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Indian civilization appears to have existed in Java from at least the fifth century of our era[370]. Much light has been thrown on its history of late by the examination of inscriptions and of fairly ancient literature but the record still remains fragmentary. There are considerable gaps: the seat of power shifted from one district to another and at most epochs the whole island was not subject to one ruler, so that the title king of Java merely indicates a prince pre-eminent among others doubtfully subordinate to him.
The name Java is probably the Sanskrit Yava used in the sense of grain, especially millet. In the Ramayana[371] the monkeys of Hanuman are bidden to seek for Sîtâ in various places including Yava-dvîpa, which contains seven kingdoms and produces gold and silver. Others translate these last words as referring to another or two other islands known as Gold and Silver Land. It is probable that the poet did not distinguish clearly between Java and Sumatra. He goes on to say that beyond Java is the peak called Śiśira. This is possibly the same as the Yavakoṭi mentioned in 499 A.D. by the Indian astronomer Aryabhaṭṭa.
Since the Ramayana is a product of gradual growth it is not easy to assign a definite date to this passage, but it is probably not later than the first or second century A.D. and an early date is rendered probable by the fact that the Alexandrian Geographer Ptolemy (c. 130 A.D.) mentions[372] Νῆσος Ἰαβαδίου ἢ Σαβαδίου and by various notices collected from inscriptions and from Chinese historians. The annals of the Liang Dynasty (502-556 A.D.) in speaking of the countries of the Southern Ocean say that in the reign of Hsüan Ti (73-49 B.C.) the Romans and Indians sent envoys to China by that route[373], thus indicating that the Archipelago was frequented by Hindus. The same work describes under the name of Lang-ya-hsiu a country which professed Buddhism and used the Sanskrit language and states that "the people say that their country was established more than 400 years ago[374]." Lang-ya-hsiu has been located by some in Java by others in the Malay Peninsula, but even on the latter supposition this testimony to Indian influence in the Far East is still important. An inscription found at Kedah in the Malay Peninsula is believed to be older than 400 A.D.[375] No more definite accounts are forthcoming before the fifth or sixth century. Fa-Hsien[376] relates how in 418 he returned to China from India by sea and "arrived at a country called Ya-va-di." "In this country" he says "heretics and Brahmans flourish but the law of Buddha hardly deserves mentioning[377]." Three inscriptions found in west Java in the district of Buitenzorg are referred for palæographic reasons to about 400 A.D. They are all in Sanskrit and eulogize a prince named Pûrṇavarman, who appears to have been a Vishnuite. The name of his capital is deciphered as Narumâ or Tarumâ. In 435 according to the Liu Sung annals[378] a king of Ja-va-da named Shih-li-pa-da-do-a-la-pa-mo sent tribute to China. The king's name probably represents a Sanskrit title beginning with Śrî-Pâda and it is noticeable that two footprints are carved on the stones which bear Pûrṇavarman's inscriptions. Also Sanskrit inscriptions found at Koetei on the east coast of Borneo and considered to be not later than the fifth century record the piety and gifts to Brahmans of a King Mûlavarman and mention his father and grandfather[379].
It follows from these somewhat disjointed facts that the name of Yava-dvîpa was known in India soon after the Christian era, and that by the fifth century Hindu or hinduized states had been established in Java. The discovery of early Sanskrit inscriptions in Borneo and Champa confirms the presence of Hindus in these seas. The T'ang annals[380] speak definitely of Kaling, otherwise called Java, as lying between Sumatra and Bali and say that the inhabitants have letters and understand a little astronomy. They further mention the presence of Arabs and say that in 674 a queen named Sima ascended the throne and ruled justly.
