Majapahit

“ It contains no buildings except the rude Hindu remains above referred to.
The eastern portion of the island was occupied by the kingdom of Majapahit, founded, apparently, about the year 1300. It soon rose to a higher pitch of power and splendour than any of the preceding kingdoms, and the capital was adorned with edifices of surpassing magnificence, but mostly in brick, so that now they are little more than a mass of indistinguishable ruins. ”

“ Majapahit, originally only one of several Javan kingdoms, rapidly acquired strength and subjugated her neighbours and the nearest portions of the islands around. Malacca, formed when the Malay colony of Singapore was overwhelmed by Javanese, became the great commercial depot of the Straits and the chief centre of Mohammedanism in the Archipelago. The two powers therefore stood for two faiths and two cultures: Majapahit for Brahminism and Hindu influence, Malacca for Islam and the more practical civilisation of Arabia. ”

“ Within this period will be included the establishment of the Western Empire at Pajajaran, the subsequent division of the island under the princes of Majapahit and Pajajaran, the eventual supremacy of Majapahit, and the final overthrow of the government and ancient institutions of the country, by the general establishment of the Mahometan faith. ”

“ Súnan Undang of Kúdus was appointed to the chief command, and under him the Mahomedan army marched towards Majapáhit; but owing to the dexterity of Húsen, who commanded the Majapáhit forces, a general engagement was avoided, and for four years the hostile army was kept at bay. The troops of Majapáhit at last dissatisfied with this uncertain state of affairs and constant harassing, called loudly for action, and in compliance with their wishes a decisive battle was fought near the Sidayu river, in which the Mahomedans were completely routed, and their chief, Súnan Undang, killed. ”

“ FIGURE ON ROCK—SANTUBONG.
Bruni had been a powerful kingdom, and had conquered Luzon and the Sulu islands before it became a dependency of Majapahit, but at the time of the death of the last Batara [49] of that kingdom, Bruni ceased to send tribute. The empire of Majapahit fell in 1478 [50] before the Mussulman Malays. The origin of the Malays is shrouded in obscurity; they are first heard of in Sumatra, in Menangkabau, [51] from whence they emigrated in A.D. 1160 to Singapura, "the Lion city." They were attacked and expelled in 1252 by the princes of Majapahit, when they settled in Malacca. ”

“ The ruins and remains of Majapahit are still found near Mojokĕrto in the residency of Sourabaya.
Majĕr, to have an idea, to be of opinion, to have an objection. Most commonly used along with Manéh, self, as majĕr maneh to make an objection, to suggest an idea. To bisa majĕr manéh he must comply, he can bring no objection, he can suggest no opposition.
Majir, a female animal, especially a buffaloe, which will not breed, will not bear young, but being generally fat and in good condition is frequently chosen to slaughter. ”

“ When the bitara of Majapahit perceived the Raja of Malaca, to be very sagacious as well as handsome, and that his conduct was more noble than that of all the other rajas, and that his followers were all of them very good men, and also both clever and acute, he determined in his mind that Sultan Mansur Shah was the proper person on whom to bestow his daughter, Galah Chandra Kirana. ”

“ The ruins of Majapahit, and the tombs of its princes, and the graves of the Arab priests who were the first rulers of the conquered empire are attractions in Soerabaya’s neighborhood; but the great object was the Mount Bromo of the Tengger plateau, where the exhausted residents may take refuge from the steaming plain and breathe again. ”

“ A desperate engagement took place near Málang, in which the Pepáti Sindu Rája was killed. The Mahomedan forces were however victorious, and following up their success, they pursued the Majapáhit people to Grojógan (Balambángan) whence Browijáya and those of his followers who still adhered to his fortune took refuge in boats, and fled to Báli. ”

“ PASEI, PACEM, n.p. The name of a Malay State near the N.E. point of Sumatra, at one time predominant in those regions, and reckoned, with Malacca and Majapahit (the capital of the Empire of Java) , the three greatest cities of the Archipelago. It is apparently the Basma of Marco Polo, who visited the coast before Islam had gained a footing.
c. 1292.—"When you quit the kingdom of Ferlec you enter upon that of Basma. This also is an independent kingdom, and the people have a language of their own; but they are just like beasts, without laws or religion."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 9. ”

