THE TRADES IN ANTIQUITY
Long before Christ, there was already a trade
contact between the Mediterranean, Arabia, India, China, French Indo-China, and
Southeast Asia by way of the African trade route and of the maritime trade
routes between the Indian Ocean and China.
There are three possible maritime trade routes
between the Indian Ocean and China.
1. Arab and Indian merchants could have
voyaged to the western shores on the Isthmus of Kra, part-way down the Malay
Peninsula, where they could have taken on a Chinese cargo, either transshipped
up the Strait of Malacca from the South China Sea, or brought overland from
ports on the eastern side of the isthmus.
2. Alternatively, they could have loaded their
cargoes at an entrepot such as Palembang before re-crossing the Indian Ocean to
their home ports.
3. A third possibility is that they traded
directly with China, perhaps via a south-east Asian port. All of these routes
could have been used simultaneously.
In antiquity the lands between Africa, India,
and China were considered most precious in terms of products like gold, silver,
incense, and spices. Hence, the said terrestrial paradise was often called as
the “lands of gold, silver, incense, and spices” in different languages.
Biblical account called the region as Ophir. Indian texts called it
Suvarnadvipa. Arab travelogues called it Zaba, Zabaj, or Zanj. Egyptians called
it Zabag or Zabak. Chinese accounts called it Tabak, Shopo, Shepo, Zubu,
Qin-san, and etc. Greeks called Iabadiu, Sabadibai, and Zabai. Indonesian
manuscripts called it Nusantara. All of those were all referring to Southeast
Asia in general and Java (Java Major), Sumatra (Java Minor), and the Malay Peninsula in particular
which then later on seemingly applied to refer the Malay Peninsula, Champa,
Borneo, Sulawesi, Mindanao, Luzon, and Sugbu (Cebu).
Trade between the Arabs (particularly the
Nabataeans), eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, India, China, and Southeast
Asia flourished since the 13th century B.C. until the 16th
century A.D.
The Sea People and the Phoenicians
The circumcised sea-people called bahre in Egyptian and orang laut in Malay had invaded Egypt
for numerous times putting the latter in turmoil. In 1208 B.C., the sea-people
invaded Egypt causing the pharaoh, Merneptah, to turn back an incursion. Later,
Merneptah retaliated by invading the lands of the sea people in exploit which
was recorded as relief murals at Karnak.1
Between 1180 and 1176 B.C., the Hittite and
the Levant empires (except the Phoenicians) fell due to the invasions of the
sea people.
In 1176 B.C., the sea people again invaded
Egypt during the reign of Rameses III. A battle between Egypt and the sea
people ensued somewhere at the shores of the eastern Nile Delta and partly on
the borders of the Egyptian Empire in Syria. The said battle is known as the
“Battle of the Delta” which has been described as “the first naval battle in
history”. This major conflict is
recorded on the temple walls of the mortuary temple of pharaoh Rameses III at
Medinet Habu in great detail.2
After defeating the sea people on land in
Syria, Rameses III rushed back to Egypt where preparations for the invaders
assault had already been completed. When Rameses III looked at the sea, he
stared at a formidable force, thousands of enemies, and possibly the end of the
Egyptian empire. This was a turning point for the pharaoh, particularly the
idea of having to fight a sea battle, because the Egyptians had never had to do
this seriously before. Rameses III reacted with tactical brilliance; he lined
the shores of the Nile Delta with ranks of archers who were ready to release volleys
of arrows into the enemy ships if they attempted to land. Knowing that he would
be defeated in the battle at sea, Rameses III enticed the sea-people and their
ships into the mouth of the Nile, from where he struck his ambush. He had
assembled a fleet for this specific occasion. In an inspired tactical maneuver,
the Egyptian fleet worked the sea-people’s boats towards shore where the
Egyptian archers, based on land, devastated the enemy with volley after volley
of deadly arrows. Meanwhile, the Egyptian marine archers, calmly standing on
the decks of their ships, fired in unison. Their ships were overturned, many
were killed and captured and some even dragged to the shore where they were
executed. Consequently, the sea people were defeated even when they were able
to set foot on Egypt's land. As Rameses III states regarding the fate of the
sea people who dared to attack Egypt:
"Those who reached my boundary, their
seed are not; their hearts and their souls are finished forever and ever. As
for those who had assembled before them on the sea, the full flame was their
front before the harbor mouths, and a wall of metal upon the shore surrounded
them. They were dragged, overturned, and laid low upon the beach; slain and
made heaps from stern to bow of their
galleys, while all their things were cast upon the water." 3
Every foreign power on the Mediterranean was
destroyed in the face of the sea people’s onslaught; only the Egyptians were
able to withstand their attack. However, this proved to be a pyrrhic victory,
because in the end, Egypt were so weakened by it that it was never as powerful
as it was prior to the sea people's invasion. The conflict with the Sea People
also drained her treasury. Thus, the Egyptians used to say that “death comes
from across the seas”.
While there is no documentation for any
pursuit of the defeated sea people, who fled to Phoenicia, Egypt was saved from
the fate of total destruction which befell Hatti, Alasiya, and other great Near
Eastern powers. Rameses III could certainly content himself with a great and
decisive victory. Although he had defeated the sea people, the Egyptian pharaoh
could not ultimately prevent some of them from eventually settling in Canaan
and Palestine some time after his death. The Egyptians did repulse the attack
of the sea-people on their homeland, but the conflict exhausted and weakened
Egypt's treasury to such an extent that she would never again recover to be a
powerful empire. Rameses III is generally considered to be the last great
pharaoh of Egypt's New Kingdom.
During this period also King Hiram of
Phoenicia and King Solomon of Israel had sailed with their Arab sailors to
Southeast Asia for trade.4 They were called as Indarapatra and
Sulayman in the Malay epic of the same title which is very popular among the
Maranaos of Mindanao who were believed to be migrants from Java and Sumatra in
antiquity.
In the Malay epic the invasions of Egypt in
four waves were characterized into four mythical beasts – the giant octopus
Kurita; the warlock Tarabusaw; the giant bird Pah; and the giant many-headed
bird Ptah. It was said that Solomon (Sulayman) by the plea of his “brother”
Hiram (Indarapatra) had come to the island of Mindanao to save Ophir from the
invasions. With the magical signet ring and sword (known as Zulfikar) given by Hiram, Solomon had
defeated all the beasts but he collapsed after befallen with the wing of the
many-headed bird. It was raining when Hiram found Solomon’s dead body. The
“holy water from the sky” filled the jar which was put beside Solomon.
Believing that it was heavenly sent, Hiram poured the water from the jar on
Solomon. Solomon awakened and told Hiram that he was only sleeping. After that
incident Hiram saw a very beautiful maiden (known in Java as Dewi Kilisuci, the name suggests in
Sanskrit that either she is a solar goddess or sun-worshipper, and in Sumatra
as Puteri Bulukis, a female form of
an imperial title Bulkeiah or Bulukiyah which is derived from a Malay
word buluk which means bubbling
water) running away and hid in the cave underground. The maiden vanished. Hiram
then heard somebody laughing behind him and when he looked at its source he saw
an old woman carrying the jar.4
In relation to this, the Javanese legendary
history had also said that many years ago, the sage Mpu Bharada divided the
land of Java into the kingdoms of Janggala (Kahuripan) and Panjalu (Kediri),
with the purpose of settling a dispute between two brothers over succession,
which was done magically by means of holy water sprinkled out of a jar from the
sky.5
Moreover, in the Javanese texts, it stated
that there was a time that the queen of Java came to Mindanao since it was its
source of gold. The Javanese migrants were known then in Mindanao as “taw sa guiwa” (people of Java).6
In the 14th century, Marignolli
wrote, inter alia, that the Queen of Sheba was the only daughter of Semiramis7,
who had conquered India and Ethiopia and made her daughter the first ruler “of
the finest island in the world, Saba by name.”8 Marignolli located
Saba on Java.9
In a rabbinical account like the Targum Sheni,
it was stated that King Solomon had sent a letter to the Queen of Sheba, who at
that time was in the city of Kitor (which is also called as Katur, Kedir,
Kadir, Kediri, Kadiri, Kataha, Daha, Doha, and Gelang-gelang in other
references) in the kingdom of Panjalu which is in southern Java, a
mountain-cock called hoopoe
requesting her to attend his court at once or else he would wage war against
her and send war ships. 10
Ancient Sumatran chronicles also affirmed that
the town of Lampong in North Sumatra was an ancient factory of merchants
established by the Queen of Sheba, whereof one, named Nausem, sent her a great
quantity of gold, which she carried to the Temple of Jerusalem, at such time as
she went to visit the wise King Solomon; from whence she returned with a son,
that afterwards succeeded to the Abyssinian Empire of Ethiopia, who was called
as Prester John (King Menelik I of Axum).11 Incidentally, an
Acehnese legend tells that the wali
Hiram (Indarapatra) also visited the said factory of merchants in North Sumatra
and that he was a brother of the Queen of Sheba, the wife of Solomon.12
Thus making Hiram the brother-in-law of Solomon.
Ahmad ibn Majid, 15th century A.D.
Arab navigator and nautical writer, insisted that the suzerain of the Sumatran
rulers was the king of Abyssenia, who, according to the most popular tradition,
was descended from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon.13
There are Javanese manuscripts that claimed
that some tribes in Java, Sumatra, Sunda, Papua, and neighboring islands were
of Egyptian descent in antiquity.14 Interestingly, the Bugis royal
house in South Sulawesi claimed that its genealogy could be traced back to
Bilkis (Puteri Bulukis or the Queen of Sheba).15
Sheba or Shabat here is referred to the
Southeast Asian empire in general, which at that time had accordingly included
not only the entire Southeast Asia but also the entire Abyssinia & Egypt in
eastern Africa, and the two islands – Java (the Proper) and Sumatra (the Minor)
– in particular.16
Under the destructive force of the sea
people’s attacks, all of the Phoenicians’ powerful adversaries had been
destroyed. The Phoenician cities were untouched by this devastation that
happened around them, which left these people in an advantageous position. The historical record shows
their active cities quickly began to expand their domain by placing trading
posts in Cyprus, the Aegean, Sicily, Sardinia, North Africa, Algeria, Morocco
and Spain.17
The legacy of the sea people was that they had
forcefully cleared away the old powers from the Mediterranean and left freshly
plowed ground. In time the Greeks and Romans would rise and they—together with
the often overlooked Phoenicians—would sow the seeds of Western civilization.
The sea people gave rise to a powerful and wealthy sea-trading empire of the
Phoenicians which stretched from Morocco to the Levant.18
Moreover, according to the findings of Dr.
Stephen Oppenheimer as has been stated in his thesis book 'Eden in the East' (or The Malay Civilization, published under the
Malay History Association which is a collective research efforts done by
University of Hawaii), Malayo-Polynesians who were also referred to as
Sumerians or Austronesians were the “people
of the sea that once had an advanced civilization which brought the
technology of rice domestication, copper wielding, animal domestication as well
as water irrigation to the civilizations of ancient Egyptians and Babylonians
during the post 3rd Great Flood due to the melting of ice caps”.
No doubt the ancient people of Southeast Asia
specifically the orang laut (in
reference to the three ethno-linguistic divisions of the “sea people” in
Southeast Asia which included the Sama-Badjao,
of which the ancient Cham people also
belonged to) were actually the “sea people” that were referred to in Egyptian
history. From this point of view, Southeast Asia had clearly become a maritime
empire under the rule of a Phoenician monarch between the 13th&
8th century BC and of a Phoenician-descent monarch between 8th
century BC & 16th century AD.
Chinese & Arab trade relations
Between 1027 B.C. – 221 B.C., the Chou Dynasty
came to power in northern China. During this time, Chinese rule was extended
and there was increased trade with other nations. The Chou Dynasty was replaced
by the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), which is sometimes referred to as the
greatest of all Chinese Dynasties. By 200 BC the Chinese culture had produced
excellent craftsmen whose products were prized because of their beauty and
specialty. Chief among these were products made of silk. During this period only
China produced silk, which was exported to places as far away as Rome. Other
Chinese exports included spices such as cassia and ginger, iron and jade.
From the earliest times, China conducted trade
with Korea, both on land and by sea. From 140 BC regular trade fairs were held
on the northern Chinese frontier, where furs and other valuable merchandise
from Korea could be bought. Korean ships traveled along the coast, around the
northern coast of the Yellow Sea to ports along the Shantung Peninsula, while
others crossed the open sea to Nagasaki (Japan).
Farther south, China conducted trade using
Chinese ships known as junks. These carried cargoes along the coast from Canton
to Haiphong (today northern Vietnam). Junks left Haiphong and Foochow to travel
via the Philippines to the Moluccas (Spice Islands) and to east Java. The
journey took several months, and trade was mostly in cloves, nutmeg and mace.
From as early as 200 BC Chinese junks sailed
to the Malay Peninsula and through the Strait of Malacca. There they met and
traded with the Indonesian people and with merchants from east India.
It is interesting to note that the Han Dynasty
conducted distant trade at the same time that the Nabataeans conducted sea
trade. Both of these civilizations rose to power about the same time, and both
of them waned at the same time. Interestingly enough, the Dong Son culture in
North Vietnam (150 BC - 50 AD) corresponds to roughly the same time, which rose
to prominence because of international trade of goods and ideas.
During the time of the Han Dynasty, Chinese
products, such as silk reached the Roman Empire. Nabataean merchants not only
traded in silk, but began to manufacture silk products in both Damascus and
Gaza, known as Damask and Gauze silk products. Some historians have speculated
that the rise in international trade during the period of 200 BC to 200 AD
helped the Asian and Arabian civilizations rise to great heights, and acquire
great wealth.19
Maritime Trade Routes to China and India
With their great quantity & variety of
Chinese wares, Middle Eastern glass, and glazed pottery, Paem Pho and Ko Kho
Khao on opposite sides of the Isthmus of Kra must have been the main entrepots
(a commercial center where goods are received for distributions, transshipment,
or repackaging) on the most frequently used trade route between China and the
Middle East.
20
Chinese traveler I-Ching voyaged from China to
Sumatra in AD 671 and wrote: "In the beginning of the autumn ... I came to
the island of Kwang-tung, where I fixed the date of meeting with the owner of a
Po-see (Arab) ship to embark for the south... at last I embarked from the coast
of Kwang-chou (Guangzhou)." 26
According to Chinese records, the Persians
(Po'ssi) and the Arabs (Ta'shish) seem to have dominated maritime trade with
China at the height of the Tang Dynasty.22 They
established settlements at Guangzhou, where they were sufficiently strong
enough to sack the city in AD 758 and then evacuate as an act of retaliation
against corrupt port officials. Chinese rebels then sacked Tangzhou in AD 760,
reputedly killing thousands of Persians and Arab merchants. 23
After this, it seems that the Arab merchants
abandoned the South China Sea and relied on south-east Asian shipping to supply
the ports on either end of the Isthmus of Kra. These ports could have been
operating for centuries, and the Arabs could have cut out the middle men by
sailing directly to China, and they did this until they were forced to leave in
760 AD.
In AD 878 Huang-Chao burned and pillaged Guangzhou
and murdered the foreign merchants along with many Chinese civilians.24 Arab geographer, Abu Zaid recorded that “no less than 120,000
Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Parsees perished”.25
An Arab source, the Muruj al-Dhahab, written
by Mas'udi in AD 956 states:
"The
ships from Basra, Siraf, Oman, India, the islands of Zabaj and Sanf came to the
mouth of the river of Khanfu (Guangzhou,
old Canton China) with their merchandise and their cargo (before AD 877-878). Then the trader went by
sea to the land of Killah (Kedah) which is approximately
half way to China. Today this town is the terminus for Muslim ships from Siraf
to Oman, where they meet the ships
which come down from China, but it was not so once... This trader then embarked at the city of Killah
on a Chinese ship in order to go to the port of Khanfu."21
It can be concluded that 400 years after
maritime trade had been started by the Nabataeans the Arabs from around the
peninsula were entering into trade with Asia. As the Roman Empire crumbled, and
their trade structures evolved, more and more Arab groups entered into maritime
trade between the Europeans and the east.
Cross India Sailing
Ships often gathered at Muscat port before
sailing directly across the Indian Ocean with the monsoon to Quilon on Southern
Malabar. Other vessels took the coastal route, along the northern short of the
Arabian Sea and down the west coast of India, but this route was fraught with
many dangers, mainly from pirates.
From Malabar passage was made either to
Ceylon, the Island of Rubies, or directly to the Nicobar Islands where water
was taken on.
The next port of call was Kalah Bar (Kedah).
Ships sailed from there to Sumatra, Java and on to China. Those going directly
to China proceeded down the Malacca Strait stopped at Tioman Island for water
and then carried on across the South China Sea to ports on Champa. From there
they sailed to Canton, either via Hanoi or via the more direct route past the
dangerous Paracel Reefs. The return voyage followed the same route in reverse.27
Middle Eastern traders used either the Malacca
Strait, or the Sunda Strait on their journey, stopping at Srivijava for
supplies.24 Fa Hsien boarded an Indian ship that could carry 200 passengers for
his voyage from Sri Lanka back to China in AD 413.28
Later a Tang Dynasty text stated that the
ships of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) were the largest of the foreign vessels.29 In AD 748 the Chinese monk Jianzhen noted that on his way from Hainan
to Guangzhou he saw countless seagoing vessels from India, Persia, Kunlun
(south-east Asia) and other countries.30
Indianized Kingdoms
Funan, Champa, Langkasuka, Pan Pan, Kutai,
Tarumanagara and Kalingga were among the earliest Hindu kingdoms in Southeast
Asia established around 1st to 4th century. Despite being culturally akin to
Hindu cultures to western historians, these kingdoms were truly indigenous and
independent of India. States such as Şrivijaya, Madjapahit and the Khmer empire
developed territories and economies that rivaled those in India itself.
Borobudur, for example, is the largest Buddhist monument ever built. 31
These Indianized kingdoms developed a close
affinity and internalised Indian religious, cultural and economic practices
without significant direct input from Indian rulers themselves. While the issue
remains controversial, it is thought that Indianization was the work of Indian
traders and merchants as opposed to political leaders, although later the
travels of Buddhist monks such as Atisha became important. Most Indianized
kingdoms combined both Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and practices in a syncretic
manner. Kertanegara, the last king of Singhasari, described himself as
Sivabuddha, a simultaneous incarnation of the Hindu god and the Buddha.
Southeast Asian rulers enthusiastically adopted
elements of raja-dharma (Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, codes and court practices)
to legitimate their own rule and constructed cities, such as Angkor, to affirm
royal power by reproducing a map of sacred space derived from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Southeast Asian rulers frequently adopted lengthy
Sanskrit titles and founded cities, such as Ayutthaya in Thailand, named after
those in the Indian epics.
Between the fifth and the early eleventh
century, Sungai Mas in the Bujang Valley was the center of Kedah. Buddhist
inscriptions found in the valley are evidence of Indian contact from the fifth
to the sixth centuries.
A number of inscription dating from the fifth
century have been found on the northwest coast of the Malay Peninsula and the
Isthmus of Kra. One of the inscriptions found south of the Muda River in Kedah,
in an area known today as Seberang Perai, mentions a sea captain known as Buddhagupta who was a resident of “Raktamrttika”. The latter name is not
used in India, and its meaning of “Red Earth”, or Tanah Merah in Malay, is a common place name on the peninsula. It
may be a reference to Chitu (“Red
Earth” in Chinese), a kingdom on the east coast of the peninsula, which was
also an area of significance during this period. The texts of these inscriptions
found in an area between Gunung Jerai and the Muda River indicate that this
area was already intellectually and commercially linked to the outside world by
the fifth century.
In the seventh century, it became a collecting
point of local products for an expanded trade in the Straits. At a time when
mariners could not calculate longitude but could determine their latitude
through stars, Southeast Asian ships could sail due west from Kedah to reach
southern India or Sri Lanka, while Indian ships went due east to Kedah.
Sometime in the fifth century, Buddhagupta of “Red Earth” inscribed a prayer on
stone at Bujang Valley before setting sail for India, and the Chinese pilgrim
Yijing stopped in Kedah in 671 on his way to study Buddhism in India. Indian
traders obviously found Kedah an important landfall, and even after Şrivijaya
became the overlord of Kedah (by 685), Indian sources continued to regard
Kedah, not Palembang, as the center of Şrivijaya. Archaeological discoveries of
large shell midden sites in Kedah and directly across the way in east Sumatra
are indications that these were areas of substantial populations. There is no
evidence, however, that the Sumatran site was ever a trade port, which suggests
that it may have provided the forest products that were then brought to the
trading port of Kedah. The pattern of collection centers of local products
serving major trade emporiums became well-established in the history of the
straits of Melaka.
From the end of the tenth century the center
in Kedah gradually shifted from Sungai Mas to Pangkalan Bujang, located on the
first firm ground after the mangroves of the Merbok estuary, which maintained
its dominance until the end of the fourteenth century. In the nearby Kuala
Seligsing site in Perak, identified as a ‘feeder point’ most likely supplying
an entrepot in “Bujang Valley, locally made beads, some from recycled foreign
glass, as well as clay, bronze and iron items were found. Similarity of pottery
designs on the Malay Peninsula, southeastern Sumatra and southwestern Borneo,
and the discovery through metallurgical analysis that gold used in ritual
deposits in a tenth to eleventh century temple in Kedah originated from western
Borneo, are evidence of trade between these areas. The said links dating back
to the period of migrations of the Melayu from their homeland in western Borneo
to the new areas of settlement in southeast Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula
were not severed until such time in 1300 that the sites of southern Kedah and
Kuala Selinsing were abandoned.
Cultural and trading relations between the
powerful Chola kingdom of South India and the Southeast Asian Hindu kingdoms
led the Bay of Bengal to be called "The Chola Lake" and the Chola
attacks on Şrivijaya in the tenth
century AD are the sole example of military attacks by Indian rulers against
Southeast Asia. The Pala dynasty of Bengal, which controlled the heartland of
Buddhist India maintained close economic, cultural and religious ties,
particularly with Şrivijaya.
A defining characteristic of the cultural link
between Southeast Asia and Indian subcontinent is the spread of ancient Indian
Vedic/Hindu and Buddhist culture and philosophy into Myanmar, Thailand, Malaya,
Laos and Cambodia. Indian scripts are also found in Southeast Asian islands
ranging from Sumatra, Java, Bali, south Sulawesi and most of the Philippines.32
Both Chinese and Indian had influenced much on
the psyche of the people of Southeast Asia especially the Filipino people. The
Chinese had not only contributed loan-words in the Cebuano language like diotay for small (amount), otaw for ironing clothes, ampaw for sweetened dried cooked rice, bakya for wooden slippers, kuya for older brother, ate for elder sister, and etc. but also
in local customs, traditions, & beliefs like the use of fengshui in
building a house, celebrating the new year with noise and twelve kinds of
fruits, close family ties, and so many more. On the other hand the Indian had
not only lent Sanskrit loan-words like “bhāgin”
(sharing in) which became “bahin”
(share) in Cebuano, “bhānda” (goods)
to “bahandi” (property, wealth), bhāra (load) to bala or the shortened bah
(to carry a person pick-aback), mutya
(pearl), and etc.;33 but also the beliefs in
man-eating and blood-sucking nocturnal monsters (e.g., ongo, wakwak, abat, anananggal, sigbin, kikik, kwi, ungga-ungga,
tikbalang, and etc.),34 karma, and in
reincarnation.
The Şrivijayan Empire
Şrivijaya (also written Sri Vijaya,
Indonesian: Sriwijaya, Thai: ศรีวิชัย or Ṣ̄rī wichạy)
was a powerful ancient thalassocratic
Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which
influenced much of Southeast Asia.36 The
earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese
monk, I-Ching, wrote that he visited Şrivijaya in 671 for 6 months.37 The first inscription in which
the name Şrivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century, namely the Kedukan
Bukit Inscription around Palembang in Sumatra, dated 683.37 The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century due to various factors,
including the expansion of the Javanese Madjapahit Empire.35 Şrivijaya was an important center for Buddhist expansion in the 8th
to 12th centuries. In Sanskrit, sri
means "fortunate," "prosperous or happy" and vijaya means "victorious" or
"excellence".38
According to the Kedukan Bukit Inscription,
dated 605 Saka (683 AD), the empire of Şrivijaya was founded by Dapunta Hyang
Çri Yacanaca (Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa). He led 20,000 troops (mainly by land
plus a few hundred ships) from Minanga Tamwan to Jambi and Palembang.
The empire was a coastal trading center and
was a thalassocracy. As such, it did not extend its influence far beyond the
coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia, with the exception of
contributing to the population of Madagascar 3,300 miles to the west.38Around the year 500, Şrivijayan roots began to develop around
present-day Palembang, Sumatra, in modern Indonesia. The empire was organized
in three main zones — the estuarine capital region centered on Palembang, the
Musi River basin which served as hinterland and rival estuarine areas capable
of forming rival power centers. The areas upstream of the Musi River were rich
in various commodities valuable to Chinese traders.39The capital was administered directly by the ruler while the
hinterland remained under its own local datus or chiefs, who were organized
into a network of allegiance to the Şrivijaya maharaja or king. Force was the
dominant element in the empire's relations with rival river systems such as the
Batang Hari, which centered in Jambi.
Şrivijaya and its Kings were instrumental in
the spread of Buddhism as they established it in places they conquered like
Java, Malaya, and other lands. People making pilgrimages were encouraged to
spend time with the monks in the capital city of Palembang on their journey to
India.
40
A stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism, Şrivijaya
attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia. These included the
Chinese monk I-Ching, who made several lengthy visits to Sumatra on his way to study
at Nalanda University in India in 671 and 695, and the 11th century Bengali
Buddhist scholar Atisha, who played a major role in the development of
Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet. I Ching reports that the kingdom was home to more
than a thousand Buddhist scholars; it was in Şrivijaya that he wrote his memoir
of Buddhism during his own lifetime. Travelers to these islands mentioned that
gold coinage was in use on the coasts, but not inland. A notable Şrivijayan
revered Buddhist scholar is Dharmakirti that taught Buddhist philosophy in
Şrivijaya and Nalanda, he was the teacher of Atisha.
Under the leadership of Jayanasa, the kingdom
of Melayu became the first kingdom to be integrated into the Şrivijayan Empire.
This possibly occurred in the 680s. Melayu, also known as Jambi, was rich in
gold and was held in high esteem. Şrivijaya recognized that the submission of
Melayu would increase its own prestige. 41
According to the Kota Kapur Inscription,
discovered on Bangka Island, the empire conquered most of Southern Sumatra and
neighboring island of Bangka, as far as Lampung. Also according to this
inscription, Jayanasa launched a military campaign against Bhumi Java in late
7th century, a period which coincides with the decline of Tarumanagara in West
Java and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java. The empire thus grew to control the
trade on the Strait of Malacca, Sunda Strait, the South China Sea, the Java
Sea, and Karimata Strait.
Chinese records dating to the late 7th century
mention two Sumatran kingdoms, as well as three other kingdoms on Java as part
of Şrivijaya. By the end of the 8th century, many western Javanese kingdoms,
such as Tarumanagara and Holing, were within the Şrivijayan sphere of
influence. It has also been recorded that a Buddhist family related to
Şrivijaya dominated central Java at that time.42The family was probably the Şailendras. 43 The ruling lineage of Şrivijaya intermarried with the Sailendras of
Central Java and lived along the Javanese Sanjaya dynasty when the Şrivijayan
capital was located in Java.
During the same century, Langkasuka on the
Malay Peninsula became part of Şrivijaya.44 Soon
after this, Pan Pan and Trambralinga, which were located north of Langkasuka,
came under Şrivijayan influence. These kingdoms on the peninsula were major
trading nations that transported goods across the peninsula's isthmus.
With the expansion into Java and the Malay
Peninsula, Şrivijaya controlled two major trade choke points in Southeast Asia.
Some Şrivijayan temple ruins are observable in Thailand and Cambodia.
The area of Chaiya, in Surat Thani Province,
Thailand, was already inhabited in prehistoric times by Semang and Malayan
tribes. Founded in the 3rd century, the Şrivijaya kingdom dominated the Malay
Peninsula and much of the island of Java from there until the 13th century. The
city of Chaiya's name may be derived from its original Malay name
"Cahaya" (meaning 'light', 'gleam' or 'glow'). The Cebuano word “kahayag” which means light is derived
from the Malay word “cahaya”.
However, some scholars believe that Chai-ya probably comes from Sri-vi-ja-ya.
It was a regional capital in the Şrivijaya Empire of the 5th to 13th century.
Some Thai historians argue it was the capital of Şrivijaya itself, but this is
generally discounted. Wiang Sa and Phunphin were other main settlements of that
time.
At some point in the 7th century, Cham ports
in eastern Indochina started to attract traders. This diverted the flow of
trade from Şrivijaya. In an effort to divert the flow, the Şrivijayan king or
maharaja, Dharmasetu, launched various raids against the coastal cities of
Indochina. The city of Indrapura by the Mekong River was temporarily controlled
from Palembang in the early 8th century.43 The
Şrivijayans continued to dominate areas around present-day Cambodia until the
Khmer King Jayavarman II, the founder of the Khmer Empire dynasty, severed the
Şrivijayan link later in the same century. 45 After
Dharmasetu, Samaratungga became the next Maharaja of Şrivijaya. He reigned as
ruler from 792 to 835. Unlike the expansionist Dharmasetu, Samaratungga did not
indulge in military expansion but preferred to strengthen the Şrivijayan hold
of Java. He personally oversaw the construction of Borobudur; the temple was
completed in 825, during his reign. 46
In the year 100 Hijra (718 CE) King of
Şrivijaya named Şri Indravarman send a letter to the Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz
of the Umayyad Caliphate and requested the Caliph to sent him a preacher who
could explain Islamic faith to him. The letter reads:
"From
the King of the kings who is the descendant of a thousand kings, whose (his) wife was also grand-daughters of a thousand kings, whose in (his) animal
cages are (filled with) a thousand
of elephants, whose (his) territory there are two rivers that irrigate the aloes
tree, spices fragrance, nutmeg and
lime lines that its fragrant aroma reach out to a distance of 12 miles. To the Arab King who does not associate
other gods with Allah. I have sent you a gift, which is actually a gift that is not so much, but just a token of
friendship. I want you to send me someone who
can teach Islam to me and explain to me about its laws."
