The 7th Century Kalingga University

In 644-645 Hui-ning, a Chinese Buddhist priest, together with Yun-ki, his assistance studied in a famous Buddhist Centre in the Kalingga Kingdom, Central Java ^a). He spent his time there to deepen his knowledge about Buddha teaching. Assisted by Jnanabhadra, a famous professor and priest of the center, he finalized his translation of Parinirwana, one of the Buddha Holy books.

Apart from Buddha religion and philosophy teaching the center also taught the basic geometry, art, and mathematics. Thousands of students learned in numerous buildings having thick walls. The local people around the campus prepared the food for the students and part of them also participated in the studies. Among the famous products of this university’s graduates, ^b) were among other Dieng, Plaosan, Kalasan and Borobudur temples.

Kalingga or Keling spelled as Holing in Chinese was the Hindu-Buddhist Kingdom raised around 618 in Plawangan, Pekalongan, Central Java. founded by Dapunta Selendra ^c). In 674 he was succeeded by Maharani Shima, a famous iron lady for her strong ruling system and absolute honesty.

Folklore told about her indifferent in imposing law and order. Once, she wanted to test her people integrity and put in purpose gold ornaments in a public open place. Nobody dared to touch them but after several days elapsed the gold disappeared. When she knew that the crown prince who had taken the ornaments, with great grief she instructed to cut the hand. of her own son.

Her kingdom had a wide relationship with the neighbor countries indicated by archaeology discoveries of various goods originated from Dong-song and India. During her term, Kalingga’s commerce was flourished spreading out throughout the bigger part of the archipelago and the South China Sea peripheral areas.

For the geopolitical reason, she even promoted inter-kingdom marriages by wedding her daughter Parwati with the crown prince of Galuh Kingdom in West Java named Mandiminyak. The grandson of this couple they got from the marriage of their daughter with the third king of Galuh was named Sanjaya.

Instead of ruling in Galuh, Sanjaya chose to succeed Shima when the latter passed away. He changed the name Kalingga to [ancient] Mataram with Medang Kamulan as its capital. During his flourished ruling time (723 – 746), he built Dieng Hindu temple high on top of mountain range closed to now Sindoro mountain d⁾. The historical records show that Sanjaya Hindu Dynasty lasted for 12 generations until 1016.

Sanjaya Dynasty lived peacefully side-by-side with South Kalingga ruled by Syailendra Buddhist Dynasty. The first ruler and the founder of the dynasty were Sri Indrawarman (752-775). Syailendra Dynasty had a close relationship with Sriwijaya as indicated by Sri Indrawarman’s gesture to make his son Wisnu, who would then become the second ruler in the dynasty (775-782), to marry with Princess Tara the daughter of Sriwijaya king. It was during Wisnu ruling time that Kalasan temple was built to honor Princess Tara as the representation of female Bodhisattva ^e).

Another colossal project which was initiated by Dharanindra (782-812) and intensified by Samaratungga (812-833) was Borobudur temple construction which blueprints are reproduced and shown in Figure 1-3.  But the temple could only be finalized in the time of his daughter, the Queen Pramodhawardhani (833-836) after 50 years of construction and deployment of so many architects, engineers, and skilled sculptors and builders.

Tragically, most of those people who were masters and skillful in construction and art sculptor together with the center of knowledge and the university were almost suddenly wiped out by the volcanic catastrophic Merapi eruption. Most of the kingdom areas were destroyed and buried under the volcanic debris and ashes including Borobudur temple. This happened during the rule of Mpu Sindok (929-947), the 11^th generation of the Sanjaya Dynasty. He was forced to remove his Medang Kingdom to East Java left nothing in the old areas which then covered by dense jungle.

Notes:

a. From I-Tsing, a Chinese traveler and reporter from the Tang Dynasty era.

b. Almost at the same time, a similar university was established in now Muaro Jambi. The center of knowledge was attended by hundreds or even thousands of students and priests from local and neighboring countries enhancing their knowledge on religion, philosophy, logic, arts, and medical science. Its graduates designed and built a hundred temples in the area but only 90 of them were discovered.

c. The name of Dapunta Selendra whose wife named Sampula was written in Sojomerto inscription around the 8th century. It stated that his father was Santanu married to his mother Badhrawati.

d. He also erected a Siva obelisk, southeastward of the future location of Borobudur complex, as written in Canggal inscription (732 CE)

e. Kalasan inscription (778 CE) told that the priest and teacher of the King Tejahpura Panangkarana Mustika (another title of King Wisnu?) had succeeded to convince him to build Kalasan Temple in honor of Prince Tara.

