The Australian National University (ANU) Library - Asia-Pacific Digital Collections: Boyes/Some Notes on Java

Although the Dutch have occupied portions of Java for nearly three centuries, they have done but little towards tracing the history or even collecting the traditions of their great dependency; and it was not until after the conquest of the island by the British and its reoccupation by the Dutch in 1814 A.D., that the latter appear to have been awakened to the duty of unravelling, as far as possible, the few clues which were then left to the early history of this most interesting part of what is now called the Malay Archipelago. Without going further back than the commencement of our own era, and probably not further back than some twelve or thirteen centuries, we find that no less than three of the great religions of the world have competed for possession of this beautiful island, and, therefore, as we should expect, the traditions of the people concerning

the origin of the races found in the country are broken and confused, But when the Dutch first settled on the shores of Java in 1595 A.D., and when we English a few years afterwards followed to compete with them for its trade, the Mussulmans had not held the government of the country for more than two hundred years, and it is quite certain that, had the early Dutch and English settlers been animated then by the antiquarian spirit, there would have been open to them far more sources of information than are available now or were at hand even when Sir Stamford Raffles, in 1812 A.D., first attempted to glean the few straws which were then left on the field of historical inquiry. Nor have the efforts of the Dutch in the direction of antiquarian research since that date been very systematic or profound; and the successive immigrations of the Hindus, of the races professing and preaching Buddhism, and of the proselytising Mussulmans, still remain shrouded in much uncertainty and offer incomparable attractions to the enthusiastic student of ethnology. Now that a man like Dr. Brandes sits as Curator of the Museum of Antiquities at Batavia, we may hope that the early days of the peoples, who raised such magnificent monuments of devotion as Bram-Banam and Boro

Bodho, will be cleared from much of the mist which at present shuts off the inquirer fro many clear view.

The Javan era corresponds within a few years with the Hindu Sambat era, commencing in the year 74 A.D., and it is certain that it is only due to a miscalculation 'that it does not exactly tally. It is without doubt the same era, and its use by the Javans is absolute proof that the immigrations of the Hindus occurred at a date not prior to the commencement of that cycle-It is not unnatural that the Javans should wish to throw their beginning, as the conquerors of their island, as far back as possible, and we accordingly find them asserting that the founder of the Javan colony arrived from India in the very first year of the era. Aji Saka, who is said to have been prime minister of Prabhu Jaya Bbaya, Prince of Astina, and fifth son of Pandu Devanatta, is named as the leader of the first expedition. He is said to have found the country held by Rasaksas or giants, whom he fought gallantly, but whom apparently he did not subdue, for he returned to his master in Gujerat for reinforcements, with which be succeeded in making good his position in the island.

Other accounts state that the religion and the arts of India were introduced by a Brahman,

Tritesta, at the commencement of the Javan era; but the fact that the early traditional sovereigns of Java correspond both in order of succession and in name with well-known kings in India, indicates very clearly that the Hindu occupation of the island really commenced after the date of those kings. The accounts, therefore, which put the commencement of the Javan sovereigns five centuries after the first landing of Aji Saka, and which make the first colonisation of the island to have been effected under the sixth descendant of Prabhu Jaya Bhaya of Astina, are certainly more likely to be correct. It is also highly probable that the "Saka" affix to the name Aji only indicates an era, the third Saka of the Kaliyuga, commencing 78 A.D., and that Aji Saka was really only an impersonation of the era itself-an impersonation with which the Hindus in Java subsequently associated the introduction of letters and religion, the framing of their laws and the commencement of settled governrment. Fa Hian, who visited Java (Ye-pho-ti) in the beginning of the fifth century of our era, says that at that time there were Brahmans and heretics, but no Buddhists on the island. The colonisation must, therefore, have taken place before that date. One fact appears to be quite certain :

