I read that Java was in fact islamicized in Malacca. When the Malaccans lost their city to the Dutch in 1511, the diaspora of top Islamic scholars and clerics to the Indonesian archipelago caused the wave of islamization.

^ The nerve centre for the Islamisation of Java came from the Islamic Kingdom of Demak (established 1478), long before the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511.

First Islamization of Java came from within the palace.... The muslimah Princes of Champa.....
On the other hand, Majapahit imperial city is home for cosmopolitant city dweller, Arab muslim is one of them.... This could be veryfied through grave stone found within Trowulan site, inscrption is written in arabic.

Who were the islamics who built up the Demak kingdom?

^ They were descendents of Champa Muslims from present-day Vietnam.

a.k.a. Malaccans????

^ err.. nope.. Champa was located in today's Vietnam, its capital was in the vicinity of present-day Da Nang.

It's faraway from Mallacca.

Champa spread to north Malaysia too, if not mistaken.

I can't understand how Islam spread from the Champas in Vietnam.. how come there's no trace of Islam there these days? from my history book, Islam was spread throughout Java by the clerics based in malacca, which had become a center of Islamic learning for a century before the Dutch took over the city.

Champa never spread to Malaysia, because it was constrained to the south and west by the Khmer Empire, and to the north by the Dai-Viets based on the Red River Valley around Hanoi. After the conquest of Champa by the Vietnamese from the north, many Chams fled to Cambodia (in present-day Kompong Cham area) while some of these refugees fled as far as Kelantan (now in Malaysia).



Champa became Muslim since it was a stopover point for Arab traders heading to Canton in China. Islamisation of Champa picked-up pace after the first Vietnamese invasions in the 1470s. Since Srivijayan and Old Mataram times (8th century AD), Champa have had very close dynastic and trade relationships with Indonesian kingdoms, particularly those in Java. Consequently, many Muslim Champa traders settled on port cities on the northern coast of Java, which became the source of Islamisation on the island (many of the Wali Songo were Champa descendents). Additionally, many Muslim Champa princes and princesses married into the Majapahit royalty, where they began to undermine Hinduism from within.

Champa itself had been invaded by the Vietnamese from the north as early as the 1470s, conquered by the 1600s, and any separate Cham identity was completely erased by the Vietnamese in 1832. Consequently, most Champan Muslims fled to Cambodia, where today they lived as minority.



Malacca had relatively small role in the spread of Islam to Java, since its importance as centre for Islamic learning was far eclipsed by Samudra Pasai (now in Aceh province), where many of the Wali Songo studied Islam.

It needs to be remembered that Samudra Pasai had became Muslim since 1270s (as witnessed by Marco Polo when he stopped at northern Sumatera), a full 100 years before Malacca was established by a fugitive Majapahit Javanese prince Parameswara and nearly 120 years before Parameswara adopted Islam. In fact, it was a Muslim princess from Samudera Pasai who converted Parameswara to Islam in 1411. In other words, Islam spread to Malaysia from Indonesia.

BTW, Malacca fell in 1511 to the Portuguese, not the Dutch. It was only in 1641 that the Dutch VOC captured Malacca from the Portuguese. In 1824, the Dutch gave-up Malacca to the British in exchange for British settlement at Bengkulu on the western coast of Sumatera.

Thanks to remind me about this. I finally agree with you that Islam spread to Malaysia from Samudera-Pasai which was located in present day, Indonesia.

That's actually surprising, coming from u

I agree with him only because Aceh was geography closer to Middle East than Malaysia.

Islam proselytizing spreads in Majapahit realms, tends to focused on nobles, rulers, and leaders of the community. Probably the Walisongo knowing that common Javanese are tends to follow their charismatic local leader ("nunut"), even to the matter of religion. But more often just declare Shahadat (Islamic vow of faith), but still practice Javanese native-Hindu influenced way of life.

Wew, the thread is revived! C'mon majjy, post something interesting about Majapahit!

OK.....
Rumors among historian says that; Majapahit probably has acquire the technology of gunpowder from Ming-Chinese. The records tell about small cannon used in Majapahit by Majapahit troops.
However the accuracy of this story still in debate, since probably this account about Majapahit is written in later times, when European has arrived in the archipelago.

