Who really was the Champa Princess, the Moslem Wife of Brawijaya V?

Nobody is aware that the historians who studied the downfall of Majapahit in around 1400 Saka year (1478 CE) have committed an unparalleled grave error. The problem originated from the failure on the identification of the Champa Princess, called Anarawati or Dwarawati (Darawati), a Muslim wife of Brawijaya V, the Majapahit King reigning in 1474-1478 CE. The Islamic tomb of the Princess of Champa was in Trowulan, near Mojokerto, the site of Majapahit imperial capital.

In Javanese, people spell Champa Princess as Putri “Cempa.” Most people included the prominent Dutch historians such as Snouck Hurgronje ^a), had all done wrong when they identify the princess as coming from Champa, part of what is now Cambodia-Vietnam. And the Indonesian historians have taken it for granted.

At that time,  the vast majority of Champa people were Buddhist, and barely Muslims lived there, not mentioned Muslim Kings and nobles. A lady who was eligible to be the bride of a mighty King such as that of Majapahit should come from the noble or high society family, which was, in fact, never there until 17th-century ^b).  However, if it was the case, there was not even a single record either in Champa or Majapahit on such an essential cross-border dynastic marriage tying royal families of two different sovereign countries.

The Javanese spelling of “Cempa” is more closely to Jeumpa rather than Champa.  Jeumpa was a coastal region near Samudra Pasai (now Bireun), one of the first Islamic cities in Aceh flourished from the around the 7th century. Stamford Raffles supported his geography interpretation of Cempa ^c) but surprisingly none from Indonesian historians.

Jeumpa, because of its very strategic site located at the northern tip of Sumatra island, had long become an important trading and transit port of ships that would set sail to open sea from China to India, Persia, or Arabic Peninsula and vise-versa.

Together with Barus, Fansur, and Lamuri ^d), Jeumpa has rare commodities such as kafur (mothballs) popularly called Kafur [from] Barus, identical with luxury enjoyed by the nobles people from civilized countries such as Arab, Persian, India, and China. Such a commodity catapulted the region as an integral part of civilization advancement.

Many Acehnese were the descendants of the inter-marriage between those foreign “immigrants” and the locals. During the glories of Pasai, the beauty and intelligence of Jeumpa women became a legend among people in Perlak, Pasai, Malacca, even in Java.

And Putri Cempa, named as Darawati, was one of the beautiful Jeumpa ladies whose Brawijaya V loved to marry. When the King met with the princess who came along with her entourage consisting of Maulana Malik Ibrahim ^e) and the nobles of Pasai, he was speechless because of her beauty.

In Hikayat (Chronicle) Banjar dan Kotawaringin ^f)   that the King of Majapahit ordered his minister to propose Putri Pasai (Jeumpa) bringing ten ships to Pasai carrying dowry [and indeed a lot of guard troupes]. As a leader of the Islamic Sultanate, Sultan Pasai reluctantly accepted the King proposal considering the risk and danger if he refused such a scheme.

Notes:

a. Snouck Hurgronje, being an Islamologist who studied Aceh, certainly knew about Jeumpa close to Samudra [Pasai] as the possible origin of Putri Cempa instead of Champa (Cambodia-Vietnam). Or didn’t he?

b. Champa (Cambodia-Vietnam) during that period (1360-1390) was under Che Bong Nga, known as The Red King, the last and most powerful King of Champa. No records that he was Muslim or related him or his royal families whatsoever with Islam.

c. It was true that Islam started making headway among the Cham people since the 10th century, which intensified after the 1471 invasion. However, only by the 17th century that the Royal families of Cham Lords began to turn to Islam. When the Vietnamese made their final annexation, the majority of the Cham people had converted to Islam.

d. Raffles knew well about Jeumpa and Samudra Pasai, the old flourished trading and transit ports in North Aceh, which he aimed to replace with Singapura (Singapore).

e. Under the reign of the Queen Tribuwanatunggadewi, Majapahit expanded its territory throughout Nusantara (the Archipelago). Adityawarman, his cousin, having the blood of Melayu, was sent to conquer the remaining of Sriwijaya and Melayu kingdoms. Later on, he became “uparaja” (vice King) of Majapahit in Sumatra. The territorial expansion was continued under the reign of Hayam Wuruk to include Lamury in the far West and Wanin in the East. Negarakertagama clearly stated that Samudra (Jeumpa), Lamuri, and Barus were under Majapahit’s jurisdiction.

f. He was the brother-in-law of Darawati, Putri Cempa, and the earliest of the Wali Songo (nine great Islamic preachers). He was born in Samarkand and lived for 13 years in Jeumpa, beginning in 1379. He married with a Jeumpa princess, Darawati’s sister, and had two sons, one of them was Raden Rahmat, then entitled Sunan Ampel. Arriving in Ampel (now Surabaya) in 1404, Maulana engaged in small business, treated sick people in the community, introduced a new technique in agriculture, and accepted lower castes people outcasted by Hinduism.

g. The texts, written in 1663, were also known as the Chronicle of Lambung Mangkurat The detail of the story related to Majapahit was not so accurate. Still, at least the story was in line with Raffles’ version that Princess Champa was from Pasai (Jeumpa), not from the region which is now Cambodia-Vietnam. One may believe in the authenticity of the story as Banjar writers were undoubtedly more objective than the Javanese writers (Babad Tanah Jawi, serat Kandha, and serat Darmogandul) who still had an emotional attachment with Majapahit’s glory.

References:

1. Atmadja N.B.:”Genealogi Keruntuhan Majapahit,” Pustaka Pelajar, Yogyakarta, 2010, p. 7.