Site and ritual activities : The site contains a ritual area and two pendopo pavilions, as well as a mosque that directly intersects the ritual area on the West side. The numerous films and novels in which the Queen appears as a central have further cemented her legend, and in many cases reinforced the longstanding idea of politics grounded in both masculine and feminine aspects of power. Her image, which adorned famous paintings beginning in the 1950s, has been called a “national icon” (Strassler 2014), and in 1998, Islamic leader Abdurrahman Wahid famously made a pilgrimage to Parangkusumo prior to his election as the first president of the post-Suharto Reformasi era. Preceding the arrival of Dutch colonizers, the popularity and influence of the Queen have continued throughout the colonial era until the present. The rituals that occur in Parangkusumo now are loosely based on this narrative pattern in which empowerment may occur through engagement with a powerful feminine outsider to patriarchal rule. At her insistence, however, the bond she shared with each Sultan was not consecrated by the laws of mortal men, which she explained do not apply to her. He also pledged that he and all successive Sultans of Mataram would be spiritually "married" to Ratu Kidul, and send offerings to Parangkusumo at least once a year. At the time, Senapati was a rebellious vassal of Pajang according to the Babad, his subsequent alliance with Ratu Kidul, and the knowledge she imparted, are what enabled him to defeat the reigning local powers and establish a new regime shortly thereafter. Finding Senapati meditating there, she escorted him to her underwater palace where they consorted physically, and she also instructed him in the principles of statecraft. A brief historical background : According to the Babad Tanah Jawi(the official history of the Mataram dynasty, the descendants of which is still hold political office in Yogyakarta), Parangkusumo is the location where Senapati, the first Sultan of Mataram encountered Kanjeng Ratu Kidul (aka Nyai Roro Kidul), the mythical Queen of the South Sea in the late 16 thcentury.
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