—
Letter of Şrivijayan King, Şri Indravarman for Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz. 47
This event demonstrates that the Şrivijayan
court had established diplomatic and trade relations with the Islamic-Arab
world, however it does not necessarily signify the Şrivijayan king had embraced
Islam, rather, it more likely signified the king's desire to learn more about
laws and cultures of his trading partners and the civilizations around known
world of Şrivijaya; namely China, India and the Middle East.
Although historical records and archaeological
evidence are scarce, it appears that by the seventh century, Şrivijaya had
established suzerainty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java and much of
the Malay Peninsula. Dominating the Malacca and Sunda straits, Şrivijaya
controlled both the spice route traffic and local trade, charging a toll on
passing ships. Serving as an entrepôt for Chinese, Malay, and Indian markets,
the port of Palembang, accessible from the coast by way of a river, accumulated
great wealth. Envoys traveled to and from China frequently.
In the world of commerce, Şrivijaya rapidly
rose to be a far-flung empire controlling the two passages between India and
China, namely the Sunda Strait from Palembang and the Malacca strait from
Kedah. Arab accounts state that the empire of the maharaja was so vast that in
two years the swiftest vessel could not travel round all its islands, which produced
camphor, aloes, cloves, sandal-wood, nutmegs, cardamom and cubebs, ivory, gold
and tin, making the maharaja as rich as any king in India.48
Other than fostering the lucrative trade
relations with India and China, Şrivijaya also established commerce link with
Arabia. Highly possible, a messenger sent by Maharaja Sri Indravarman to
deliver his letter for Caliph Umar ibn AbdulAziz of Ummayad in 718, was
returned to Şrivijaya with Zanji (black female slave from Zanj), the Caliph's
present for maharaja. Later the Chinese chronicle mentioned about
Shih-li-t-'o-pa-mo (Sri Indravarman), Maharaja of Shih-li-fo-shih in 724 had
sent the emperor a ts'engchi (Chinese spelling of Arabic Zanji) as a gift. 47
Melayu kingdom was the first rival power
center absorbed into the empire, and thus began the domination of the region
through trade and conquest in the 7th and 9th centuries. Melayu kingdom's gold
mines up in Batang Hari river hinterland were a crucial economic resource and
may be the origin of the word Suvarnadvipa (island of gold), the Sanskrit name
for Sumatra. Şrivijaya helped spread the Malay culture throughout Sumatra, the
Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo. Şrivijaya's influence waned in the 11th century.
It was in frequent conflict with, and ultimately subjugated by, Javanese
kingdoms, first Singhasari and then Madjapahit. This was not the first time the
Şrivijayans conflicted with the Javanese. According to historian Paul Michel
Munoz, the Javanese Sanjaya dynasty was a strong rival of the Şrivijayans in
the 8th century when the Şrivijayan capital was located in Java. The seat of
the empire moved to Melayu Muaro Jambi in the last centuries of Şrivijaya's
existence.
The Khmer Empire might also have been a
tributary in its early stages.
Some historians claim that Chaiya in the Surat
Thani province in Southern Thailand was at least temporarily the capital of
Şrivijaya, but this claim is widely disputed. However, Chaiya was probably a
regional centre of the kingdom. The temple of Borom That in Chaiya contains a
reconstructed pagoda in Şrivijaya style. 49
Phra Boromathat Chaiya is highlighted by the
chedi in Şrivijaya style, dating back from the 7th century but elaborately
restored. Buddha relics are enshrined in the chedi; in the surrounding chapels
are several Buddha statues in Şrivijaya style as it was labeled by Prince
Damrong in his Collected Inscriptions of Siam, is now attributed to Wat Hua
Wiang in Chaiya. Dated to the year 697 of the Mahasakkarat era (i.e. 775 CE),
the inscription on a Bai Sema shaped stone tells about the King of Şrivijaya
having erected three stupas at that site that possibly the one at Wat Phra
Borom That. But also be assumed as three stupas at Wat Hua Wiang (Hua Wiang
temple), Wat Lhong (Lhong temple) and Wat Kaew (Kaew temple) found in the area
of Chaiya ancient city, stand in the direction from north to south on the old
sand dune.
After the fall of the Şrivijaya in Chaiya, the
area was divided into the cities (Mueang) Chaiya, Thatong (now Kanchanadit) and
Khirirat Nikhom.
After trade disruption at Canton between 820
and 850, the ruler of Jambi (Melayu Kingdom) was able to assert enough
independence to send missions to China in 853 and 871.
In 856, Balaputra, a son of a Şrivijayan
princess and a Sailendra ruler, was defeated in battle and fled to Şrivijaya.
After this time, Sailendra power flourished in Sumatra and waned in Java. The
struggle between the former and the new centers of Sailendra power for control
of international trade is recorded in both Chinese records and inscriptions.
Şrivijaya also maintained close relations with
the Pala Empire in Bengal, and an 860 Nalanda inscription records that maharaja
Balaputra dedicated a monastery at the Nalanda University in Pala territory.
Melayu kingdom's independence coincided with
the troubled time when the Sailendran Balaputradewa, expelled from Java, seized
the throne of Şrivijaya. The new maharaja was able to dispatch a tributary
mission to China by 902. Only two years later, the expiring Tang Dynasty
conferred a title on a Şrivijayan envoy.
Arab and Persian sources reinforce epigraphic
evidence indicating the presence of an important polity somewhere in Sumatra or
Java. About 916, Abu Said, a Persian amateur geographer, compiled an account
based on his own readings and on interviews with people who had sailed to the
east. Abu Said had mentioned the king of Zabag, called ‘Maharaja’, whose
possessions are principally on the island of Şrivijaya. Accordingly, this
Maharaja throws a gold ingot into a pool of water. Only at low tide could one
see the vast accumulation of gold ingots in the pool. At the death of the
Maharaja, the gold was recovered and distributed to the princes and the royal
family, among men, women and children equally; and to the officers and eunuchs
according to their rank and prerogatives of their offices. What remained was
given to the poor and unfortunate. In 943, the Arab Masudi added in his writing
that the empire of the Maharaja is the ‘island’ of Şrivijaya, as wells as the
‘islands’ of Zabag (which is a general reference to Southeast Asia but
particularly to Java and Sumatra), Rami (Aceh) and Kalah. Masudi offered a
formulaic description of wealth and power – “when a cock in that country crows
at sunrise, others answer in a wave through contiguous villages extending
outward to over 600 kilometers”.
It was during this period that Malay kingdoms
and trade centers in the Visayan Islands emerged with the advent of the
Sumatran migration for trade and colonization.
In the first half of the tenth century,
between the fall of Tang and the rise of Song, there was brisk trade between
the overseas world and the Fujian kingdom of Min and the rich Guangdong kingdom
of Nan Han. Şrivijaya undoubtedly benefited from this, in anticipation of the
prosperity it was to enjoy under the early Song. Circa 903, the Muslim writer
Ibn Rustah was so impressed with the wealth of Şrivijaya's ruler that he
declared one would not hear of a king who was richer, stronger or with more revenue.
The main urban centers were at Palembang (especially the Karanganyar site near
Bukit Seguntang area), Muara Jambi and Kedah.
The migration to Madagascar accelerated in the
9th century, when the powerful Sumatran empire of Şrivijaya controlled much of
the maritime trade in the Indian Ocean.38
In late 10th century the rivalry between
Sumatran Şrivijaya and Javanese Medang kingdom has become more intense and
hostile. The animosity was probably caused by Şrivijaya’s effort to reclaim
Sailendra lands in Java, as Balaputra and his offsprings — the series Şrivijaya
Maharajas — belonged to Sailendra Dynasty, or probably led by Medang aspiration
to challenge Şrivijaya domination in the region. In the year 990, king
Dharmawangsa launched a naval invasion against Şrivijaya, and unsuccessfully
attempted to capture Palembang. Dharmawangsa's invasion has led the Maharaja of
Şrivijaya, Chulamaniwarmadewa to seek protection from China. In 1006,
Şrivijaya's mandala alliance has proven its resilience to succeed in repelling the Javanese invasion. In retaliation, Şrivijaya assisted Haji (king) Wurawari
of Lwaram to revolt, attacked and destroyed the Medang palace. With the death
of Dharmawangsa and the fall of the Medang capital, Şrivijaya has contributed
to the collapse of Medang kingdom, leaving Eastern Java in further unrest,
violence, and desolation for several years to come.
During this period, Şrivijaya had established
a kingdom in Manila which was under its sphere of influence 50 aside from Butuan which is evident on the Kawi inscription written on
the copper plate found in Laguna which is dated back to 900 AD. The said
document records that the ruler of Tondo, Jayadewa, carried the Hindu title Senapati or military commander and acted
as supreme judge of all the lords of the nearby settlements. Among the counted
allies mentioned in the document includes the Hindu kingdom of Mataram in
Medang, Java. Moreover in the said document the king of Medang was acting as a
representative of the chief of dewata
in Butuan.
The transliteration of the Laguna Copperplate
Inscription shows heavy Sanskrit, Old Javanese and Malay linguistic influence.
Among the observances made by Pigafetta in the 16th century Boxer Codex, Old
Malay was spoken among pre-colonized Filipinos as a lingua franca.
The use of Hindu references in the Laguna
Copperplate Inscription could also suggest the people who authored this
inscription, were followers of Hinduism and Buddhism at this time in history.
The following is Morrow’s English approximation of his translation:
Long
Live! Year of Şaka 822, month of Vaisakha, (i.e., Monday,
April 21, 900 AD) according to Jyotisha (Hindu astronomy).
The
fourth day of the waning moon, Monday. On this occasion, Lady Angkatan, and her brother whose name is Bukah, the children of the
Honorable Namwaran, were awarded a
document of complete pardon from the
Commander in Chief of Tundun (Tondo), represented by the Lord Minister of Pailah, Jayadewa.
By
this order, through the scribe, the Honorable Namwaran has been forgiven of all and is released from his debts and arrears of 1 Katî and 8 Suwarna
before the Honorable Lord Minister of
Puliran Kasumuran by the authority of
the Lord Minister of Pailah.
Because
of his faithful service as a subject of the Chief, the Honorable and widely
renowned Lord Minister of Binwangan
recognized all the living relatives of Namwaran
who were claimed by the Chief of Dewata, represented by the Chief of
Medang.
Yes,
therefore the living descendants of the Honorable Namwaran are forgiven, indeed, of any and all debts of the Honorable Namwaran
to the Chief of Dewata.
This,
in any case, shall declare to whomever henceforth that on some future day
should there be a man who claims that no
release from the debt of the Honorable... 51
The Laguna inscription is the first indication
that the Old Melayu had developed a vocabulary to deal with matters of debt and
class distinction. While the Philippines remained at the edge of Melayu
influence, Java at the very outset was central to the idea of Melayu. The
desire to emulate Şrivijaya is evident in the manner in which ambitious rulers
in Central Java used Old Melayu documents to consolidate their positions. On
the north coast of Central Java, the inscriptions invoke the gods of different
regions, while that found in the Kedu Plains to the south simply calls on the
spirit of Tandrum Luah, the Protector Spirit of Şrivijaya. An Old Melayu
inscription found at Sojomerto on Java mentions Dapunta Selendra, an ‘ardent
Saivite’, whom Boechari believes to have been the founder (vamsakara) of the
Sailendras, one of the powerful families that governed central Java from the
second half of the eighth to the first half of the ninth centuries. Mahayana
Buddhism flourished with the establishment of the dynasty since the Sailendra
overlord was from Şrivijaya, a Mahayana center since the seventh century.
In 1011, Rajah
Sri Bata Shaja, the monarch of the Indianized Rajahnate of Butuan, a
maritime-state famous for its gold-work sent a trade envoy under ambassador
Likan-shieh to the Chinese Imperial Court demanding equal diplomatic status
with other states. The request being approved, it opened up direct commercial
links with the Rajahnate of Butuan and the Chinese Empire thereby diminishing
the monopoly on Chinese trade previously enjoyed by their rivals the Dynasty of
Tondo and the Champa civilization. Evidence of the existence of this rajahnate
is given by the Butuan Silver Paleograph.
Relations with the Chola dynasty of southern
India were initially friendly but deteriorated into actual warfare in the
eleventh century.
In 1025, Rajendra Chola, the Chola king from
Coromandel in South India, conquered Kedah from Şrivijaya and occupied it for
some time. The Cholas continued a series of raids and conquests of parts of
Sumatra and Malay Peninsula for the next 20 years. Although the Chola invasion
was ultimately unsuccessful, it gravely weakened the Şrivijayan hegemony and
enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri, on intensive
agriculture rather than coastal and long-distance trade.
Between 1079 and 1088, Chinese records show
that Şrivijaya sent ambassadors from Jambi and Palembang. In 1079 in
particular, an ambassador from Jambi and Palembang each visited China. Jambi
sent two more ambassadors to China in 1082 and 1088. This suggests that the
centre of Şrivijaya frequently shifted between the two major cities during that
period.
52 The Chola expedition as well as changing
trade routes weakened Palembang, allowing Jambi to take the leadership of
Şrivijaya from the 11th century on.53
According to a Chinese source in the book of
Chu-fan-chi54 written around 1225, Chou Ju-kua describe that in Southeast Asia
archipelago there were two most powerful and richest kingdoms; Şrivijaya and
Java (Kediri). In Java he founds that the people adhere two kinds of religions:
Buddhism and the religions of Brahmins (Hinduism), while the people of
Şrivijaya adhere Buddhism. The people of Java are brave and short tempered,
dare to put a fight. Their favorite past time was cockfighting and pig
fighting. The currency was made from the mixture of copper, silver, and tin.
The book of Chu-fan-chi mentioned that Java
was ruled by a maharaja, that rules several colonies: Pai-hua-yuan (Pacitan),
Ma-tung (Medang), Ta-pen (Tumapel, now Malang), Hi-ning (Dieng), Jung-ya-lu
(Hujung Galuh, now Surabaya), Tung-ki (Jenggi, West Papua), Ta-kang (Sumba),
Huang-ma-chu (Southwest Papua), Ma-li (Bali), Kulun (Gurun, identified as
Gorong or Sorong in West Papua or an island in Nusa Tenggara), Tan-jung-wu-lo
(Tanjungpura in Borneo), Ti-wu (Timor), Pingya-i (Banggai in Sulawesi), and
Wu-nu-ku (Maluku).
About Şrivijaya, Chou-Ju-Kua55 reported that Şrivijaya had 15 colonies and was still the mightiest
and wealthiest state in western part of archipelago. Şrivijaya's colony are:
Pong-fong (Pahang), Tong-ya-nong (Terengganu), Ling-ya-si-kia (Langkasuka),
Kilan-tan (Kelantan), Fo-lo-an (Dungun, eastern part of Malay Peninsula, a town
within state of Terengganu), Ji-lo-t'ing (Cherating), Ts'ien-mai (Semawe, Malay
Peninsula), Pa-t'a (Sungai Paka, located in Terengganu of Malay Peninsula),
Tan-ma-ling (Tambralinga, Ligor or Nakhon Si Thammarat, South Thailand),
Kia-lo-hi (Grahi, (Krabi) northern part of Malay peninsula), Pa-lin-fong
(Palembang), Sin-t'o (Sunda), Lan-wu-li (Lamuri at Aceh), Kien-pi (Jambi) and
Si-lan (Cambodia). 55
By the twelfth century, the empire included
parts of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Western Java, Sulawesi, the Moluccas,
Borneo and the Philippines, most notably the Sulu Archipelago and the Visayan
Islands (and indeed the latter island group, as well as its population, is named
after the empire). 56
In 1158, based on Edrisi’s account, there was
turmoil in China which caused the Chinese merchants to transfer their commerce
to Zabag and to the islands subject to it. Accordingly, that decision was taken
out of the latter’s reputation for fairness, good conduct, amenable customs and
facility in trade, For that reasons the island of Zabag was highly populated
and well frequented by foreigners.
Şrivijaya remained a formidable sea power
until the thirteenth century. 35
According to this source in early 13th century
Şrivijaya still ruled Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and western Java (Sunda). About
Sunda, the book describe it further that the port of Sunda (Sunda Kelapa) is
really good and strategic, pepper from Sunda is among the best quality. People
work on agriculture and their house are built on wooden piles (rumah panggung).
However the country was invested by robbers and thieves. In sum, this Chinese
source from early 13th century suggested that the Indonesian archipelago was ruled
by two great kingdoms, western part was under Şrivijaya's rule, while eastern
part was under Kediri domination.
The Singhasari Empire
Singhasari was a kingdom located in east Java
between 1222 and 1292. The kingdom succeeded Kingdom of Kediri as the dominant
kingdom in eastern Java.
According to the Pararaton, Javanese historical annals embedded with myths,
Singhasari (or Singosari) was founded by Ken Arok (1182-1227/1247), who was
said to be an orphan boy, son of a certain Ken Endok and the god Brahma, when
he came to the kingdom of Kediri (which was later named as Daha). He worked as
a servant of Tunggul Ametung, a regional ruler in Tumapel (which later on was
known as Singhasari), to realize his evil plan in taking over the dominion of
Java from Kediri by killing Tunggul Ametung and marry Ken Dedes, the spiritual
symbol of power in Java. After the death of Tunggul Ametung, Ken Arok took
control of Tumapel, a vassal state of Kediri, where both Hinduism and Buddhism
flourished. Tumapel was renamed Singhasari, and Hinduism its dominant religion.
Ken Arok then defeated and conquered Kediri itself in 1222 for Singhasari to
become the dominant power on Java. He was considered as the founder of Rajasa
dynasty of both the Singhasari and later Madjapahit line of monarchs. During
his reign the faction between Kediri and Kahuripan over the political dominion
of Java became worst, leaving it in political chaos, civil war, disaster, and
distress.
Kertanegara (full name Sri Maharajadiraja Sri
Kertanegara Wikrama Dharmatunggadewa), was the fifth, last, and most important
ruler of the Singhasari, reigning from 1268 to 1292. He was the son of the
previous king, Wisnuwardhana (reigned 1248-1268). He effectively held power
from 1254 and officially succeeded his father when the latter died in 1268.
Under his rule Javanese trade and power developed considerably, reaching the
far corners of the Indonesian archipelago.
Kertanegara’s regnal period coincided with a
period of expansion by the Mongolian empire under Kublai Khan and the death of
his father in 1268 also coincided with the fall of the last Song dynasty and
the year, according to Marco Polo, that the “Fakfur” of Manzi (Southern China)
escaped to the “isles of the East” to seek for reinforcement and his assumption
to power in 1269 also coincided to the year that the “Fakfur” (the Song emperor
Duzong with a formal name of Mengqi) must have arrived in Java with warriors
from Luzon. “Baghbur”, which means “son of the god” or “son of the king”, is a
Persian equivalent for the Chinese “Tien-zu” (“son of heaven”) which was also
“coincidentally” the principle used by Kertanegara as “son of Jaya
Wishnuwarddhana” in claiming the throne of Singhasari. This could suggest and
very probable that Kertanegara, who was a “non-born son of the gods” must be
one and the same with the escaping Song emperor, who had killed the Mongol Khan, Möngke.
Möngke was the eldest son of Tolui, son of Genghis Khan. According to a Syrian chronicle, Möngke is reported to have been killed by an arrow shot by a Chinese archer during the siege of Diaoyu while the Armenian historian Hayton of Corycus says that Möngke was on a Mongol war ship that sank in the Chinese seas while the Mongols were besieging an island fortress. However, another Chinese account tells that he died of a wound caused by cannon fire or a projectile launched from a Song Chinese trebuchet, while the Mongolians covered up the story by claiming that his death was due to illness to maintain their soldiers' morale. After Möngke's death, his younger brothers Kublai Khan and Arokboke (Ariq Böke, which literally means “son of Arok” or “son of the god Marduk”) had struggled over the kakhanship of the Mongol empire. While Möngke left a will declaring that the town should be massacred once taken, its siege continued for another 17 years before the defenders surrendered themselves to Kublai Khan, who promised to spare the lives of the town's residents.
The Song emperor, who
supposedly, had not been killed, assumed the Javanese throne as the “Kertanegara"
which means “he who unifies the kingdom (that was divided magically into two by
the priest Bharada in ancient Javanese legend)” by inventing a legend of the
dynasty founded by the “son of Ken Arok” with Ken Dedes. The invented story
must be based on the succession of Arokboke’s father, Tolui, to the Mongol
throne in 1227 and the story about usurpation was Kertanegara’s own biography
itself. If this supposition proven true then he must be the predecessor of the
Şailendra dynasty and the real founder of the would-be Singhasari dynasty that
was lost by name but had been continued by bloodline.
Following the example of Kublai Khan,
Kertanegara introduced Tibetan Buddhism in Java in order to gain the same
degree of power so as to be able to protect the “isles of the East” from the
same fate with Manzi which fell under the Mongol invasion. He erected back the
Akşobhaya statue at Wurare which had been previously erected during the time of
the mythical priest Bharada. It was a symbolic invitation to join against
Kublai Khan on the basis of Buddhism and connubium.
Kertanegara was the first Javanese ruler with
territorial ambitions that extended beyond the island of Java. Through a policy
of friendly negotiations among neighbors, the Singhasari Empire reached the
height of its power during Kertanegara's rule, which saw the dramatic expansion
of Javanese power in Maritime Southeast Asia. He extended Javanese involvement
in the lucrative spice trade with the Moluccas. He also put down rebellions in
Java by Cayaraja in 1270. In the year 1275, the ambitious king Kertanegara
launched a peaceful naval campaign northward towards the weak remains of the
Şrivijaya in response to continuous Ceylon pirate raids and Chola kingdom's
invasion from India which conquered Şrivijaya’s Kedah in 1025. The strongest of
these Malaya kingdoms was Jambi, which captured the Şrivijaya capital in 1088,
then the Dharmasraya kingdom, and the
Temasek kingdom of Singapore, and
then remaining territories.
The said naval campaign was known as the
Pamalayu expedition (1275-1292) which was led by the admiral named Indrawarman,
probably a brother of Kertanegara, who after crossing the sea towards Sumatra
was then called as Mahesa Anabrang
(literally means, “the admiral who crossed the sea”). The said Indrawarman
married a Sumatran princess and begot a son whom they called as Adwayabrahma or Adwayawarman, who later on was more popularly known as Gadjah Mada
which meant literally as “Elephant General” referring to his ability in
understanding an elephant thus by so doing he could command it. Indrawarman
established a kingdom of Shiloh in Simalungun.
Kertanegara put down another rebellion by
Mahisa in 1280. Kertanegara managed to form an alliance with Champa, another
dominant state in Southeast Asia, by marrying its princess, the legendary
warrior princess in the tales of Marco Polo, or the “blue fairy” named Ai Co,
which means “the Celestial Dame” in reference to the moon, or Aigiaruc, in
Persian, which means “the Bright Moon” or simply the “Silver, light, or wisdom
of Arok”. She was described as "a superb warrior, one who could ride into enemy ranks and snatch a captive as easily as a hawk snatches a chicken". From that union, in the latter part of the year, they begot twin
daughters named Dyah Prajnaparamita or Joko
Ken (“celestial lady”), after her father had been named as Joko Dolog, and Dyah Dewi Gayatri (who
later became the rajapatni of
Madjapahit). It was on their wedding day that the emissaries sent by Kublai
Khan arrived at the audition throne room of the Singhasari court of Kertanegara
demanding Singhasari’s submission and tribute to the great Khan – in Chinese
legends, the tribute being asked was the “monsoon’s orb” or the “pearl of the
dragon” which actually referred to the putri
darawati (Chamese princess), who was actually the niece of Kublai Khan, being the daughter of Kaidu. Angered, Kertanegara humiliated the Khan by
scarring the face of Meng Ki, one of the Mongols' envoys with a hot iron, and
refused the demand. Some sources even stated that the king cut the envoy's ear
himself. The envoy returned to China with the answer -- the scar -- of the
Javanese king written on his face.
The next year in 1281, the second envoy sent
by Kublai Khan arrived demanding the “princesses of Tumapel”. There were two
“princesses of Tumapel” of great beauty – Dyah Prajnaparamitha and Dyah Dewi
Gayatri -- who were considered as the “orbs
of the monsoons”, which was based on the Oriental belief that the monsoons
were powerful sea-dragons that possessed bright luminescence, which was called wahyu which literally means as “divine
radiance”, which was loaned by the Cebuanos into ahyu (good) and after combined with kahayag (light), derived from çaya,
it became kahyu (fire). The said
monsoons’ orbs were often depicted as dazzling blue, green, orange, red, or
white “balls of lights” streaking to the night sky and were often absorbed and
possessed by the celestial virgins. This Power and Light, in Oriental belief,
when absorbed by the celestial virgins – in this case, the daughters of
Kertanegara who were called white, orange, blue, and green princesses according
to the lights they possessed – could only be transferred to a leader of a
dynasty through marital union. The movement of the wahyu typically marked the fall of one dynasty and the transfer of
light source to another. The everyday presence of Power was more usually marked
by teja (radiance) that was thought
to emanate softly from the face or person of the man of Power. In this belief,
the spiritual function of a queen as the embodiment of batin (spirit), or wisdom, in the Buddhist view, and “her union
with the ruler is necessary for the achievement of full humanity for a lahir (body or means) without batin (spirit or wisdom) is death, and
the reverse is nonbeing in the world”. Dyah Dewi Gayatri was also known in Damarwulan legends as Kençana Wungu or Kenya. Yet her sister Dyah Prajnaparamitha,who being the eldest
daughter and being a princess of Tumapel (Singhasari), assumed the title Joko Ken, which means “celestial queen”
and could be translated into Chinese as Kökötchin
which had the same meaning and had a similar sound with the Chinese zhu-ko-chen which means “pearl of the dragon”.
It was probably after that incident that the
third daughter of Kertanegara, named Dara Putih (which was corrupted in legends
as Dara Petak) which means “white princess”, was born. And then the fourth and
last daughter of Kertanegara, named Dara Jingga which means “orange princess”
who was later known as Narendra Duhita
which has a similar meaning, was born.
In 1284, Kertanegara had subjected nearby Bali
to his vassalage. The king also sent troops, expeditions and envoys to other
nearby kingdoms such as the Sunda-Galuh kingdom, Pahang kingdom, Balakana
kingdom (Kalimantan/Borneo), and Gurun kingdom (Maluku).
As a tradition of the royal court at that
time, Indrawarman returned to Java in 1286 to present his son to Kertanegara.
It was on this occasion that Raden Wijaya came to the Singhasari court and
presented himself as the Wiswarupakumaran, a nephew (or a son) of Şri
Kertanagara Wikrama Dharmottunggadewa, and the rightful heir to the throne
according to matrilineal principle. Raden Wijaya had brought gifts of the image
of Amoghapasa Lokeswara and other fourteen Buddhist statues. After that,
Indrawarman was sent again to Sumatra, leaving his son behind for a military
training under Raden Wijaya, to conquer the kingdom of Melayu which included
Palembang and Jambi as well as much of Şrivijaya and to secure the Malayan
strait, the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ against potential Mongol invasion and
ferocious sea pirates. These Malayan kingdoms then pledged allegiance to the
king. King Kertanegara had long wished to surpass Şrivijaya as a regional
maritime empire, controlling sea trade routes from China to India.
In 1288, the 12-year old Adwayabrahma, who was
designated as a rakreyan mahamantri,
was assigned as the leader of the
Bhayangkara, an elite royal bodyguard composed of 14 young lads, who would
escort the statue of Amoghapasa Lokeswara and probably Putri Darawati Ai Co and
her two younger daughters Dara Putih and Dara Jingga to the Dharmasraya kingdom which was ruled by
Maharajah Srimat Tribhuwanaraja Mauliwarmadewa, who was also the king of Champa. Among the members of the Bhayangkara
were Rakreyan Sirikan Dyah Sugatabrahma; the judge of Payanan, Dang Acarya
Dipangkeradasa; and Rakreyan Demung Pu Wira. The return of the putri darawati (Chamese princess) with
her two younger daughters and the statue of Amoghapasa were Kertanegara’s gifts
of love for his father-in-law, the Dharmasraya
maharajah, Srimat Tribhuwanaraja Mauliwarmadewa. The statue of Amoghapasa
Lokeswara was a symbol of protection of the Singhasari overlord on its vassal
state against the the threats of Mongol invasion. The Dharmasraya king and all
the caste – Brahmans, Kşatriyas, Vaişas, and Şudras – rejoiced at the
presentation of the gifts.
Late in Kertanagara’s reign, the Pamalayu
expedition succeeded in gaining control of the Melayu Kingdom in eastern
Sumatra, and possibly also gained control over the Sunda kingdom and hegemony
over the Strait of Malacca. Other areas in Madura and Borneo also offered their
submission to Kertanegara.
In 1289, Kublai Khan had sent a third envoy to
demand again the tribute he had been asking for a long time. But again it was
refused.
After defeating the Melayu Kingdom58 in Sumatra in 1290, Singhasari became the most powerful kingdom in the
region. King Kertanegara totally erased any Şrivijayan influence from Java and
Bali in 1290. However, the expansive campaigns exhausted most of the Kingdom’s
military forces and in the future would stir a murderous plot against the
unsuspecting King Kertanegara.
With the bulk of the Javanese army in campaign
overseas and Singhasari's defence weakened. Seeing the opportunity, Rakreyan
Jayakatwang, a vassal king from the Kingdom of Daha (also known as Kediri or
Gelang-gelang), prepared his army to conquer Singhasari and kill its king if
possible, and assisted by Arya Wiraraja, his son, a regent from Sumenep on the
island of Madura. King Kertanegara, whose troops were now spread then and
located elsewhere, did not realize that a coup was being prepared by the former
Kediri royal lineage.
The Kediri (Gelang-gelang) army attacked
Singhasari simultaneously from both north and south. The king only realized the
invasion from the north and sent his son-in-law, Nararya Sanggramawijaya,
famously known as Raden Wijaya, northward to vanquish the rebellion. The
northern attack was put at bay, but the southern attackers successfully
remained undetected until they reached and sacked the unprepared capital city
of Kutaraja. Jayakatwang usurped and killed Kertanegara during the Tantra
sacred ceremony, thus bring a tragic end to the Singhasari kingdom.