the immigration came direct from the continent and not by way of the Malay Peninsula. Java and the contiguous islands of Bali and Madura, mains of Hindu temples, but in the whole of the Malay Peninsula and in Sumatra there has not been found a sign of Hindu occupation. It is absolutely certain, therefore, that the colonisation of Java was effected by emigrants sailing from India across the Bay of Bengal. The accounts which attribute the foundation of the first permanent settlement to the sixth descendant of Prabhu Jaya Bhaya tell that he sailed with 5,000 followers in six large ships and first landed in Sumatra, but, not finding the country agree with that which had been described by Aji Saka, he re-embarked and finally reached the land of promise, settling at Matarem and being proclaimed under the name of Sawela Chala. Two thousand more emigrants with their wives and families followed soon after, and a city was founded, called Mendang Kamulan, afterwards named Bram-Banam, the date of this event being given as 525 Javan era, or 603 A.D. Other accounts make Prabhu Jaya Bhaya himself to have reigned in Java in the year 1000, Javan era, and Bram-Banam to have

been founded eighteen years afterwards. The earlier date would seem to be the most probable. The remains of the temples at Bram-Banam attest the size and importance of Mendang Kamulan, and of the principality of which it was the capital. So numerous are the smaller temples which surround the central edifice that the place is spoken of as the "thousand temple" and in actual numbers there still exist between two and three hundred. The extraordinary feature of this group of buildings is that, while the central pile was undoubtedly Brahmanical - containing as it does an image of Durga, which might have been brought fro many of Kali's shrines in India, so exact is there production of the goddess in the act of destroying-and while many of the statues which are found around the place are also Brahmanical, the smaller surrounding temples contain each a most unmistakable figure of Buddha, similar to those found on the great Stupa of Boro Bodho, which is a pure Buddhist monument without the faintest admixture of Brahmanism. This very remarkable mingling of the two religions is characteristic of a very large number of the sacred buildings of Java, and it clearly indicates that for many generations the two faiths existed side by side, the adherents of

each agreeing to live amicably one with the other, and probably each adopting Portions Of the worship of the other's religion. Indeed, this fair land of Java seems to have set an example to the Eastern world of toleration, for when, centuries after, the Mussulmans succeeded in converting the whole population to the religion of Mahomed, the proselytising was not effected, as in other Oriental countries, with fire and sword : and the perfect state in which we find such edifices as Boro Bodho show that there was in the process no exhibition of that iconoclastic zeal which usually has distinguished the propagation of Islam. This is especially fortunate in a land like Java, where there exist but few trustworthy written records, and where history will largely have to be read in the stones of her monuments.

A most remarkable fact about the few records which do exist is the entire absence of any mention of the Buddhists. We have apparently absolutely no tradition of the introduction of the law, no account of the arrival of any missionaries, no history of any contest between the rituals or the dogmas of the two religions. This doubtless is largely accounted tor by the friendly terms, if not terms of partnership, on which the Brahmans and the Order had mutually agreed

to live. Had the two religions been in open conflict one with the other we should most undoubtedly have heard much in the histories, however incomplete and untrustworthy in other respects, of the tyranny or the hateful tenets of the respective sects. Silence on these points on the part of the historians clearly indicates that they saw nothing abnormal in the relations of the two religions, and that those relations were amicable and had lasted for some generations prior, at any rate, to the writings of the annals. Dr. Leemans in his elaborate monograph on the Stupa of Boro Bodho says that in the sixth century of the Christian era we find Buddhisma and Brahmanism existing in Java side by side, that in the ninth century Buddhism had taken the lead, and that in the twelfth or thirteenth it began to yield to Sivaism : but he does not detail his ground for making these statements. Apparently Dr. Friederich had discovered some inscriptions, which, however, have not been pub1ished. One fact about Buddhism in Java is certain. It was not imported from Southern India, either with the original emigrants or at a subsequent date, nor was it imported from Ceylon or Burma. The Buddhism of these countries was that of the Southern Church, while all the Buddhist remains in Java tell us plainly that