But the certain data for Javanese history before the eighth century are few. For that period we have some evidence from Java itself. An inscription dated 654 Śaka ( = 732 A.D.) discovered in Kĕdoe celebrates the praises of a king named Sanjaya, son of King Sanna. It contains an account of the dedication of a linga, invocations of Śiva, Brahmâ and Vishṇu, a eulogy of the king's virtue and learning, and praise of Java. Thus about 700 A.D. there was a Hindu kingdom in mid Java and this, it would seem, was then the part of the island most important politically. Buddhist inscriptions of a somewhat later date (one is of 778 A.D.) have been found in the neighbourhood of Prambânam. They are written in the Nagari alphabet and record various pious foundations. A little later again (809 and 840 A.D.) are the inscriptions found on the Dieng (Dihyang), a lonely mountain plateau on which are several Brahmanic shrines in fair preservation. There is no record of their builders but the New T'ang Annals say that the royal residence was called Java but "on the mountains is the district Lang-pi-ya where the king frequently goes to look at the sea[381]." This may possibly be a reference to pilgrimages to Dieng. The inscriptions found on the great monument of Boroboedoer throw no light on the circumstances of its foundation, but the character of the writing makes it likely that it was erected about 850 and obviously by a king who could command the services of numerous workmen as well as of skilled artists. The temples of Prambânam are probably to be assigned to the next century. All these buildings indicate the existence from the eighth to the tenth century of a considerable kingdom (or perhaps kingdoms) in middle Java, comprising at least the regions of Mataram, Kĕdoe and the Dieng plateau. From the Arabic geographers also we learn that Java was powerful in the ninth century and attacked Qamar (probably Khmer or Camboja). They place the capital at the mouth of a river, perhaps the Solo or Brantas. If so, there must have been a principality in east Java at this period. This is not improbable for archæological evidence indicates that Hindu civilization moved eastwards and flourished first in the west, then in mid Java and finally from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries in the east.
The evidence at our disposal points to the fact that Java received most of its civilization from Hindu colonists, but who were these colonists and from what part of India did they come? We must not think of any sudden and definite conquest, but rather of a continuous current of immigration starting perhaps from several springs and often merely trickling, but occasionally swelling into a flood. Native traditions collected by Raffles[382] ascribe the introduction of Brahmanism and the Śaka era to the sage Tritresta and represent the invaders as coming from Kalinga or from Gujarat.
The difference of locality may be due to the fact that there was a trade route running from Broach to Masulipatam through Tagara (now Ter). People arriving in the Far East by this route might be described as coming either from Kalinga, where they embarked, or from Gujarat, their country of origin. Dubious as is the authority of these legends, they perhaps preserve the facts in outline. The earliest Javanese inscriptions are written in a variety of the Vengi script and the T'ang annals call the island Kaling as well as Java. It is therefore probable that early tradition represented Kalinga as the home of the Hindu invaders. But later immigrants may have come from other parts. Fa-Hsien could find no Buddhists in Java in 418, but Indian forms of Mahayanism indubitably flourished there in later centuries. The Kalasan inscription dated 778 A.D. and engraved in Nâgari characters records the erection of a temple to Târâ and of a Mahayanist monastery. The change in both alphabet and religion suggests the arrival of new influences from another district and the Javanese traditions about Gujarat are said to find an echo among the bards of western India and in such proverbs as, they who go to Java come not back[383]. In the period of the Hunnish and Arab invasions there may have been many motives for emigration from Gujarat. The land route to Kalinga was probably open and the sea route offers no great difficulties[384].
Another indication of connection with north-western India is found in the Chinese work Kao Sêng Chuan (519 A.D.) or Biographies of Eminent Monks, if the country there called Shê-p'o can be identified with Java[385]. It is related that Guṇavarman, son of the king of Kashmir, became a monk and, declining the throne, went first to Ceylon and then to the kingdom of Shê-p'o, which he converted to Buddhism. He died at Nanking in 431 B.C.