Having learned the fall of the Singhasari
capital of Kutaraja due to Kediri's treachery, Raden Wijaya tried to defend
Singhasari but failed. He and his three colleagues, Ranggalawe, Sora, and
Nambi, went to exile under the favor of the same regent (Bupati) Arya Wiraraja
of Madura, Nambi's father, who then turned his back to Jayakatwang. With Arya
Wiraraja's patronage, Raden Wijaya, pretending to submit to King Jayakatwang,
won favor from the new monarch of Kediri, who granted him permission to open a
new settlement north of Mt. Arjuna, the Tarik forest. He then opened that vast
timberland and built a new village there. The village was named Madjapahit,
which was taken from a fruit name that had a bitter taste in that timberland (madja is the fruit name and pahit means bitter).
In Marco Polo’s account, it was stated that
Marco Polo had taken the Joko Ken,
accompanied by one envoy, to the court of Kublai Khan, presenting her as the
“pearl of the dragon” that he had been seeking for and the “bride” requested by
her aunt, the queen of Persia, for Arghun Khan of Persia. From this perspective
it could be very probable that the envoy, “sent” by Wiraraja to the “king of
China”, was Raden Wijaya himself and the “king of China” who landed at Madura, with 14 big ships each had 4 masts and 12 sails, was Marco Polo. Thus, it could be part of the war tactic of Raden Wijaya in
bringing the army of Kublai Khan in his aid which coincided also with the
deception scheme of Marco Polo over the weakening Kublai Khan in his ultimate
goal of escaping from the khan’s realm of power before it would collapse as he
saw it and might become a trap for him if he delayed in realizing his plan. It
could be recalled that Marco Polo could not use the land route from China to
Persia since at that time there was an on-going wars at the borders; hence, the
only way to escape was by using the sea-route. Thus, it could be probable that
Raden Wijaya together with other two envoys who died at sea had escorted the
princess in 1290 to China as part of the joint deception scheme of Raden Wijaya
and Marco Polo in realizing their individual goals and reaching there in the
early part of 1291.
Accordingly,
Kertanegara was killed along with many courtiers in his palace in Singhasari in
May or June 1292. He was apparently killed when drunk on palm
wine in a religious Tantric
Buddhist ceremony. Jayakatwang then declared
himself ruler of Java and king of the restored Kediri. Dyah Dewi Gayatri had
been captured and lived as a prisoner in Kediri.
Prapanca
portrays Kertanegara as a staunch Buddhist, described as "submissive at
the Feet of the Illustrious Shakya-Lion". Upon his death, the
Nagarakertagama describes the deification of Kertanegara in three forms: a
splendid Jina, an Ardhanarishvara, and an imposing
Shiva-Buddha. Particularly for the Shiva-Buddha deity, Prapança praises him as
"the honored Illustrious Protector of Mountains, Protector of the
protectorless. He is surely, Ruler over the rulers of the world." The
Shiva-Buddha deity is neither Shiva nor Buddha, but the Lord of the Mountains,
or the Supreme God of the Realm. This religious belief is indigenous to the
Javanese people who combined the gods of two religions, Hinduism and Buddhism,
into the same God, the oneness of the dharma,
as is written in the Kakawin Sutasoma.
When Kertanegara was deified as Shiva-Buddha, he symbolized the collective
powers of the God of the Realm.
In late 1292, Kublai Khan had sent a fleet of
1,000 war junks for a punitive expedition to escort Marco Polo and the Joko Ken or Zhu-ko-Shen to Persia and to subdue Java for the humiliation and
the disgrace committed against his envoy and his patience. At that time too,
Indrawarman who had assumed an Arabic title of Sultan al-Malik al-Salih in Samudra-Pasai
died leaving his son Adwayabhrama or Adwayawarman as the new commander of the
Pamalayu expedition (Mahesa Anabrang).
The Mongol fleet arrived off the coast of
Tuban, Java in early 1293. While the flagship carrying Marco Polo, the Joko Ken
and her Malay bodyguard anchored in Sumatra at the Dharmasraya port. Raden
Wijaya allied himself with the Mongol army to fight against Jayakatwang and
saved Dyah Dewi Gayatri. Once Jayakatwang was destroyed, Raden Wijaya forced
his allies to withdraw from Java by launching a surprise attack. 59 Yuan's army had to withdraw in confusion as they were in hostile
territory. It was also their last chance to catch the monsoon winds home;
otherwise, they would have had to wait for another six months on a hostile
island. The Joko Ken (Kököchin), Dyah
Rajnaparamita, was taken to Persia who eventually married Muhammad Ghazan Khan
instead of his father, Arghun Khan, who was already dead since 1291, and became
his principal wife.
Indonesia is one of the few areas that
thwarted invasion by the Mongol horde by repelling a Mongol force in 1293. As
the center of the Malayan peninsula trade winds, the rising power, influence,
and wealth of the Javanese Singhasari Empire came to the attention of Kublai
Khan of the Mongol Yuan dynasty based in China. Moreover, Singhasari had formed
an alliance with Champa, another powerful state in the region. Both Java
(Singhasari) and Champa were worried about Mongol expansion and raids against
neighboring states, such as their raid of Bagan (Pagan) in Burma.
The Madjapahit Empire
Madjapahit was a vast archipelagic empire
based on the island of Java (modern-day Indonesia) from 1293 to around 1500.
Madjapahit reached its peak of glory during the era of Hayam Wuruk, whose reign
from 1350 to 1389 marked by conquest which extended through Southeast Asia. His
achievement is also credited to his prime minister, Gadjah Mada. According to
the Nagarakretagama (Desawarñana) written in 1365, Majapahit was an empire of
98 tributaries, stretching from Sumatra to New Guinea;59 consisting of present day Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei,
southern Thailand, the Philippines, and East Timor, although the true nature of
Majapahit sphere of influence is still the subject of studies among historians.
The
Coronation of Raden Wijaya
In 1293, Adwayabrahma and the Bhayangkara together with the two
princesses from Dharmasraya and a number of elephants had returned to Java.
Raden Wijaya had chosen the elder princess, Dara Putih (Petak) to be his
principal wife; hence she was then called as as TribhuanaIndreswari or in its shorter form, Tribhuaneswari which literally meant “she who is not the eldest but
is favored by the king becomes his principal wife”. Raden Wijaya had given Dara
Jingga to Adwayabrahma to be his wife.
As a royal tradition, on a day before his
coronation, Raden Wijaya was married to the Chamese princess, Putri Darawati Ai
Co; her daughters Dyah Dewi Gayatri and Dara Putih (Petak). It must be on that
day also on a double wedding that Adwayabrahma was married to the other Dharmasraya princess Dara Jingga. Hence,
Raden Wijaya and Adwayabrahma became brothers-in-law.
Raden Wijaya founded a stronghold with the
capital Madjapahit. The exact date used as the birth of the Madjapahit kingdom
is the day of his coronation, the 15th of Kartika month in the year 1215 using
the Javanese çaka calendar, which equates to November 10, 1293. During his
coronation he was given formal name Kertarajasa Jayawardhana. After Raden
Wijaya’s assumption to the Madjapahit throne, he elevated Adwayabrahma into Rakreyan Mahamantri Gadjah Mada, the
highest position among the rakreyans,
symbolical to a war-god, hence the phrase in Pararaton, “the orange princess is
given to a god”. 60
Madjapahit ruled much of Sumatra as the
successor of Singhasari. Several attempts to revive Şrivijaya were made by the
fleeing princes of Şrivijaya. In the following years, sedimentation on the Musi
river estuary cut the kingdom's capital off from direct sea access. The
strategic disadvantage crippled the trade in the Kingdom's capital. As the
decline continued, Islam made its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading
through contacts with Arab and Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the
kingdom of Pasai in northern Sumatra converted to Islam. At the same time,
Şrivijaya was briefly a tributary state of the Khmer empire and later the
Sukhothai kingdom.
The Death of Raden Wijaya and the Lost of His Widadari
In 1309, the 44-year old Franciscan priest,
Father Odoric Matiussi of Pordenone, Friuli, Italy, visited the palace of Raden
Wijaya. He described the palace as follows:
“The king of Java has a large and sumptuous
palace, the loftiest of any that I have seen, with broad and lofty stairs to
ascend to the upper apartments, all the steps being alternately of gold and
silver.
The whole interior walls are lined with plates
of beaten gold, on which the images of warriors are placed sculptured in gold,
having each a golden coronet richly ornamented with precious stones. The roof of this palace is of pure gold, and
all the lower rooms are paved with alternate square plates of gold and silver.
The great khan, or emperor of Cathay, has had many wars with the king of Java,
but has always been vanquished and beaten back.” 61
Sometime later in that year, some of Raden
Wijaya's most trusted men, including Ranggalawe, Sora, Nambi, and Kuti rebelled
against him, though unsuccessfully. It was suspected that the Prime Minister,
Mahapati Halayudha, set the conspiracy to overthrow all of the king's
opponents, to gain the highest position in the government. Raden Wijaya died in
the battle protecting his family. Gadjah Mada and Mahapatih Arya Tadah helped Raden Wijaya’s family –
Rajapatni Dyah Dewi Gayatri who had newly delivered her twin girls; Dara Petak
and her little boy son Jayanegara; and Dara Jingga and her little boy son
Adityawarman -- to escape away from the capital city of Trowulan.
Based
on the Syair Bidasari and the Panji written legends, one of the
daughters of Rajapatni Dyah Dewi Gayatri, Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat, the future Bhre
Daha, had been left in one of the boats of visiting merchants who were mostly
Orang Bandjar (based on Matthiusi’s account) from the island of Borneo
(referred at that time as Bandjarmasin or “island of the Bandjar”). Sulu and
most of the islands of the Philippines at that time were under the kingdom of
Borneo which was later known as Brunei, which was one of the seven kingdoms
that composed the Madjapahit at that time. "Wiyat" has the same meaning with the Cebuano-Visayan word "bilat" which means literally as "vagina". Interestingly, Bilat is actually the name of the Babylonian goddess of war, hunting, and reproduction whose name literally means "great lady". She is considered as "queen of the gods".
The baby Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat might
have experienced the ritual of implanting a stone in one’s arm believed to
generate invincibility in wars both by sea and land. Father Odoric Matiussi described it as follows:
“In this country there grow canes of an
incredible length, as large as trees, even sixty paces or more in height. There
are other canes, called cassan (kawayan, bamboo), which spread over the
earth like grass, even to the extent of a mile, sending up branches from every
knot; and in these canes they find certain stones of wonderful virtue,
insomuch, that whoever carries one of these about him, cannot be wounded by an
iron weapon; on which account, most of the men in that country carry such
stones always about them. Many of the people of this country cause one of the
arms of their children to be cut open when young, putting one of these stones
into the wound, which they heal up by means of the powder of a certain fish,
with the name of which I am unacquainted. And through the virtue of these
wonderful stones, the natives are generally victorious in their wars, both by
sea and land.
There is a stratagem, however, which their
enemies often successfully use against them, to counteract the power of these
stones. Providing themselves with iron or steel armor, to defend them from the
arrows of these people, they use wooden stakes, pointed like weapons of iron,
and arrows not having iron heads, but infused with poison which they extract
from certain trees, and they thus slay some of their foes, who, trusting to the
virtue of these stones, wear no defensive armor.
From the canes formerly mentioned, named cassan,
they build themselves small houses, and manufacture sails for their ships, and
many other things are made from them.” 62
Sometime
later, from Borneo, the little girl was brought to Mindanao which was evident
in the inscriptions found in some Sulu and Maguindanao tarsilas. It was mentioned that during the time when a certain holy
men named Tuan Masha’ika and Tuhan Maqbalu came to Mindanao, the rulers of
Magindanao (probably referring to the whole Mindanao Island at that time) were
Rajah Tabunaway and Rajah Mamalu, who were blood brothers. It was said that one
day the two brothers went to Rio Grande de Mindanao for fishing (or more
probably docked their junk after their trade trips from Sumatra, Java, and
Borneo and probably the baby fell on the bamboo trees at the riverbank just
beside the junk). At the bank of the river there were bamboo trees. Mamalu cut
down all the bamboo trees except one small stalk that was left standing alone.
Tabunaway then called out to finish it all up for it would omen ill to their
fish corral if it would be left alone. Mamalu therefore cut it and found in it
a girl whose little finger was slightly cut by a slip of a kampilan. He carried the girl to Tabunaway, but Tabunaway told him
to keep her and adopt her as his child because he had no children. They called
the girl Putri Tuniña for they believed that she was a reincarnation of their
mother who while still alive had asked Tabunaway to bury her comb on the very
spot where they found the girl. 63
Tuniña
is an Italian name associated with the legend of Granada about the hunchback
Tuniño who was hailed into a normal boy with remarkable beauty by the fairies
for his golden voice and fine character. It could be very possible that
Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat was christened by Father Odoric Matiussi as a baby while still at Bandjarmasin. It could also be very
possible that the rich merchants that had found the bidasari or widadari (celestial
fairy) in their boat while in Java were the rulers of Mindanao and the “bamboo”
is only an allusion of the Oriental myth that the first man and woman came out
from a bamboo that was split up or to the Visayan colloquial phrase, “anak sa liking kawayan” (“child of a
bamboo split”) which figuratively meant a child of unknown parents and of the
bamboo-amulet ritual for a bagani (warrior
who usually wore red clothing). And the said Tuan Masha’ika (which means in
Jawi as “Holy Old Man” or “Prester John” denoting that he was the king of
Ophir, which probably the ancient name of Mindanao) and Tuhan Maqbalu were
actually Tabunaway and Mamalu respectively. Tuhan Maqbalu died sometime in
November or December of 1310 A.D. (Rajab 710 A.H.) and was buried in Sulu,
thus, leaving the princess at the care of Tabunaway as her new foster father.64
The Rise and Fall of Kala Gemet
Raden Wijaya
died in the battle that probably took placed between October and December 1309
(or December 1310?). At the very young age, Jayanegara, the only son of Raden
Wijaya, assumed the imperial throne with Rajapatni Dyah Dewi Gayatri as regent.
In
1319, a major rebellion hit Madjapahit, which forced Jayanegara to evacuate
from Trowulan to the village of Bedander. He was escorted by the Bhayangkara which happened to be on duty
that night. At this time, Gadjah Mada was head of the bodyguard. 65
After
Gadjah Mada was assured that the emperor was safe in Bedander, he returned to
the capital, which Kuti — the leader of the rebellion — had captured. There, he
spread the rumor that the king was kidnapped by one of Kuti’s servants.
Officials who were faithful to the emperor became very furious, and decided to
kill Kuti. They succeeded, and the emperor went back to Trowulan in 1321 and
ruled the kingdom for the rest of his life. Halayudha
was captured and jailed for his tricks, and then sentenced to death.58 Because of this incident, Gadjah Mada was able
to earn the emperor’s trust, which led to a gain in power. A few years after,
Gadjah Mada was appointed minister of Kahuripan and Daha. This gave him the
title of Patih, which made him a member of Majapahit’s elite. 66
On the
other hand in 1328, the beauty of Putri Tuniña had already been known far
across the empire. Gadjah Mada who had obtained the title of a rajah baginda of Minangkabau, "a
rich, high region in central Sumatra, from which many Malayan dynasties seem to
have come",68 was
sent by Jayanegara to go to the Kingdom of Bandjarmasin (it was later replaced
by the Sultanate of Brunei) to ask the hand of the princess and offer her his
gift of elephants. But when Gadjah Mada, along with Rajapatni Gayatri, as part
of the ancient custom in arranging royal marriages, arrived in Bandjarmasin, he
had learned that the princess was not in the island of Borneo but in Mindanao
and particularly in Sulu, the kingdom of her foster fathers. Thus, Gadjah Mada,
leaving the rajapatni in Bandjarmasin
for her safety, sailed to Sulu. This explains the existence in Jolo of
elephants at the arrival of the Spanish expeditions.68
Charles
Wilkes, an American naval commander, who had visited the Sulu region in 1842,
reported an oral tradition linking the Sulu sultanate with that of Banjarmasin:
The fame of the submarine reaches of this
archipelago reached Banjar or Borneo, the people of which were induced to
resort there, and finding it to equal their expectation, they sent a large colony
and made endeavors to win over the inhabitants, and obtain thereby the
possession of their rich isle. In order to confirm the alliance, a female of
Banjarmassing, of great beauty, was sent, and married to the principal chief;
and from this alliance the sovereign of Sulu claim their descent. The treaty of
marriage made Sulu tributary to the Banjarmassing empire.69
During
that time Bandjarmasin was a vassal kingdom to Madjapahit. And the old maritime
trade route from Sumatra had to pass to Java then to Bandjarmasin, to Brunei,
and then to Sulu. Another tarsila had mentioned that when the prince had taken
the princess to Bandjarmasin where the queen of Madjapahit (Rajapatni Gayatri)
was meeting to meet her together with her parents, the queen had found out the
princess was her long lost daughter for aside of her resemblance to her as her
real mother and to her twin sister Dyah Sri Gitarja she was wearing the queen’s
comb and necklace and using the queen’s fan.
It was
found out that Jayanegara and the princess were cousins; worst half-brother and
half-sister respectively. The marriage was cancelled but according to tarsilas,
the emperor insisted that among the Arabs, since he was an Arab-descent,
marrying a cousin or a half-sister was not a taboo. But the princess, although
christened when young but was raised as Muslim by his foster father, insisted
that in Koranic laws it was forbidden for a brother and sister to marry in any
lands of the world. Then accordingly, the emperor decided to set the wedding with
an imam at the sea with a thousand ships for the sea was not part of the lands,
therefore an exemption to the Koranic laws.
In the
said version, the princess who after the wedding ceremony was sitting at the
ship’s deck knitting a kerchief was startled when the emperor embraced her from
behind that she had accidentally stabbed the emperor’s finger with a needle
causing it to bleed incessantly. In one of the versions of the Nyai Roro Kidul
legends it was not a needle but a snake-like sacred dagger known as keris (kris) that was used by the
princess to stub the emperor after he tried to rape her. The said dagger was
always kept by the princess in her pudenda (Forman
and Solc n.d.). As the emperor collapsed, the princess thinking she had
killed him jumped off to the sea.The fleet was said to be hit by a storm when
the princess swam to sea-shore and hid in the forest. In the Nyai Roro Kidul
legends the place was identified as the island off the south coast of Java
named Karang Bandung (Nusakambangan) believed to be inhabited by the spirits of
white tigers referring to the dead rulers of Java.70
In the
Javanese traditions, the princess was found by the senapati Adityawarman in the
forest collecting the flower known as wijayakusuma
(Pisonia grandis, var. Silvestris;
Rahardi et al. 1991), which bloomed briefly at night, spreading its essence far
and wide only to wilt by dawn and which (Berg 1938, 21) was believed to give
invincibility in battle (Van Hein 1994, 7-12). In the said version the princess
wished not to return since by marrying and killing her half-brother-husband she
was inflicted with a spiritual leprosy which made her dirty and ugly in the
eyes of Allah. In the same version, the emperor “did not stay to enjoy conjugal
bliss, however, but went on his way the following day” (Prawirasuganda 1964,
85-86; Lubis 1969, 77-78). In the Prapança, it was stated that while the
emperor was lying sick on his bed Gadjah Mada had called a surgeon, Ra Tança,
to perform an operation. But the emperor died. Probably to keep secret what had
really happened to save the empire from falling apart, Gadjah Mada killed Ra
Tança and spread the rumors that Jayanegara
was notorious for immorality and that one of his sinful acts was his desire on
taking his own half sisters as wives; his attempt in raping Dara Jingga, his
own aunt; and his constant
mockery of Ra Tança for eyeing on the beauty of Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat which
caused Ra Tança in murdering him by a false operation. It could be understood
that the princess believing that it was Ra Tança who murdered the emperor and
not her was convinced to go back to Daha (Kediri). Her association with the
death of Jayanegara might be the reason of her bad relationship with Dara Putih
(Tribhuaneshwari), Jayanegara’s
mother who was portrayed in myths as a jealous or evil stepmother, wife, or
sister. Jayanegara from then on was known in history and memory of the people
as Kala Gemet which meant “weak
villain”.
Jayanegara’s stepmother, Dyah Dewi Gayatri,
being the last present heir of the Singhasari dynasty, assumed the Madjapahit
imperial throne as the rajapatni.
The Rise of the Tribhuanawijayatunggadewi and Mahapatih Gadjah Mada
In 1329, upon the retirement of Arya Tada,
Gadjah Mada was appointed by Rajapatni Gayatri as the new mahapatih or prime minister of the empire. During his inauguration
Gadjah Mada declared his Sumpah Palapa,
revealing his plan to expand Madjapahit realm and building an empire.
According to the Pararaton there was a rebellion that arose in Sadeng and Keta in
1331. While Gadjah Mada was in a debate with the rakreyans, or the nobles, on
who would command the army against the said rebellion, the Bhre Daha wearing
the full armor of Gadjah Mada disguised as a knight named Arya Damar Abd’llah (Damar
is a masculine form of an imperial title Damhara)
set off alone as commander of the northern command composed of 15,000 soldiers
on suppressing the rebels. She attacked from the north of Bali.
Based on the Panji Semirang the battle happened on the eve of the Bhre Daha’s
wedding to Adityawarman. Accordingly, she had left a letter to Adityawarman
explaining about her intension in going to battle and, according to the Rihla,
she would only marry a man who could defeat her in battle. While the Nagarakretagama recounted that Adityawarman,
the son of Gadjah Mada, went after the princess and led the southern command of
also 15,000 soldiers which attacked from the south of Bali. They both crashed
the rebellion in the north and south. Yet the Panji Semirang suggested that when the two commands had met at the
center of Bali the two Aryas not
knowing each other, since they were both fully covered with armors, fought with
each other on the battlefield. The soldiers under their command were ordered to
leave. The princess confided to her opponent that she was the bride of
Adityawarman and that the disguise was assumed because of a command of the rakreyans that “she could win back her
prince only in a face-to-face combat where his blood is made to flow”. And to
add, it could be probable that the prince also confided to her “that his heart
commands him to fight his bride and defeat her in battle in order to win her
back in marriage”. The Panji Semirang
continued that the two fought with swords and arrows, but the princess was
unable to harm him until she resorted to her hairpin. Wounded, the rajah baginda revealed his identity and
they were happily reunited. But the wedding as usual was postponed again
indefinitely.
An inscription from the year 1341, at the back
of a statue of Manjusri found at Candi Jago in East Java, testifies that
Adityawarman accompanied Gadjah Mada on his campaigns to Bali.
In 1343, the Bhre Daha under the guise of “Arya Damar Abd’llah” became victorious
in her conquest against the kingdom of Pejeng, Dalem Bedahulu, and the entire
Bali by beheading the leader of the Bali Aga, Sri Aji Asura Bumibanten also
known as Giri, who was said to have supernatural powers, at the Dalem Bedahulu
River. In the Rihla it was stated
that “a great number of her soldiers had been slain, and her whole force was on
the point of running away, when the Bhre Daha rushed to the front, and forcing
her way through the ranks of the combatants till she got at the king himself
with whom she was at war, she dealt him a mortal wound, so that he died, and
his troops fled. The princess returned with his head carried on a spear…” In
the Arya Damar legends it was recounted that the said combat lasted for two
days and that the leader of his enemies surrendered but the princess wrecked of
how her soldiers were killed beheaded the said king. It continued that the
princess as Arya Damar Abd’llah
returned to Trowulan and reported what the “Kençana Tuniña” had done, Rajapatni
Gayatri was very angry since the princess should not supposedly kill an enemy
who had surrendered. Rajapatni Gayatri immediately sent Arya Damar Abd’llah, the princess in disguise, back to the
battlefield to correct the error by returning the head of Giri to his family in
exchange of a large sum of payment. When the princess still in disguise as a
man arrived in Bali she was joined with Gadjah Mada who had prepared an attack
against Tawing. At first there was a misunderstanding of “Arya Damar Abd’llah’s” attack before the arrival of the command but
both side had defended their cause and decided to bury the hatchet so that they
could defeat the last of Bali. For seven months the battle continued until the
entire Bali became a subordinate to Madjapahit. When Gadjah Mada had found out
the real identity of the princess in disguise he called her Arya Damar Kençana Wungu, the daughter
of Prahbu Bhre Wijaya. Probably
Gadjah Mada had kept secret the double identity of the princess. After the
victory was won, Daha was given to Tuniña and since then she was called as the
Bhre Daha while her twin sister, Dyah Sri Gitarja, was appointed as the Bhre
Kahuripan. Rajapatni Gayatri retired from court to become a Bhikkhuni (a Buddhist nun) to cleanse
the wrong that was done in the empire. The rajapatni
appointed her twin daughters -- Dyah Sri Gitarja (Bhre Kahuripan) and Dyah
Wiyat Widadari Tuniña (Bhre Daha) -- as the rani
kembar (twin queens) of Madjapahit under her auspices. The three ladies
formed the Madjapahit’s imperial triumvirate known as the Tribhuwanawijayatunggadewi which meant literally as “the three
victorious protectors of the universe who become one goddess”.
It was during the reign of Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat
(Kençana Tuniña) as Bhre Daha that the Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer Abu
Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد ابن بطوطة), or simply
Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din who was known for his extensive travels
published in the Rihla (literally,
"The Journey") visited Sumatra and Java on his way to China in 1345.
The “Tatar” junk in which Ibn Battuta was
riding in cast anchored at the ancient trading port of Singosari, the former
kingdom of Kertanegara who fall at the hands of the Mongols and usurpers, which
is located at the mouth of the Brantas River. Not far from the port was the
city of Daha (formerly known as Kediri) governed by Dyah Wiyat who assumed the
position of Bhre Daha (pronounced in Malay as wahre daha; spelled in the Rihla as ج د ر ح و which when read in reverse is WHR DJ but misread as Urduja by most historians) after her
brother Jayanegara assumed the imperial throne.
Ibn Battuta gave a vivid description as
follows:
“They now arrived at the country of Tawalisi,71a name derived, according to Ibn Battuta, from that of its king.
It is very extensive, and the sovereign is
equal of the King of China. He possesses numerous junks with which he makes war
upon the Chinese until they sue for peace, and consent to grant him certain
concessions. The people are idolaters; their countenances are good, and they bear
a strong resemblance to the Turks. They are usually of a copper complexion, and
are very valiant and warlike. The women ride, shoot, and throw the javelin
well, and fight in fact just like the men. We cast anchor in one of their ports
which is called Kailukari.72It is one of their greatest and finest cities, and the king’s son used
to reside there. When we had entered the harbor soldiers came down to the
beach, and the skipper landed to speak with them. He took a present with him
for the king’s son;73 but
he was told that the king74 had
assigned him the government of another province, and had set over this city his
daughter, called Bhre Daha.75
The second day after our arrival in the port
of Kailukari72, this princess invited the Nakhodah76or skipper, the Karani or
purser, the merchants and persons of note, the Tindail or chief of the sailors, the Sipahsalar or chief of the archers, to partake a banquet which the Bhre Daha had provided for them
according to her hospitable custom. The skipper asked me to accompany them, but
I declined, for these people are infidels and it is unlawful to partake of
their food. So when the guests arrived at the Princess’s she said to them, ‘Is
there anyone of your party missing?’ The captain replied, ‘There is but one man
absent, the Bhikşu,77 who does not eat of your dishes.’ Bhre
Daha rejoined ‘Let him be sent for.’ So a party of her guards came for me,
and with them some of the captain’s people, who said to me ‘Do as the Princess
desires.’
So I went, and found her seated on her great
chair of throne, whilst some of her women were in front of her with papers
which they were laying before her. Round about were elderly ladies, or duennas,
who acted as her counselors, seated below the throne on chairs of sandalwood.
The men also were in front of the Princess. The throne was covered with silk,
and canopied with silk curtains, being itself made of sandal wood and plated
with gold. In the audience hall there were buffets of carved wood, on which
were set forth many vessels of gold of all sizes, vases, pitchers, and flagons.
The skipper told me that these vessels were filled with a drink compounded with
sugar and spice, which these people use after dinner; he said it had an
aromatic odor and delicious flavor; that it produced hilarity, sweetened the
breath, promoted digestion, etc., etc.
As soon as I had saluted the princess she said
to me in the Turkish tongue ‘Husn misen
yakhshi misen?’ which is as much as to say, ‘Are you well? How do you do?’
and made me sit down beside her. This princess could write the Arabic character
well. She said to one of her servants, ‘Dawat
wa batak katur,’78that is to say, ‘Bring
inkstand and paper.’ He brought these, and then the princess wrote Bismillah Arrahman Arrahim (In the name
of God the merciful and compassionate!) saying to me ‘What’s this?’ I replied ‘Tanzari nam’ which is as much as to say
‘the name of God;’ whereupon she rejoined ‘Khushn,’
or ‘It is well.’ She then asked from what country I had come, and I told her
that I came from India. The princess
asked again, ‘From the Pepper country?’ I said ‘Yes.’ She proceeded to put many
questions to me about India and its vicissitudes, and these I answered. She
then went on, ‘I must positively go to war with that country and get possession
of it, for its great wealth and great forces attract me.’ Quoth I, ‘You had
better do so.’ Then the princess made me a present consisting of dresses, two
elephant-loads of rice, two she-buffaloes, ten sheep, four rothls of cordial
syrup, and four Martabans, or stout
jars, filled with ginger, pepper, citron and mango, all prepared with salt as
for a sea voyage.
The skipper told me that the Bhre Daha had in her army free women,
slave girls, and female captives, who fought just like men; that she was in the
habit of making incursions into the territories of her enemies, taking part in
battle, and engaging in combat with warriors of repute. He also told me that on
one occasion an obstinate battle took place between this princess and one of
her enemies; a great number of her soldiers had been slain, and her whole force
was on the point of running away, when the Bhre
Daha rushed to the front, and forcing her way through the ranks of the
combatants till she got at the king himself with whom she was at war, she dealt
him a mortal wound, so that he died, and his troops fled. The princess returned
with his head carried on a spear, and the king’s family paid a vast sum to
redeem it. And when the princess rejoined her father he gave her this city of Kailukari,79which her brother had previously governed. I heard likewise from the
same skipper that various sons of kings had sought the Bhre Daha’s hand, but
she always answered, ‘I will marry no one but him who shall fight and conquer
me!’ so they all avoided the trial, for fear of the same of the shame of being
beaten by her.”80
In November 1346, upon the return of
Adityawarman to Java from his expedition to China, Dara Jingga had wished to
return home at Dharmasraya. Her wish was granted and upon her return to Sumatra
with the junk captained by Adityawarman, her son, she was accompanied by her
husband Gadjah Mada and the Bhre Daha (Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat), the bride of
Adityawarman.
