Written by Nurel Javissyarqi
Translated by Agus B. Harianto
Marco Polo (September 15, 1254 – January 8, 1324), was wanderer merchant who was born in Venice, Italy. He went to China during it was in the control of Mongol Dynasty. He found the interesting and strange stories from the Eastern for the Europeans. The scholars argue that Marco was really true gone to China, but he did not visit all the places, which is depicted in his book (Xanadu). Interesting story to Indonesia, is the story of the unicorn (the horse with one horns on its head) was found in Sumatra. But the science proves that what he met was not winged horse but the rhinoceros.
Plain Indonesia called on his book: Big Java (Java); thought to be too broad, because the south coast could not be visited. Also told expedition of assault, failure of Kublai Khan. Sondur islands and Condur (not clear); are estimated on the Ocean of South China, which is used as standard shipping. Pentam island (Bintan); was located on the Singapore Strait. City of Malaiur (Malays or Palembang?); it was told by the kings of Malays, including Paramasura. Small island of Java (Sumatra?); is estimated as Sumatra, because the commodity characteristics or even the animals (elephant, rhinoceros, black eagle) are mentioned there. Ferlec kingdoms (Perlak) also Basma (Pasai?); was told as several neighboring kingdoms, and tribal Battas (Batak) in the hinterland. Samara kingdom (Samudra) and Dagroian (not clear); mentioned that coconut tree (Malay palm) besides the dead legend of cannibalism family. Lambri kingdoms (Lamuri) and Fansur (Barus); the legendary of hairy man that has tail (the orangutan?), Camphor, also sago palm. (from http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo)
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Before revealed the mystery of winged horse, I’ll tell why I was captivated by it. As a child, when my parents were still living in the residence great grand mother Kasipah, in every night I would not miss to listen to the stories of winged horse, which he said it perched on a branch of klampis trees, behind the house near the cemetery.
Imagined childhood fairy tales, like feed my subconscious, oftentimes suddenly jumped, awakened by the power of odd consciousness, delivered me to keep processing the feeling, striving for on the nature of between;
Creativity of imagination explore reasoning, gathered at the beating of the testimony, carried and supported by the reality of deed of reality, and God is the Magic pushes to the top of certitude.
When I met senior author KRT. RPA. Suryanto Sastroatmojo (the late) in Yogyakarta, and he knew that my soul was falling for the story of my childhood, he invited me to walk a long the streets to the enshrinement around Yogyakarta.
At that time the temple was not I met, but a large square rock, its length is a fathom square, that I thought a hundred people could not lift it, precisely on area Piyungan, Jogjakarta.
The large stone is interesting, on the middle of it is planted iron, what the strange it was beside the stone there was a banyan tree, which its branches should be shaded it.
But it was really odd, the branches that should be stick out and covered the crown of the rock, but it sideways or it change the direction to the unnatural position, it was getting away from the stone.
On around the Magic stone is etched various reliefs, the most interesting to me was, that the relief of winged horse or unicorn which the position lies on the west side.
Features of it are; a blunt tip of its tail is as if filled with fur. I saw it is amazed and I be shivering, because my great grand mother tales was not just a fairy tales, at least God meet me to familiar with him, which I considered as my spiritual teacher of writing.
Together mas Suryanto, my personality is very close to the stones of the temple, until I knew the procession of the temple rebuilding such as Ijo temple, and any other temples.
Although we are not just a traveler archaeologist, but from the existed books, I could distinguish how old of the stones of the temple, and even for hundreds of years differences among each other I could understand, even though by the fingers caress and the eyes.
Sometimes I had been suspected by the official agencies, but with foreign archaeologists, who are assigned to rearrange the rocks, I was even being polite of, perhaps we felt that we have same spirit.
The notes on wikipedia mentions, Marco Polo saw winged horse, or a unicorn, which is found on the island of Sumatra, but the science denied, by assumes as one-horned rhino.
I guess it’s not just a fairy tale, Marco was heard the neighing of horses, and the flutter of its wings, like what I heard when I was going to bed, blanketed in a dark night in the depths of the countryside.
The horse has a flight path, and certain time that makes us feels eerie, only one had ever heard and seen would believe it.
Similar like the voice of steps of the soldiers, which sometimes walk around Jogjakarta palace in the middle of the night, there are many witnesses heard it, whereas it is invisible.
Until now, the science is still often touched by the subject that could not be reasoned, completely by reasoning.
These symptoms are not only in the East; the West is also admitting the other invisible. By found the relief of winged horse strengthens the testimony, such as any other reliefs on the other temples.
There was life there; civilization stacked by the piles of ignorance, like stones of the temple buried in the clay, the arrival of large floods and landslides.
But the song of singing keep supports the grasses, the sensibility with the natural on the earth, with the heart preserves the everlasting, for the sake of re-uncovered, as a treasury of inner of wealth, for any one want to be side by side with the breaths of motherland.
On the other side, if we observed far, it is possible to find amazing facts, such as the discovery of dinosaur bones, the forms of the archeological, which visited in the logic of sense.
So, it take many years, such as returns the scattered stones of temple all around, only the architectures, archaeologists in special formed of committee.
Similar like the first restoration of Borobudur temple in 1900, chaired by Dr. J.L.A. Brandes, and continued by Van ERP (1907-1911) which held a massive and cost 100,000 Gulden, then be proud of?
Hopefully the noble value of ancestral would remain preserved on the earth of Nusantara, with love to take care the struggling, like the dew to be young again in the morning, on the Indonesian tropical grasses.
http://www.sastra-indonesia.com/2010/02/marco-polo-1254-1324-mampir-di-jogjakarta/