However if this theory is true, if this new technology of weapon has reach Majapahit, and if Majapahit develop it earlier before the empire itself decayed in internal chaos, well the history would be different.
Maybe Majapahit will survive until today, or at least their lineage continue up until today like Thailand royal family does......

I don't know why I didn't pay much attention to this thread.. *menyesal* Very fascinating thread, mas Maja

@Maja:

kok tau Mas?

Huaaaa.. ketauaaan.. ada yang pernah nonton Olga!!! Pake nuduh orang ketuaan lagi

jadi ibukotanya ga pernah di Bandung?

Nah klo Prabu Siliwangi, ada beneran ato nggak Mas?

Looks like you haven't answered this yet, Mas. I'm wondering too, esp. on whether it is true that Menak Jinggo of the folklore is actually Bhre Wirabhumi


@malaccan:

Now this is absolute mean


@Bhas:

Walah, klo mintanya genuine beneran ya.. Tukul!!!

Tau dong...... 'kan pas kawinan (Rosa, Paramitha) mereka bilang pake adat Sunda Sumedang, then tell the infotainment that the wedding costume is in the family for generations dated back to Menak of Sumedang who claim as the descendants of Siliwangi.







Nggak pernah......, during Pajajaran era Parahyangan highlands are considered holy lands, Mandala Jayagiri are considered somewhere near Bandung Utara.



Ada beneran.....



Probably.....

Di daftarnya ndak ada Mas.. coba deh

Lupa ngasih tau...., Siliwangi itu bukan nama orang, itu nama gelaran yang artinya Silih (pengganti) Wangi (prabu Wangi, Raja Sunda yang harum dan mahsyur namanya).

Ada tafsiran yang dimaksud Prabu Wangi mungkin Prabu Lingga Buana (yang wafat di Bubat, Majapahit), termahsyur karena keberaniannya membela harga diri Kerajaan Sunda meskipun harus tewas di Majapahit.

Atau Prabu Wangi mungkin adalah Prabu Niskalawastu Kancana, termahsyur karena masa pemerintahannya yang panjang dan damai serta makmur (ibukota saat itu di Galuh).

Kedua raja itu adalah leluhur Jayadewata. Prabu Lingga Buana adalah Buyut Jayadewata, sedangkan Niskalawastu Kancana adalah kakek Jayadewata. "Silih" tidak berarti menggantikan langsung dalam urutan suksesi kekuasaan, tetapi berarti keharuman dan kemahsyuran namanya menyamai Prabu "Wangi".

Siliwangi tidak lain adalah Prabu Jayadewata yang bergelar Sri Baduga Maharaja yang memerintah selama 39 tahun (1482 - 1521). Pada masa inilah Pakuan mencapai puncak kejayaannya. Ia memindahkan ibukota dari Galuh ke Pakuan Pajajaran (sekarang Bogor).

^^hatur nuhun Kang Maja

Sami-sami.....

Bandung is actually a colonial city, it's still very young, it haven't even reach 200 years old....

It's a rarity to see Sundanese people to have a wedding in Sumedang Larang costume....u gotta have the royal lineage to wear them

Not always royalty.... sometimes as long as they're from Sumedang, they wear it....
But it's true however, mostly are can trace their ancestry to ancient Sunda nobles....

Most common Sundanese are using priangan style wedding costumes.....
You know that graceful white kebaya with jasmine and small crown....

I've read that common people are not allowed to wear the Sumedang Larang costume. Most Sundanese people would only wear Sunda Putri or Sunda Siger costume.

Bahasa Sanskrit + Bahasa Jawa

U mean the Syailendra dynasty? Kawi (Old Javanese), I guess. Sanskrit was the language of priests and monks.... although of course, there were many Sanskrit loanwords in Kawi

nice to know about the majapahit history...

Short form === Bahasa Sawa... or Saja or Kritwa or Kawi or Jawi

Now "Jawi" means a different thing....

Hey Uncle Maja... I found this in net...
http://religi.wordpress.com/2007/03/16/kit...ama-terjemahan/
What your opinion about his translation...

Hey nice work Betong.....
I think this translations is quite alright. Some parts are similar to fragments of pupuh traslation I have.
thanx....

Woo, thanx Maja...
I would like to read that article but before that I need to asked you to make sure that I didn't waste my time reading from wrong source...