In the New Year’s Day of 1347, the Bhre Daha
was married to Adityawarman. The wedding ceremony was witnessed by Ibn Battuta
who was with the same junk.
Ibn Battuta described the said wedding
ceremony as follows:
“I remarked that they had set up in the middle
of the palace yard a great seat of state, covered with silk stuffs. The bride
arrived, coming from the inner apartments of the palace, on foot and with her
face exposed so that the whole company could see her, gentle and simple alike…
The bride proceeded to the seat of state, the minstrels, male and female, going
before her, playing and singing. Then came the bridegroom on a caparisoned
elephant, which carried on its back a sort of throne, surmounted by a canopy
like an umbrella. The bridegroom wore a crown on his head; right and left of
him were about a hundred young men, of royal and noble blood, clothed in white,
mounted on caparisoned horses, and wearing on their heads caps adorned with
gold and gems. They were of the same age as the bridegroom, and all beardless.
From the time when the bridegroom entered,
pieces of gold and silver were scattered among the people. The sultan was
seated aloft where he could see all that passed. His son got down from the
elephant, went to kiss his father’s foot, and then mounted on the seat of state
beside his bride. They then brought pawn and betel-nut; the bridegroom took
them in his hand and put them into the bride’s mouth, and she did the same by
him. Next he put a pawn-leaf first into his own mouth and then into hers, and
she did in like manner. They then put a veil over the bride, and removed the
seat of state into the interior of the palace, whilst the young couple were
still upon it; the company took refreshments and separated. Next day the sultan
called the people together, and named his son as his successor on the throne.
They took an oath of obedience to him, and the future sovereign distributed
numerous presents in money and dresses.”81
By then one of the ruler’s primary tasks which
was the promotion of fertility through the provision of water by means of
maintaining order and engaging in sexual intercourse had been fulfilled:
She who is the living image of the daughter of
the Lord of the mountains, and whose body was created by Lokesha, Kasheva and
Mahesvara, to be embraced by the king, the Lord of Java, to increase the
prosperity of mankind to everyone’s delight. 82
Adityawarman was installed by his father as
the king of Malayapura (Sumatra) to
prevent the revival of Şrivijaya and to maintain the unity of Madjapahit. In
the Babad the prince had stated:
“Now my prayer to Allah has been fulfilled, my
prayer to succeed my father the sultan as king, as the light of Java, and to
have my sons and grandchildren inherit it. All the people of Java will submit.”
83
He later conquered Tanah Datar to take control
of the gold trade and founded a kingdom in Pagar Ruyung known as Kerajaan Pagaruyung in Minangkabau and
sculpted another statue of Amoghapasa. He was taking his role as Uparaja from Madjapahit and conquered
vital areas in Sumatra like Kuntu and Kampar which were famous for their
pepper.
The Death of Rajapatni Gayatri and the Rise of Hayam Wuruk
During the Tribhuanawijayatunggadewi’s
rule, the Madjapahit kingdom grew much larger and became famous in the area.
But around May 1349, the Rajapatni Dyah Dewi Gayatri died of old age. She was
given a Catholic blessing by Giovannie de’ Marignolli, a notable traveller to
the Far East in the fourteenth century, who was visiting Madjapahit at that
time.84 Hence, in 1350, the rani kembar
abdicated the throne in favor of Hayam Wuruk, Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat’s adopted son
under the guardianship of Dyah Sri Gitarja.
Gadjah Mada remained the Mahapatih and stood as the regent for the 16-year old
Hayam Wuruk. But it was really Gadjah Mada who was the actual ruler of
Madjapahit from 1328 until his death in 1357.
Hayam Wuruk, also known as Rajasanagara, ruled
Madjapahit in AD 1350–1389. During this period, Madjapahit attained its peak
with the help of its prime minister, Gadjah Mada. Under Gadjah Mada's command
(AD 1313–1357), Madjapahit conquered more territories and become the regional
power. According to the book of Nagarakertagama pupuh (canto) XIII and XIV mentioned several states in Sumatra,
Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara islands, Maluku, New Guinea,
and some parts of Philippine Islands as under Madjapahit realm of power. This
source mentioned of Madjapahit expansions has marked the greatest extent of
Madjapahit Empire.
The Battle of Bubat and the Fall of Gadjah Mada
Next to launching naval and military
expeditions, the expansion of Madjapahit Empire also involved diplomacy and
alliance. Hayam Wuruk decided, probably for political reasons, to take Princess
Citra Rashmi (Dyah Pitaloka) of neighboring Sunda Kingdom as his consort.85 Tradition describes her as a girl of extraordinary beauty. Patih
Madhu, a matchmaker from Madjapahit was sent to the kingdom to ask for her hand
in royal marriage. Delighted by the proposal and seeing the opportunity to
foster an alliance with Madjapahit, the mightiest kingdom in the region, the
king of Sunda gave his blessing and decided to accompany his daughter to
Madjapahit for the wedding.
In 1357 the Sunda king and the royal family
arrived in Madjapahit after sailing across the Java Sea by Jung Sasana ships, then encamped on Bubat square in the northern
part of Trowulan, capital city of Majapahit, and awaited the wedding
ceremony.However Gadjah Mada, the Madjapahit prime minister saw the event as an
opportunity to demand Sunda's submission to Madjapahit's overlordship, and
insisted that instead of becoming queen of Madjapahit, the princess was to be
presented as a token of submission and treated as a mere concubine of the
Madjapahit king. The Sunda king was angered and humiliated by Gadjah Mada's
demand.
As a result, a skirmish took place on Bubat
square between the Madjapahit army and the Sunda royal family in defense of
their honor. It was uneven and unfair match, since the Sundanese party was only
composed mostly of royal family, state officials and nobles, accompanied with
servants and royal guards. The number of Sundanese party was estimated to be
less than a hundred, some source mentioned 97 people. On the other hand, the
armed guards stationed within Madjapahit capital city under Gadjah Mada
commands are estimated numbered several thousand personnel of well armed and
well trained troops. The Sundanese party was surrounded at the center of the
Bubat square. Some source mentioned that the Sundanese had managed to defend
the square and had strike back the Madjapahit siege for several times. However
as the day went on the Sundanese resistance had been exhausted and overwhelmed.
Despite facing the certain death, the Sundanese demonstrated extraordinary
courage and chivalry as they fell one by one.
Despite courageous resistance, the royal
family was overwhelmed and decimated by the Madjapahit army. The Sunda king
died in a duel with a Madjapahit general, probably not really Gadjah Mada at
this time since he was very old to fight but the Bhre Daha disguised as him, as
well as other Sundanese nobles with almost all of the Sundanese royal party
massacred in the tragedy.86 Tradition mentions that
the heartbroken Princess with all of remaining Sundanese women including her
mother took their own lives to defend their country’s honor and pride.87 The ritualized suicide by the women of Kşatriya (warrior) class after
the defeat of their men is expected to defend their pride and honor as well as
to protect their chastity, rather than facing possibility of humiliation
through rape, subjugation or slavery. The Battle of Bubat or Pasunda Bubat
tragedy became the main theme of Kidung
Sunda, also mentioned in Carita
Parahyangan and Pararaton;
however it was never mentioned in Nagarakretagama.
Hayam Wuruk, who had just come from his
religious studies on Hinduism at Mt. Merbabu in central Java, was deeply
shocked about the tragedy. According to tradition, Dyah Pitaloka's death was
mourned by Hayam Wuruk and the entire population of the Sunda kingdom who had
lost most members of their royal family. Later king Hayam Wuruk married to
Paduka Sori, his own cousin instead. Pitaloka's deed and her father's courage
are revered as noble acts of honor, courage and dignity in Sundanese tradition.
Her father, Prabu Maharaja Lingga Buana was revered by the Sundanese as Prabu
Wangi (Sundanese: king with pleasant fragrance) because of his heroic act to
defend his honor against Madjapahit. His descendants, the later kings of Sunda,
were called Siliwangi (Sundanese: successor of Wangi).
This tragedy severely harmed the relationship
between the two kingdoms and resulted in hostility for years to come, the
situation never again returning to normality. Prince Niskalawastu Kançana, Dyah
Pitaloka's younger brother, was the sole surviving heir of the Sunda King since
he was still an infant at that time and was left at the Kawali Palace in the
Sunda Galuh capital city. When he ascended to the throne he cut the diplomatic
relations between Sunda and Madjapahit and issued an edict, known as Larangan Estri ti Luaran, which forbade
the Sundanese people to marry a Javanese. This was a reflection of the
Sundanese disappointment and anger towards Madjapahit which later contributed
to the Sundanese-Javanese animosity, the sentiments that even may still runs to
present day.
Curiously, although Bali is known as the
heiress of Madjapahit’s culture, Balinese opinion seems to take the Sundanese
side in this dispute, as evident in their manuscript Kidung Sunda. The Balinese reverence and admiration to the
Sundanese heroic act by courageously facing certain death was probably in
accordance with Hindu code of honor of Kşatriya caste – that is, the ultimate
and perfect death of a Kşatriya is on the edge of sword and to die on the
battlefield. The practice of demonstrating the act of courage has its Balinese
counterpart in their puputan
tradition, a fight to the death by men and followed by mass ritual suicide by
the women in preference to facing the humiliation of surrender.
The Banishment of the Bhre Daha
“Gadjah Mada” faced opposition, distrust and
sneering at the Majapahit court because of “his” recklessness and all the
brutalities which was not to the taste of the Madjapahit nobles and undermined
king Hayam Wuruk's influence. This unfortunate event also marked the end of
“Gadjah Mada's” career, since not long after this event the emperor forced
“Gadjah Mada” to an early retirement through awarding the prime minister the
lands in Madakaripura (today Probolinggo), in eastern Java, thus exiled “him”
far from capital city’s courtly affairs. However, there were hints in other
Javanese manuscripts & legends that Gadjah Mada being wounded by Dyah
Pitaloka really died at the Battle of Bubat. It was Rajadewi Dyah Wiyat, the
Bhre Daha, disguised as Gadjah Mada by wearing the latter’s full golden armor,
who had returned to Trowulan as Gadjah Mada probably to save the empire from
falling apart by knowing that the Madjapahit’s symbol of strength and power had
been wounded by a woman and died in her hand. If this supposition is correct
then the real reason of the Battle of Bubat was the death of Gadjah Mada at the
hand of the Sundanese princess. And it was the Bhre Daha, keeping the secret of
Gadjah Mada’s death, who was vanished to the forest by Hayam Wuruk and the
royal council. In Panji legends Gadjah Mada is known as Prabu Cakrabuwana.
In the Panji
and Nyai Roro Kidul legends, the Bhre
Daha was found by a widow named Mbok Rondo, believed to be the putri darawati who had chosen to guard
the temple of Tara and lived on fishing snails and shells, lying unconscious by
the sea after trying to swim across the sea towards Sumatra in her despiration.
Later on the said widow found out that she was the Bhre Daha, her granddaughter
in disguise.
During the reign of Hayam Wuruk, Madjapahit
attained its golden age, Majapahit’s hegemony was maintained, although he stood
alone without the company of Gadjah Mada.
The increasing activities in commerce and
navigation in the Majapahit brought the foreign merchants to come and probably
stayed permanently in the city of Madjapahit.
Cultural contacts between the foreign merchants and the inhabitants of
Madjapahit increased with the result to create multi-culture in Madjapahit.
According to the Nagarakertagama and other
Old-Javanese texts, Hayam Wuruk was able to manage the cultural diversity in
his kingdom. He was doing routine
journey through his realm, pursued every year after the rainy season. According
to Mpu Prapanca in his book Nagarakertagama, the exact route was changed every
year, in the end the king will have seen his whole realm. Prapanca who joined
the expeditions explained many things he saw during his journey. He wrote that
Hayam Wuruk visited all kind of temples and the sacred places to pay homage to
gods and ancestors, also talking or discuss many religious problems with the
temples’ superintendents. He also made a sympathetic dialoque with his people,
joined the ceremonial activities, by singing, dancing and poetry-reading.
In 1362, two years before the Nagarakertagama was written,
Adityawarman, who according to some legends had been converted to Islam, and
secretly professed his new religion, came to search for his “vanished” father
and his lost wife in the forest of Kendawahana,
which was believed to be inhabited by the spirits of the dead rulers of Java
who became white tigers. According to a famous legend the princess was attacked
by a white tiger when Adityawarman arrived. The putri darawati asked help to save her “daughter”. Immediately,
Adityawarman with his men fought the white tiger and killed it. In Islamic
legends he had killed the white tiger by a prayer to Allah which caused a storm
and uprooted a tree which fell on the beast. Hence, he was also nicknamed as Prahbu Si Gentar Alam which means “the
king who could move nature” since accordingly he was so powerful that when he
was angry and stamped his feet the earth would shake. Adityawarman found out
the “daughter” of the old woman was his lost wife. It was then that
Adityawarman had found out that his father had long been dead. He took his wife
back to Daha along with the widow who according to traditions was converted to
Islam.
The return of the Bhre Daha was celebrated
with utmost importance by Hayam Wuruk. It was on that occasion that Paduka Sori
Parameswari, the daughter of Adityawarman (Bhre Wengkir) and Rajadewi
Maharajasa (Bhre Daha) was given in marriage to Hayam Wuruk. After the wedding,
a sraddha funerary ceremony for the
Rajapatni Gayatri, Hayam Wuruk’s grandmother was held. A statue of Rajapatni
Gayatri as the goddess Prajnaparamita (also the name of her twin sister) was
erected in her honor. The ceremony was done by the Buddhist and Saivite
clergymen in the same courtyard where the ceremony was performed. The caturdwija (rsi-saiwa-sogata-mahabrahmana) were invited to join the ceremony.
During the ceremony, lion thrones were erected, where priests placed a flower
effigy (puspa) symbolizing the soul of the Queen Grandmother.
In the canto 63, stanza 4, Prapanca narrated
the preparation of the ceremony by the court artisans:
“All the multitude of the artisans there,
making plaited bamboo-work, fashioning the sthana
singha (lion-throne) in the wanguntur
(main court-yard), setting aside those who carved wawans (carriers) for food, bukubukuran
(all kinds of tower-like structures) and figures and things of that kind. Took
part also the smiths of dadaps
(embossed coverings) of gold and silver, all of them bestirring themselves the
more in their respective customary occupations.”
The descent of the soul to earth and its final
placement in the puspa were narrated
in canto 64, stanza 5:
“At the waxing moon, on the twelfth night,
they invited there that swah (soul), sutra (sacred texts) recital was performed
and homa (fire offering) worship, on
the other hand also parίshrama (amphidromy); they were (only considered)
complete at the arrival of the swah
(soul) again (on earth). The honoured holy puspa
(flower effigy) was worked on with yoga
(concentration); in the night was performed the eminent pratistha (placing) ceremony.”
The ceremony lasted for seven days. Colorful
pageants crowded the main courtyard. The whole ceremony was performed to please
the Rajapatni's soul in hopes that
her favor would shine on the reign of her descendants. The posthumous ceremony
continued and the king ordered the repair of the Kamal Pundak sanctuary to
enact a new holy shrine (candi) for
the Queen Grandmother, deified as the Prajnaparamita.
The Queen Grandmother Rajapatni had a special place in Prapança's poem. In one stance,
the poem describes the Queen Grandmother as chattra
ning rat wisesa (the eminent protector of the world). Rajapatni was the progenitor of the Madjapahit kingdom, because she
was the daughter of Kertanegara, the last king of the Singhasari kingdom, and
she was also the wife of Raden Wijaya, the founder of Madjapahit. Thus she was
seen as the protector of the world. The Queen Grandmother is said in the poem
to embody the Pramabhagavati; Bhagavati is another name of Prajnaparamita (the Goddess of Wisdom in
Mahayana).
Miranda Shaw in her book, Buddhist Goddesses
of India, pp. 166-167, describes the goddess Prajnaparamita as follows:
“In the foundational body of Mahayana
literature known as the Prajnaparamita
or Perfection of Wisdom texts, the highest metaphysical principle, the energy,
glory, and radiance of enlightened wisdom — is envisioned as a cosmic female,
the mother of knowledge, the source of all Buddhas. This goddess, known as
Prajnaparamita, is regarded as the “mother” of all beings who attain
enlightenment, for it is her wisdom that engenders liberation. She is the
supreme teacher and eternal font of revelation. All who seek illumination must
sit at her feet and drink from the stream of teachings that flow from her
presence. Thus, Prajnaparamita is the ultimate source of refuge and object of
reverence, for only those who prize wisdom above all else may attain it. Even
Buddhas and bodhisattvas pay homage to her, because to her they owe their omniscience.
To worship a Buddha, the relics of a Buddha, or a stupa is to honor what she
has brought into being; to revere her directly is to worship the source.
Just as philosophy is the queen of the
sciences, Prajnaparamita is the philosophiae regina, the Buddhist Sophia, a dazzling figure who represents
the transcendent wisdom that crowns the intellectual and spiritual quest. In
the wake of the contending schools of Abhidharma
philosophy, mother Prajnaparamita
arose to cast her serene, clear sighted gaze of nondual wisdom over all
disputants. Her luminous, golden persona draws her devotees away from worldly
attachments and into the encompassing splendor of her mystical mother light.
Prajnaparamita shares her name with the
literature in which she appears, the philosophy with which she is associated,
and the knowledge she personifies. The text that introduces the philosophy and
the goddess, the Astasahasrika
Prajnaparamita Sutra, or 8000-Line Perfect Wisdom Scripture…. Although the
work advances a systematic philosophical viewpoint, its language is redolent
with poesy, devotion, and emotional fervor as it celebrates the goddess and her
namesake wisdom.”
Hayam Wuruk is said to have regularly made
sacred journeys to the south coast probably searching for his “aunt” and foster
mother, the Bhre Daha.88 Believing that the Bhre
Daha was dead, Hayam Wuruk had also erected a statue of her as the goddess Camunda, another attribute of the Hindu
war-goddess Durga after killing the
demon kings Chanda and Munda. Since then, the Bhre Daha was
also known in legends and genealogies as Ki
Syama which means “the general who is an incarnation of Durga as a
warrior”. In Sejarah Melayu she was
known as Kençana Kesuma, the
“daughter” (actually daughter-in-law) of Gadjah Mada while in the Silsilah
Raja-raja Sulu she was known as Puteri
Ratna Kesuma, the “daughter” (actually foster daughter) of the Chinese
general Ong Sum Ping (Wong Wang Ping) who according to Chinese
and Bornean legends was sent together with his brother Ong Sum Kang (Wong Wang Kong),
another Chinese general, by Kublai Khan to search for the “pearl of the
dragon”, called in Sabah as “butiza”
and in Cebu as ”trabungko or karbungko sa bakunawa” or “mutya sa alimpo’os”, in the mountains of
the “islands”.
According to the record of the Silsilah Raja-raja Sulu, when Ong Sum Ping first arrived at Brunei
with many Chinese, he said that he was ordered to collect a “pearl of the
dragon” in Sabah, and the mountain was named Mt. Kinabalu. Ong Sum Ping was
actually a corruption of the Chinese word “chung
ping” which means “general”. In legends the said Ong Sum Ping used his
knowledge as his weapon while his brother Ong Sum Kang used his excellent
skills in martial arts, the pança silat.
Hence, the Bhre Daha might have acquired her wisdom and remarkable skills in
martial arts from her foster parents. Brunei (Berune) at that time was a vassal state of the Madjapahit Empire as
indicated in the book of Nagarakertagama, canto 14, written by Prapanca in
1365.
The Nagarakertagama
depicts a sophisticated court with refined taste in art and literature, and a
complex system of religious rituals. The poet describes Madjapahit as the
centre of a huge mandala extending from New Guinea and Maluku to Sumatra and
Malay Peninsula. Local traditions in many parts of Indonesia retain accounts in
more or less legendary form from 14th century Madjapahit's power. Madjapahit's
direct administration did not extend beyond east Java and Bali, but challenges
to Madjapahit's claim to overlordship in outer islands drew forceful responses.89
According to some accounts, around 1364, after
the death of the Chamese Queen, the wife of Kertanegara, and her burial, the
Bhre Daha had sailed with her husband Adityawarman to Sumatra and stayed long
in Palembang.
Around 1366, Sang Nila Utama was confirmed as
ruler over Temasek by an envoy of the Chinese Emperor.
In the latter half of the 14th
century the Madjapahit Empire had sent several trade missions to China. It was
on those trade missions that the name Lusung (Luzon) first appeared in Chinese
History in 1373 in the Ming Annals. In this document, Lusung was one of the
first to answer the call for tribute missions to the new Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). It was Brunei that first responded in 1371, followed by Liuchiu in
1372, and then by Lusung in 1373.
Despite the fact that it made its first
appearance on Chinese records as late as 1373, evidences suggests that the
Chinese had long known the existence of Luzon as far back as the Sung Dynasty
(960 - 1278). The presence of thousands of recognizable pieces of Sung and Yuan
Dynasty porcelains found in ancient burial sites in the Province of Pampanga
and Manila suggests an active trade with China long before the Ming period.
In 1374, Hayam Wuruk (known as Ananggavarman in Sumatran inscriptions)
visited Sumatra. He was informed that Kerajaan Pagaruyung had sent delegates to
Tiongkok. It sounded that Aditywarman was trying to secede himself from
Madjapahit, extricate from its control, and establish his own empire called Swarnabhumi (“land of gold”), probably a
blue-print of a master plan in reviving the Singhasari Empire or the Şailendra
dynasty.
Thus the following year, in 1375, he sent an
expedition to destroy the kingdom of Adityawarman, his father-in-law. A terrifying
battle ensued between Adityawarman and the Madjapahit army in Padang Sibusuk.
Based on the Sumatran inscriptions, found in the statue of Adityawarman as Lokitesvara (which was built by his
Buddhist followers), merry-making followed with “wines and flowers”.
The Ming Annals record the fact that in 1377
the ruler of Melayu (the general name for Sumatra at this period), the
Maharajah (i.e., Adityawarman) obtained China's recognition of his old title
"King of San-fo-t'si" (Şrivijaya) even though San-fot'si had already
been captured by Java. 90 Upon hearing of China's
commentary Hayam Wuruk retaliated by executing the Chinese envoys, without any
comment from China. He then sent another punitive naval attack against a
rebellion in Palembang91, contributing to the end
of the Şrivijayan kingdom. The rebellion was squashed by Madjapahit but it left
the area of southern Sumatra in chaos and desolation. It could be presumed that
Adityawarman was killed during
the said attack. While the Bhre Daha had returned to Mindanao and her three
sons became the ancestors of the rulers of Sulu and Brunei and was believed to
be the ancestress of the Walisongo.
The nature of the Madjapahit Empire and its
extent is subject to debate. It may have had limited or entirely notional
influence over some of the tributary states which included Sumatra, the Malay
Peninsula, Kalimantan and eastern Indonesia over which of authority was claimed
in the Nagarakertagama.92 Geographical and economic
constraints suggest that rather than a regular centralized authority, the outer
states were most likely to have been connected mainly by trade connections,
which was probably a royal monopoly.89 It
also claimed relationships with Champa, Cambodia, Siam, southern Burma, and
Vietnam, and even sent missions to China. 93
Although the Madjapahit rulers extended their
power over other islands and destroyed neighboring kingdoms, their focus seems
to have been on controlling and gaining a larger share of the commercial trade
that passed through the archipelago. About the time Madjapahit was founded,
Muslim traders and proselytizers began entering the area.
The Death of Hayam Wuruk
In 1389, Hayam Wuruk died. His death was said
to be accompanied by civil wars and natural calamities -- volcanic eruptions
and typhoons. His ashes was said to be buried at the Bojong Ratu temple in
Trowulan area where seldom visited by man with position since it is local
belief that if a person with certain standing visits it he will loose his
position. Hayam Wuruk was succeeded by the crown princess Kusumawardhani, who
married a relative, Prince Wikramawardhana. Hayam Wuruk also had a son from his
previous marriage, crown prince Wirabhumi, who also claimed the throne.
Following Hayam Wuruk's death, Madjapahit power entered a period of decline
with conflict over succession started by Bhre Wirabhumi, Hayam Wuruk’s son from
a concubine. He already had received the region of Blambangan called “the
eastern court”, but he was dissatisfied and conflict occurred between Bhre
Wirabhumi against his cousin Wikramawarddhana from the western court. This war for the struggle of the throne is
known as perang paregreg, ending with
the defeat of Bhre Wirabhumi. Furthermore, even though Bhre Wirabhumi was
killed, this family conflict was not over yet, and the accident of Bhre
Wirabhumi’s death even became the seed of continuous family vengeance and
dispute, until the sixteenth century. Malacca began to challenge the power of
Madjapahit over the MaIay Peninsula and the rest of Java. Islamic activity from
Malacca was also beginning to penetrate the island of Java, and it would
eventually replace Brahmanism. 94 As
time passed, the various Hindu religious cults sought refuge in the hills,
eventually confining themselves to Bali and, as the Javanese chronicles say,
"the prosperity of the island vanished".95
The Disintegration of the Empire and the Rise of the Sultanates
In 1401, Sang Nila Utama’s great grandson,
Dharmaraja (Desia Raja) who after succeeding his father to the throne his name
was officially styled as Paduka Sri Maharaja Parameswara was expelled from
Temasek by a Madjapahit invasion. He later headed north and founded Malacca in
1402.96
At that time Brunei was a vassal to Malacca.
In 1403, the first official Chinese trade
envoy lead by Admiral Yǐn Qìng 尹慶
(Wade-Giles:Yin Ch'ing) arrived in Malacca.
In 1404 with the arrival of Maulana Malik
Ibrahim As-Samarkandy (also known as Kakek Bantal, Syeikh Maghribi, and Sunan
Gresik), an Uzbek who was born in Samarkand, a descendant of Ahmad al-Muhajir
-- a Hadhramaut saint who migrated from Basra (now in Iraq) to Yemen to avoid
strife during the Abbasid Caliphate -- the spread of Islam had spread to Java,
though there were already existing Muslims in Java during the reign of Hayam
Wuruk (even he was suspected to be a Muslim convert since his tomb was
surrounded by Muslim tombs within his complex). Prior to his arrival to Java he
had lived in Champa for 13 years from 1379 until 1392. Within that period, he
married the princess of Champa and begot two sons from her, namely Raden Abdul
Rahman (also Rahmat, Rakhmat, Mamat, and Mahmud) and Raden Abu Bakr Santri.
Maulana Malik Ibrahim As-Samarkandy engaged in small business by opening a
small shop selling sundries and treated sick people in the community. He
founded the first Islamic school or pesantren
in Java. He taught people of new techniques in agriculture and accepted people
of lower castes outcasted by Hinduism.
In 1405, Paduka Sri Maharaja Parameswara
visited China. He was known at that time to have attained sainthood in Islam so
in order to test his wisdom the Chinese emperor asked him whether her
daughter’s confession that she was pregnant
was true or not. When Parameswara answered that princess was pregnant
the emperor laughed; declaring the Parameswara was not a true maulana and denouncing him a liar asked
him to leave China immediately. But later on that year, the emperor had found
out that her daughter was pregnant. He told his daughter to surrender herself
to the maulana. Beforehand the emperor
had sponsored for a treasure fleet not only to find for treasures or get
tributes as far as Syria but also to seek out Zhu Yunwen or Jianwen -- the
previous emperor whom Zhu Di, crowned as Yongle Emperor, had usurped and who
was rumored to have fled into exile – possibly the "largest scale manhunt
on water in the history of China". The Yongle Emperor called out Ma He,
the court’s Eunuch Grand Director (太監, taijian), who after promoting the latter into the Chief Envoy (正使, zheng shi) – he was later popularly known as Zheng He (Admiral He),
the great great great grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a Persian who
served in the administration of the Mongolian Empire and was appointed governor
of Yunnan during the early Yuan Dynasty. -- ordered him to dispatch the
treasure fleet at night to avoid detection with his daughter so nobody would
know. The “Yongle-poh” (which means literally as “Yongle’s precious treasure”
which was referring to his daughter) was to be sent, at night to avoid
detection, to the Parameswara for marriage to save her from disgrace.
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's
voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships, far larger than any
other wooden ships in history. Some modern scholars consider these descriptions
to be exaggerated. Chinese records assert that Zheng He's fleet sailed as far
as East Africa. According to medieval Chinese sources, Zheng He commanded seven
expeditions. The 1405 expedition consisted of 27,800 men and a fleet of 62
treasure ships supported by approximately 190 smaller ships. The fleet
included:
- Treasure ships (Chinese:宝船), used
by the commander of the fleet and his deputies (nine-masted, about 126.73
metres (416 ft) long and 51.84 meters (170 ft) wide), according to later
writers. This is more or less the size and shape of a
football field.
- Equine ships (Chinese:馬船),
carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet
(eight-masted, about 103 m (339 ft) long and 42 m (138 ft) wide).
- Supply ships (Chinese:粮船),
containing staple for the crew (seven-masted, about 78 m (257 ft) long and
35 m (115 ft) wide).
- Troop transports (Chinese:兵船),
six-masted, about 67 m (220 ft) long and 25 m (83 ft) wide.
- Fuchuan warships (Chinese:福船),
five-misted, about 50 m (165 ft) long.
- Patrol boats (Chinese:坐船),
eight-oared, about 37 m (120 ft) long.
- Water tankers (Chinese:水船), with
1 month's supply of fresh water.
Parameswara married the Chinese princess while
the sister of Parameswara who was the princess of Brunei was married to Zheng
He who was known there in his royal nickname – “San Bao” (三寶/三宝, or 三保) which means “three jewels” or to the Indians as “Sinbad” who
later when he had his hajj in Mecca was known in Brunei as Ahmad after his
Muslim name Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin (Persian: حاجی محمود شمس
الدين).