Târanâtha[386] states that Indo-China which he calls the Koki country[387], was first evangelized in the time of Asoka and that Mahayanism was introduced there by the disciples of Vasubandhu, who probably died about 360 A.D., so that the activity of his followers would take place in the fifth century. He also says that many clergy from the Koki country were in Madhyadeśa from the time of Dharmapâla (about 800 A.D.) onwards, and these two statements, if they can be accepted, certainly explain the character of Javanese and Cambojan Buddhism. Târanâtha is a confused and untrustworthy writer, but his statement about the disciples of Vasubandhu is confirmed by the fact that Dignâga, who was one of them, is the only authority cited in the Kamahâyânikan[388].
The fact that the terms connected with rice cultivation are Javanese and not loan-words indicates that the island had some indigenous civilization when the Hindus first settled there. Doubtless they often came with military strength, but on the whole as colonists and teachers rather than as conquerors. The Javanese kings of whom we know most appear to have been not members of Hindu dynasties but native princes who had adopted Hindu culture and religion. Sanskrit did not oust Javanese as the language of epigraphy, poetry and even religious literature. Javanese Buddhism appears to have preserved its powers of growth and to have developed some special doctrines. But Indian influence penetrated almost all institutions and is visible even to-day. Its existence is still testified to by the alphabet in use, by such titles as Arjo, Radja, Praboe, Dipati ( = adhipati), and by various superstitions about lucky days and horoscopes. Communal land tenure of the Indian kind still exists and in former times grants of land were given to priests and, as in India, recorded on copper plates. Offerings to old statues are still made and the Tenggerese[389] are not even nominal Mohammedans. The Balinese still profess a species of Hinduism and employ a Hindu Calendar.
From the tenth century onwards the history of Java becomes a little plainer.
Copper plates dating from about 900 A.D. mention Mataram. A certain Mpoe Sindok was vizier of this kingdom in 919, but ten years later we find him an independent king in east Java. He lived at least twenty-five years longer and his possessions included Pasoeroean, Soerabaja and Kediri. His great-grandson, Er-langga (or Langghya), is an important figure. Er-langga's early life was involved in war, but in 1032 he was able to call himself, though perhaps not with great correctness, king of all Java. His memory has not endured among the Javanese but is still honoured in the traditions of Bali and Javanese literature began in his reign or a little earlier. The poem Arjuna-vivâha is dedicated to him, and one book of the old Javanese prose translation of the Mahabharata bears a date equivalent to 996 A.D.[390]
One of the national heroes of Java is Djajabaja[391] who is supposed to have lived in the ninth century. But tradition must be wrong here, for the free poetic rendering of part of the Mahabharata called Bhârata-Yuddha, composed by Mpoe Sĕdah in 1157 A.D., is dedicated to him, and his reign must therefore be placed later than the traditional date. He is said to have founded the kingdom of Daha in Kediri, but his inscriptions merely indicate that he was a worshipper of Vishṇu. Literature and art flourished in east Java at this period for it would seem that the Kawi Ramayana and an ars poetica called Vṛitta-sañcaya[392] were written about 1150 and that the temple of Panataran was built between 1150 and 1175.
In western Java we have an inscription of 1030 found on the river Tjitjatih. It mentions a prince who is styled Lord of the World and native tradition, confirmed by inscriptions, which however give few details, relates that in the twelfth century a kingdom called Padjadjaran was founded in the Soenda country south of Batavia by princes from Toemapĕl in eastern Java.
There is a gap in Javanese history from the reign of Djajabaja till 1222 at which date the Pararaton[393], or Book of the Kings of Toemapĕl and Madjapahit, begins to furnish information. The Sung annals[394] also give some account of the island but it is not clear to what years their description refers. They imply, however, that there was an organized government and that commerce was flourishing. They also state that the inhabitants "pray to the gods and Buddha": that Java was at war with eastern Sumatra: that embassies were sent to China in 992 and 1109 and that in 1129 the Emperor gave the ruler of Java (probably Djajabaja) the title of king.
