Kabuyutan Gunung Padang: A Multidisciplinary Study of Sundanese Cultural Cosmology Based on Old Sundanese Manuscripts

Abstract

The existence of a culture is in line with the times and technological sophistication. Today's culture is a historical journey of the past and is important, because it is useful for uncovering 'milestones' for the life of a society. Like the Gunung Padang site which still stands firmly in Karya Mukti Village, Campaka District, southern Cianjur Regency. The legacy of Sundanese cultural civilization is very amazing, because it has its own charm and uniqueness. We agree that a developed nation is a nation that respects its culture. The high and low civilization of a nation can be seen from its cultural heritage, because every ethnic group has local wisdom that is implied through the cultural remains of its predecessors. This is the case with the Sundanese karuhun, who have a variety of brilliant ideas, ideas, and thoughts. Kabuyutan Gunung Padang is one of them. Kabuyutan Gunung Padang is shaped like a stepped hill, which reaches approximately 136 meters in height, surrounded by piles of stones of various sizes, including new stones resembling gamelan, kendang, harpa, saron, and go'ong. Some of the rocks scattered around it many depicted cleavers, tiger paws and others. At its peak we can see the 'stone monument' which stands upright surrounded by other small stones. At the bottom there is a river as a source of water, which is one of the characteristics of sacred places or Kabuyutan in the land of Sunda. The existence of Kabuyutan Gunung Padang is not a place that stands alone, but belongs to a Sundanese cosmological spatial system that influences each other with forces originating from the places around it, both archaeologically, geologically, geomorphologically, philologically, anthropologically, history, as well as folklore and belief, which are inseparable from stone age culture. In this regard, this study tries to trace the Kabuyutan Gunung Padang in a multidisciplinary Sundanese cultural setting based on the Old Sundanese script. It is examined through descriptive comparative analysis research methods, and philological studies and cultural studies methods, so as to produce harmony and harmony between Sundanese culture and other fields of science.