The said series of the Ming armada naval
expeditions with a total of seven voyages which was led by Zheng He – the
China-born Persian mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded
voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa – had
only arrived in Java during its second voyage in 1407 and a span of visits
which lasted until its the seventh voyage in 1433 since there was a civil war,
called Paregreg, in Java from 1405 to 1406,97 of
which Wikramawardhana was victorious and Wirabhumi was caught and decapitated.
The said civil war had weakened Madjapahit grip on its outer vassals and
colonies.
In 1409, Parameswara married the princess of
Pasai and established the Sultanate of Malacca. The Sultanate of Malacca
succeeded Şrivijaya Empire as a Malay political entity of the archipelago. 98
In 1411, at the end of the third voyage of
Zheng He, Zheng He and his treasure fleet escorted Parameswara and his wife,
the “Yongle-poh”, together with 540 officials from Malacca who sailed to China
to pay homage to the Yongle Emperor with a tribute which included agate,
carnelian, pearl, hawksbill, coral, crane beak, golden female crane beak, suit,
white cloth, Western fabric, Sa-ha-la, rhino horn, ivory, black bear, black
ape, white muntjac, turkey, parrot, pian-nao, rosebush dew, su-he oil, gardenia
flower, wu-ye-ni, aromatic wood, incense sticks, gold silver incense sticks.
Upon arrival in China, a grand welcome ceremony was done along with animal-sacrifice.
The historical meeting between Parameswara and the Yongle Emperor was recorded
accurately in the Ming chronicle.
The Geoff Wade translations:
“You, king (Parameswara), travelled tens of
thousands of li across the ocean to
the capital, confidently and without anxiety, as your loyalty and sincerity
assured you of the protection of the spirits. I (the Yongle Emperor) have been
glad to meet with you, king, and feel that you should stay. However, your
people are longing for you and it is appropriate that you return to soothe
them. The weather is getting colder and the winds are suited for sailing south.
It is the right time. You should eat well on your journey and look after
yourself, so as to reflect my feelings of concern for you. Now I am conferring
upon you, king, a gold and jade belt, ceremonial insignia, two "saddled
horses", 100 liang of gold, 500 liang of silver, 400,000 guan of paper
money, 2,600 guan of copper cash, 300 bolts of embroidered fine silks and silk
gauzes, 1,000 bolts of thin silks ...” 99
In 1414, Parameswara was reported dead by his
son at the Chinese emperor’s court. 100
Wikramawardhana ruled to 1426 and was
succeeded by his daughter Suhita, who ruled from 1426 to 1447. She was the
second child of Wikramawardhana by a concubine who was the daughter of
Wirabhumi.
101
The Majapahit kingdom in the mid-15th century
was divided into nine provinces: Trowulan (the capital), Daha, Balambangan
(also spelled Blambangan), Matahun, Tumapel, Kahuripan, Lasem, Wengker, and
Pajang.
It was during this period that the spread of
Islam in Java became inevitable which eventually extended to other areas in
Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and the southern Philippines.
By 1430 Zheng He's expeditions has established
Muslim Chinese and Arab communities in northern ports of Java such as in
Semarang, Demak, Tuban, and Ampel, thus Islam began to gain foothold on Java's
northern coast.102 It was during this period
between 1430-1433 that Zheng He ordered his men and Muslim local officials to
“Javanize” or assimilate into the culture of Java103 like adopting their culture and transliterating their names into
Javanese to hide their Persian and Chinese identities so that they would be
accepted by the people more easily and the spread of Islam would run smoothly.
Within this period, an Egyptian, Syeikh Maulana Idhofi, arrived in Java from
his trip in Baghdad and settled in Sayid Kamil where he was called by the local
villagers as Syeik Datu Khafi. At first, he used the area for meditation until
he began to preach Islam. 104 It was also during this
year that Parameswara who had been converted to Islam and had become a syeik
and assumed the name Mansur Shah preached Islam in Tidor.
In 1443, according to Cirebon account, a fleet
of three Arab ships had arrived in Java. A group of Arab immigrants who were
called as the “Bani Israil of Mesir
(Egypt)” led by Raden Abdul Rahman (Syeikh Maulana Mas Huda Ishaq ul-Hashim) --
who had followed his cousin, Syeikh Maulana Idhofi, together with his sister,
Siti Baghdad (it means “widow queen of Baghdad”), and his brother, Raden Abu
Bakr Santri (Syeikh Abdul Ibrahim Maulana Sharif ul-Hashim) – who after a royal
protocol visit had settled separately in Sembung, Muara Jati, Junti and Japura.105 This “Bani Israil of Mesir” or “Israelite Tribe of Egypt” must not
really be Egyptians but it could be the “lost tribe of Israel” that had
migrated from Egypt and Persia to Southeast Asia. Interestingly enough, it
could mean that the Malay race was actually the lost tribe of Israel. It could
be very probable that the said migrants especially the nobles and merchants who
could afford to sail to other lands had gone to Arabia to escape the plague
that hit Egypt for almost the entire 15th century but began to
migrate to Southeast Asia in the late 15th century from Arabia since
the Ottoman Turks had started to conquer the lands previously dominated by the
Persians especially Baghdad which is the second largest city of the Arab world
in comparison with Cairo.
The foreign policy of Suhita in allowing the
Muslim migrants to live in Java and freely spread Islam set discontentment
among her Hindu followers which slowly weakened the empire.
In 1447, Suhita died and was succeeded by
Kertawijaya, her brother.97 In that year, Raden
Abdul Rahman was given authority over Ampel region by his uncle, Kertawijaya.
At that time Ampel region has about 30,000 inhabitants. Ampel was located next
to the main port of the kingdom, Jenggala Manik, which made it a strategic
place to spread Islam with aid from the Moslem merchants in Java. These
merchants had already made small communities along the northern coast of Java
since the 11th century.
In 1451, Kertawijaya was assassinated by a
certain Rajasawardhana. Rajasawardhana who was the Bhre of Keling, Pamotan, and
Kahuripan became king but it seems that he was not recognized by the empire;
his domain was only over the three districts already mentioned. It is very
probable that this Rajasawardhana who was not in the Madjapahit bloodline was
Raden Abu Bakr himself for at that time he was the Bhre Keling according to
Cirebon account. There is a Bornean tradition somewhere which relates that
Raden Abu Bakr who after intoxicating or poisoning his uncle killed him with a
kris and usurped the throne. But in other account the deed was done through the
advice of his Chamese aunt. Raden Abu Bakr was a nephew-in-law of Kertawijaya
since his mother and the wife of Kertawijaya were sisters and both were Muslim
princesses from Champa. He was also a member of the Bhayangkara Ishlah.
Bhayangkara Ishlah was actually an octogenarian organization -- composed of the
Arabs, Egyptians, Persians, Israelites, and Chinese migrants -- which aimed to
spread Islam in the islands by creating family ties with the nobles through
marrying their daughters and through assimilating teachings to local culture
and beliefs. From this principle, Raden Abu Bakr, in 1452, married the Hindu
princess of Balambangan named Sekardadu Dewi, daughter of Prabu Sembuyu Menak
Balambangan (Sadmuddha).
In 1453, when Constantinople fell on the hands
of the Ottoman Turks and Sekardadu Dewi was already pregnant a plague had
infested the land. Abu Bakr had also troubles with the nobles of Daha when he
tried to build a mosque there. One of the officers of the king accused Raden
Abu Bakr and his companions to have brought the plague from Egypt. And more
local Hindus blamed this with the construction of mosques. In Pajang, Syeikh
Suta Maharaja's base was attacked by the army of Prabu Andayaningrat from
Pengging, who did not like the growth of Islam in that area. Syeikh Suta
Maharaja escaped to Demak and died there.106 The
Hindus believed that they were cursed by the goddess Durga. The Hindus
revolted. A battle ensued. Raden Abu Bakr had to flee leaving his wife behind.
Soon, Sekardadu Dewi had given birth to a son. But her father had ordered that
her baby must be killed for the people of Balambangan believed that it was the
new-born babe who had brought the curse of plague in Java. To keep her son
safe, Sekardadu Dewi set him adrift on a wooden box to the strait of Bali. The
baby was seen by the sailors floating on the Indian Ocean near Sumatra. He was
rescued and brought to the Madjapahit princess, Dewi Candrawati, the owner of
the ship. Dewi Candrawati was also known in other accounts as Dewi Condrowati,
Dayang Merah Wati (“Red Pious Princess”), Dang Merduwati, Ratu Dwarawati, Ratu
Anarawati, Nyi Gede Manila, Nyai Ageng Maloka, Nyai Gede Maloka, Nyai Pinatih
Gede, Nyai Ageng Tandesor simply Nyai Ageng.
She was a daughter of Zheng He (known in Java as Gan Eng Cu) who had
married a Madjapahit princess during his last voyage in 1430. Dewi Candrawati
gladly adopted the child and named him “Joko
Samudra” for he was “raised up from the river-ocean”. Raden Abdul Rahman
probably saw the opportunity to marry a princess who had “raised a son of the
river-ocean” who needed a father. During that year Raden Abdul Rahman and Dewi
Candrawati were married and the boy who was named by Raden Abdul Rahman as
Raden Abdul Faqih Ainul Yaqin was taken to Gresik.107
As Raden Abu Bakr was ousted, the Madjapahit
throne was left kingless and the minor kingdoms were struggling for succession
which ended to a three-year civil war. If the Cirebon account would be
considered, it must be understood that Raden Abu Bakr had gone to Mecca for a
pilgrimage which was not only a dream for every Muslim to do the hajj but it
was also part of the celebration of the Muslim world at that time over the fall
of Constantinople to the Muslims and sooner would lead to the capture of
Jerusalem. It must be understood that while the Hindu-Buddhist heirs and
usurpers to the Madjapahit throne were busy struggling for power, the Muslim
nobles were away on a pilgrimage and probably on refuge.
Girisawardhana (a title referring to the mountains),
son of Kertawijaya, came to power in 1456. Nevertheless, Madjapahit's power had
declined through these dynastic conflicts and the growing power of the
north-coastal kingdoms in Java.
In 1457, Raden Abu Bakr had returned from his
pilgrimage to Mecca and established the Sultanate of Sulu and assumed the title
of Paduka Batara Mahasari Maulana
al-Sultan Sharif ul-Hashim. He preached Islam in Buansa and even erected a
mosque at Tubig-Indangan.108
During that period there was an existing
belief among the Hindu Javanese that the miserable state of Madjapahit was the
result of the Batari Durga’s curses brought upon the empire by the policies of
Suhita, and the empire would be released from this state of suffering by Bhre
Daha, its “liberator” incarnated as Sadeva – who would become the instrument in
bringing harmony and peace into the land
troubled with the dynastic conflict between the royal house of Madjapahit and
the scion of the Kadiri (Daha) royal house.109
In 1466, after the death of Girisawardhana,
Raden Abdul Rahman, being the husband of Dewi Candrawati, assumed the
Madjapahit throne in Tumapel with the regal title Singhawikramawardhana.101 The royal family had just returned from Egypt with their children
Prabu Cakrabuana (WalangSungsang), a title previously held by Gadjah Mada; and
Putri Syarifah (also known as Nyai Rarasantang, i.e. “beautiful Sundanese
lady”); and their adopted son Raden Fatah (the “Joko Samudra”).110 In 1468, Raden Abdul Rahman in fulfillment of the Hindu prophecy,
probably to gain recognition and full support from Hindu constituents as
cultural assimilation would apply, moved the kingdom’s capital further inland
to Daha to appear that he was the Batari Durga incarnated into the warrior
prince Sadeva – in Javanese belief Sadeva was a warrior prince who after
marrying the daughter of a hermit slay the giant demon Kalanjaya from which the
celestial being Citrasena who had been cursed was liberated.109 Raden Abdul Rahman assumed the regal title of Prabhu Bhattara
Brawijaya Ranawijaya Kertabhumi Budaya (Brawijaya V).
In 1474, upon the advice of his council known
as the Walisongo, Raden Abdul Rahman had moved the capital to Demak. Daha was a
Hindu capital with little Muslim community and the Muslim council needed a
place away from it so that Islam could grow stronger.111
The new formation put all member of Walisongo
at every important seaport in Java. The strategic locations, with the help from
Muslim merchants, enabled them to gain more control to the economic system of
the island and strengthened the position of Walisongo and the Muslim
communities. The economic control in the northern seaports and the strong
military power in Demak and Giri were needed to anticipate the political heat
in Madjapahit. For centuries, the Javanese Muslims were always protected under
the rule of Madjapahit, which was tolerant to them, while most of the rebels
did not like Islam. Should anything happen to Madjapahit, the Walisongo was
already prepared to build an independent state to protect the growth of the new
religion.
112
On the other hand, during this period, the
Ming Empire further limited the number of tribute missions from overseas when
it did not compensate the cost of maintaining foreign embassies and
entertaining foreign envoys. 113
In western part of the crumbling empire,
Madjapahit found itself unable to control the rising power of the Sultanate of
Malacca that in mid-15th century began to gain effective control of Malacca
strait and expand its influence to Sumatra. Several other former Madjapahit
vassals and colonies began to release themselves from Madjapahit domination and
suzerainty.
In 1478, Raden Abdul Rahman abdicated the
throne in favor of Raden Fatah who then established the Sultanate of Demak and
declared its freedom from Madjapahit. He then built the Demak Masjid Agung
Demak in 1479. 114
Demak was a busy harbor with trade connection
to Malacca and the Spice Islands. It was located at the end of a channel that
separated Java and Muria Island (the channel is now filled and Muria joined
with Java). In 15th century until 18th century, the channel was wide enough and
important waterway for ships traveling along northern Javanese coast to the
Spices islands. In the channel is also located Serang River, which enabled
access to rice producing interior of Java. This strategic location enabled
Demak to rise as a leading trading centre in Java. According to Tome Pires, Demak had more inhabitants
than any port in Sunda or Java. Demak was the main exporter of rice to Malacca.
And with the rise of Malacca, so did Demak rise into prominence. Its supremacy
also enhanced with claim of direct descent of Raden Fatah to Majapahit royalty
and his marriages ties with neighboring city-states.115
In 1480, Abu Bakr abdicated the throne of Sulu
Sultanate in favor of his new-found son, Fatah -- who assumed the royal title
of Sultan Kamalud-Din (in Demak account he was also known as Kamiruddin; in
Tidor, he was known as Djamaluddin) and married the Johor princess Juzul Asiqin
(known in Sulu as Putri Paramisuli), daughter of Zainul Abiddin and descendant
of Iskandar Dhul-Qarnayn (i.e., Cyrus the Great of Persia). Afterwards, in
1481, Abu Bakr had gone to Egypt with Fatah and his family to introduce them to
his people – the Bani Israil.
In the same year, Prabu Cakrabuana had gone on
a pilgrimage to Mecca with his younger sister Syarifah. According to the
Cirebon account (Babad Tjeribon),
when they were in Arabia they made a visit to Baitulmaqdis (Jerusalem) at the
time when Sultan Abu Bakr, who was there too on a hajj, was in mourning for the
death of his wife. Sultan Abu Bakr
instructed his minister (qadi or penghulu), Fatah (Jamal ud-Din in Sulu
tarsilas; and Tjiliati, Tjiliatu, and Tjeri Leliatu were his non-Muslim titles
and Djamaluddin was Muslim title in Tidor accounts) and his family, to find for
him a woman whose appearance was like his former wife. It happened that the
qadi met with Cakrabuana and Syarifah who were on their way to Baitulmaqdis.
The minister found that Syarifah and Sultan Abu Bakr's former wife were alike
and reported the matter to him. Upon learning this, Sultan Abu Bakr asked the
minister to summon Cakrabuana and Syarifah to his palace and thence, after
Syarifah stated her requirements and Sultan Abu Bakr granted them, the marriage
occurred. Among the requirements was that Syarifah wished to have a son to
become a wali who would preach Islam
on Java. After his pilgrimage Cakrabuana took a new name, Hajji Abdullah
Sulayman; Syarifah, upon marriage, took the new name, Syarifah Muda’im; while
Abu Bakr was also known as Usman Hajji after marrying Syarifah. After marriage,
Sultan Abu Bakr and Syarifah went to Mecca on another pilgrimage. They reached
Medina in the month of Rabi'ulawwal, visited the Prophet's tomb and stayed in
Medina until the month of Shawwal. They continued their journey to Mecca and
did an umrah. They stayed in Mecca
for a period of time where, on the month of Safar, Syarifah bore a child. 110 After nine months Syarifah had delivered a healthy baby boy they
named Tullah which means “sign of God” from the Arabic “ayat Allah” which is a shortened form of ayatollah, an honorific title bestowed upon every Muslim student
who receives the ijaza (license) that
makes him a mujtahid (jurist). Tullah was born in Taif, Arabia on April 2, 1482 (3
Safar A.H. 887). It was in the following year, 1483, according to Soma Oriental that Trenggana, also named as Tung Ka Lo, was born to
Juzul Asiqin.
In 1490, Sultan Abu Bakr together with his
wife Syarifah, an 8-year-old son Tullah, Hajji Abdullah Sulayman (Cakrabuana)
with his adopted daughter named Putri Mesir Gandasari, Fatah, and the whole
royal retinue had arrived in Aceh, Sumatra. In some account, it was said that
the boy Tullah was snatched by a garuda
(probably a monkey-eating eagle) and was taken to its nest in Mt. Ledang at the
Johor-Malacca border which story was later corroborated with Pigafetta’s
account on a conversation with Tullah himself later in 1521. The boy was found
by Raden Abdul Rahman with his wife Dewi Candrawati, hiding inside a hatched
giant egg that was dropped from a tree. The boy was returned to his father. The
young boy Tullah was then made as the new bupati of Aceh by the name of Arya
Damar Abdullah, a title originally used by Rajadewi Wiyat when she conquered
Bali and its subordinate states, which would indirectly mean for the Hindu
Javanese who were waiting of a liberator as “Sadeva, the male incarnation of
the Bhre Daha, has been born to liberate us!”
Abdullah Sulayman was assigned as the adipati solok of Jefara (or Japara), the
adipati agung of Brunei and Aceh, the
rajah (i.e, “warrior-prince
commander”) of Luzon, and the hyang
wisesa (“army commander”) of Cirebon.
Raden Abdul Rahman had built a school in Medang.
It was not only a school for preaching the sermons on Islam but a school of
martial art called arnisor kali. Arnis -- which is a combination of
the Japanese martial arts "budō" (武道), "bujutsu" (武術), and "bugei" (武芸); the Chinese kungfu; and the mimicry of the movement of the winds on
falling leaves and the current of the river (kali) smashing to and flowing away
from the rocks -- at that time was considered as the finest form of the silat in Southeast Asia. As a guru Raden Abdul Rahman assumed the
title Guru Adiputra Budaya who was named in Pigafetta’s account as “Bulaya”.
Among his students was his nephew-grandson Tullah whose interest in religious
knowledge and skill in the art of self-defense became apparent at a very young
age.
116
As evidenced by history, the country that
succeeded in controlling the narrow strait between the Malay Peninsula and the
island of Sumatra would gain complete control of China's maritime silk route
and thus become a thalassocracy - a
maritime trading empire. The Şrivijaya of South Sumatra did so in 670, the
Chola of Southeast India in 1026, the Madjapahit of Java in 1343, the Sultanate
of Malacca in 1400, and finally the Portuguese in 1512.
The Sultanate of Malacca
Cross references would show that between the
latter part of the 15th century and the early part of the 16th
century the capital of the Madjapahit Empire had been transferred from Trowulan
to Daha (Kediri), then to Demak, then to Malacca, then to Sumatra, then back to
Demak, then probably to Johor, and then finally to Brunei and the islands now
known as the Philippines due to regional conflicts and to the invasions of the
Portuguese, the Spaniards, the British, and the Dutch. It was under the rule of
a Javanese-Chinese-descent Sultan
Muhammad Shah or Mahmud Shah known
also as Bulkeiah, Ahmad, and Awang Alak Betatar in Brunei; as Nakoda Ragam (“singing captain”) in
Johor & Luzon; as Gung Anom, Pati Unus,Adipati Yunus, and Prabu Udara in Java; Amir-ul-Umara
in Sulu; and as Haring Habagat or Riayat Umabong (spelled Humabon by
Pigafetta) in Sumatra. He was the son of Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah of Malacca
(son of the Parameswara) who upon his father's premature death, in 1488, was
installed at a very young age – that is, 8 years old. The regent at that time
was the Bendahara (Prime Minister)
Perak (known in Luzon as the blacksmith Panday
Pera). During his initial years as a young adult, the sultan was known to
be a ruthless monarch. The administration of the sultanate was in the hands of
an able and wise Perak.
It was during the administration of Perak that
a group of five Panglima Awang who served not only as warrior-commander but
also as warrior-admiral. These five warrior-admirals were named by traditions
not with their real names but according to their number symbolical to their
individual characteristics. The number-names of the warrior-admirals below are
in Malay-stylized Chinese-Sanskrit-Arabic-Malay switching of words and concept
commonly practiced during the Srivijaya and Madjapahit eras.
The number-names of the warrior-admirals are
as follows:
1)
First Warrior-Admiral: Hang Kasturi
2)
Second Warrior-Admiral: Hang Jebat
3)
Third Warrior-Admiral: Hang Lekiu
4)
Fourth Warrior-Admiral: Hang Lekir
5)
Fifth Warrior-Admiral: Hang Tuah
It must be noted that during this period the
Malay language was used as the lingua
franca of commerce within the empire and it was a practice among the Malays
who traded with the Chinese and Arabs to switch names of persons or places into
Sanskrit, Chinese, and Arabic homonymous names or synonymous in meaning and
vise-versa to give double meanings akin to the characteristic of a certain
subject.
The number-names mentioned above are not
Chinese names as it will likely imply if interpreted on the present perspective
and context that Chinese names carry the surnames first. In this case, it must
be emphasized that “Hang” used to address the warrior-admirals is neither a
Chinese surname nor a styled Chinese loan-words “huang” (elder) and “hwang”
(king). It is a Malay word “awang”, “orang”, or “hyang” styled to sound like
Chinese and to mean almost synonymous but attached with double meanings or
secret concepts.
It will be discussed briefly as follows:
1)
Hang Kasturi. Kasturi means in Sanskrit as “musk” which is the fragrance found in
the musk deer as in the maxim “the musk deer chases the wonderful smell that is
actually inside its own body". A deer if translated into Malay will become
“rusa” or “usa” in other branches of Malay used in trade during the period like
the Cebuano-Visayan language. In Cebuano-Visayan “usa” could both mean “deer”
and “one”. Hence, Hang Kasturi would also mean as “first warrior or warrior
number one”. Then if you add “awang” and “usa” it would sound like “wangsa” or
“bangsa” which would mean an “aristocrat” or “hyang wisesa” which is equivalent
to a “wikramawardhana” which is an admiral; hence, Hang Kasturi would also mean
“warrior-admiral number one”. And taking into consideration the Greek meaning
of “Kastōr” Κάστωρ, it would mean "beaver" or "he who
excels", meaning “number one”. In Greek myth, Kastōr and Pollūx were the
twin sons of the goddess Leda who were hatched from an egg. Kastōr was a mortal and half-brother of
Pollūx. They were considered as the Dioscuri (“sons of God”) that became the
constellation Gemini that was often invoked by travelers and of sailors to seek
favorable winds. Kastōr and Pollūx would
be the masculine equivalent of the Chinese sea-goddess, Tianfei, invoked for favorable winds by Zheng He. Tianfei would
sound very similar to Jambi (Açeh) which would refer to one of the three
kingdoms of Sumatra. The S’yair Awang
Semaun relates that the first rulers of Brunei were descendants of Dewa Amas of Kayangan, a part
supernatural being who descended to earth at Ulu Limbang in an egg. This could
be referred to Hajji Abdullah Sulayman who was called as the Damang Sari (or Damong Sari which means “warrior prince”) of Brunei, as the Hyang Wisesa of Daha, and as the Prabu Cakrabuana of Cirebon & Jambi
(Açeh). Note that the number-name “Hang Kasturi” does not only imply the
cardinal of number but it also implies a character and description of a person.
2)
Hang Jebat. Hang Jebat is also identifiable
with Hang Biajit or Tun Biajit in the Sejarah Melayu. “Je bat” which means
“second or two” in Hokkien has a similar sound with “biajit” which is a
corrupted form of the Sanskrit “tyajeth” which means “one has to give up” (for
number two). Moreover, there are Sanskrit words related to number two and often
used as names of persons within the period like “dvaapara” (that die or side of
a die which is marked with two spots) and “adwaya” (without a second). “Adwaya”
was used in Java and Sumatra at that time to mean an “admiral” while on the
other hand “Dvaapara” sounds similar with the Arabic name Jaafara, which was
also a famous name of an Islamic saint Sayyid (Arab traveler) Ja′far as-Sadiq
who existed during the period. From this it could be understood that Jafar
as-Sadiq was the same person referred to in Malaccan accounts as the
“warrior-admiral number two”.
3)
Hang Lekiu. Lekiu must be meant to Lio Kio
Gurun the Manchu name for the Ryūkyū Kingdom of Japan which played a central
role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia. In the
14th century, small domains scattered on Okinawa Island were unified into three
principalities: Hokuzan (北山, Northern
Mountain), Chūzan (中山, Central
Mountain) and Nanzan (南山, Southern
Mountain). This was known as the Three Kingdoms or Sanzan (三山, Three Mountains) period. It is obvious that number three is being
emphasized again. There was an admiral named Khoja Hassan being mentioned in
the Malaccan account whose name has a similar sound with Hokuzan, Chūzan, and
Nanzan. Hence, it could be concluded that Hang Lekiu or “warrior-admiral number
three” was one and the same with the admiral Khoja Hassan. The question now is
who among the Walisongo was Khoja Hassan? There is only one clue, the political
capital of Chūzan (which sounds more similar to Khoja Hassan) was at Shuri,
neighbored the major trade port of Naha and center of traditional Chinese
learning, Kumemura. Or it could be
from Kamakura which is surrounded as it is on three sides by mountains and was
so named after a type of sword called kamayari
(similar-sounding with the sword associated with the Panglima Awang which was the taming
sari) that was enshrined in a place called Okura; hence, kamayari
plus Okura turned into Kamakura. Kamakura (鎌倉市 Kamakura-shi) is a city used to be the former de facto capital of
Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency. Interestingly with the
play of words if Kamakura would be translated from Sanskrit-Persian it could
mean “horse-lover” from kama (love) and kura (horse) while Khoja Hassan would
sound like Khoda or Quda Hassan which would also mean the same thing while if
changed to Nakhoda Hassan it would mean captain-general or an admiral. This
warrior-admiral could be likened to or literally a Japanese shogun who must
have not returned in Japan in 1498 since it was hit by a tsunami generated from
Meiō Nankaidō earthquake that had washed away the building housing the statue
of the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan; since then the
Buddha has sat in the open air. Both Kamakura and Kumemura is also
similar-sounding with the name of Amir Hassan Umar Sayyid, another member of
the Walisongo who was either an Arab or an Arab mestizo as indicated by the
word sayyid, which means either Arab
traveler or Arab mestizo. Or would it be possible that Kamakura at that time
was a vassal of the Madjapahit Empire? Probably it must also have a connection
with the Javanese concept that Java was an island of Kama, the god of love
equivalent to the Latin Cupid and the Greek Eros. Yet there is a great
probability that this “warrior-admiral number three” is no other than Sultan
Muhammad Shah himself who was also called in his imperial title as Nakhoda Ragam Amir-ul-Umara Hassanal
Bolkeiah (in Persian it means, “Singing Captain King of the Southwest
Monsoon Bringer of the Fountain of Life”), the “god” of erotic love.
4)
Hang Lekir. “Lekir” is Hokkien for “fourth or
four”. In Sanskrit there is a concept related to number four and fourth which
is the Kali-yuga, the fourth of four repeating ages that form the basic cycles
of universal time. Interestingly Kali-yuga has a similar sound of the name of
another Islamic saint Sunan Kalijaga or Sunan Kalijogo which derived its nature
from the Arabic notion of qadli dzaqa
which means "holy leader" in the sultanate. Another interesting to
note is that the word “lekir” has also a similar sound with “ilir-ilir” which
was a prayer song composed by Sunan Kalijaga. But in Javanese “kali” means
river and “jogo or joko” means enchanted or raised up – hence Kali Jogo would
mean “raised up from the river”. There was one whose name would suggest that he
was that boy, namely Joko Samudra
which literally means “the enchanted boy who was raised up from the
river-ocean”. The said person was Raden
Fatah.
5) Hang Tuah. Hokkien “tuah” which means “elder or big” is the source of
“kuya” in Tagalog, another branch of Malay widely spoken as a trade language
especially in Luzon, Brunei, and Malacca as historical records would show. If
“hang” will be switched back to “awang” and “kuya” will be used instead of “tuah”
it will become “awang kuya” which has a similar sound with “orang kaya” which
was actually used to address the warriors since its literal meaning is
“man-of-war” or a Kşatriya. Out of a number ranging from one to five, five will
be the biggest in ascending order which means that “tuah” also denotes big and
would really mean “five or fifth”. In Sanskrit, five or fifth is “sthuula” and
originally identical with “sthura” which means “large, thick, stout, massive,
bulky, big, huge, coarse, gross, and
rough” and with “yatha-sthuula” which means dense, dull, stolid, strong, and
big”. “Tuah” also in another dialects and branches of Malay would become
“tulah”. And interestingly enough another name of an Islamic saint has a
similar sound that is, Syarif Hidayatullah which if switch into Malay
homonymous name it will become “Si Adwaya
Tullah” which will fit exactly to the warrior-admiral’s rank – that is,
“Lord Admiral Commander Tullah” – and if only “Awang Tullah” will be used it will sound very similar to “Hang Tuah”.
Lastly, taking into account that the Malay
play of words used here is generally Malay-Sanskrit switch and most if not all
the characters are associated with the Walisongo who propagated Islam in
Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines then it must be perceived
conceptually and contextually into a Hindu-Javanese psyche on the Mahabharata.
The concept of “Panglima Awang” or
royal bodyguards composed of five warriors has its root on the belief of a
Pandava or the five brothers who are sons of Pandu.
In the Mahābhārat, Book III: Varna Parva,
Section 268 the Pandavas are described as follows:
1)
Yudhisthira -- possessed a "complexion
like that of pure gold, possessed of a prominent nose and large eyes, and
endued with a slender make." Master of the spear. He was just, had a
correct sense of morality, and was merciful to surrendering foes.
