THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-70

INDONESIA ( SERIES -3 )

MAJAPAHIT AND SINGHASARI KINGDOM

In the PRE-ISLAMIC history of INDONESIA , two important regimes are required to be studied . The HINDU MAJAPAHIT Kingdom was founded in the Eastern JAVA at the end of the 13th century . The history of MAJAPAHIT Empire was written in several records including PARARATON (IT IS A JAPANESE HISTORICAL CHRONICAL WRITTEN IN KAWI , OLD JAVANESE LANGUAGE) and NEGARAKERTAGAMA ( IT IS AN OLD JAVANESE EULOGY TO HAYAM WURUK , A JAVANESE KING OF THE MAJAPAHIT EMPIRE ) . Under the leadership of GAJAH MADA , MAJAPAHIT Empire reached the peak of prosperity and affluency . GAJAH MADA was a powerful military leader . It was considered as the Golden Period of INDONESIAN history . From 1293 AD to around 1500 AD , its influence extended to most of the MALAYA PENINSULA , SUMATRA , BALI and BORNEO as such . The founder of the MAJAPAHIT Empire , KERTARAJASA , was the son-in-law of the Ruler of SINGHASARI kingdom of JAVA . KERTARAJASA was a JAPANESE Emperor from 1293 AD to 1309 AD . When in 1290 AD , SINGHSARI drove SRIVIJAYA out of JAVA , the rising power of SINGHASARI attracted the attention of KUBLAI KHAN , the then Emperor of CHINA as he sent missionaries demanding tribute . But KERTANEGARA , the last and most important King of the SINGHASARI kingdom of JAVA from 1268 AD to 1292 AD ( till his death ) , refused to pay tribute to KUBLAI KHAN . As a result , KUBLAI KHAN sent military off the coast of JAVA in 1293 AD as a punitive expedition against SINGHASARI kingdom . By that time KERTANEGARA was killed by a rebel from KEDIRI Kingdom , a HINDU-BUDDHIST Kingdom located in the East JAVA . The MAJAPAHIT allied with the MANGOLS against JAYAKATWANG of KEDIRI Kingdom . And once the SINGHASARI kingdom was destroyed , MAJAPAHIT turned towards its allies MANGOLS and compelled them to withdraw from there as confusion percolated deep among the MANGOLS as such . So the MANGOLS preferred to retreat .

GAJAH MADA , an ambitious Regent of MAJAPAHIT from 1331 AD to 1364 AD , conquered and extended the rule to the surrounding island . According to the old JAVANESE Manuscripts , poems and mythology , GAJAH MADA was a military leader and an ambitious MAJAPAHIT Prime Minister/Regent of the JAVANESE Empire of MAJAPAHIT during the fourteenth century . He had taken an oath , called SUMPAH PALAPA , according to which he vowed to live an ascetic lifestyle by not consuming food containing spices until he had conquered all of the South-East ASIAN archipelago NUSANTARA ( THE INDONESIAN NAME OF MARITIME SOUTH-EAST ASIA ) for MAJAPAHIT . During his reign , the HINDU Epics like RAMAYANA and MAHABHARATAS became ingrained in the JAVANESE culture . And the world viewed that through WAYANG KULIT, a traditional form of puppet-shadow play originally found in the cultures of JAVA and BALI in INDONESIA . GAJAH MADA is still considered as an important national hero in modern INDONESIA . He was the real unifire of the INDONESIAN archipelago .

The word GAJAH literary means Elephant . In the HINDU mythology , it is believed to be a VAHANA ( ANIMAL MOUNT ) of the God INDRA . At the same time , the Elephant is also associated with LORD GANESHA— the elephant-headed God with a human body— the son of LORD SHIVA and GODESS PARVATI . Similarly , the word MADA ( A JAVANESE WORD ) appears to be derived from SANSKRIT which means drunk . The concept is when the Elephant is drunk , he will walk arbitrarily , violently , overcoming all obstacles coming on the way . If we apply all these meaning with GAJAH MADA , the name could be interpreted in two ways : ‘ 1. HE CONSIDERED HIMSELF TO BE THE VEHICLE OF THE KING , THE EXECUTOR OF THE KING’S ORDERS , JUST AS THE ELEPHANT AIRAVATA BECAME THE VAHANA OF THE GOD INDRA ‘ ; and ‘ 2. HE IS A PERSON WHO SEEMS DRUNK AND VIOLENT WHEN FACED WITH VARIOUS OBSTACLES THAT WILL HINDER THE PROGRESS OF THE KINDOM .’ Similarly , in the GAJAH MADA Inscription , his other nickname is RAKRYAN MAPATIH JIRNODHARA . JIRNODHARA literally means ‘ builder of something new .’ It also means ‘ restorer of something which has fallen apart .’ Thus , in a fugatative sense , he could be seen as a restorer and successor to KERTANEGARA’S idea in the DWIPANTARA MANDALA ( UNITED SOUTH-EAST ASIAN ARCHIPELAGO DEVELOPED IN 1275 ) concept . Much of the modern popular depiction of GAJAH MADA has been derived from the immigration of MOHAMMAD YAMIN who wrote a book called GAJAH MADA : PAHLAWAN PERSATUAN NUSANTARA in 1945 . MOHAMMAD YAMIN was an INDONESIAN poet , politician and national hero who played a crucial role in writing a draft preamble to the 1945 constitution of INDONESIA .