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KUDUS MOSQUE TOWER,
A HINDU-JAVANESE AND ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

 Kudus town in Central Java, was one of the earlier centers for the proselytization of Islam on Java and as such, is home to a number of relics of the Islamic historical heritage. The most significant is, perhaps, the tower of Kudus Mosque in the Kauman district of the old town center. In fact, it is important site of veneration for Muslims on Java.

The mosque, which according to historical record was built in 956 Hijriah (Islamic calendar) or 1549 AD, was originally named the Al-Aqsa mosque. It is believed that Ja’far Sodiq, who became known as Sunan Kudus, brought with him a piece of stone from the Baitul Maqdis in the Palestine which was used as a foundation stone of the mosque in Kudus subsequently, the old-tower abutting the eastern side of the mosque gained in  importance, so that the mosque known as the Kudus Tower mosque.

The tower is built in Monumental Hindu-Javanese style developed during the rule of the powerful Kingdom of Majapahit in East Java. This is evidenced in its unusual shape and bulkiness, which are unknown elsewhere in Islamic architecture, as well as in the materials used. Thus, the Kudus tower could be described as the result of local genius.

The tower is 18 meters high and about 100 sq. m. at the base. Both base and body are constructed and ornamented in the Majapahit style. Another important characteristic is the use of brick as building material, without the use of any type of adhesive. The bricks were merely rubbed against one another until they stuck together. Finally, there is the open veranda, or pradaksinapatta, at the foot of the tower which is so common to Hindu-Javanese temple structures.

Hindu-Javanese technical details is also to be found in the construction of the upper part of the tower: four main pillars of sturdy teak logs supporting a two-tiered roof, and at the apex of the roof an ornament has been added, which is common to traditionally built mosques on Java and typifies Hindu-Javanese architecture.

G.H. Pijper in The Minnaret in Java (India Antiqua, Leiden 1947) referred to the Hindu-Javanese elements of the Kudus tower, confirming the findings of J.F.G. Brummund published in 1868, in comparison with kulkul towers in Bali. This similarity was also discussed by A.J. Bernet Kempers in his book Ancient Indonesian Art, published in 1953. Nearly all experts and researchers on the subject are in agreement that the Kudus mosque tower was fashioned as a temple structure. Sutjipto Wirjosuparto, too observed the similarity in its shape and ornamentation to Candi Jago (1961), while Soekmono (1973) related it to temples in East Java, Syafwandi (1985) to Candi Singosari, and Parmono Atmadi (1987) to the Balinese kulkul tower.

Pijper postulated that the Kudus tower had been built long before the mosque as a temple structure, but was later adjusted to become a tower for calling Muslims to prayer. Archeologist A.J. Krom, on the other hand, declared that the Kudus tower was not a Hindu-Javanese temple structure, although it did have temple characteristics, but had been built during the era of Islam and deliberately utilized as a minaret. It was possible, he opined, that the tower had been built by Hindu-Javanese craftsmen and structural experts, causing strong Hindu-Javanese influence on the tower’s shape (Krom 1923:294-295).

Krom could be right from the aspect the tower’s ornamentation, which contains no living creature expect plant life. This could mean that the ornamentation, at least, had been adjusted to Islamic teaching, which discourages the depiction of living creatures. If the tower had been built long before the Islamic era, it would be logical to find diverse living creatures carved into it, such as those decorating the main gate of Sendang Duwur mosque in East Java.

The tower’s age is also a matter of speculation, According to Pijper, it is the oldest mosque structure on Java, but nobody has so far been able to define the date of construction. If interpreted from the Javanese characters inscribed on a wooden beam on the upper part of the tower, the candrasengkala or chronogram based on lunar calculations, the date of construction is 1609 (1685 AD), according to Sutjipto Wirjosuparto. The chronogram reads gapura rusak ewahing jagad which translates, in reverse, to 1609. Wirjosuparto argued that the tower was built before 1685 AD, because the chronogram can also be translated to mean that the there was damage to tower roof that had been repaired.

Bernet Kempers believed that the tower might have been built early in the 17th century, but he followed the date with a question mark.

There are many other unique elements to be found within the mosque and cemetery complex. Most notable are the gates, which relate to pre-Islamic Javanese architectural norms. They mark out and provide a spatial boundary between the profane and sacred.

There are two types of gate, the Kori Agung or Great Gateway and the Kori Bentar or Split Gateway, both of which are strongly resemblant to monumental gateways in Balinese temple architecture. The Kori  Agung rise like a mountain or Gunungan, while the Kori Bentar suggests a split mountain. Such gateways are also to be found on central Java’s north coast at the Mantingan and Ratu Kalinyamat mosques. What is extraordinary in the Kudus case is that the two gates are located inside the praying chamber of the mosque, which implies that they may be remnants of the original gates of the Kudus Mosque tower’s lawang kembar or ‘twin doors’.

Also unique is the great drum, kentongan (long drum of hollowed wood for sounding alarm), located in the tower’s upper promenade. In traditional Javanese mosques, the drums for announcing prayer times are generally placed in the eastern part of a mosque’s gallery, not in the tower. However, Balinese kulkul towers do house the kentongan in the upper tower in the open gallery under the roof.

Finally, the faucets for ritual ablution before prayer, wudhu in Islamic rites, take the shape of sculpted animal heads and are eight in number, attached to an ancient construction of red bricks. Eight is believed to be related to the Buddhist philosophy of Asta Sanghika Marga (eight main paths of knowledge, decision, conduct, and way of life, energy, effort, meditation, and correct complementation). The sculpted heads, meanwhile, are said to be oxen heads, popularly known as kerbau gumarang. The kerbau, meaning water-buffalo, owes to the Hindu reverence for cows (oxen) as once followed in Kudus. Despites their conversion to Islam, Kudus-ites have maintained the tradition that cattle may not to be killed owing to a legacy attributed to the charismatic Sunan Kudus, the afore-mentioned Ja’far Sodiq.

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