the tenets and the ritual of the Northern Church ruled in that island. The Northern Church occupied Nepal, Tibet and China, so that we are led to the conclusion that the preaching of the law in Java was possibly done by Chinese missionaries, and the first inter-course with China is said to have occurred in the time of Panji, an adventurer, who obtained considerable power about the tenth Javan century. We may perhaps then assume, in want of better grounds, that the Javans made their first acquaintance with the purer religion about 1000, Javan era. It is generally thought that the Stupa at Boro Bodho was constructed about 1200 (Javan) : and the wonderful preservation of the fabric would certainly indicate that its date cannot be very much more ancient. On the other hand the Buddhism of the builder of Boro Bodho was of a very pure type, and could scarcely have come from China at a very late date.

If Buddhism was introduced from China, then, curiously enough, the first contact of the Javans with Islam occurred about the same time, the son of Kuda Lalean, a Javan sovereign, having visited India about 1084 (Javan), where he became a convert to Mahomedanism. It was, however, not until nearly three centuries

later that Mahomedanism became a prominent religion in the country. In 1247 (Javan) Raden Wijaya established the great kingdom of Majapahit, the rulers of which ex-tended their sovereignty over the whole island, and also exercised a protectorate over Sumatra. This was the last great Hindu Raj which held sway in Java, and the remnants of the Brahmans, who still exist in Bali, look back with longing and regret to those last days of their glory. On the northern coast of Java Islam was gradually obtaining a firm hold, conversion to the new faith being the work of Arab missionaries who came from the rich shores of the islands of the Archipelago. By the middle of the fourteenth (Javan) century there were several centres of aspiring Mahomedans, and in 1400 (Javan) these Mussulmans, conspiring with certain base-born sons of the Majapahit Raja, overthrew the Hindu dynasty with its PrinceAugka Wijaya, destroyed the city and set up a Mahomedan kingdom with its capital at Demak. By 1421 the whole island, with the exception of the westernmost principalities, had become Mahomedan. The Hindus, who resisted conversion, fled to Bali, an island at the extreme south-eastern extremity of Java, and thither the Mussulmans have never followed them.

it When the Portuguese first visited Java in 1 5 1 1A. D. they found a Hindu king still reigning in Bantam, but within the sixteenth century of our era this principality also had submitted to the new religion.

It is clear, however, that Mahomedanism has never sunk into the souls of the javans as it has in other Oriental countries, and a Wahabi, and even an average Mussulrnan of India, would be scandalised at the want of zeal on the part of these simple sons of Islam. To the Anglo-Indian travelling through the country it is scarcely apparent that there is a single Mahomedan in it. No mosques or idgahs are visible, no muezzin is heard, no devout Moslem is noticed by the wayside or at the house-door falling on his knees at the hour of prayer. In the families of the well-to-do classes the cere-monies attending the peculiar rite by which children are admitted to Islam, include processions, accompanied with much display, through the streets, but no stranger would imagine that the spectacle was a part of a Mahomedan rite. Fabulous beasts of all kinds, giants and giantesses, trophies such as might appear in a Lord Mayor's show, follow one another in quick succession, but no sign of the faith of Mahomed is to be seen. The whole thing

is clearly a survival of the old Hindu pageants which have been adapted to the new ceremonies. When our sepoys during our occupation in 1812-14 A. D. celebrated the Mohurram after Indian fashion, they very much astonished the Javans. The only bigoted religionists are the Hadjis, almost without exception Arabs, who figure as Mouivis or panghulus (village priests) and who take care to drive a good trade in tithes and fees. These Hadjis are invariably found to be at the bottom of all the insurrections with which the Dutch have bad to deal. The Dutch in consequence discourage as much as possible all pilgrimages to Mecca, as they find the lower Hadjis are apt to make common cause with the foreign Sheikh.

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Some notes on Java: Section 1

Some Notes on Java and its Administration by the Dutch