Mangkunegara IV (3 March 1811 – 2 September 1881) was the fourth ruler of Mangkunegaran, a principality based in

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...

, Java, ruling from 1853 to his death in 1881. He was son-in-law of

Mangkunegara III The Duchy of Mangkunegaran ( id, Kadipaten Mangkunegaran) is a small Vorstenlanden, Javanese princely state located within the region of Surakarta in Indonesia. It was established in 1757 by Raden Mas Said, when he submitted his army to Pakubuw ...

. His title before ascending was Prince Adipati Prangwedana III.

Reign

During his reign, the foundations of estate agriculture producing coffee and sugar were established, he became the first non-European to own sugar factories ( De Tjolomadoe and Tasikmadu factory). The profits from the system were reinvested in the domains, instead of being sent abroad, as happened in many colonial situations; however, as typical for a less-developed economy, the inhabitants were dependent on the world price of these

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...

s. He abolished the appanage system of compensating his retainers and officials and instead paid them salaries. Nevertheless, Mangkunegara IV had to deal with the

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as well as the other rulers in central Java of the period. In 1857 and 1877, he was unable to reclaim land leased to European planters.

Contributions to arts

Mangkunegara IV's court is especially known for its contributions to the traditional arts. He himself was a prominent poet who collaborated with

Raden Ngabei Ranggawarsita Raden Ngabehi Ranggawarsita (14 March 1802 – 24 December 1873, jv, ꦫꦢꦺꦤ꧀ꦔꦧꦺꦲꦶꦫꦺꦴꦁꦒꦮꦂꦰꦶꦠ, Raden Ngabehi Ronggawarsita, ) was a Javanese philosopher and poet. He was born into the famous literary Yasadipura ...

(1802–1873), said to be the last of the great court poets. Mangkunegara IV's most famous poem is ''Wedhatama'' ("Exalted Wisdom"), which praises morality consistent with the mystical

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

of Java, in contrast to the more self-consciously Orthodox Islamic community. He is also credited with the composition of several ketawang, a gamelan musical form,Alec Roth, ''New Compositions for Javanese Gamelan'', Vol. 2, Lebanon, NH: American Gamelan Institute, distributed 1998, 426 including

Puspawarna Puspawarna (ꦥꦸꦱ꧀ꦥꦮꦂꦤ; Javanese for "kinds of flowers") is a gamelan composition famous in Central Java. It is a ketawang in slendro pathet manyura. Thus the full title of the piece often given as Ketawang Puspawarna Laras Slendro Pa ...

, which was included in the Voyager Golden Record sent to outer space in the 1970s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangkunegara 04 1811 births 1881 deaths People from Surakarta Princes of Mangkunegaran 19th-century Indonesian people Sons of monarchs