“ Pandi Chacha Domas and all the Peng'gawas, as well as all the people of Bajong Galu, who were attached to Chiong Wanara at the time he went to see Guru Putra Hinga Baya of Surga Luka, being without a sovereign, went all of them to the eastward, to reside in the country of Majapahit. ”

“ Mulána Ibrahim, a celebrated Pandíta from Arabia, descended from Jenal Abidin, and cousin to the Raja of Chérmen (a country of Sábrang) , had established himself with other Mahomedans at Désa Léran in Jang'gála, when the Raja of Chérmen arrived at Java. This prince, who was a Mahomedan, perceiving with regret that the inhabitants of the large and populous island of Java were still heathens, resolved to attempt the conversion of the King of Majapáhit, Prábu Angka Wijáya, and with this view to present to him his maiden daughter in marriage. ”

“ Jáya Kátong, on being informed that a considerable force from Majápáhit was coming to invade his kingdom, immediately sent out a band of fighting men to meet the enemy. Several battles were fought in which many fell on either side. ”

“ They speak only of Sunda and its port Bantam; and they mention a certain prince, Fateléhan, as completing the Mohammedan conquest in 1524. Raffles, however, following the chronicles, focusses the overthrow of the Hindu supremacy in the capture of the city of Majapahit in 1478 A.D. In spite of the traditions which speak of a long period of fighting, it is probable that the conversion of the Javanese to the new religion was gradual and peaceable, being in the main the result of commerce. The temples, the head-quarters of the old religion, show no traces of violence. ”

“ Gradually the Sung dynasty declined in power, and East Indian potentates became less humble.
In the thirteenth and the early part of the fourteenth centuries Bruni owed allegiance alternately to two powers much younger than herself, Majapahit in Java, and Malacca on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Both these states were founded in the thirteenth century. ”

“ The judicial and executive powers are generally exercised by the same individual. The written law of the island, ac [Vol I Pg 309] cording to which justice is administered and the courts are regulated, is that of the Koran, as modified by custom and usage. The Javans have now been converted to the Mahomedan religion about three centuries and a half, dating from the destruction of the Hindu kingdom of Majapáhit, in the year 1400 of the Javan æra. Of all the nations who have adopted that creed, they are among the most recent converts ”

“ Maja, a liane which produces a round fruit of the size of a man's fist, Crataeva marmelos, has a hard shell, but contains a soft inside, which can be easily removed like the contents of an egg. The word has a Sanscritical sound, and from the nature of the fruit may be so called from Majja, C. 505. marrow, pith, sap. From this Maja, the old capital of Java—Majapahit, derived its name (Majapahit is a translation of Wilwa-tikta, the Scr. name of the same place. Wilwa is Aegle marmelos, tikta is the same as the Polynesian pahit, bitter. Fr) . ”

“ It is during this period that Java may be said to have risen to the highest pitch of her civilization yet known, and to have commanded a more extensive intercourse, throughout the archipelago, than at any former period. Colonies from Java were successively planted in Sumatra, the Malayan peninsula, Borneo and Bali, the princes of which countries still trace their descent from the house Majapahit; and that adventurers from Western India, from Siam, from Champa, from China and from Japan, frequented Java in the greatest number. ”

“ On this occasion it is stated, that he again conferred on the sultan of Chéribon all the eastern districts of the island to the westward of Túgu, the supposed limit of the Majapáhit empire, that is to say the districts of Brébes, Tegál, Pamálang, Ulujámi, Wiradésa, Pakalóng'an, Bátang, Kendál, and Kaliwúngu. The Dutch had already firmly established their capital at Batavia, and secured an influence in many of the former dependencies of Java, particularly at Sukadána on Borneo and Palembang on Sumatra. ”

“ Shortly after the mosque had been commenced, intelligence was received of the severe illness of the Súnan Ampel, in consequence of which Ráden Pátah, together with all the chiefs and people who had embraced Mahomedanism, proceeded to Ampel, where, after they had attended him for a few days, he died, previously delivering into the hands of the Súnan Gíri a pusáka kris, which had been given to him by the prince of Majapáhit, and which he required of him never to transfer into unhallowed hands. ”

