which was dated the month of Syawal in Javanese year 1719 (May-June 1793). Both were evidently rewritten by the female warriors (prajurit estri) in Pura Mangkunagaran. The source was written in tembang macapat and is quite extensive–more than 800 pages.

In the part of Serat Babad Pakunagaran that recounts the year of 1750, in the middle of the war in Gondang near Surakarta, we can find a description of Mangkunagara's war flag: bandera wulung kakasih, pun Samber Nyawa, ciri wulan aputih; a war flag in the color of wulung (blackish blue) named Samber Nyawa, with a white moon on it (almost certainly a crescent). So, it is clear that the name Samber Nyawa originated from the Prince's war flag.

In that era, it was quite common for leader figures to own a named war flag. For instance, the war flag of Prince Mangkubumi was named Gula Kalapa, while a foremost officer Rongga Prawiradirja had a war flag named Geniroga (agonizing fire) with an image of a blackish blue monkey.

In the other primary source, we can once again find the war flag Samber Nyawa. The source is like a combination of a memoir and babad (chronicle), and was another innovation in the Javanese literature: the oldest memoir ever discovered. There are also other manuscripts in different titles: Babad Tutur, Babad Nitik Mangkunagaran and Babad Nitik Samber Nyawa, which covered the years from 1780 to 1793. These manuscripts are kept in the library in Leiden, Mangkunagaran, Radyapustaka Museum, and Sonobudoyo Museum. The writer is unknown, but those books were clearly rewritten by prajurit estri in Pura Mangkunagaran.

In a section in Babad Tutur dated 15 October 1791, we can read an account (by Mangkunagara I himself?) on the Prince's life before 1757 when he was still at war. The Samber Nyawa war flag was described:bandera denarani, pun Samber Nyawa ranipun, mila ran Samber Nyawa, pilih kang tahan nadhani, yen anamber kang mengsah kathah kang pejah /0/ yen langkung ageng kang mengsah, m[a]ring wana ngardi ngo[n]cati, yen sedheng mengsah kapisah, sinamber saking ing wukir, mengsah kagyat keh mati, lamun dengengi kang mungsuh, ngo[n]cati dhateng wana, Jeng Gusti Pangran Dipati, kang bandera mila ran pun Samber Nyawa.

It translates: the war flag's name is Samber Nyawa, it is named Samber Nyawa because people can rarely survive. If it snatches, many enemies will perish. /0/ If there is an enormous number of enemies, [Mangkunagara] will run to the forest on the mountain. If the amount of the detached enemies is moderate, they will be struck from the top of the mountain. The enemies will be stunned because many among them are dead, if the amount is to be counted. [Mangkunagara] would have run away to the forest on the mountain. That's how the war flag of Prince Adipati [Mangkunagara] was named Samber Nyawa.

Fighting Like a Tiger

The Samber Nyawa war flag was popular among the Javanese when Mangkunagara was still at war. The flag became an object that inflicted terror on his enemies, in addition to the belief of it having an exceptional power.

One incident in October 1756 which involved the war flag was described in both Javanese and Dutch sources. During the second half of 1756, Mangkunagara's situation was becoming more precarious. Along with his remaining loyal followers, that were no more than 400 soldiers, and his family, he was ready to defend himself in the mountainous area of Kaduwang. His enemies–Sultan Mangkubumi, Susuhunan Pakubuwana III, and the Kompeni besieged him by blocking all the road access. Sultan Mangkubumi, also a glorious officer, led his own army.

Trapped in a perilous position, Mangkunagara's fate was dismal. His injured principal advisor Kudanawarsa was very concerned with Mangkunagara's future.

However, the Prince took an uncharted path known to nobody (by following the guidance of the crows that appeared to be his spiritual leaders), allowing him to escape from the siege without being caught by his enemies.

From the mountain, he moved to Giyanti Village, the location where the agreement between Mangkubumi and VOC took place in 1755, and set the village on fire. From there, they approached Mataram. Kudanawarsa and the soldiers, who were still gripped by fear, pointed out that the situation was highly dangerous and advised Mangkunagara to retreat. However, as recorded in the autobiography Serat Babad Pakunagaran, the Prince firmly answered: "Even though I die, if I face my doom, I shouldn't die far from Mataram, where my ancestors were buried. Let us not count the death, surrender ourselves to Allah, let us jump into the fire!" (sanadyan aku matiya, yen wus tumekeng jangji, aja doh Mataram, dagane luhur ingwang, payo padha derah pati, asrah ing Allah, payo alebu gni).