References:

1. Darmawan, J. et al.: “The Power of Sejarah Indonesia,” Indonesia Book Project, Jakarta, 2011.
2. Purwadi, M. et al.: “Babad Tanah Jawi,” Gelombang Pasang, Yogyakarta, 2005, p. 21-25.
3. Adji, K.B.: ”Ensiklopedi Raja-Raja Jawa,” Araska, Jogjakarta, 2011
4. Marzuki, Y. et al.: “Borobudur,” Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, 1985.

The Broken Portrait of Raden Wijaya

In 1293 Raden Wijaya established the Kingdom of Majapahit after he was able to attack and defeat Jayakatwang, the king of Singasari, who took over the power from his father-in-law,  the king Kartanegara.

Pararaton called his full name as Raden Harsawijaya or Raden Wijaya ^a), whereas Nagarakertagama called him Dyah Wijaya.  He issued the Kudadu Inscription to commemorate his entitlement as Nararya Sanggramawijaya ^b)  in 1294, acclaiming that he was the founder of the Majapahit Kingdom. In 1305, Raden Wijaya proclaimed himself, written in Balawi Inscription, as part of the Rajasa Dynasty.

But his exact origin was still a mystery.  It was a great surprise to find that the prominent person such as Raden Wijaya, the founder of the Great Majapahit Empire, didn’t have a clear genealogy-line.

According to Pararaton, Raden Wijaya was the son of Mahisa Cempaka (Narasinghamurti), a prince from Singosari. His grandfather was Mahisa Wonga Teleng, the son of Ken Arok, the founder of the Rajasa Dynasty. On the contrary, Nagarakertagama mentioned that Raden Wijaya was the grandson of Narasinghamurti. His father was Dyah Lembu Tal, the son of Narasinghamurti.

According to Babad Tanah Jawi, the founder of Majapahit was called Jaka Sesuruh, who was the son of Prabu Sri Pamekas from the Pajajaran Kingdom situated in Sunda (West Java). Jaka Sesuruh had a clash against his step-brother Siyung Wanara and was defeated by the latter. Jaka Sesuruh fled to the east and established the Majapahit Kingdom. After being quite powerful, he, in turn, launched a counterattack and destroyed Siyung Wanara.

Pustaka Rayjarajya I Bhumi Nusantara pointed out that he was the son of Rakyan Jayadarma from the Sunda Galuh Kingdom who married Dyah Lembu Tal, the daughter of Mahisa Cempaka, a Singasari prince.

The more recent writer of The Power of Sejarah Indonesia¹ takes the version of Pustaka Rayjarajya I Bhumi Nusantara   supporting that Raden Wijaya was the son of Rakyan Jayadarma, the 26^th king of the Sunda-Galuh Kingdom, and Dyah Lembu Tal or Dyah Singhamurti, the daughter of Singhasari, the grandson of Mahisa Cempaka (in line with Nagarakertagama)

The version that Raden Wijaya was the son of a king Sunda-Galuh is not so outlandish as there had been a very long relationship between Sunda and Java Kingdom in Central Java since the 7^th century and subsequently with East Java since the 10^th century.

The oldest Hindu kingdom in Java first arose in West Java. It was called Tarumanegara established at the upstream of Citarum River in the 4^th century, as recorded in Tugu Inscription. The fading out of Tarumanegara, the first Hindu kingdom in Java established at the upstream of Citarum River in the 4^th century,  was marked by the uprising of Sunda Kingdom, in the east of Tarumanegara, founded by Tarusbawa in 670.

Soon after Galuh, another part of the Tarumanegara Kingdom located near now Ciamis ruled by Wretikandayun, proclaimed its independence from Tarumanegara ^c). Maharani Shima, the queen Kalingga, located near Pekalongan in Central Java, whose daughter Parwati was the wife of Mandiminyak, the son of Wretikandayun, supported the proclamation.