The Pararaton opens with the fall of Daha in 1222 which made Toemapĕl, known later as Singasari, the principal kingdom. Five of its kings are enumerated, of whom Vishṇuvardhana was buried in the celebrated shrine of Tjandi Djago, where he was represented in the guise of Buddha. His successor Śrî Râjasanâgara was praised by the poet Prapantja[395] as a zealous Buddhist but was known by the posthumous name of Śivabuddha. He was the first to use the name of Singasâri and perhaps founded a new city, but the kingdom of Toemapĕl came to an end in his reign for he was slain by Djaja Katong[396], prince of Daha, who restored to that kingdom its previous primacy, but only for a short time, since it was soon supplanted by Madjapahit. The foundation of this state is connected with a Chinese invasion of Java, related at some length in the Yüan annals[397], so that we are fortunate in possessing a double and fairly consistent account of what occurred.
We learn from these sources that some time after Khubilai Khan had conquered China, he sent missions to neighbouring countries to demand tribute. The Javanese had generally accorded a satisfactory reception to Chinese missions, but on this occasion the king (apparently Djaja Katong) maltreated the envoy and sent him back with his face cut or tattooed. Khubilai could not brook this outrage and in 1292 despatched a punitive expedition. At that time Raden Vidjaja, the son-in-law of Kĕrtanagara, had not submitted to Djaja Katong and held out at Madjapahit, a stronghold which he had founded near the river Brantas. He offered his services to the Chinese and after a two months' campaign Daha was captured and Djaja Katong killed. Raden Vidjaja now found that he no longer needed his Chinese allies. He treacherously massacred some and prepared to fight the rest. But the Mongol generals, seeing the difficulties of campaigning in an unknown country without guides, prudently returned to their master and reported that they had taken Daha and killed the insolent king.
Madjapahit (or Wilwatikta) now became the premier state of Java, and had some permanency. Eleven sovereigns, including three queens, are enumerated by the Pararaton until its collapse in 1468. We learn from the Ming annals and other Chinese documents[398] that it had considerable commercial relations with China and sent frequent missions: also that Palembang was a vassal of Java. But the general impression left by the Pararaton is that during the greater part of its existence Madjapahit was a distracted and troubled kingdom. In 1403, as we know from both Chinese and Javanese sources, there began a great war between the western and eastern kingdoms, that is between Madjapahit and Balambangan in the extreme east, and in the fifteenth century there was twice an interregnum. Art and literature, though not dead, declined and events were clearly tending towards a break-up or revolution. This appears to have been consummated in 1468, when the Pararaton simply says that King Paṇḍansalas III left the Kraton, or royal residence.
It is curious that the native traditions as to the date and circumstances in which Madjapahit fell should be so vague, but perhaps the end of Hindu rule in Java was less sudden and dramatic than we are inclined to think. Islam had been making gradual progress and its last opponents were kings only in title. The Chinese mention the presence of Arabs in the seventh century, and the geography called Ying-yai Shêng-lan (published in 1416), which mentions Grissé, Soerabaja and Madjapahit as the principal towns of Java, divides the inhabitants into three classes: (a) Mohammedans who have come from the west, "their dress and food is clean and proper"; (b) the Chinese, who are also cleanly and many of whom are Mohammedans; (c) the natives who are ugly and uncouth, devil-worshippers, filthy in food and habits. As the Chinese do not generally speak so severely of the hinduized Javanese it would appear that Hinduism lasted longest among the lower and more savage classes, and that the Moslims stood on a higher level. As in other countries, the Arabs attempted to spread Islam from the time of their first appearance. At first they confined their propaganda to their native wives and dependents. Later we hear of veritable apostles of Islam such as Malik Ibrahim, and Raden Rahmat, the ruler of a town called Ampel[399] which became the head quarter of Islam. The princes whose territory lay round Madjapahit were gradually converted and the extinction of the last Hindu kingdom became inevitable[400].