“ Mulána Ibrahim, who died twenty-one years after the arrival of the Raja Chérmen in 1313, is 1334; and as the princess of Chámpa must have been living at the period of Aria Dámar's being sent to Palémbang, when that prince had at least attained the age of puberty, the accession of Angka Wijáya to the throne of Majapáhit must have been anterior to the year 1320, and a reign of eighty years more than exceeds the limits of probability. ”

“ It marks the highest point in the Hindu supremacy, and the time when the influence of Buddhism was supreme. At any rate, we have the witness of Fa Hian, a Chinese traveller, who visited the island in the [5] fifteenth century, to the effect that at this later period "the Brahmins were still very numerous, but the law of Buddha was no longer respected."
The earliest European visitors tell us nothing of the two Hindu kingdoms, Pajajaran and Majapahit, so celebrated in the chronicles. ”

“ Then the railway passes through the desolate plains of Mayapan. For some miles vegetation is sparse or nonexistent, and as far as the eye can see is a desert of grey stone, here and there broken by small treeless hillocks, the obvious sites of Indian buildings. If tradition is to be credited, the city of Mayapan was the most important of all the Indian cities at or about the middle of the fifteenth century, and its overthrowal by a confederation of caciques (about 1462) forms the most important certain fact of Mayan history in the century immediately preceding the Spanish invasion. ”

“ Mayapan, about thirty miles south of Merida, was the seat of the ancient Maya empire, and the city was called El Pendon de los Mayas—the banner city of the country—by the early Spanish writers on Yucatan. Here, in this ancient city, among the ruins of palaces once occupied by native kings, it would seem most fitting that we should review, though hastily, the aboriginal history of Yucatan, as it has been handed down to us According to the Maya genesis, as interpreted by Spanish priests and monks, the Creator formed the first man of a handful of sacate (or grass) and earth ”

“ The architecture of the Mayas is unlike that of any other people of what is called the Old World. It resembles only itself. And, notwithstanding that Mayapan, from the most remote times, was visited by travellers from Asia and Africa, by the wise and learned men who came from abroad to consult the H-Menes; notwithstanding, also, the invasion of the Nahuas and the visitation of the pilgrims, the Maya art of building remained peculiar and unchanged, and their language was adopted by their conquerors. ”

“ The geographical features of this area have probably had a very considerable influence on the evolution of Maya civilization, for when once the Mayas were settled on the high laud to the north of the great volcanic range which follows the trend of the Pacific coast, and on the peninsula of which this range forms the base, they were in an exceptionally strong position for defence and may have existed there for many centuries, slowly developing their civilization undisturbed by later migrating tribes from Mexico, which would have passed along the natural roadway of the Pacific slope. ”

“ That kingdom is the centre of everything tradition has transmitted regarding the Hindus in West Java. Its origin, according to native belief, goes back to a settlement of princely adventurers from Tumapel in East Java, and when Mojopahit flourished after the fall of that mighty empire, it rose to equal eminence at the other end of the island, only to be destroyed by the same agency, the growing power of Islām. ”

“ It has been conjectured that the migration of Hinduïsm to East Java was the effect of Buddhism gaining ground in the central part of the island; that the pronounced Sivaïte tendencies of Mojopahit were a reaction against Buddhist innovations. But it remains still to be proved that Mojopahit, though worshipping Siva as the supreme god of the Trimoorti, adhered to his overlordship in all its orthodox purity. There are, on the contrary, indications of Vishnuïte leanings, of Buddhist heresy, of a syncretism no less pronounced than that of Prambanan and the Mendoot. ”

“ Mayapan became the centre of Nahuatl worship. The calendar the invaders brought with them must have been the old honored division of the years into 365 days, with 20 months, and their cyclical period of not 20 but 52 years, and it is also known that about the year 1450, the political union of the Mayas was broken into several smaller divisions, some of which presumably would have held to the ancient cycle of 20 years; others may have adopted the Nahuatl cycle of 52 years, and possibly, may have introduced the cycle of 24 years spoken of by Señor Perez. ”