2)
Bhima -- tall and long-armed. In a display of
ferocity, he was "biting his lips, and contracting his forehead so as to
bring the two eyebrows together." The master of the mace, his superhuman
feats had earned him great renown. "They that offend him are never
suffered to live. He never forgets a foe. On some pretext or other he wreaks
his vengeance."
3)
Arjuna -- the greatest of archers,
intelligent, second to none "with senses under complete control."
Neither lust nor fear nor anger could make him forsake virtue. Though capable
of withstanding any foe, he would never commit an act of cruelty.
4)
Nakula -- "the most handsome person in
the whole world." An accomplished master swordsman, he was also
"versed in every question of morality and profit" and "endued
with high wisdom." He was unflinchingly devoted to his brothers, who in
turn regarded him as more valuable than their own lives. The name Nakula
generally means full of love.
5)
Sahadeva (Sadeva) -- the youngest of the
brothers, and like the others formidable in war and observant of morality.
Master of the swords. "Heroic, intelligent, wise and ever wrathful, there
is not another man equal unto him in intelligence or in eloquence amid
assemblies of the wise."
All the characteristics of the Pandavas
according to their number are exactly the same with the characteristics of the
Malaccan “Panglima Awang” mentioned earlier respectively. But it does not mean
that the said warriors were the characters in the Mahabharata itself for they
were true historical figures in Southeast Asia between the 15th and
16th centuries.
Based on the identification of the
number-named warriors, proper names will be used here in the preceding
narratives to avoid confusion.
Around 1494, the time when Tullah had already
perfected his natural abilities at self-defense by studying the arnis that he,
according to the Cirebon account, had discovered, inside a box hidden in his
father’s special room, a Koran or a book about the Essence of Muhammadiyah (haqeqat Muhammadiah) written in golden
ink which inspired him to leave the palace and sail to Malacca to study Islam
deeper.
110 Along with him were his relatives who had
also decided to go with him for his religious yearnings – Abdullah Sulayman,
both his uncle and cousin; and Fatah, his half-brother. It was during this time
that Perak had first noticed him and his relatives. According to Malaccan
account, a band of pirates ran amok, causing havoc in a village, and Perak and
his guards' attempts to quell the unrest resulted in further attacks on the Bendahara. The Bendahara's guards fled, but when Tullah and his relatives saw the
commotion, they were reported to have killed the group of pirates, thus saving
the Bendahara.117 In Cebuano oral tradition, the said pirates were Chinese pirates led
by a certain Chiong Li.118 Perak was so impressed by the lad’s courage that he recruited him and
his relatives to work at the palace, where they rose in the ranks, eventually
becoming feared members of the Sultan's royal guards. He then taught Tullah on
the Malay language which was used as the official lingua franca of commerce
within the empire and on royal court etiquettes. 117
In 1497, when Tullah and the other two
musketeers were assigned as laksamanas (admirals)
they set a fleet intending to conquer Rajagaluh, a vassal-state of Hindu Galuh
– Pajajaran which is in the Sunda Islands. Along this time, Gandasari who was
living in Abdullah Sulayman’s palace in Cirebon since she was a child had
already grown fifteen and with remarkable beauty. Sulayman was planning to use
the beauty of his adopted daughter as bait for Prabu Cakraningrat of Rajagaluh.
So he asked Tullah to teach his adopted daughter about Sufism – a branch of
Islam which studies magic -- and trained her in the art of war and self-defense
of which she paid special attention. By
the end of that year when Gandasari had already shown competence in defending
herself, according to the Cirebon account, she was sent to fool Prabu
Cakraningrat with her beauty and do things necessary to attract him until he
would propose marriage with her and by that she would be taken to Rajagaluh not
only to see its marvels and excellence but also the detailed security of the
kingdom. The plan was a success – Gandasari was married to Prabu Cakraningrat.
This paved the way for Abdullah Sulayman to make the necessary plans to bring
about the fall of Rajagaluh. To make it short, Rajagaluh was conquered at the
end.119 They had also conquered Tidor during that year and Fatah
(Djamaluddin) was crowned as the first Muslim ruler of Tidor. It could be very
probable that the said admirals were helping Malacca in order to attain their
own goals of propagating Islam and expanding their own territories which was
not seen by Perak and the Sultan.
Sultan Muhammad Shah became very ambitious
that he thought of conquering the Madjapahit Empire not knowing that his own
admirals were the ruling class themselves. At that time Madjapahit’s seat of
power was centered in a Muslim sultanate of Demak. It would be very difficult
for him to conquer it without vassalages within the island. Around 1498, Sultan
Muhammad Shah ordered his laksamana
Tullah, who was known for his absolute and unfaltering loyalty to his Sultan,
to gather the fleets for they would conquer Japara, a vassal state of Demak,
and other coastal cities of Java. It was said that Abdullah Sulayman, the Adipati Solok of Japara and the Taming Sari or Damong Sari of Brunei, challenged his nephew, but at the same time
his cousin, Tullah in a duel to prove his worth. After a brutal fight, Abdullah Sulayman was
defeated, his men flee, and Tullah who would have been entitled to have him
executed on the spot as a pirate, treated him with all the respect due to a
royal prince. Raden Abdul Rahman took his son’s kris and bestowed it to Tullah as its new owner. The kris which was
known as Taming Sari after the name
of its original owner was believed to be magical and empowers its possessor
with invincibility. When the fleet returned to Malacca, Tullah took Abdullah
Sulayman with him and made him as his blood brother and gave him the honor of a
Maharaja Sang Setia and became one of
the five famous warrior-admirals of the Islamic Madjapahit Empire. 120
According to Malaccan account, Tullah handed a
letter sent by Raden Abdul Rahman which was addressed to the Sultan: 121
Maka titah raja kepada Laksamana, Hai Orang Kaya Laksamana, apa
sebabnya maka anak kita pergi ke
Melaka? Maka sembah Laksamana. “Daulat Tuanku Syah Alam, patik mohonkan ampun dan karnia: patik tidak amu persembahkan ke
bawah Duli Syah Alam melainkan tuanku bertanyatah
kepada paduka anakanda.” Maka Adipati Agung pun berdiam dirinya fikir dalam hatinya. Maka baginda pun tahulah akan
ertinya sembah Laksamana itu.
Tullah who had referred his own ruler as paduka adinda when addressing the pengiran berunai, displayed further
traits of magnanimity of becoming a sultan in order not to be outdone by the adipati agung’s generosity on his
departure. When the laksamana returned,
the pengiran berunai’s letter was
taken in procession by elephant inside the palace compound and all the way to
the audience hall as only befits the greatest of kings. But when it came to the
gift of five hundred decorative boxes each worth a tahil, the Sultan merely commented: 122
Apa
gunanya gendaga itu kepada kita? Mana bicara Laksamanalah itu.
In the same year, Japan had been hit by a
tsunami which probably included Luzon and other parts of northern Philippines.
It was in this year that marked the death of Perak who was succeeded by a new
Tamil bendahara, Mutahir. The death
of Perak changed Sultan Muhammad Shah into a more responsible ruler. He created
a band of blood brothers known as the saudara.
The said saudara were appointed
either bendahara or pengiran of the different states of his
empire. As an amir-al-bahr (commander
of the sea), he organized fleets and with his able laksamanas (admirals) he conquered so many lands. But most of the
times conquered them by marrying its princesses either with consent or by
force.
In 1503, Mar Elijah, Patriarch of the East Syrian
church, had sent three missionaries "to the islands of the sea which are
inside Java and to China." 123 One of these missionaries was Jaۥfar.
In Cirebon account the said missionary came to Cirebon at the time when Tullah
was married to the princess of Cirebon named Nyi Mas Babadan. Tullah was
informed about the coming of the pandita
(saint) to Cirebon – a Sharif Syam which means “a priest from Syria” which the
natives called Pangeran Karangkendal since
he first preached in Karangkendal which is located 19 kilometers northward from
Cirebon. The pandita was described as
a handsome young man having a very long hair which, when it was loosened, would
reach the ground and so he always knotted (gelung) his hair – this was the
reason why he was also called as Syeikh
Magelung (“the Syeikh with knotted hair”). The informant told Tullah that
the pandita’s long hair
was “invulnerable to all cutting devices; that he wandered from place to place
in search of someone who would be able
to cut his hair; and should he find someone, he would be willing to surrender
to him and become his disciple.”
Hearing that, Tullah had made a deception plan
with Abdullah Sulayman. When Abdullah Sulayman met Jaۥfar,
he told him that on his way he would be attacked by a robber who would cut his
hair. Of course, Jaۥfar would not believe it
but swore that if that would happen he would come back and become his disciple.
On his way, Tullah who was in disguise and wearing a veil on his face attacked
the pandita; pinning the latter down
to the ground he cut the pandita’s hair; and then fled. The place in the city
of Cirebon where his hair was cut is called Karang-getas
(‘the land easily cut’). Believing that Sulayman was a prophet, Jaۥfar came back to him. There he saw the 21-year old
widow Gandasari who became the center of attraction among the crowd of men who
had offered her a lot of things just to make her become their wife. Gandasari
asked the advice of her brother Tullah on what to do. Tullah told his cousin
that if she would rather wait to marry in the hereafter, whereas in this world,
she would become his disciple. Then he continued that since she had already
completed learning of tasawuf from
him it was the right time that she must take a husband. To make the decision
easier she announced a competition by which she declared that any man who could
beat her in a fight would be the one she would take as her husband. The
watching crowd was made up of both spectators and competitors attempting to win
her. There were many princes and knights who attempted but no one succeeded.
Then Jaۥfar, who had come a long way from his
pilgrimage to Kudus (Jerusalem), introduced himself and challenged Gandasari to
a fight. Although their fighting skills were really equal and balanced,
Gandasari, who was exhausted, jumped behind Tullah to hide from Jaۥfar’s attack. Disregarding the fact that there was
someone sitting between them, Jaۥfar tried to
grab Gandasari and almost hit Tullah’s head; but before his hand reached the
head he fell down powerless. Tullah helped him and mediated by declaring that
neither one was winner or loser. 124 Later, Jaۥfar went on a journey with
Tullah and became another warrior-admiral of the Islamic Madjapahit Empire.
In 1505, Tullah attended the coronation of
Trenggana, the only son of Fatah, as the new sultan of Demak and the birth of
Fatah’s daughter with Juzul Asiqin who was named as Kesuma who was later known
also as Layla Manjanay (“Lady of the Night”) among the Tausug and the Turks;
Lei-la Men-chi-nei in Chinese records; Puteri Gunung Ledang in Johor; Nyi Mas
Panguragan, Ratu Ayu, and Ratu Nyawa in Cirebon account; Radin Mas Ayu, Ratna
Kalinyamat, Kencana Wungu in Javanesse account; Puteri Sadung and Che’ Siti in
Kelantan account; Hara Amihan, in Cebu account; and etc.
The Sultan’s lust for beautiful girls did not
always bring him good. It became one of the reasons with his conflicts with the
Tamil Bendahara Mutahir. Accordingly, when the Sultan had heard the remarkable
beauty of Teja (which means
“radiance”), the daughter of Surya Si
Amar DiRaja, the ruler of Luzon who had acquired a large parcel of land in
Pahang, Malacca for his big plantation of peppers and assumed as Rajah Bendahara of Pahang Inderapura, he
immediately went there and proposed for marriage but it was denied. Frustrated,
the Sultan, instead, had asked the hand of Fatimah, the daughter of Mutahir, in
marriage but the bendahara denied the proposal since his daughter’s marriage to
Ali was already arranged and their wedding was already scheduled. Ali was one
of the Sultan’s sons. The Sultan became even more furious when Fatimah was
married to Ali. Mutahir suspected that anytime he would be sentenced to death
so he had plotted a plan on putting an end to the Sultan’s tyranny. So one day
while the Sultan was away on his voyages, through his insinuation, he had
convinced Ahmad Shah, the eldest son of the Sultan, to usurp the throne.
Knowing this upon his return, the Sultan ordered Jaۥfar
to kill his son Ahmad Shah which he did, probably because he felt he had no
choice. “Fearing for blood revenge against which even the ruler of Malacca
could not guarantee protection”, Jaۥfar fled to
Pasai and Haru but upon seeing that it was difficult to settle there he sailed
to Brunei and married Gandasari who had named him as her Pangeran Soka (“Prince Charming”). According to Javanese accounts,
Jaۥfar was “converted to Islam” but it could be
doubtful. Probably he had just assimilated his teachings to local culture as
what the other Syrian Christian missionaries did in India. Syrian Christians in
India and Southeast Asia did not use any pictures, paintings or statues of
Jesus or saints in their churches until the arrival of Portuguese for they
considered it as idolatry and when they prayed they just clapped their hands
and looked at the sky and called the Heavenly Father – Abba. Most of the Syrian
Christians who had gone to Southeast Asia were from India and may had been
Hindus before they were converted to Syrian Christianity hence they were
vegetarians and did not eat meat. This similarity with Sufism must have been
misinterpreted by the Muslims in the area as another type of unorthodox branch
of Islam.
At that time, Tullah's deep loyalty to and
popularity with the Sultan led to rumors being circulated that Tullah was
having an illicit affair with one of the Sultan's stewardess Dayang. Frustrated on his denied
marriage proposals, the Sultan sentenced Tullah to death without trial for the
alleged offense. The death sentence was never carried out, however, because
Tullah's executioner, the Bendahara Mutahir, went against the Sultan’s orders
and hid Tullah in a remote region of Malacca – in Pahang.
Tullah, while away in exile, sought for a way
to return to the king's grace, and decided one way to go about it was to
present Teja to His Highness. In order to get close to Teja, Tullah had to
first befriend Teja's chambermaid, Dayang Ratna, to whom he offered gifts.
Dayang Ratna was easily won over. With her as his ally, he presented a set of
exquisite textile to Teja. However Teja swiftly rejected the gift. Left with
little choice, Tullah resorted to “using a love potion”, which he got from
Dayang Ratna to sprinkle on Teja's seat. The love potion accordingly made Teja
fell madly in love for Tullah, and she consented in following him back to Malacca.
Tullah had in fact led Teja to believe that
they were eloping, as they left Inderapura without the knowledge or consent of
her father. When the Bendahara Inderapura learned that his daughter had eloped
with Tullah, he sent his warriors the Laksamana and Seri Maharaja Lela to give
chase. In the ensuring fight, Tullah managed to defeat the Bendahara
Inderapura's warriors.
During this period, the other jealous Malay
ministers accused Mutahir of planning a rebellion. The Sultan wanted to kill
him but he could not prove the accusation. It was also the time when Jaۥfar had returned to Malacca but only to hear the
news that Tullah was dead, murdered unjustly by the Sultan he served. He ran amok to the royal court to avenge his
death. Jaۥfar in the heat of the event had
killed Mutahir, which he believed to have executed Tullah, and the family of
the bendahara. The Sultan ordered his warriors to kill Jaۥfar but none of the Sultan's warriors dared to challenge the
more ferocious and skilled Jaۥfar. The Sultan
was unable to stop him ran outside the palace square. Sulayman came to save the
Sultan and dashed to Jaۥafar. After a grueling
fight, Jaۥfar had been stabbed by Sulayman.
Probably aside from saving the Sultan’s life,
Abdullah Sulayman’s killing of Jaۥfar had been
triggered by his fear that Jaۥfar was not
really converted to Islam and still secretly professing his original faith to
Tullah who if not stopped would soon convert the latter to Syrian Christianity
and lastly because of Jaۥfar’s infidelity to the
Sultan by continuously getting illicit relationships with the Sultan’s
concubines which endangered Tullah and probably for other unknown reasons would
endanger all of them.
The tragic event happened when Tullah and Teja
together with her contingent of chambermaids had arrived in Malacca. Sulayman
had explained to Tullah of what had happened. Jaۥfar
retreated to Tullah and dying in his friend’s arms said, "Raja adil raja disembah, raja zalim raja
disanggah." ("A fair king is a king to obey; a cruel king is a
king to fight against".)
Seeing Tullah alive and believing that it was
him who killed Jaۥfar, the Sultan had given
Tullah full amnesty. The Sultan then prepared a royal welcome for the princess.
As the princess was paraded through Malacca, she began to realize that she had
been tricked by Tullah into following him to Malacca, and that she was in fact
going to be married to the Sultan, not to Tullah. Teja was forced into the
marriage, “but the king loved her deeply, and over time, won her love in return”. 125
The Arrival of the Portuguese
During the visit of the Portuguese admiral
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, on his famous voyage intended for the Spice Islands,
to Malacca (from 1509-1510), the sultan planned to assassinate him. However,
Sequeira learned of this plot and fled Malacca but not without a battle. Diogo
Lopes de Sequeira almost died in the hands of Tullah if not with the help of
his page, Fernan Magellan. The Portuguese had managed to escape and not later
than October 10, 1510, Fernan Magellan was rewarded for his many services with
the rank of captain.
In 1511, upon hearing a word from Fernan
Magellan of what had happened to Sequeira‘s conquest in Malacca, the famous
Portuguese naval officer Afonso de Albuquerque decided to utilize this to embark
upon his expeditions of conquest in Asia.126 With
Fernan Magellan, Albuquerque sailed to Malacca. Malacca was then subsequently
attacked by the Portuguese when Tun Teja was taken ill. The first battle ensued
on July 13, 1511 the feast day of Saint Henry. On that day, Trenggana, who who
was visiting the royal court of Malacca at that time to take back Dayang,
Sultan Muhammad Shah’s stewardess whom he loved dearly, had been captured by
Fernan Magellan. The Battle of Malacca lasted more or less a month from July to
August, 1511.127
 |
| Trenggana a.k.a Enrique de Malacca |
|
On the part of the Madjapahit prince and
Sultan of Demak, Trenggana, it was learned later that he was taken by Fernan
Magellan on his voyage back to Portugal, then to Spain, and to all the trips of
Magellan since 1511-1521. In Harun Aminurrashid's book Panglima Awang, it is said that Magellan told him to change his
religion, or at least to change his name, in order to avoid bad treatment from
the ship's crew for being a Muslim. Magellan himself gave him the name Henrique. His Christian name appears
only in Antonio Pigafetta's account, in Magellan's Last Will, and in official documents at the Casa de Contratación de las Indias of the Magellan expedition to
the Moluccas. Pigafetta who was an Italian called him Henrich128 and stated that he was
originally from Sumatra which was, according to him, named anciently as “Taprobana”
(probably a confusion of the ancient name of the island of Sri Lanka which was was called Ceilão, i.e. Ceylon, by the Portuguese in 1505 which name was also addressed to Sumatra by Pigafetta in 1521) but in Spain he was
officially called as Enrique de Malacca.
The book also describes how Magellan treated Henrique not as a slave but as a
friend, and defended him from the prejudice of other sailors. 129
On the note that the former name of Sumatra was Taprobana, Pigafetta might had based this on the comparison between the Catalan Map of 1375 and the Typus Orbis Terrarum (the world map used by the Europeans during the 16th century). In the Catalan Map, the island of Taprobana (Sumatra) was erroneously located at the right or eastern side of the island of Java. Yet if we compare it with the Typus Orbis Terrarum, Java Minor (Sumatra) was placed east of a peninsula known as Lucach and was placed south of the Cape de Malaca (Malay Peninsula), Sumatra, and Java Major (Java). But if we draw from the fact that Java Minor is Sumatra and Lucach is Yucat or Jocat, one of the old names of Malay Peninsula, we could conclude that Lucach, Petan (more probably "Petang" which means in Malay as "afternoon" which has a similar meaning to "Jana" another name for Java which means "sunset" or it would Pulau Pedang, Pulau Bengkalis, Pulau Tebingtinggi, and Pulau Rangsang as a compact island), and Java Minor in the said map is only an inverse of the Malay Peninsula, Java, and Sumatra. Probably it was politically intended to hide the real where
about of Jocat, the so-called "Land of Gold", the real Biblical Ophir.
By end of that year, Sultan Muhammad Shah had
taken over the island of Ternate in the Moluccas and was called there as Prabu Udara. When he was there, the
Portuguese friend of Magellan, Francisco Serrao, had been shipwrecked near
Ternate. As Prabu Udara, Sultan
Muhammad Shah saved the said Portuguese and from thereon the grateful Francisco
had enriched the Sultan at the expense of Tidor which was under the
jurisdiction of Fatah who was known there as Djamaluddin, being the son-in-law of Zainul Abd-Din of Johor.
Tullah and the Celestial Fairy
At the capture of Malacca, the Sultan and the
royal family with his able men and warriors -- such as Tullah, Khoja Hassan,
and Sulayman -- retreated to Muar, Johor. Tun Teja who felt seriously ill
passed away when the royal family reached Merlimau. Continuing the journey and
staying at Johor as refugees, the Sultan had heard that the crown princess of Johor,
who was a descendant of Iskandar Dhul-Qarnayn – believed before to be Alexander
the Great of Macedonia but recently concluded by many scholars as no other than
Cyrus the Great of Achaemenid Persia (559-530 BC) -- and the couple
Adityawarman and the Bhre Daha, and the only daughter of Raden Fatah with his
principal wife, hence, the rightful heir of the Madjapahit Empire, had arrived
from her long journey to China with a ship-load of five hundred amazons. He had
heard that the princess they called “celestial fairy” -- for she could bestow
the power of leadership over Madjapahit upon any man she would marry -- was
living at Mt. Ledang at the Melaka-Johor border and that she possessed the two
“monsoons’ orbs” or the “pearls-of-Allah” among the Muslims. The said princess
was crowned Madjapahit empress and assumed the imperial Madjapahit title Damhara Amihan after her brother had
been missing and ruled Johor.
At once, the Sultan sent Tullah with Abdullah
Sulayman to court the puteri gunung
ledang (“Princess of Mount Ledang) on his behalf and to get the nobat from her father, whom he did not
know to be Fatah, while they proceed on their way to Japara.
According to traditions, the Princess only
agreed to marry Sultan Muhammad Shah if he satisfied a list of requirements, or
pre-wedding gifts – such as bridges of gold and silver linking Melaka with the
top of Gunung Ledang; seven trays of mosquito livers; seven trays of mite
hearts; seven jars of virgins' tears; vat of water from dried areca nuts; a cup
of the rajah’s blood; and a bowl of the blood of the sultan's first born son.
The said traditions were very similar to the Pampangeño and Cebuano legends
about the fairies Mariang Sinukuan and
Maria Cacao, respectively, who had
requested impossible tasks to a giant suitor they would not want to marry.
Tullah knew the tasks would not be fulfilled and was said to be so overwhelmed
that he failed his Sultan that he flung his kris into a river and vowed only to
return to Malacca if it resurfaced, which it never did.
In other Malay legends where the “celestial
fairy” was called as Puteri Sadung, it
has been stated that the Sultan ordered his men by force and deliver her to his
court. In the Hikayat Hang Tuah, it
could be understood that Tullah and Abdullah Sulayman fled to Brunei while the
princess, based on Bornean accounts, had escaped with her father Fatah but got
shipwrecked near Brunei. Tullah was said to search for the princess but could
not find her. But he had learned from the sailors of the sunken ship who were saved
by the Kedayans that the bird of the “celestial fairy” named “pinggai” had flown to a place now known
as Kampong Burong Pinggai which meant she must be alive and was hiding there.130 “Pinggai” is a variant name of the Philippine cockatoo which is endemic
to Sulu and the Visayan Islands.
Later it was found out that the princess was
in Sulu disguising as Tullah assumed the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu with
the title Ala-ud-Din or Nur-ul-Alam while her father had returned to Tidor. It
was known after the said princess had sent a message to the Sultan Batari (feminine form for sultan batara which means “empress”) of
Johor, which was referring to Juzul Asiqin, through her bird, not to worry for
she was still alive and living in an island known as “Ophir” (referring to Mindanao). 131
In the meantime, Sultan Muhammad Shah had
established his new government in Sumatra and was converted to Islam by name
but still professing his Buddhist beliefs. He was planning to revive the
Srivijayan Empire by taking back all the jurisdictions of Madjapahit. He seized
the vacant throne of Demak. Later in that year, the sultan managed to mobilize
fleets from Java to Malay Peninsula and tried to seize back the port of Malacca
from the control of the Portuguese but failed. Most of the forces composing the
fleets of the Sultan were Chinese sent by the Ming Dynasty since the Malay
Malacca Sultanate was its tributary state and ally. 132
Believing that the fleet of Fernan Magellan
(who was then sent on by the viceroy with Antonio d' Abreu to explore the Spice
Islands) -- which left from Malacca at the end of December 1511 and sailed
along the north of Java, passed between Java and Madura, left Celebes on their
left, coasted by the Gunong Api volcano, touched at Bura, and so reached
Amboyna and Banda where they found such abundance of spices – was sent to
capture Java, Sultan Muhammad Shah with his fleet sailed back to Demak and
stayed there for long to protect it from a possible invasion. There was a
report at that time in China that all the Chinese in Java were wiped out by the
treachery of the Sultan who poisoned them at a banquet. 133
Pengiran Temenggong
Tullah now assumed the name Awang Si Ayu which meant “the handsomest
and brightest warrior of the land (empire)”. But among the saudara, 14 blood-brothers or brothers-in-law created by Sultan
Muhammad Shah, he was considered as “the bravest and strongest”. According to
the S’yair Awang Semaun, he acquired
his extra-ordinary strength after eating a magical archerfish locally called as
Ikan Sumpit-Sumpit while in Sulu
traditions, Tullah was born beside the river in Sulu pale, frail, and almost
lifeless but as a baby, he grabbed a swimming red grouper fish known locally as
pugapu and ate it which afterwards
made him strong and red in complexion – hence the boy was called as “pula-pula” (reddish) and later as Dullah or Dakullah (which means “great” or “strong”) – the said fish is
called at present in Luzon as lapu-lapu and
in Cebu as pugapu.
He married Gandasari, the widow of Jaۥfar and raised his friend’s son, who was born two
months after his death, as his own son and named him Tugau (who was later known
in Brunei and the Philippines as Sulayman). While Abdullah Sulayman acted as
the Adipati Agung of Brunei, Tullah
was still assigned as the Pengiran
Temenggong (admiral) of Brunei’s fleet whose authority covered Borneo,
Cirebon & the Sunda Islands, and the Philippine Archipelago. A Pengiran Temenggong, which comprised one
of the four viziers of the empire, was supposedly a rank second to the sultan
and higher than a shahbandar (the one
who collected taxes and tributes from the ships that entered the imperial
waters), hence a shahbandar had to
report to the Pengiran Temenggong
about the said matter but in the case of Sultan Muhammad’s reign who had hired
a Chamese Shahbandar as the people of Champa were known for extra-ordinary
intelligence at that time, the Shahbandar would report directly to him
by-passing the authority of the Pengiran Temenggong and violating some maritime
laws being observed in the empire. In the S’yair Awang Semaun the Juru Shahbandar was Awang Lebar Daun, who appeared either his "brother", "father", "foster father", or "father-in-law".
According to the S’yair Awang Semaun, Tullah (Awang
Si Ayu or Awang Simaun), Abdullah
Sulayman (Awang Damang Sari), and
Ja’far (Awang Jerambak) were
responsible in conquering the Melanau kingdom that stretched from Mukah to Tutong;
Java; the entire Borneo; and the entire Philippines. The said conquest was not
always about army and navy but it was also done by winning the lands in terms
of the most popular gambling sports at that time like the top-spinning and
cock-fighting – that is, they won just 40 Madjapahit ships laden with goods by
winning in the said sports.
When the Portuguese finally took Malacca in
1512, the resident merchants from Luzon and Brunei held important government
posts in the former sultanate. They were also large-scale exporters and ship
owners that regularly sent junks to China, Brunei, Sumatra, Siam and Sunda.
On January 6, 1514, Tullah, as the Pengiran Temenggong, sailed back to
Malacca for trade. It was noted by Rui de Brito Patalim, Captain-General of Malacca,
who wrote to Dom Afonso de Albuquerque in Goa the following:
“Afterwards there arrived three junks from
Burney. The people of this island are Luçoes,
and from that land was the Tomungo (Temenggong) of this city (Malacca). Two of
them belonged to the Luçoe merchants
from there and one belonged to the said Tomungo. They brought merchandise and
sold it. All courtesy was shown them and they were well treated. Of what they
found, they laded the best they could. They left fully satisfied. They are good
people and clever merchants. From our conversation and truthfulness they
derived much pleasure, and they cleverly showed that this pleased them. They
sailed with the monsoon from their country to trade in camphor and other
articles. They had been wont to trade with Malacca aforetime, but could not
live without this market, whence they take cloth of Cambaya and other
merchandise. All these people (from the junks) are related to the Tomungo.” 134
This was the first visit of the Borneans to
Malacca after its capture by the Portuguese, so it was an occasion of some
importance. The Captain-General would seem to have conversed with them to
considerable length, for he was obviously keen to reopen the Brunei-Malacca
trade. The interesting fact emerges that, though from Brunei, all these people
were related to the nobility of the Malacca Sultanante. It was a fact very
accurate.
On the
same day Patalim wrote to King Manoel I:
“There came from Burneo to this city (Malacca)
three junks, they brought seed pearls and provisions, in addition to other food
stuffs. The King is a pagan, but the merchants are Moors. Borneo is a great
island, which lies between China and the Moluccas. The people of that island
call themselves Luçoes, they are good
men and our friends. When trading here they always seek cloth from Cambaya and
Quilis (Quilon) on the Malavar coast.” 135
According to Tomé Pires, the Portuguese
assigned as the Supervisor of the Spice Trade in Malacca from 1512 to 1515, in
his Suma Oriental, the trade between
the Portuguese in Malacca and the merchants of Brunei, who were all men, since
then was done every year.
The Islamization of Brunei
In the early part of 1515, seeing the economic
development in Brunei, Sultan Muhammad Shah along with his fleets had decided
to move in to Brunei. And for the first time seeing Kampong Ayer, they all
exclaimed, “Baru nah!” which means
“No we found it!” Sultan Muhammad Shah or Mahmud Shah was already famed even in
Brunei as a cruel tyrant named by the Borneans as Sultan Makatunaw (“the sultan who can melt anything”). An ensuing
fight followed between the armies of Brunei and of Sultan Muhammad Shah.
