CHAPTER IX.
Religion—Introduction to Mahomedanism—How far its Tenets and Doctrines are observed—Priests—How provided for—How far the ancient Institutions of the Country are superseded—Antiquities—Edifices—The Temples at Brambánan—Bóro Bódo—Gúnung Práhu—Kedíri, Sing'a Sári, Súku, &c.—Sculpture—Images in Stone—Casts in Metal—Inscriptions on Stone and Copper—Coins—Ruins of the ancient Capitals at Médang Kamúlan, Majapáhit, Pajajáran, &c.—Island of Báli—Conclusion.
It has already been stated, that the established religion of the country is that of Mahomed. The earliest allusion to this faith made in the Javan annals is in the twelfth century of the Javan era (A.D. 1250), when an unsuccessful attempt appears to have been made to convert some of the Súnda princes[203]. Towards the close of the fourteenth century, several missionaries established themselves in the eastern provinces; and according to the Javan annals, and the universal tradition of the country, it was in the first year of the fifteenth century of the Javan era, or about the year of our Lord 1475, that the Hindu empire of Majapáhit, then supreme on the island, was overthrown, and the Mahomedan religion became the established faith of the country. When the Portuguese first visited Java in 1511, they found a Hindu king in Bantam; and subsequently, they are said to have lost their footing in that province, in consequence of the arrival and establishment of a Mahomedan prince there; but with the exception of an inconsiderable number in some of the interior and mountainous tracts, the whole island appears to have been converted to Mahomedanism in the course of the sixteenth century, or at least at the period of the establishment of the Dutch at Batavia in 1620.
The natives are still devotedly attached to their ancient institutions, and though they have long ceased to respect the temples and idols of a former worship, they still retain a high respect for the laws, usages, and national observances which prevailed before the introduction of Mahomedanism. And although some few individuals among them may aspire to a higher sanctity and closer conformity to Mahomedanism than others, it may be fairly stated, that the Javans in general, while they believe in one supreme God, and that Mahomed was his Prophet, and observe some of the outward forms of the worship and observances, are little acquainted with the doctrines of that religion, and are the least bigoted of its followers. Few of the chiefs decline the use of wine, and if the common people abstain from inebriating liquors, it is not from any religious motive. Mahomedan institutions, however, are still gaining ground, and with a free trade a great accession of Arab teachers might be expected to arrive. Property usually descends according to the Mahomedan law; but in other cases, the Mahomedan code, as adopted by the Javans, is strangely blended with the more ancient institutions of the country[204].
Pilgrimages to Mecca are common. When the Dutch first established themselves on Java, it was not unusual for the chiefs of the highest rank to undertake the voyage, as will be seen in the course of the native history. As soon, however, as the Dutch obtained a supremacy, they did all they could to check this practice, as well as the admission of Arab missionaries, and by the operation of the system of commercial monopoly which they adopted, succeeded pretty effectually. It does not, however, appear that this arose from any desire to check the progress of Mahomedanism on Java, or that it was with any view to introduce the doctrines of Christianity, that they wished to cut off the communication with Mecca; their sole objects appear to have been the safety of their own power and the tranquillity of the country. Every Arab from Mecca, as well as every Javan who had returned from a pilgrimage thither, assumed on Java the character of a saint, and the credulity of the common people was such, that they too often attributed to such persons supernatural powers. Thus respected, it was not difficult for them to rouse the country to rebellion, and they became the most dangerous instruments in the hands of the native authorities opposed to the Dutch interests. The Mahomedan priests have almost invariably been found most active in every case of insurrection. Numbers of them, generally a mixed breed between the Arabs and the islanders, go about from state to state in the Eastern Islands, and it is generally by their intrigues and exhortations that the native chiefs are stirred up to attack or massacre the Europeans, as infidels and intruders.
The commercial monopoly of the Dutch, however injurious to the country in other respects, was in this highly advantageous to the character of the Javans, as it preserved them from the reception of many of the more intolerable and deteriorating tenets of the Kóran.
I have already mentioned, that every village has its priest, and that in every village of importance there is a mosque or building set apart adapted to religious worship. The usual Mahomedan service is performed; and the Panghúlu, or priest, consulted, and decides in all cases of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. He is bound also to remind the villagers of the proper season for the cultivation of the lands. He is remunerated by a tithe of the produce of the land, certain fees which are paid on circumcisions, marriages, divorces, and funerals, and presents which are usual at particular seasons and on particular occasions.
In every chief town there is a high priest, who with the assistance of several inferior priests, holds an ecclesiastical court, and superintends the priests who are appointed in the subordinate districts and villages. His emoluments consist of a share, which varies in different districts, of the zakát levied by the village priests, of fees of court, presents, &c. These chief priests are usually either Arabs, or descendants of Arabs, by women of the islands. Their number in some of the large towns is considerable; at Pakalóngan and Grésik they have amounted to some hundreds. The village priests are mostly Javans. On entering the profession, they adopt a dress different from that of the Javans in general, wearing a turban and long gown after the manner of the Arabs, and encouraging, as much as possible, the growth of a few hairs on the chin, as a beard. It is probable, that the total number of priests is not less than fifty thousand, which forms a ninetieth part of the whole population of the island.
In common with other Mahomedans, the Javans observe the ceremony of circumcision (sónat), which is performed at about eight years of age, and in a manner somewhat differing from that usual in other countries. The ceremony is usually attended with a feast and rejoicing. Girls, at the same age, suffer a slight operation, intended to be analogous, and called by the same name.