Tarusbawa installed as his successor, his grandson-in-law Sanjaya (Rakyan Jamri), whose mother was the daughter of Mandiminyak and Parwati, the princess of Kalingga. Sanjaya had successfully united Sunda and Galuh to become a big kingdom. Still, when his grandmother Maharani Shima died, he chose to succeed her as the king of Kalingga ^d) instead of Sunda-Galuh.

Sanjaya changed the name Kalingga to Mataram which capital was in Medang Kamulan. Mpu Sindok, the 18^th ruler from the Sanjaya dynasty, removed the Medang kingdom to East Java because the violent eruption of Merapi destroyed most of the Kingdom’s areas.

Since then, the relationships of the Sunda-Galuh kingdom spread out to include the East Java kingdoms. The marriage of Rakyan Jayadarma, the 26^th king of Sunda-Galuh and Dyah Singhamurti (Dyah Lembu Tal?), the princess of Singasari, the far descendant of Rajasa (Ken Arok) ^e) marked the relationships.

When Rakyan Jayadarma was poisoned and killed by his entourage, his wife Dyah Singhamurti, together with his son, Raden Wijaya, left Galuh and came back to Singasari.  Later on, Raden Wijaya founded the vast Empire of Majapahit ^f) after defeated and drove the Kublai-Khan troops out of Java.

Ironically, when Hayam Wuruk, the grandson of Raden Wijaya’s was going to marry Dyah Pitaloka, the daughter of the King of Galuh, the Gajah Mada special troops g) intercepted and killed the Galuh visitor groups, including Dyah Pitaloka in their way to Majapahit.

Notes:

a.The title Raden was not popular in the 13-14^th At that time, the title for the noted person was Dyah, instead of Raden. Raden derived from the combination of Dyah with prefix Ra, so that name of Dyah Wijaya became Ra Dyah or Ra Dyan from which the title Raden emerged. It was also possible that Raden came from the term Rakyan usually used as the noble title in the Sunda-Galuh Kingdom.

b. Nararyawas also the noble title, though Dyah was more frequently used.

c. Tarumanegara then split into two kingdoms, the Sunda Kingdom ruled on the west side of Citarum River and the Galuh Kingdom in the east side.

d. As Sanjaya succeeded the Maharani Shima as the king of Kalingga, he changed the name of the latter to become Mataram which capital was in Medang Kamulan. His far descendant was Mpu Sindok, who moved the kingdom to East Java because of the violent Merapi eruption. Airlangga, the founder of Kahuripan Kingdom, was descendant of Mpu Sindok

e. Another close relationship between the Hindu Kingdom in West Java and East Java was the departure of the family and followers of Kertajaya, the King of Panjalu Kediri, to West Java. The exodus took place after Kertajaya was killed by the troops of Ken Arok, the ruler of Tumapel,  in the fierce battle near Ganter village in 1222. His followers fled and installed in the area north of Galuh and east of Galunggung, which they named under their native land, Panjalu. The indirect evidence of the relationship between Galuh – Galunggung, and Kediri appeared in the Galunggung inscription (circa 1194), which specifically mentioned the name of Kertajaya, the king of a faraway land in Panjalu Kediri, East Java.

f. Raden Wijaya dubbed his Kingdom based on the Maja trees he found in Tarik, the original site of Majapahit. The same kind of trees was growing abundantly in West Java, such as now indicated by the names of Majalengka, Majalaya, and Maja sub-regency in Banten.

g. Gajah Mada, the Majapahit Prime Minister and Commander in Chief, had an obsession with uniting Nusantara under Majapahit Empire. He wanted the Sunda entourage to surrender Dyah Pitaloka as a gesture that Sunda kingdom was under Majapahit domination, apparently without Hayam Wuruk’s consent, which was refused by Galuh visitor groups.

References:

1. Darmawan, J. et al.: “The Power of Sejarah Indonesia,” Indonesia Book Project, Jakarta, 2011”.
2. Purwadi, M. et al.: “Babad Tanah Jawi,” Gelombang Pasang, Yogyakarta, 2005, p. 21-25.
3. Adji, K.B.: ”Ensiklopedi Raja-Raja Jawa,” Araska, Jogjakarta, 2011