Out-numbered, the datus and their
armies retreated to other parts of Borneo or to the other islands. Sulayman
retreated to Garang near Kuala Labu at the Temburong district not far from
Brunei while Tullah retreated to Mindanao.
It must be at this time that the tale about
the ten Bornean datus who rebelled
against the Sultan and fled to Panay occured. In a Panay manuscript written on
a goat-skin by the use of the juice of blackberry as ink (Tagalog “duhat” means blackberry while Malay “dawat or duwat” means ink), known as Maragtas,
it is said that the ten Bornean datus led by Datu Puti, who wanted a free life, fled to the island of Panay and
established a settlement at its plains at the mouth of the Irong-irong River in
exchange of a golden saruk and a pearl necklace given to the Ati (Negro) rulers
Hari Marikudo and Hara Maniwantiwan respectively who had
moved to the mountains and then established a confederation called Madya-as
which had a similar meaning with Madjapahit.
The Sultan who was then known as Awang Alak Betatar among his Buddhist
and Hindu followers started, in disguise as a merchant, trading back with
Malacca probably to spy and find ways to regain it back from the Portuguese. It
was at this time that Tome Pires was informed by the Bornean merchants that the
king of Brunei “became a Muslim”. Tome Pires also noted that:
“…
it is not very long since the King became a Moor. They seem to be a trading
people. The merchants are all men
of medium stature, not very sharp witted. They trade with Malacca every year. It is a country with plenty of meat,
fish, rice and sago.” 136
In the early part of 1517, Sultan Muhammad
Shah sent an envoy named Pengiran
Bendahara Seri Maharaja Parameswara (Pateh
Berbai) to Bendahara Inderapura Surya
Sri Amar DiRaja of his plan to sail to China for an annual tributeand
probably to seek help in casting away the Portuguese from the region.
Immediately, the bendahara paid the
Portuguese 9000 cruzados in gold to
retain his plantation of pepper.137 The Portuguese who did not know about the plan accepted the offer.
From the said plantation 175 tons of pepper was harvested. It was embarked on
one of the ships of the sultan that had arrived from Sumatra. But his fleet to
China was somewhat guarded by the Portuguese who for the first time with their
own fleet along with the sultan’s paid an official visit to the Chinese Empire.
They arrived in China in the latter part of the year.
Due to the Malaccan Sultan lodging a complaint
against the Portuguese invasion to the Chinese Emperor, the Portuguese were
greeted with hostility from the Chinese when they arrived in China. The
Malaccans had informed the Chinese of the Portuguese seizure of Malacca, to
which the Chinese responded with hostility toward the Portuguese; and the
deception the Portuguese used, disguising plans for conquering territory as
mere trading activities, and told of all the atrocities committed by the
Portuguese. The Chinese Imperial Government imprisoned and executed multiple
Portuguese envoys after torturing them in Guangzhou. After the Portuguese set
up posts for trading in China and committed piratical activities and raids in
China, the Chinese responded with the complete extermination of the Portuguese
in Ningbo and Quanzhou. Tome Pires, a Portuguese trade envoy, was among those
who died in the Chinese dungeons.138
On his return, in the early part of 1518,
Sultan Muhammad Shah, who had intercepted a message that the “celestial fairy”
was alive, immediately searched for the princess in the guise of propagating
Islam. He forsook the ancient Buddhist capital at the mouth of the Lawas River
and built a new all-Muslim capital on the present site, an action for which
there were many precedents. No doubt there had certainly been some earlier
settlement on the site of the new Palace at Kota Batu, as artifacts found there
prove. He had even gone to Mindanao. According to the Magindanao and Sulu
tarsilas, Sultan Muhammad Shah -- who was known as Nakhoda Ragam (“singing
captain”), Sharif Kabungsuwan, Muhammad Kabungsuwan, and Rajah Baginda in
Mindanao – converted most of the natives of Magindanao and Cotabato into Islam;
nearly had a battle in Basilan but was surprised to know that there were
already Muslims in the area; and he had learned in Sulu that there was already
mosques and Muslim tombs erected and that there were already many Muslim
preachers that came there, namely: Sharif
Awliya, Tuan Mashaika, Abu Bakr, Kamal-ud-Din, and etc. There
was even a certain Nur-ul-Alam or Alaۥ-ud-Din who was
suspected to be a woman in manly disguise. According to the Johor traditions,
the said princess had “a specially designed signet ring with large diamonds
which she always wore on her finger for that ring was the ancient ring of
Solomon handed down from generations to the descendants of Iskandar
Dhul-Qarnayn (Cyrus the Great of Persia)” and could be detected by it amidst
her manly disguise.
This Islamization process of Sultan Muhammad
Shah must have started in 1515 but was magnified in 1518-1521 with a main
purpose of getting a large number of combatants who would fight against the
Christian Portuguese to eradicate them from the empire at the expense of so
many lives. In the case of Tullah, he used the head-hunters of Borneo and Luzon
as his front warriors who looked at head-hunting as sports or as a religious
ritual in honor of the gods – among the Dyaks of Borneo for the pleasure of
sports and for the Ifugaos of Luzon for offering to Cain who had beheaded Abel
as a sacrifice to Kabuniyan.
The Lords of the Monsoons
It must be between October 1520 and March
1521, the northeast monsoon season, that Sultan Muhammad Shah had discovered
the where-about of the “celestial fairy”. According to Cotabato and Sulu
traditions, the “celestial fairy” had stayed in Sulu and disguised as
Nur-ul-Alam or Alaۥ-ud-Din (titles of Tullah as successor to the throne of the Sulu
sultanate which both means “light of God”). It was said that the princess,
after being caught from her disguise, when asked by the courier in behalf of
the Sultan her hand in marriage, replied that she would only marry a man who
could accomplish three tasks – (a) he must win over the other suitors in
hand-to-hand combat in Magindanao; (b) he must win over another man in the
arnis or kali single-handedly since the fight would be over a single rope
suspended above a pit full of crocodiles to serve as their ground and another
in which they would hold, which was held in Cotabato; and (c) he must defeat
the princess in a wrestling bout at the top of Mt. Tumangtangis, in Sulu. The
three tasks showed the remarkable wisdom of the princess in finding ways not to
be married with the Sultan. In the first task, it would be possible that all
suitors would be killing each other and nobody would stay alive; in the second,
at her behest no suitors could survive if she wished to by swinging the rope so
that the fighting princes would fall and be eaten by the crocodiles; and the
third, it was not really her who would fight in a wrestling bout but the last
elephant of Sulu which was living at a swamp in Mt. Tumangtangis and had gone
wild. Accordingly, the Sultan passed all the tasks. The princess was even
astounded when the Sultan who was about to be trampled by an attacking wild
elephant shot it with the “lightning” from his lantaka (a small Bornean cannon). In Malaccan version, the princess
had spoken to the Sultan – “I will never marry a man who is as weak and cruel
as to oppress his people and murder his own son.” Yet according to S’yair Awang Semaun, the princesswas kidnapped
by the Sultan to Brunei; in Portuguese account, the princess was captured by
Francisco Serrao while escaping to Tidor and was given to his liege lord, Prabu Udara who was no other than Sultan
Muhammad Shah himself, as a gift; and according to Pigafetta, based on what he
heard from the merchants, Sulu had been tributary to Brunei ever since the
ruler of Brunei had seized the two great pearls of which he was so proud.139
The wedding had been scheduled which was set
to take place in Sumatra (not Cebu), particularly in Minanga Tamwan (Minangkabau), the area around the upper reaches of the Kampar river system, in the southeastern part of the island. Minanga Tamwan was the original seat of the Srivijayan empire founded by Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa with his 20,000 troops (mainly land army and a few hundred ships) in the 7th century AD. It was called by the Arabs as Zabag or Zabaj and by the Chinese as Shepo (pronounced as "Jaba") or Shopo (pronouced as "Jobo"). Pigafetta called the place as "zZubu". It became the new seat of government, after Malacca, of the exiled sultan aside from being the most strategic central point for the
people coming from north and south who would want to converge at the center or
at most at the same distance at a period between the end of the northeast
monsoon (amihan) and the beginning of
the southwestern monsoon (habagat)
which would be convenient for both sea-travelers from north and south – that
is, the last week of March 1521. Thus, it is probable that the fleet of the
Sultan had sailed to Kampar (not Cebu) in the second week of March.
Following the tradition of sea-farers, the
Sultan and the princess must be married in the Sultan’s ship at the sea by an imam. Probably, Tullah had seen the
coming of the Spaniards as a right timing to disrupt the wedding.
The Arrival of the Spaniards
At dawn of March 17, 1521 (Philippine time),
the expedition of Fernan Magellan -- with only three ships left out of five
which were the Trinidad, Concepcion, and Victoria -- by way of the Pacific
Ocean entering the Philippine Sea had arrived back in Southeast Asia. The
Spaniards first noticed the island of Samar but they cast anchored at another
island which was Homonhon on the following day where they stayed for eight days
and within that interval they had bartered trade with the native men, whose
leader was an old man, from the island of Suluan. The said natives were
described as tattooed; naked; wearing gold earrings, many gold armlets on their
arms, kerchiefs about their heads, cotton cloth embroidered with silk wrapped
around their waists; and used daggers, knives, spears ornamented with gold,
large shields, cutlasses, javelins, and fishing nets. Obviously they were
patrolling warriors as evident on their tattoos. Since there were many islands
found in that region the Spaniards named it as the Archipelago of Saint Lazarus.
On the rainy afternoon of March 26 (Philippine
time), while the galleons were on the point of weighing anchor, Antonio
Pigafetta, the Venetian chronicler of the expedition, fell into the sea while
he was walking at the yard to fish but he was able to hold on the clew garnet
of the mainsail which was dangling in the water. As he cried out the natives in
a small boat came and rescued him. Had it not, the story of the Battle of Medang
(not Mactan) might not been told and known at present.140
Passing through the Sulu Sea, on the night of
March 28 (Philippine time), a “fire” had been seen on an island of Borneo. It
was a bonfire made by Abdullah Sulayman to cook the jungle fowls and other
animals that they had caught from hunting at Kuala Labu in the district of
Temburong not very far from his city of Garang, which was bigger than Brunei at
that time.141
At sunrise of Good Friday, March 29, 1521
(Philippine time), Trenggana, who was with the flagship Trinidad, upon seeing
the spectacular view of the sun burning into the background of a tranquil
stretch of sand of an island, painting the sky in red, shouted joyfully – “Mas
Sabah! Mas Sabah!” Mas Sabah is Malay for “golden Sabah” referring to Sabah,
which is now disputed between Malaysia and the Philippines. Sabah was so named after its beautiful sunrise;
sabah is an Arabic word for sunrise; hence,
literally mas sabah means golden
sunrise. The chronicler then wrote in his journal that the name of the island
of Borneo was Mazzava, sometimes Massana. Arabic “sabah” is synonymous to Malay “sana”
or the Cebuano “sanag” (bright).
What the Spaniards saw was the present
Brunei-Malaysia border –the Temburong District. From west to east, the
Brunei–Malaysia border begins where the watershed of the Baram and Belait river
basins meet the South China Sea at a point six nautical miles (11 km) east of
Tanjung Baram with coordinates 4°35′20″N 114°5′00″E (4°35′20″N is either erroneously
transcribed by some copyists of Pigafetta’s manuscript as 9°40′N from its
rounded off coordinates of 4°40′ N or Pigafetta was using the Typus Orbis Terrarum map in which the northernmost tip of Borneo was located at 9°40′N 152°E). It then travels along the watershed of the
two river basins for about 30 km to the Pagalayan Canal. It then goes a further
44 km to the Teraja Hills. From there, the border runs along the watershed
between the Belait and Tutong rivers on one hand, and the Baram and Limbang
(this is mentioned in Pigafetta’s account as Limban) rivers on the other hand.
It then proceeds along the watershed of the Brunei and Limbang river basins
till it reaches Brunei Bay.
The land border between Malaysia and Brunei's
Temburong District (which is separated from the other part of Brunei) starts at
the estuary of the Pandaruan River and runs the entire length of the river to
its source. It then runs along the watershed between the Temburong River on one
hand, and the Limbang and then the Trusan rivers on the other until it reaches
Brunei Bay.142
After the Spaniards cast anchored near Kuala
Labu, a vinta (or “baroto”) with nine
datus in it approached the Trinidad
and came alongside. To the surprise of everyone, Trenggana had spoken fluently
with the said datus.
Seeing that the Bornean datus were unwilling to come aboard taking a position at a little
distance, Magellan who was wishing to establish friendly relations with them,
sent out a red cap and other things on a floating plank and was pleased to
observe that they picked them up with signs of satisfaction. Immediately, the
vinta sailed away to Kuala Labu and reported the incident to Abdullah Sulayman.
Two hours later, two balangays full of warriors approached the Trinidad. “All
these people were dark-complexioned, corpulent, and glistening from frequent
applications of coconut oil. Their hair was jet black and fell to their waists,
while their wild appearance was increased by their custom of carrying daggers,
knives, spears, javelins, and shields which were ornamented with gold.”
Abdullah Sulayman was in the larger balangay, “being seated under an awning of
mats”.
Trenggana had conversed with Sulayman as the
latter came nearer to the flagship but at a little distance. In the absence of
translation it could be understood that what they had conversed was about his
slavery under the Spaniard and his possible redemption. Under the code of a
warrior if captured he must serve his master with honor until such a time that
his freedom is given back by his master. Hence, Trenggana could not escape from
his bondage. It is also very possible that Abdullah Sulayman had informed
Trenggana about the Dayang’s fate and about his sister’s abduction by Sultan
Muhammad Shah and her nearing forceful marriage to him. According to some
Portuguese accounts, the princess had sent a letter, through her bird, to her
mother the Sultan Batari on “not to worry about her for she would be married
soon to the feared sultan” which could really mean in reverse – that is, she
wanted to be rescued. Tullah might not be aware of that fact at that time had
continued his search for the princess in Mindanao.
Abdullah Sulayman then ordered some of his men
to go to the Trinidad, telling them
that he would not stir from his boat rather than close to the flagship.
Magellan made good cheer to those who came to the Trinidad and gave them many
things. Wherefore Abdullah Sulayman wished to give Magellan a bar of massy
gold, of a good size, and a basket full of ginger. But Magellan thanking the rajah greatly refused to accept the
present. Hence, after the rajah’s men
had returned to his long boat he immediately departed.
On Black Saturday, March 30, 1521 (Philippine
time), Magellan sent Trenggana ashore to Sulayman, requesting him to cause, in
return for his money, some provisions to be given for his ships telling him
that he had come into his country, not as an enemy, but as a friend.
It is more probable than not that the
Madjapahit crown prince, Trenggana, had revealed to the rajah, whom he knew so well, about Spain’s colonization of the islands
through Magellan’s expedition. Perhaps the two of them were really planning on
how to lay away an impending colonization. So, unknown to the Spaniards,
Abdullah Sulayman had sent three of his datus to Mindanao particularly in
Butuan to fetch Tullah immediately and prepare the fleets for battle.
Later, Abdullah Sulayman and Trenggana with
the other six datus in the same vinta,
boarded the Trinidad. Sulayman embraced Magellan, and gave him three porcelain
jars covered with leaves and full of raw rice and two large fishes, and gave
him also some other things. In return for this acceptable gift, Magellan gave
the rajah a garment of red and yellow
cloth made in the Turkish fashion and a fine red cap; and to the datus he gave
to some knives and to other mirrors.
Then Magellan had them served a meal and had Abdullah Sulayman told through
Trenggana his desire of becoming Sulayman’s blood-brother through a
blood-compact which was called as kasi-kasi.
To which the rajah replied that he too wished to be the same with him. Note
that it was only a wish and nowhere to be found in Pigafetta’s account that
they had done a blood compact which means that they had not really become
blood-brothers.
Desirous of impressing the half-naked laksamana with his power and attainments,
Magellan showed him his stock of arms and ammunition, his collection of
weapons, artillery, armor, etc. He had some of the cannon discharged, at the
sound of which the laksamana was
greatly terrified, and two of his attendants leaped overboard.
Pigafetta described it in detail:
"Then the captain-general had a man
encased in armor, and placed him in the midst of three others armed simply with
swords and daggers, who struck him on all parts of the body without harming
him. At this sight the king was rendered almost speechless, and when the
captain-general told him that one of those armed men was worth a hundred of his
own [the laksamana's] without
defensive armor, he answered that was a fact. The captain-general said that he
had two hundred men who were armed in that manner, and he showed the king his
cuirasses, swords, bucklers, etc., and had a review conducted for him. Then he
led him to the deck of the ship that is located above, at the stern, and had
his sea-charts and compass brought. By means of them he explained how he had
found the strait, in order to voyage thither, and how many moons he had been
without seeing land, whereat the king was greatly astonished. Lastly, he told
the king that he would like, if it were pleasing to him, to send two of his men
with him so that he might show them some of his things. The king replied that
he was agreeable, and I, Antonio Pigafetta, went with him in company with
another.143
It was added moreover on other accounts that
Magellan had made two of his men exercised at swordplay before the rajah. And showed him the marine chart
and compass of his ship, telling him how he had found the strait by which to
come hither, and the time which he had spent in coming, also how he had not
seen any land.
It was the big mistake of Magellan in showing
the rajah how his men fought and how
many would be the equivalent of one Spaniard clad in full armor with the
natives. He suggested to Abdullah Sulayman a ratio of 1:100 and revealed that
he had 200 Spaniards clad in that armor which meant that the ratio needed by
the rajah is 200:2000. It could be
understood that he needed 2000 warriors to gather in his fleet for the
impending battle.
Then lastly, Magellan asked the rajah whether it would please him if he
sends two of his men to the country where he lived that he might show them what
other things his country had. The rajah
agreed. Magellan sent Trenggana and Antonio Pigafetta. They landed at Kuala
Labu which was not very far from Garang, which was still in the Temburong
district and was the actual residence of Abdullah Sulayman.
Pigafetta had given the details of the event
that followed:
"When I had set foot on shore, the king
raised his hands towards the sky and then turned to us, so that we did
likewise. The he then took me by the hand, one of his notable men took my
companion, and thus they led us under a bamboo covering, where there was an
immense balanghai, that is to say, a boat of eighty feet or thereabouts in length,
resembling a foist. There we sat down upon the stern of that great boat,
constantly conversing by signs, and the king's men stood about us in a circle,
armed with swords, daggers, spears, and bucklers.
"The king shortly had a dish of pork and
a large jar of wine brought in, and at every mouthful we drank a cup of the
wine. The king's cup was always covered, and no one drank of it save himself.
Before he took the cup to drink he raised his clasped hands towards the sky,
and then towards me. When he was about to drink, he extended the fist of his
left hand towards me (so that at first I thought he was about to strike me),
and then drank. I did the same, and so far as possible went through the same
performance. I learned that they always make those signs when they drink
together." 144
Note that Abdullah Sulayman was never
mentioned to eat pork and he even had a separate cup for drinking which was
solely for his own use avoiding mixing it with the food and wine contaminated
with the oil and gravy from the pork.
After the meal was over, Pigafetta employed
himself in writing down as many words of his host's language as he could
obtain; but not much time was allowed him, for soon the supper-hour arrived and
the feasting was resumed. Two large porcelain dishes were brought in, one full
of boiled rice, and the other of pork with its broth and gravy. Pigafetta
continued:
"We ate with the same signs and
ceremonies as before, after which we went to the king's 'palace,' which was
built like a hay-loft, set up high from the ground on great posts, and was
thatched with banana and palm leaves. To reach the banquet-hall it was
necessary to ascend by means of ladders, and once there the king made us sit
down, on a bamboo mat, with our feet drawn up like tailors.
"After a long delay, a platter of broiled
fish was brought in, also green ginger and wine. The king's eldest son (Karim),
who was the prince, sat down near us, and then two platters of fish and rice
were brought, so that we might also eat with him. We were already full to
repletion, and my companion became intoxicated as the result of so much
drinking. The torches, which are made of gums of a tree called Anime wrapped in leaves of palm, now
burned low, with flickering light, and the king made us a sign that he was
going to sleep. He left the prince with us, and we slept with him on a bamboo
mat with pillows made of leaves.145
At dawn, Tullah and the three datus had
arrived while Pigafetta was still sleeping. Abdullah Sulayman then woke up
Pigafetta and took him by the hand and brought him to the dining hall to
partake of refreshments. Abdullah Sulayman introduced Tullah to Pigafetta as “Si Ayu” of Butuan and Caraga – the said
places in Mindanao were the ancient ship-building capital of the Madjapahit
Empire – who “had just came to visit him and to hunt in Kuala Labu”. Since
1978, remnants of balangays are excavated in Butuan and other parts of the
Caraga Region.146 Pigafetta named the laksamana as Raia Siaiu instead of Awang
Si Ayu on presumption that all rulers of the islands were rajahs without
knowing that there was an existing ranking system and mistakenly named Abdullah
Sulayman – who was the laksamana’s
cousin, father-in-law, and blood-brother -- as Raia Colambu or Calambu
which was obviously a corruption of Kuala Labu which was the name of the place
and a confusion of an entry word kulambu in
his journal which referred to a mosquito net. It was obvious that there was a
misunderstanding between the interpreter and the Italian who were both not
fluently acquainted with the Portuguese language. For the Latin-speaking
people, Portuguese was the most difficult language. Trenggana only spoke in
pidgin Portuguese while Pigafetta was an Italian who found Portuguese a
difficult language and even experienced more difficulty in understanding
Trenggana’s. When the boats sent by Magellan to fetch Pigafetta and Trenggana
had arrived, the two envoys of Magellan departed. And as they departed,
Abdullah Sulayman kissed the hands of Pigafetta and Trenggana. Probably he only
wanted to kiss the hand of Trenggana but the latter might had ordered him
through a signal to kiss Pigafetta’s hand too to avoid suspicion. Tullah and
the three datus came with them to the
Trinidad.
Tullah had been described by Pigafetta as
follows:
"According to their customs he was very
grandly decked out; and the most handsome man that we saw among those people.
His hair was exceedingly black, and hung to his shoulders, with a silk veil on
his head and two large golden earrings fastened in his ears; he wore a cotton
cloth all embroidered with silk, which covered him from the waist to the knees;
at his side hung a dagger, the handle of which was very long and all gold, and
its scabbard of carved wood; he had three spots of gold on every tooth, and his
teeth appeared as if bound with gold; he was perfumed with storax and benzoin;
he was olive-skinned and tattooed all over." 147
Tullah had told Magellan that pieces of gold
of the size of walnuts and eggs were found by sifting the earth in his island
which were Butuan and Caraga (referring to the whole island of Mindanao seen as
two islands at that time since it is divided by the Agusan River) and all his
dishes were of gold and also some portion of his house.
As the following Monday, April 1, 1521
(Philippine time), the eve of Tullah’s birthday, Magellan resolved to celebrate
the double event in a manner to impress the Abdullah Sulayman and all his
people. He sent his chaplain ashore, with Trenggana to inform the Abdullah
Sulayman of his intention to perform a religious ceremonial, but not to dine
with him, or visit.
The rajah
at once consented to the landing of the soldiers, fifty of whom, without armor,
but carrying their muskets and side-arms paraded on the beach in front of the palace.
Before they reached the shore six cannon had been fired "as a sign of
peace," and the two laksamanas
embraced Magellan ardently.
From the sea to Kuala Labu, in the Temburong
District of Brunei, can be seen the three hills at the border called at present
as the Bornean Triangle -- Long Pasia, Long Bawan and Long Semadoh. Based on
the S’yair Awang Semaun, the laksamana went up the hill of Bawan
(Long Bawan) – interestingly, at present the said place is predominantly
Christian amidst the threats of unprecedented attacks of the ethnic tribe known
as Orang Asli – hence, Long Bawan was really the one chosen by Magellan and
Tullah.
142
With Tullah and Abdullah Sulayman on either
side, Magellan marched his men to a place selected for the ceremonies, and
before they commenced sprinkled his royal companions with musk water, at which
they were well pleased. They even kissed the cross, when it was elevated, and
with clasped hands fell on their knees and worshipped this, probably not the
first, Christian symbol they had ever seen. Northern Borneo had already been
visited by Catholic and Nestorian priests since the 13th century –
probably tolerance of any religion had been exercised within the sultanate though
Islam was its official religion. In this account it was clearly manifested that
Tullah had really embraced Syrian Christianity introduced to him by Jaۥfar. Yet on the other hand, it is also possible that
Tullah and Abdullah Sulayman did that either from deference to their guests or
as part of a grand deception plan in toppling down the invaders and not because
of any real sentiment of religion. When asked by Magellan whether they were
Mohammedans or heathens, Tullah answered: “There is no god but God,” – this is
the first line professed by every Muslim and Syrian Christian – but it differed
on the second line since after the blood-brothers raised their clasped hands
and facing the sky they said, “We call him Abba!” Among the Muslim, the second
line must be, “… and Muhammad is the Apostle of God.” It might be possible that
Tullah had been fully converted to Syrian Christianity or he might be another
example of an unorthodox Muslim who had incorporated the Christian doctrine
into his Islamic concept of God like his belief in a Nur-ul-Allah (“light of
God”) – a belief that Adam as Nallah (hermaphrodite) was the child of Nur Allah
(Sky Father) and Nur Ahut (Earth Mother); hence, Adam was both the father and
mother of Eve -- which other Muslims would say not found in the Koran but being
preached by the Sufi Muslims in Java. The belief in Nur-ul-Allah or Nur-
Muhammad, according to other Muslims, is a conflation of Christian beliefs in
Christ incorporated to Islam which is contrary to the teachings of Koran. But
whatever it is, it could be understood that Tullah was not a fundamentalist or
extremist Muslim and what he had was just a simple belief in God existing above
the sky – probably he was a practicing Jew as his ancestors were.
Thereat Magellan was very glad, and, seeing
that, Tullah raised his hands to the sky and said that he wished if it were
possible for him to make the strangers see his love for him. Magellan replied
that he did not doubt his love, and to prove it he was going to ask of him a
great favor. He desired permission to set up the cross they had brought on the
summit of a hill overlooking the harbor, where it should be not only a sign of
possession taken in the name of his dread sovereign, but as a token of amity
between them. Magellan's real reason, doubtless, for the raising of the cross
in such a conspicuous place, lay in the fact that such an act signified actual
possession, and allegiance on the part of the natives to the king he served.
But he veiled his real motives in the religious ceremony, and he told the laksamanas, through Trenggana,
"that he wished to set it up in that place for their benefit, for whenever
any of our ships came they would know that we had been there by this cross, and
would do nothing to displease them or harm their property. If any of their men
were captured, they would be set free immediately, on that sign being shown;
and it was necessary to place it on the highest hill or mountain, so that on
seeing it every morning they might adore it; and if they did that, neither
thunder, lightning, nor storms would harm them in the least”. The brothers
thanked him heartily, and said they “would do everything he wished most
willingly”.
Near the shore, and overlooking the harbor,
rose a verdant, palm-dotted hill with a smooth and rounded crown. It was a site
most fit for the erection of that holy symbol of Christianity, and there
Magellan resolved to place it. The said hill was Long Bawan, for aside that it met the geographical description it
was associated with the legends about Awang
Si Ayu (Simaun – it is derived
from the Malay prefix “si” which is
both used to denote a leader or a district; “magayun” which means beautiful or handsome; “mayun” or “maayu”, good
or excellent; and “ayu”, light or
bright; he was called in the Legaspi expedition’s account as “Simaggio”, that is “Si Maayu” ). With a host
of natives in the van, breaking a path through the tangled tropical vegetation,
and himself leading his fifty soldiers, Magellan ascended the hill soon to be
made sacred to the religion he professed. The two blood-brothers accompanied
him, and while the trio stood apart, watching the proceedings with deep
interest, the soldiers detailed for the purpose dug a deep hole and set the
cross in position. Less than eight years previously, Balboa, on the isthmus of
Darien, had marked with a cross the site from which he had first viewed the
Pacific, and now it was Fernan Magellan's privilege, in these far-distant isles
of the same ocean, to confirm his sovereign's possession of that vast body of
water which he was the first to cross.
A gilded crown surmounted the cross, and both
together typified the spiritual and material sovereignty which Magellan, as a
faithful subject of his king and true soldier of the faith, was desirous to
extend and to confirm. After it was in position, he reverently knelt at the
foot of the cross, and with his soldiers, also on bended knees, listened to the
invocation by his chaplain. The moment it was finished a musket was fired, as a
signal to the ships, and their cannon boomed a salutation. Volleys of musketry
responded from the hill, and, amid dense clouds of smoke, the party descended
to the plain at its base, where the soldiers performed martial evolutions and
fought a sham battle, greatly to the edification of all the people, who were
loath to allow their guests to depart.
Inquiring for larger and richer islands, at
which he might carry on a profitable trade, Magellan was told that one of the
wealthiest of these was Zabaj (not Cebu), and that there he might obtain the
gold and spices he desired, in exchange for his stock of goods in the ships.
When he asked for pilots to Zabaj (Shopo or Zubu in Chinese account), he was told that none was to be had for love
or for money, but that if he would wait till the kings had harvested their rice
crops one or both of them would go with him gladly. So Magellan not only waited
two days, but sent men to aid the farmer kings in gathering their crops. But
“the kings were so hospitable to the laborers that all, including themselves,
were overcome, it is said, by the liquor they drank, and a further delay
ensued”.
Delaying tactic was always a part of the art
of war. Tullah together with the nine datus
after gathering fleets had already sailed ahead towards Java in preparation of
a battle that was already planned. It must be understood that during that
period the fleets from Mindanao had already arrived in Kampar, Sumatra in preparation of
the imperial coronation and wedding ceremony. The Sultan must be informed ahead
for the impending problem of Spanish colonization. Trenggana, the crown prince
of Madjapahit, had to stay with the Spaniards to avoid suspicion and to serve
as a spy. But he too, above all as the real crown prince, must be saved in the
end.
The Christianization of Zabaj by Sword and Fire
A final departure was made on the fifth day of
April (Philippine time), and, while some uncertainty existed as to the points
previously touched at by Magellan, all doubts were removed from the time the
royal pilots took the helms, as they steered a straight course for the island
of Sumatra (not Cebu). Many wonders were seen on the way, the observer stated that
among the most astonishing being the "flying-foxes," or frugiverous
bats, "as large as eagles," the flesh of which, he said, tasted like
chicken. Besides turtle-doves and parrots, which were in swarms on certain
islands, he mentioned those wonderful birds, the megapodes, or "mound
birds," which lay their large eggs in a mound of decaying vegetation, by
the heat of which they were hatched. The voyage must have been a leisurely one
to have enabled the observer to note these objects by the way.