In their processions and rejoicings on religious festivals and other occasions, the Javans are free from that noisy clamour and uproar, which is usual with the Mahomedans of continental India. The ceremony of húsen hásen, which on the continent excites such a general noise throughout the country, here passes by almost without notice, and the processions of the Sepoys on this occasion, during the period of the British government on Java, excited the utmost astonishment among them, on account of their novelty, noise, and gaudy effect; but nobody seemed inclined to join in, or to imitate them: indeed the Javans have too chaste an ear to bear with pleasure the dissonant sounds and unharmonious uproar of the Indians[205].
The Mahomedan religion, as it at present exists on Java, seems only to have penetrated the surface, and to have taken but little root in the heart of the Javans. Some there are who are enthusiastic, and all consider it a point of honour to support and respect its doctrines: but as a nation, the Javans by no means feel hatred towards Europeans as infidels; and this perhaps may be given as the best proof that they are very imperfect Mahomedans. As another example of the very slight hold which Mahomedanism has of them, may be adduced the conduct of the reigning prince (the Susúnan) in the recent conspiracy among the Sepoys serving on Java. The intimacy between this prince and the Sepoys first commenced from his attending the ceremonies of their religious worship, which was Hindu, and assisting them with several idols of that worship which had been preserved in his family. The conspirators availing themselves of this predilection of the prince for the religion of his ancestors, flattered him by addressing him as a descendant of the great Ráma, and a deliberate plan was formed, the object of which was to place the European provinces once more under a Hindu power. Had this plan been attended with success, it would probably have been followed by the almost immediate and general re-conversion of the Javans themselves to the Hindu faith[206].
Whatever of their more ancient faith may remain in the institutions, habits, and affections of the Javans, the island abounds in less perishable memorials of it. The antiquities of Java consist of ruins of edifices, and in particular of temples sacred to the former worship; images of deities found within them, and scattered throughout the country, either sculptured in stone or cast in metal; inscriptions on stone and copper in ancient characters, and ancient coins.
The antiquities of Java have not, till lately, excited much notice; nor have they yet been sufficiently explored. The narrow policy of the Dutch denied to other nations facilities of research; and their own devotion to the pursuits of commerce was too exclusive to allow of their being much interested by the subject. The numerous and interesting remains of former art and grandeur, which exist in the ruins of temples and other edifices; the abundant treasures of sculpture and statuary with which some parts of the island are covered; and the evidences of a former state of religious belief and national improvement, which are presented in images, devices, and inscriptions, either lay entirely buried under rubbish, or were but partially examined. Nothing, therefore, of the ancient history of the people, of their institutions prior to the introduction of Mahomedanism, of their magnificence and power before the distraction of internal war and the division of the country into petty contending sovereignties, or of their relations either to adjacent or distant tribes, in their origin, language, and religion, could be accurately known or fully relied on. The grandeur of their ancestors sounds like a fable in the mouth of the degenerate Javan; and it is only when it can be traced in monuments, which cannot be falsified, that we are led to give credit to their traditions concerning it. Of these monuments, existing in great profusion in several places, and forming, if I may so express myself, the most interesting part of the annals of the people, none are so striking as those found at Brambánan in Matárem, near the middle of the island, at Bóro Bódo in Kédu, on Gúnung Práhu and its vicinity, in Kedírí, and at Sing'a Sári in the district of Málang, in the eastern part of the island.
In addition to their claims on the consideration of the antiquarian, the ruins at two of these places, Brambánan and Bóro Bódo, are admirable as majestic works of art. The great extent of the masses of building covered in some parts with the luxuriant vegetation of the climate, the beauty and delicate execution of the separate portions, the symmetry and regularity of the whole, the great number and interesting character of the statues and bas-reliefs, with which they are ornamented, excite our wonder that they were not earlier examined, sketched, and described.
With respect to the ruins at Brámbanan, we find, upon the authority of a Dutch engineer, who in 1797 went to construct a fort at Kláten, on the highway between the two native capitals, and not far from the site of the temples, that no description of its antiquities existed at that period. He found great difficulty in clearing away the rubbish and plants, so as to obtain a view of the ruins and to be enabled to sketch them. The indifference of the natives had been as great as that of their conquerors, and had led them to neglect the works of their ancestors which they could not imitate. They had allowed a powerful vegetation, not only to cover the surface of the buildings, but to dislocate and almost to overthrow them. They still viewed with veneration, however, the most conspicuous statue in the ruins, and in spite of their Mahomedan principles, addressed it with superstitious reverence. The temples themselves they conceived to have been the work of a divinity, and to have been constructed in one night; but unfortunately this belief did not restrain the neighbouring peasants from carrying off the stones of which they were constructed, and applying them to their own purposes. Enough, however, still remains, to shew the style of architecture that was followed in their construction, the state of sculpture at the period of their erection, and the nature of the religion which then prevailed.
In the beginning of the year 1812, Colonel Colin Mackenzie[207], so well acquainted with the antiquities of Western India, visited Brambánan, took an accurate survey of the ruins, and sketched the fragments of the building, the architectural ornaments, and the statues found there. His journal, accompanied with much ingenious and interesting speculation on the nature and origin of the worship indicated by them, he kindly permitted me to publish in the seventh volume of the transactions of the Batavian Society.
Considering it as a matter of importance, that a more extensive and detailed survey should be made while we had the best opportunity of doing so, I availed myself of the services of Captain George Baker of the Bengal establishment, employed in the provinces of the native princes, to survey, measure, and take draughts of all the buildings, images, and inscriptions, which this magnificent mass of ruins presented. The following is an abstract of his report on the subject.
In the province of Matárem, and between the native capitals of Súra kerta and Yúgya kérta, lies the village of Brambánan, and at a distance of a mile from the high road, there are hills which run east and west, for about a mile and a half. On one of these, within about one hundred yards to the south-east of the Bándar's[208] house, stands