White Tiger Kingdom Site
KABAT – Historian from Gajah Mada University (UGM) Yogyakarta, Sri Margana, claimed to be concerned about the fate of the White Tiger Kingdom sites in the White Tiger Village and Gombolirang Village, District of Kabat. The legacy of high civilization from the kingdom turns out that now many have disappeared, stolen by irresponsible people.
Margana called, there is a group that has been well organized. They are suspected of stealing a number of heritage sites from the Blambangan Kingdom with the famous king Prabu Tawang Alun. “This White Tiger Village used to be the center of the Blambangan Kingdom with King Prabu Tawang Alun,he explained.
From existing data, Margana reveals that the center of Blambangan Kingdom is moving around. Every change of king, it's clear, usually the royal capital is moved. “The center of the Blambangan Kingdom was once in Panarukan (Situbondo), move to Kedawung (Jember), then to this White Tiger," he explained.
For Margana, The Blambangan Kingdom in the White Tiger includes a high civilization. Prabu Tawang Alun who ruled on 1655 M to 1691 M belongs to the famous king. “This is what made us interested in researching," he said. Over the next month, Margana together with ten researchers, including from the archeology department of UGM, will conduct research on the structure of the buildings during the Blambangan Kingdom. We want to know the urban planning patterns of the ancient Hindu era.," he said.
Only, he said, doing research is not easy. Because, a number of sites have been lost stolen by people. Even, The government's legacy also leaves no trace. "We believe in, The royal building is in Krajan Hamlet, White Tiger Village," he said. According to Margana, The relic site of the Blambangan Kingdom in the White Tiger was first discovered in 2003 then.
Since then, The hunt for rare items is busy with residents. “There was a hunt that was intentionally organized," he said. Apart from theft and hunting, he said, Some of the big bricks were also taken by the residents and used to build houses. They mostly don't know that historical relics have such a high value. “Even though many of the sites are missing, archives can be found in the Netherlands," he said. Margana called, In this research, he will carry out several stages, like survey, field mapping, and do the digging (excavation). "Our team is split in two", there is a survey and there is a mapping in the field,”He asked. (radar)