On 28 October 1756, with his 300 gallant cavalry, Mangkunagara went out to the street from Prambanan to Yogyakarta. At the time, Yogyakarta was only guarded by a few soldiers because most of the sultanate army led by Sri Sultan Mangkubumi and the VOC forces were still in Kaduwang in search of Mangkunagara.

Mangkunagara and his army didn't put out any of their war flags yet. On the way, they met several youngsters with buffaloes. Mangkunagara's army took ten buffaloes and let the buffaloes walk ahead of them. Seeing the army walking toward the sultanate palace, the people assumed that they were Yogyakarta's soldiers who just returned from the battleground bringing their spoils of war.

<div class="quotes-center font-g text-align-center">Over the course of his life, Prince Mangkunagara I was never called Prince Samber Nyawa. The name came into use only after his death. So, how exactly Prince Mangkunagara I got the epithet Prince Samber Nyawa?</div>

A senior regent named Cakrakarti (or Cakrajaya) was playing cards with a Dutchman in a loji (building owned by the Kompeni). An European guarding soldier saw troops approaching and entering the loji to ask whether Sri Sultan and the Crowned Prince had returned from the battlefield. Cakrakarti went out to see the troops that entered the city.

All of a sudden, Mangkunagara unfurled his war flag (who was unnamed in our sources but was certainly the Samber Nyawa). Cakrakarti was astounded upon realizing the war flag wasn't from the Yogyakarta side!

In no time, Mangkunagara and his army attacked the new palace of Sri Sultan that was made from wood. Then, they moved to the south of the palace to the residence of Mataram District Regent Raden Adipati Jayaningrat, who was having tea with Tumenggung Sindusastra, head of the sultanate poets. Mangkunagara's army fired a series of shots, forcing the two senior figures to escape in vain through the garden; Sindusastra was captured and killed while Jayaningrat was injured.

An utter chaos spread around the palace. In the alun-alun kidul guard post, there were only 18 Kompeni soldiers, who released two salvos before running away into the palace and locked its south door. Mangkunagara pursued them. According to one of the Dutch sources, Mangkunagara and his army fought "like a tiger".

The Kompeni eventually shot the invaders with cannons from behind the loji walls. Mangkunagara ordered his army to retreat through the road to Prambanan.

Meanwhile, half of the palace was burned and several people had died. According to a Dutch source, Mangkunagara lost 30 officers in the attack, from which he escaped in fear. According to Serat Babad Pakunagaran, however, they retreated calmly and the Prince saw the shellfire from the Kompeni's loji as a salute to him.

Sri Sultan Mangkubumi was furious. Once again, he was deceived by Mangkunagara who managed to escape from the siege in Kaduwang, enter the Yogyakarta Palace without a fight, kill and burn, and leave with nearly all of his army–and of course carry the notorious Samber Nyawa war flag. Despite the Prince making peace in Surakarta several months after the incident, Sri Sultan was still enraged.

Posthumous Title

On 28 December 1795 (or Monday Pon, 16 Jumadilakhir, windu Adi, wuku Pahang, mongsa Kapitu, year of Jimakir 1722), Prince Mangkunagara I passed away at his dalem (palace) in Surakarta. He was buried in Mangadeg at the hillside of Mount Lawu.

After their death, every Javanese king and other great figure was given a posthumous title. Regarding the time and method of choosing their titles are unclear. In the case of Mangkunagara I, however, there was an easy choice.

Mangkunagara I was an honorable officer whose war career was immaculate. His posthumous title was chosen from a popular object that accompanied him during the war, was considered enchanted, and was well-known throughout Java, both to the followers and enemies of the Prince, as an honor to the legendary figure. His war flag was named Samber Nyawa; therefore, the late Prince Mangkunagara I became Prince Samber Nyawa. The name remains legendary and celebrated until now; 227 years after the death of Prince Mangkunagara I.

M.C. Ricklefs (1943-2019) was emeritus professor at the Australian National University and writer of articles and books about Indonesian history. His last book, the biography of Prince Mangkunagara I entitled Soul Catcher: Java’s fiery prince Mangkunagara I, 1726-1795  was published in 2018. Its Indonesian edition was published by Penerbit Buku Kompas titled Samber Nyawa: Kisah Perjuangan Seorang Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia Pangeran Mangkunagara I (1726-1795).