1. In this whole wide world's history, there's only three nations had successfully hold and kick back the world dominating, massive, "invincible" Mongol forces. Please name those 3 nations!

2. The so called 'yellow race with narrow eyes' invasion to Southeast Asia (esp. Java) has been foreseen and predicted centuries before, by a psychic Javanese King. eek.gif
What is the name of that King with extraordinary gift of pshycic talents....?

3. Actually this 'yellow' invasion is proven has happened twice in Javan history.... biggrin.gif Name those two 'yellow' invasions.....!
Those two 'yellow peril' but short period is destined to be "pre-requisite" for the formation of free and unified empire/nation. What empire and nation is that....?


1. there's several., more then 3. The Mamluks of Egypt, in the decisive battle of ain jalut. The Vietnamese, under Tran Hung Dao. Raden Vijaya of Java. and of course Japan. Burma fell to the mongol and Ayuthya and Champa was saved by the victory of vietnam. India seems untouched by the horde. i'm not sure why.

In the late 1230s, the Mongols under Batu Khan invaded Russia and Volga Bulgaria, reducing most of its principalities to vassalage, and pressed on into Eastern Europe. In 1241 the Mongols may have been ready to invade Western Europe as well, having defeated the last Polish-German and Hungarian armies at the Battle of Legnica and the Battle of Mohi. Batu Khan and Subutai were preparing to start with a winter campaign against Austria and Germany, and finish with Italy. However news of Ögedei's death spared Western Europe as Batu had to turn his attentions to the election of the next Great Khan. It is often speculated that this was one of the great turning points in history and that Europe may well have fallen to the Mongols had the invasion gone ahead

2 and 3, i'm not in postion to argue.

Actually, kertanegara expected the mongol to attempted the invasion by land, and so he send a large forces to the malay peninsula. but instead, Kublai Khan choose to send his forces by sea, fearing the road frought with ambushes that might weaken or worst, trapped his forces entirely. this decision though resulted in the forces smaller then the forces that can be sent by land. actually this 2 forces, Pamelayu expedition heading north and the mongol heading south, narrowly miss each other at the borneo coast. it was only during the mid 20th century that this fact was known when historians compare the charted passage of the 2 opposing fleets.

I don't think India was spared by the Mongols, else how come they had centuries of the Moghul Empire with elements of Afghan-Mongol sultanates? Some of the Mongol leaderships converted to islam too, particularly those in control of Central Asia. The Mongols were a religiously liberal lot.



Culturally speaking, the Mongols hardly affected their subject states. I doubt if the history of Europe or their cultural ties would have been so drastically changed if they had successfully invaded. Those dudes were bounty hunters, not so much cultural overlords.




More elaboration on this battle please... thx!

it's true, but those were not the true golden horde that surge out of mongolian steppe. they were independent entity of peoples with mongol ancestry (though mix up with locals) who dominated afghanistan. the closest the Indian ever faced to an actual mongol invasion is the invasion of Tamerlane. but it never leaved a lasting impression. he invaded, looted delhi and leave. what i wish to ponder is that, on their way to baghdad, they seem to bypass indian subcontinent.



No arguement there. mongols are a bunch of barbaric nomadic clans with little in the way of cultural achievements (though they have a superb military organization). so many of them end up adopting the culture of the lands that they conquered.



there's never a battle between the mongol fleet and the pamelayu expedition. only that they narrowly miss each other at the coast of bornea (not sure which part). the expedition return to singhasari 2 years later to discover java are not the same anymore.

I wonder what will happen if this 2 forces do meet each other. what a titanic clashes it must have been. a great land power of mongol and the great naval might of singhasari.

This statement is quite ture and the nature of this heritage is not to be underminded. Majapahit was a very strong hindu empire, so much so that the prince of Yogakarta, Pengaren Diponegoro practice of Kejiwaan was a mixture of $hite islam bathign purification adat and praying to the Majaphait Indic Javanese river goddess . He did this every morning before pratising Silat Tonado.
In the year 1805, Diponegoro started to expreince prophetic visions to drive the Ducth out of Java. Di percaya procalimed himself as Ratu Adil or the incarantion of a righteous king to establsih his rule of justice for all people according to the Old Majapahit Hindu belief of avartarship and the $hite muslim philsophy of Allah appointment of exclusive election or God's chosen second messanic prophet to respresent Divine judegement in the world over the all nations. This led to the Java War and gurrellia war against the Dutch and his legacy remains till today to inspire the nation .
With the foreign iccusrssions and the pressures faced western globalization, his legacy and the call to ratu adail today has taken a whole new meaning . so where is his soul ? answer this quertion please.

Some examples of Malay animsim:


Kebatinan = Malay magic & black magic . Practised by the origianl proto malays or sakais who came out of Africa . They are very into soul travelling, dream-sleeping magic and out -of-body expriences and believe they can leave into a soul- dreamy state to realise a dream time connection while still alive. This is the reason why the malays are so easy-going , lazy and dreamy-like , living in a double concious dream-like state . Proto maalys or Orang Asli tribes are still very isoalted and remotely living in the Cameron highlands today. More about how Kebtinan has shaped and influneced the Malay Indonesain World view another time.

Kejiwaan = an abstract concept of channeling into the inner nature of the soul or inner spirit to connect to god . This is the a very high philosphical complex of malay cyrcetism based on the subud school of sufism , in which Islamic mysticism is mixed with Braham Shiva hinduism . This was very exsrtensively practised in the old majapahit times. Expressions of this in the malay arts are the Wayang kulit , jongket or malay dances and silat. Such is the profound depth of Javanese mysticism and cultre of the malay people . Another example is the gigantic orb-shape malay kite which according to animistic origins was made to shape like the moon to project soul energy to the moon. Hence some Malay kites are called Moon kites.

Kahringa = animistic beliefs in sea dragons worshipped and observed by the Dayak, Bajau, Sulewasi and sarawk orang. The orignins of this is very much the same as Hokkiens beliefs in the dragon king or Hai Leng Ong as these maaly tribes sailed from Yuanan provinece in theri ancestry as the Tibetan-Burmese sino and Turkic-mongolian minoirity groups of the Qiangs, the Yis and the Dais .

Indeed. The mogonls were never good at Sea faring as the Indonesain bumis were which is why they lost. Vijaya who later procalimed himself as the King of Majapahit having enlisted help from the Mongolian fleets later tunred on them and defeated them soundly.

Mongols in their origins were the turkic mongols who emerged after the ice age atthe Tibetan pleatau and they settled across the Asain Steppes and spreeded themsleves into Central Asia and South east Asia. The turkic ugyhirs the Qindains and the Chatagi turks of central Asia are a good example . It was Chatagi turkish mongol Burber the tiger after conquering Kabul and Khandarher who founded the Muslim mongoal or Mughal empire . His home land oroginated in Farghana, whee Soviet Russia is today. The turkic Mongols had several tribes as well as 10 kingdoms and three empires in Central Asia . They traded with China, India and the Austranesain races extensively through the Silk road routes and founded richly prosporous towns such as Samrankhan and Bukhara in along the trading networks which ran between China, Afghanistan and the Middle east. Their trade routes on the maritine naval side extended trans-alantic further south into Indonesia and the Malay archepalogo with Kedah and Pan Pan . With Langasuka in Kedah's gold mine and abundance in black pepper, this trade route was known as the peppepr route or black gold . That was know Kublai Khan knew of Javanese prowess and prosperity much later with developement in that trade of gold and pepper that floruished with Indonesia and Malaysia since 100 BC . The Malay inhabitaints subsequently absored influences from Arabia, Greece, Egypt , the rest of the Middle east and the chinese .

The Austranesain race who were oceanic migrants from tibetan Burmese sino Mongolia , Indo-aryans from Kasmir and the Bay of Bengal intermarried and intermingled with the local natives as well as those from Vietnam, Fukien, Cambodia, Ambon, Borneo , Phillipines and the polynesain malay pacific combined to form the ancestral lineage of the Indonesain race.
Examples are the Torajans and the Dayaks who oringated from Cambodia . Hence the reason for the darker blackish pigmentation in contrast to other natives were are more brownish and pale.
so the answer tot he question is that the Austrnesain naval migrants , the turkic mongols and the Maleyu races did meet some how along rthe coastal trade routes . They did not clash but on the contary adsorbed ech other tribal and cultrual diifrences because. The transistion from Singhasari to Majaphit is an exceptional case due to ambitous political grab for power and royal intrrigue . Culturally and spiritually, the various malay indegenious usually give way to one another and learning differnt things from one another because the infleunces of Javanese supernatural predestiantion from its Brahman Hindu heritge and the Malay Adat hidup meant that face-giving and refinery by grace leads to a more fulfilled self-elective conciousness and enrichment.

One thing for sure, Majapahit Empire is responsible for the spreading of Keris throughout Southeast Asian Archipelago. From Java, Bali, Sumatra, Malaya, Borneo, Sulawesi, to the Phillippines.



Javanese Keris' bronze and iron smelters are the oldest known Keris crafters in the region.
The Javanese expansion during Majapahit era promoting the spread of Keris popularity in SE Asia.

Is this the majaphahit Indic river goddess?





don't tell me, Osama?



Please let me know when you post about this Kabatinan influence on Malay-Indo world view..



This is so cool.... can u recommend a source for these cultural influences on our lives??? thx!

Kejawen, not Kejiwaan

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kejawen and http://www.joglosemar.co.id/kejawen/index.html

I think the rise of Acheh also a golden time in the history of Indonesia. do you know that Acheh-Dutch war is the longest most difficult and costly colonial war ever fought by the dutch. it took 40 years (10 year for resistance war) and 40'000 dutch lives to subdued acheh. even in defeat, Acheh remain the only major kingdom in Indonesian archipelago that never sign a treaty accepting Dutch sovereignity.

That is why even before giving Aceh its right to enforce the Islamic law, Indonesia has already given Aceh a special status of "Daerah Istimewa" (Special Territory", just like the one Indonesia gave to Yogyakarta.
People of Aceh, be it men or women, are fighters.

Finally.......

Majapahit Exhibition

President of Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has opened the new extended building and wing of National Museum; Gedung Arca, National Museum Jakarta, Jl Medan Merdeka Barat. In this occassion Yudhoyono also opened the grand exhibition of Majapahit Empire. In his speech Mr President says:
"Pameran ini mengajak kita untuk menghayati kejayaan Majapahit serta menggali keunggulan Bangsa Indonesia."
"This exhibitions help us to learn about the glory of Majapahit Empire also discovering the greatness of Indonesians."

Yudhoyono also add that Museum is vital as learning center for the whole family. He wishes that lots of Indonesian visit the museum to learn and discover our culture, to appreciate and cultivate our pride in our heritage. Also to learn about the diversity also unity of Indonesia. Yudhoyono also ask the audience to learn the wisdom of the past.

The Majapahit Grand Exhibitions houses exquisite collections of Majapahit era artefact, The statue of King Kertarajasa Jayawardhana (the founder of Majapahit Empire), The terracota figure of Gajah Mada, the model of Trowulan archaelogical site, the site of Majapahit Imperial capital, also the replica of common Majapahitans house.

The exhibitions is took place from June 20, 2007 and lasted for about a month....
Soo you guys if happen to be in Jakarta in this month to July, please visit Majapahit Exhibitions....

Majapahitans reporting from National Museum Jakarta.
(Btw, I'm with the press , and covering the event this morning).

majjy, plz post fotos of the exhibition, bolehkan?? macacih

Oke tanga... let me upload it to my photobucket first.....

My station has just aired the exhibition. twas quiet good

Oh yeah.....,
don't forget to read Kompas daily tomorrow (Thursday, 21 June 2007) on page 25
there's special infographic issue on Majapahit Empire.....

Please tell me what you think after you see it....

haha..dugaan gue tepat ttg mas Majjy kerja dimana!
Okay, I'll surely tell you

Hehe.... gimana.... what do you think about this infographic....?





Oh yeah..., here's the pict of exhibiton:



President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Madame Ani Yudhoyono looking at the model of Trowulan archaelogical sites






The models wearing the faithful replica of royal attire of Majapahit King and Queen.





Maharaja of Majapahit






Pramesvari of Majapahit

Ohh.. so you are working for Kompas, majjy? Cool! How about you, furrie?

Anyway, I missed that issue of Kompas And I don't know whether I will have the chance to visit Jakarta in July
Thx for the report, majjy!