The port of Kampar (in southeastern Sumatra) was reached on April 8th
(Philippine time) and entered with flying colors. Pigafetta related it as
follows:
"On approaching the city, the
captain-general ordered the ships to fling out their banners. The sails were
lowered, as if for battle, and all the artillery was discharged” -- an action
which caused great fear to those people. The captain-general then sent a
foster-son of his (Joao Serrao) as ambassador to the King of Cubu (particularly the Minangkabau Kingdom was referred as Cubu and not Cebu), with the
interpreter (Trenggana a.k.a. Enrique de Malacca). When they reached the city they found a vast crowd of people
gathered about the king and trembling in fear from the noise of the lombards.
The interpreter informed them that it was our custom, when entering a strange
port, to discharge all our cannon, not only as a sign of peace and friendship,
but in honor of the king. They were then reassured, but the king remarked that
this was a strange custom, and then asked what it was our captain wanted. The
interpreter replied that his master was the greatest captain in the world, and
was going to the Moluccas by a new route he had discovered; but that he had
digressed on the way, in order to visit the King of Cubu, because of
the good report received from the King of Mazzava (Sabah). The king told him he
was come in good time, but that it was the custom for all strange ships that
entered his ports to pay him tribute, and that it was but four days since a
junk which had come from Siam, laden with slaves and gold, had done so. In proof
of this statement he pointed to the merchant in charge of the junk, who was
present at the time. The interpreter told the king that since his master was
the captain of so great a monarch, he did not pay tribute to any seignior in
the world, but on the contrary exacted tribute from others. If the king wished
for peace, he would have peace; but if war instead, then war it should be!” 148
Thereupon the Shahbandar, who according to the Syair Awang Semaun was a Chamese hired by the Sultan for his
intelligence, advised the Sultan to tell the Spanish colonizers that he (the
Sultan) was their ruler by saying in Malay: “Kata raia kita.” (“Tell them that you are our king.”)
At that time the people of Southeast Asia
called Thailand as Siam; Syria as Syam; and the people of Champa as Cham.
Champa at that time was vassal to Madjapahit. It had done intermarriages among
the royal class of Java. And it had a strong politico-economic alliance with
Sumatra since the attack of the Vietnamese at Vijaya, the capital of the kingdom
of Champa. But after the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, Sultan Muhammad
Shah had gained foothold at Sumatra and from there he was reconquering what had
been lost. Abu Bakr who was declared by the Sulu tarsilas to have “passed away”
in 1480 might not mean to have died but to have gone to other land which was
his motherland, which is Champa, but was forced back to his fatherland
(Sumatra) to seek military assistance in stopping the Vietnamese who was
conquering his kingdom.
Then the said adviser, the Shahbandar, further reminded the Sultan,
“These men are the same as those who have conquered Calicut, Malacca, and all
Greater India. If they are treated well, they will give good treatment in
return; but if evil, then evil treatment, and worse, as they have done to
Calicut and Malacca.”
Trenggana had told the Sultan that Magellan’s
king, the King of Spain, was more powerful even than the King of Portugal --
that he was the ruler over Spain, and emperor of other countries, and that if
he did not care to be his friend, next time would be sent so many men that they
would destroy him.
The Sultan answered that he would deliberate
with the ruma bechara, his council.
Then he had refreshments served, of many dishes, contained in porcelain
platters, besides several jars of wine. After that the Spanish envoys and
Trenggana returned to the Trinidad and told everything that was spoken.
The upshot of long negotiations which ensued
was that the Sultan, the Riayat Umabong,
sent Magellan a drop of blood from his right arm, with the request that he do the
same for him, in token of blood-brotherhood. This was done, and thus amicable
relations were at once established. Karim, the eldest son of Abdullah Sulayman
described in Pigafetta’s account as “a prince of pleasing manners and
countenance”, was dispatched to treat with Magellan on board his ship. He was
received with great honors, and seated beside Magellan in a red velvet chair,
while his companions, the bendahara
of Java, the constable, and eight datus,
reclined on mats spread upon the deck.
Asked if they were empowered to make peace,
they answered they were. Then Magellan, “who was ever seeking opportunities to
further the cause of religion, made an impassioned speech upon the delights of
peace, and declared himself an apostle of the Prince of Peace, whose humble
servant even was his great and mighty king. He told them of God, who made the
sky, the earth, the sea, and ‘all that in them is.’ He informed them that all
people living were descended from Adam and Eve, our first parents, and what
seemed very strange and new to them -- that every one has an immortal spirit.
The good are to be rewarded, he said, and the bad condemned to the pit of fire
everlasting.”
These simple children of nature seemed greatly
impressed by Magellan's eloquence, and by the arguments he advanced in proof
that his religion was the "only true one," and that they should
promptly embrace it for the good of their souls. They requested him to allow at
least two of his company to remain among them, in order to teach them the true
faith; but Magellan replied that he could not do so then, though he had with
him a priest of the Most High God who, if they would consent to become
Christians, would baptize them in His name. They answered that they would first
speak to their king, and that then, doubtless, they would all become
Christians, "at which words we all wept for joy," says the chevalier.
Pigafetta related in details:
"The
captain-general told them that they should not become Christians from fear, or
to please us, merely, but of their own free wills; and that he would not cause
any displeasure to those who wished to live according to their own law; but
that the Christians would be better regarded and treated than the others! Then
all cried out, with one voice, that they were not becoming Christians through
fear, or to please us, but of their own free will. Then the captain-general
told them that if they became Christians he would leave with them a suit of
armor—for so his king had commanded him to do; and he further assured them that
if they became Christians the devil would no longer appear to them, except in
the last moment at their death.
They said that they could not answer the
beautiful words he had spoken, but that they placed themselves in his hands,
and that he should consider them as his most faithful servants. Then our
captain embraced them, weeping, and clasping one of the prince's (Karim) hands,
and one of the King of Mazzava's (Abdullah Sulayman), between his own, he said
to them that, by his faith in God and to his sovereign, the emperor, and by the
habit of Santiago, which he wore, he promised to give them perpetual peace with
the King of Spain." 149
Refreshments were served, and presents
exchanged, the prince offering Magellan a few baskets of rice, some swine,
fowls, and goats, with apologies for the meanness of the gift. Magellan replied
that the essence of the gift was the spirit that prompted it, and then gave
Karim a red cap, a web of linen, some strings of beads, and an elegant
drinking-cup of gilded glass, besides minor presents to his followers. To the
Sultan he sent, through Karim, a gorgeous robe of silk, "made in Turkish
style " -- that is, long and flowing; a fine red cap, or fez, two of the
gilded drinking-cups, and a great many strings of beads, in a beautiful silver
dish.
Magellan did not confine himself to the
imparting of religious instruction only, but sent a large stock of goods ashore
and opened a shop, or market, for barter. Trade was good from the first, and
the people were ready to fight for such articles as they were in need of,
giving gold for bronze and iron, almost weight for weight. For the less
valuable things they gave in barter goats and kids, pigs, fowl, and rice, so
that the ships of the fleet once more abounded in plenty. These people were
very fair in their dealings, for "they lived in justice, and gave good
weights and measures." Their scale was an extremely simple contrivance,
consisting of a spear-shaft suspended in the middle by a cord, with a bronze
basin hung by three strings to one arm, and a piece of lead, to balance it, on
the other. So lavish were they of their gold and precious stones, that Magellan
issued an order forbidding promiscuous trading by the sailors, as "there
were some who would have given all they had for a small amount of gold, and
would soon have spoiled the trade forever."
When the much-vaunted Sultan was finally
discovered to Magellan he was found to be “a short and squatty individual,
exceedingly corpulent, and with face and body hideously tattooed; seated on a
palm-mat spread upon the ground, and his costume was so scant as scarcely to
merit mention, consisting of a silk kerchief round his head, a breech-clout,
and a necklace of precious stones; and in his ears were rings of gold set with
valuable gems.” He was eating turtle eggs from porcelain dishes and drank the
palm-wine from an earthen jar by means of small hollow reeds, like straws. He
looked up from his repast as the strangers entered the pavilion in which he
sat, glanced at the gifts, kissed them, and then ordered eggs and wine for his
guests. Not a word would he listen to until they had finished the repast, when
he wiped his lips, clapped his hands for a servant to remove the empty jars and
dishes, and announced himself as ready for business.
He listened attentively to what Karim said
about the white man's religion, and assented to his proposition to embrace it.
Then he clapped his hands again, and four young girls appeared who danced
gracefully before the king and his guests, while playing upon sweet-toned
Chinese gongs. After this recreation had been indulged in, his majesty declared
he must sup, and invited the party to remain; but finally accepted their
excuses and allowed them to return to the ship. There they found that two of
the sailors had died, and again seeking audience of the Sultan, secured his
permission to consecrate a certain space in the centre of the town as a
cemetery, and inter their comrades therein.
The funeral ceremonies were made as elaborate
as possible, and the Sultan, who pretended to be duly impressed, “promised” to
become a Christian on the following Sunday. When the holy day arrived a
platform was erected in the consecrated square, decorated with palm-leaves and
silken hangings, and here Magellan and Sultan Muhammad Shah met by appointment.
The captain-general came ashore with an escort of forty musketeers, two of whom
only were in complete armor, and when he landed on Java soil all the cannon of
the fleet were fired in salute. The Sultan and Magellan embraced, then went
together to the platform in the square, where they seated themselves in two
chairs, one lined with red velvet for the captain-general, and the other in
violet for his majesty.
The Sultan felt that he was between Scylla and
Charybdis. Though he was a Muslim his constituents in Java were mostly Hindu.
The people would retaliate if he changed his policy of religious tolerance
within the sultanate. But challenging against the Spaniards meant real
destruction and annihilation of the city. The Sultan was adjured to worship the
cross which Magellan caused to be planted in the square, and he promised. He
was told that he must also burn all the idols, which were made of either wood
or clay, in the city which actually represented the ruler and his ancestors.
Some were of wood, some of clay. If he would follow the suggestions of Magellan
then his image to his Buddhist and Hindu followers as a god-king would be
doomed.
The Sultan was finding an alibi in order not
to be Christianized or a reason that he could convey to his subjects of
accepting Christianity.
The Sultan, through Trenggana, declared that
he very much desired to become a Christian but there were some datus under him who objected. They were
very bad men, he said, and, what was more to the point, they were so strong
that he feared he could not bring them to reason – these “native datus” were
actually Tullah and Fatah who played great roles in this war game and the place
being referred was Medang (not Mactan), the naval base of the Madjapahit
Empire. What Magellan did not know was that the act of the Sultan was part of a
drama in deceiving him to go in the battlefield which had long been planned.
But what the Sultan did not know also was the plan of Tullah in rescuing the
“celestial fairy” from him.
"Send for them," commanded Magellan,
"and I will reason with them." They were sent for, and came, though
reluctantly, a 10-year old envoy, Tugao – the son of Jaۥfar and adopted son of Tullah who was known in Cebuano
traditions as Malingin, “which means
round”, who was later renamed as Sulayman
– with two goats as gifts from his father Tullah. Then the boy handed a letter,
written on a goat-skin, from Tullah to Magellan saying that “he could not give
an abundant gift since he was oppressed severely by a ‘Raya Si Kuala Labu’ who
was breathing defiance against the King of Spain”.
There was a passage in Sejarah Kabupaten Cirebon that was retrieved on January 16, 2013 which stated that "on April 2, 1482, Sharif Hidayatullah stated that Cirebon would no longer send tribute to Pajajaran (referring to the kingdom of Medang as located between two rivers)." It could not be possible that it happened on that date since Tullah at that time was still an infant. But taking into consideration that the calculation of year in Saka calendar and the Javanese chronogram for its conversion into Christian Era by just simply adding 78 is wrong and making the date as April 2, 1521 which is really more probable then the place referred to Pigafetta as the rajahnate of Tullah was the Sultanate of Cirebon which was ruled by Tullah, using 1521 as the focal point, from 1518 until 1607. The issue on tribute or tax collection might be related to the ones stated in the inscriptions of the four copperplates known as Prasasti Kebantenan I-IV. Tullah who was a devout Muslim might not want to continue on financially supporting the practice of Hinduism in the palace complex.
Tullah was written by
Pigafetta as Zula which is another
variant aside from Dullah, Dhullah, Dula, Dzullah and Tuah while “Raya Si Kuala Labu” means “the rajah who
has come from Kuala Labu” but misinterpreted by Pigafetta as a name and wrote
it as “Raia Cilapulapu”. Or perhaps it was really a misspelling of one of the royal titles originally held by Raden Abdul Rahman which were Ki Ageng Abdurahman or Ki Ageng Sela, which might probably also referred to the exact place where he was at that time -- that is, at Sela, a village near the present-day Demak. The title Ki Ageng Sela had been also used by Tullah after he succeeded his grandfather who was burned by the village fire set by Duarte Barbosa. The said royal title was associated with the possession of a ball lightning known as nur zila (zila might be equivalent to kilat in Cebuano which means "lightning") which made the possessor too strong to break even prison cell and chain as mentioned in local legends. Medang at this time as it was converted into Islam was also named as Mataram.
Magellan
instructed the boy, through Trenggana, to tell them that unless they promised
allegiance to the rajah and to the King of Spain he would have them killed. He
threatened to enforce compliance with fire and with sword.
Unknown to Magellan, the Sundanese Sri Baduga Maharaja (literally means Srivijayan Emperor) who was no other than Raden Abdul Rahman himself had sent his grandson, Tullah (the Crown Prince of Srivijaya) to Malacca (which was under the command of Dom Jorge de Albuquerque) in 1512 and again in 1521 in order to invite the Portuguese to sign a peace treaty, to trade in pepper, and to build a fort at his main port of Sunda Kelapa. It was during the absence of Tullah that Duarte Barbosa and his men had plundered and burned down the city. Raden Abdul Rahman and his family, the royal
minister, and all of the people working in the harbor, lost their lives. Most
of the city was destroyed, as the reinforcements sent in from Pakuan realized
that their forces were too weak and retreated. It was too late when Tullah with his 1,452 troops from the Cirebon-Demak alliance came.
The Sultan found himself trapped with
Magellan’s eagerness to convert him pretended to Magellan that his “idols” were
very dear to him, and he could hardly make up his mind to their destruction and
told him that one of his nephews was sick unto death, and if he offended his
gods, he certainly would die. Magellan told him to burn his idols, believe in
Christ, have the sick man baptized, and he would soon recover. If he did not,
they could take his head, which he offered as a pledge. A procession was formed
from the great square to the house of Tullah, the afflicted man, in which
Magellan according to Pigafetta’s account was sweating profusely out of fear,
where he was found in such a serious condition as to be able neither to speak
nor move. He and all his family were baptized, including his two wives and ten
daughters, and then, when asked by Magellan how he felt, he replied that, by
the grace of the Christian's God, he felt very well indeed! There was a hint in
Pigafetta’s account that he was baptized as Santiago.
This “miracle” -- for thus it was considered
-- was the means of overcoming all the scruples of his majesty, which then
consented to be baptized, and repeated after Magellan that he would ever prove
faithful to his majesty the King of Spain, swearing thereto before an image of
the Virgin Mary, and in the presence of his followers. The “celestial fairy was
baptized and called Juana, after the
mother of Charles I; the Sultan received the baptismal name of Don Carlos, after the emperor himself;
the Sultan’s nephew, the prince of Luzon, was called Don Fernando; Abdullah Sulayman, John (which was actually Jehan in Pigafetta's account, rather than Juan, which was more obviously a Muslim title of a king instead of a Christian name); and the Shahbandar who was called by Pigafetta as “Moro from Siam” which in
fact was not from Siam but a Cham, Christopher. In all, more than eight hundred
people were "converted" to Christianity and were baptized, in a
single morning, after which the ships discharged their lombards, the musketeers
their arquebuses, and the king and the captain-general embraced each other like
“brothers”. For the part of the Buddhists who were baptized like the “celestial
fairy” their conversion could be sincere but for the Muslims like the Sultan it
could be a cliché and only by name.
Moreover, it could also be very probable that
the Madjapahit royal entourage had looked at it not as a mere and simple
baptism but it was a coronation and wedding ceremony of the rulers in their new
royal titles. That baptism rite had only a little difference between the
coronation and wedding rite of Srivijaya and Madjapahit – that is instead of a Muslim imam or
a Hindu-Buddhist priest, the ceremony was officiated by a Catholic priest. But
the Sri Pada was there translating for the local audience probably not en tutu
but in the traditional Madjapahit way of crowning rulers. Therefore, all the
Madjapahit rulers looked at it as coronation and wedding rites of their new
emperor and empress. It was from that union that the Sultan assumed the
imperial titles of “Pati Unus”, “Adipati Yunus”, “Prabu Udara”, “Hari Habagat”,
“Riayat Umabong”, and “Amir-ul-Umara” – titles which are all
means “emperor of the southwest monsoon” – after marrying the “Damhara Amihan” which means “empress of
the northeast monsoon” whose Spanish Christian name Juana
would sound as a shortened form of Tribhuana while her Italian Christian name Jehane as appeared in Pigafetta's account would sound similar to Dewani a Malay term for a goddess or celestial fairy;
and his rule over Madjapahit Empire became legitimate. The said imperial titles
akin to the monsoons were used as imperial titles in Southeast Asia during that
period. At that time, the region was known as Zîrbâdât (Zabaj) which means in Arabic as “the lands below the monsoons”.
It was believed that both the emperor and the empress of the region were
possessors of the powerful “monsoons’ orbs”. In Oriental concept, the monsoons
are sea-dragons. Among the Muslims in Sulu the said pearls were known as the
“Pearls-of-Allah”.
The “celestial fairy” was described by Pigafetta
as:
“The queen was young and beautiful, and was
entirely covered with a white and black cloth; her mouth and nails were very
red, while on her head she wore a large hat of palm leaves in the manner of a
parasol, with a crown about it of the same leaves, like the tiara of the pope;
and she never goes any place without one of these crowns.” 150
Probably the said crown was not really a crown
but a saruk (salakot in Tagalog), a palm hat used to protect against the heat
of the sun. Or probably it was the golden saruk which was believed by the
Borneans as magical and was owned by the goddess of the northeast monsoon or
the north wind who was also a goddess of rice. But being considered as a
“celestial fairy”, she might really be wearing the Kinnari crown traditionally
used in Champa, Cambodia, and Thailand. The said “celestial fairy” might be
using lipsticks to redden her lips and not by chewing too much betel nut since
lipstick was already in used in Sulu during this period, including manicure.
During the time of Xerxes of Persia, cosmetics was already in used and
practiced by women especially the queens and princesses. The “celestial fairy”
or the damhara amihan was clearly
wearing either the baju kebaya based
on the detailed description of Pigafetta or the ao dai.
The earliest form of Kebaya originates in the
court of the Javanese Madjapahit Kingdom as a means to blend the existing
female Kemban, torso wrap of the aristocratic women to be more modest and
acceptable to the newly adopted Islam religion. Aceh, Riau and Johor Kingdoms
and Northern Sumatra adopted the Javanese style kebaya as a means of social
expression of status with the more alus
or refined Javanese overlords. The name of Kebaya
as a particular clothing type was noted by the Portuguese when they landed in
Indonesia. Kebaya is associated with
a type of blouse worn by Indonesian women in 15th or 16th century. Prior to
1600, kebaya on Java island were
considered as a sacred clothing to be worn only by royal family, aristocrats (bangsawan) and minor nobility, in an era
when peasant men and many women walked publicly bare-chested. Slowly it
naturally spread to neighboring areas through trade, diplomacy and social
interactions to Malacca, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi and the Sultanate of
Sulu and Mindanao -- Javanese kebaya
as known today.151
These maidens accompanied the queen in order
to carry her triple crowns made of palm-straw, like a tiara, of which she
displayed several, besides the one she wore on her head. In other account the
crowns brought by the two handmaidens were put on plates. Thus, it could be
probable that those were not actually crowns but coverings for the two great
pearls that were put on plates and were carried by the handmaidens wherever the
“celestial fairy” would go.
Following the example of the Sultan, the
“celestial fairy”, who must be a Buddhist and had not been converted to Islam,
abandoned her idols entirely, but begged Magellan to give her a carved wooden
image of Jesus, which he did gladly, telling her to keep it in their place. He
then sprayed her with perfumes, and also her women, at which they were
exceedingly delighted. The queen might had looked at it as the image of Maitreya, the final and true
transcendental Buddha while her people who were mostly Hindus looked at it as Bhattara Guru, the supreme deity in
Hindu pantheon.
The Blow of the Sudden Storm
A terrible thing happened that shocked the
entire Madjapahit royal court and the sultanates:
a)
The graveyards which were considered sacred
were excavated and looted with all its treasures.
b)
Buddhist and Hindu temples were destroyed,
looted, and burned.
c) The mosque and house of Abdul Rahman
(Brawijaya V) who was called Bulaya (Budaya) in Pigafetta’s account had also
been plundered by the Spanish soldiers led by Magellan then burned it to the
ground, leaving behind a cross, the duplicate of one which was erected in the
consecrated square of the capital. According to Javanese legends Abdul Rahman
who had two wives was trapped in his burning palace. This legend is corroborated with Pigafetta’s account which stated that
the city of Bulaya (which most probably referring to Ratu Boko or Bhumi Sambhara Budhara, the original name of Borobudur as suggested by the historian Casparis) was plundered and burned down and its ruler was killed when
his house was burnt by the Spaniards. Pigafetta even narrated the burial
ceremony of Abdul Rahman:
“When one of their chief dies: first, all the
principal women of the place go to the house of the deceased. The deceased is
placed in the middle of the house in a coffin. Ropes are placed about the box
in the manner of a palisade, to which many tree branches are attached. In the
middle of each branch hangs a cotton cloth; each one sits by a girl who fans
her with a palm-leaf fan. The other women sit about the room sadly. Then there
is one woman who cuts of the hair of the deceased very slowly with a knife.
Another, who was the principal wife of the deceased, lies down upon him, and
places her mouth, her hands, and her feet upon those of the deceased; when the
former is cutting off the hair, the latter weeps, and when the former finishes
the cutting, the latter sings. There are many porcelain jars containing fire
about the room, and myrrh, storax, and benzoin, which make a strong scent
through the house, are put on the fire. They keep the body in the house for
five or six days during those ceremonies; I believe that the body is anointed
with camphor. Then they bury the body within the coffin, which is shut by means
of wooden nails in a kind of box and covered and enclosed by logs of wood.” 152
d)
The fifty virgin princesses who were daughters
of different royalties that attended the Madjapahit wedding-coronation-baptism
ceremony were all raped and killed by the men of Duarte Barbosa, the
brother-in-law of Magellan.
This heinous act by Magellan and his men was
unforgivable beyond imagination among the rulers and constituents alike. It had
broken any vows of brotherhood and alliance. The battle plan that was laid off
and suspended was resumed and started.
The war ritual invoking the twelve divinities
of the sun-god Surya and the four divinities of the wind-god Wahyu was
conducted, which was not understood by the colonizers. It was a war dance of
Sulu which was the original sinulog, which might be mistaken with the Kaamatan, the rice harvest festival of Sabah which was associated with a ritual dance communicating the spirit of Huminodun, the rice-goddess who was cut into small pieces by her father Kinoingan in order to save the people who were suffering from great famine. This
ritual was perfectly described by Pigafetta:
“These people consecrated their swine in a
strange ceremony performed by two old women. They first went around the city
beating gongs, and carrying two standards made of palm bark. When they had
assembled a crowd in the great square, they spread cloths upon the ground and
made obeisance to the sun. The hog to be killed and consecrated was bound and
placed upon the cloths. Then one of the old women blew a trumpet of bamboo,
which she carried; the other bound upon her head a pair of horns, in imitation
of those the devil is supposed to wear, and, dancing and blowing her trumpet,
called out to the sun. After dancing and trumpeting about the doomed animal for
half an hour they were presented with a cup of wine, from which one of them
sprinkled the hog in the region of his heart. Then a lance was handed her,
which, after much brandishing, was suddenly thrust through the beast from one
side to the other, inflicting a mortal wound.
Dipping the tips of their trumpets in the
blood that flowed forth in a stream, the old hags went around the circle of
by-standers, marking each one on the forehead; then, by means of fire, the hair
was removed from the skin, the carcass was cut up, and all the females present
invited to partake.” 153
Probably part of the said chants of the two shamans (known locally in the region as bomoh, dukun, and pawang) or the high priestesses (known as bobohizan or bobolian in Sabah and as babaylan in the Visayan Islands) is the
following shamanistic invocation used until now in the Malay Archipelago: 154
Ah, I utter the name of God with one Alif.
Alif stands at the gates of Heaven.
I spread a welcome at the gates of Earth.
Ninety holy prayers I recite,
And then I will open the pent-up Wind.
Wind as small as a sesame seed,
Wind as small as a mustard seed,
Wind called a golden bouquet of flowers,
Wind called a silver bouquet of flowers,
When it emerges, three brothers strong,
A family of four companions.
The first is called Angin Lahar Ahmad,
The second is called Angin Umara,
The third is called Angin Nur Jila,
The fourth is called Angin Nur Zila.
They arose long ago, in the earliest times.
The Winds put forward the father’s secret.
The Winds still receive the prayers of the past.
The Winds emerge from the tip of eternity!
Oh, call upon each and every king
To open the way for the Wind Lahar Ahmad,
Wind that stands with one strong faith.
Original kings, royal by nature,
Warrior gods of the royal line,
Winds of our family, winds of our heritage,
Powerful Winds, the Winds show their power,
Pervasive Winds, Winds penetrating,
Awake to raise and put forward your king,
Hear me, each and every one.
The young warrior, the old warrior.
Then Tullah, who was described in Pigafetta’s
account as “the bravest and wisest man in the land" which is the very
literal meaning of Awang Si Ayu in
Malay, led the natives in bringing their idols and laid them at Magellan’s feet
-- such as had not been previously destroyed -- and Tullah who had been
restored to health by Magellan's intervention finding an image which had been
secreted in his hut by an old woman of his family, became so enraged that he
chastised her severely. Tullah then led the way to the shore, where several
temples were erected in honor of the idols, which he and his followers tore
down and destroyed, shouting at the top of their voices, "Castilia!
Castilia!" as the Tlascalans of Mexico had done only a short time before,
when they marched into Tezcoco with the timber for Cortes's flotilla. But in
other translations and accounts what they were shouting was, “Batara! Batara!”
which could mean a lot of things like: (a) for the Hindus, the one that had
been brought by the Spaniards was the Supreme God, Bhattara Guru; (b) for the skeptics, it was only a child as implied
in Cebuano phrase “bata ra” and there
was nothing to be afraid of; (c) for the Buddhists it could be the Maitreya
Buddha the last and true Buddha that was perceived as a child and would come on
the “end of days”; and (d) for all the afflicted, they were asking help from
their emperor, the batara. Or it
could be the Tausug Islamic shout, “Katimbakan ka ni Allah!” (“You will be
punished by God!”) Or they were cursing the invaders by shouting, “Banyaga!
Banyaga!” Banyaga would mean a
foreigner for the Tagalog but for the Cebuanos it means a heartless tyrant. Or
it is probable that they were shouting, “Ksatriya! Ksatriya!” – calling the
attention for war. Whatever it was, it must be all pertaining to fury and war.
It was Magellan's religious enthusiasm that
tempted him to court disaster, by mingling in the affairs of the natives. He
felt, indeed, that it was his duty to bring all the tribes of the great
archipelago under the influence of his church and religion. He had accomplished
the conversion and apparent subjugation of Java's people so quickly, and had,
to all appearances so firmly established Spanish rule and the Catholic faith,
that he anticipated no more trouble in dealing with other islands and natives
of the region.
The boy Tugao from Sunda Kelapa, in the
western part of Medang, was then sent back to Magellan telling him through the Shahbandar the response of the Awang Si Ayu Raya Si Kuala Labu had
said:
“I
have no master but myself. I bow before no tyrant king. There is no other king but myself. My allegiance is only to my
nation; my service and loyalty to my people.
And never shall the Malay race vanish from the face of the earth.” 155
The boy, who introduced himself as the son of
“Zula”, the Crown Prince of Sunda
Kelapa known to the Sundanese titles Prabu
Surawisesa Jayaperkosa and Ratu Sang
Hyang whom the Portuguese called Ratu
Samian (a variant of Datu Simaun),
said that his father owing to the oppressions of the Awang Si Ayu Raya Si Kuala Labu could do no better and requesting
the assistance of a boat-load of soldiers for with only a boat-load, he said,
combined with his own gallant warriors, he could overcome the rajah and conquer
the island for Magellan. Unknown to Magellan, this Zula and Awang Si Ayu Raya Si
Kuala Labu were one and the same. It was a war tactic of inviting an enemy
to a trap by using bait. Nobody would suspect a little boy to be a participant
of deception or trickery but not treachery. Magellan had been considered an
enemy ever since the time that: (a) when he was planning to colonize the
archipelago in the name of his king which had already been revealed by
Trenggana; (b) when he denied to pay tribute upon entering the harbor of the
city of Zabaj belittling the empire’s sovereignty and declaring war in the name
of Spain against those who would force him to do so; (c) when he enforced his
religion by force through the use of sword and fire, by burning the houses of
innocent villagers, destroying Buddhist stupas, Hindu temples, and Islamic
mosques; (d) when his men defied the sanctity of cemeteries by excavating them
and looted its treasures; and worst, (e) when his men led by Duarte Barboza
raped and killed the fifty virgin princesses of the empire.
In listening to the request of this
“sub-chief”, Fernan Magellan allowed his reason to be subjected to religious
fanaticism; his desire to promote the general welfare of the islanders to be
overcome by a stronger desire for conquest. There was situated, it is thought,
the city of Bulaya (Budaya) he had destroyed by fire, and “Raia Cilapulapu” may have been the ruler whose rights he had
infringed in so doing, for he could not understand, he said, "why he
should do homage to the potentate of Sumatra (Menangkabaw in particular and not Cebu), whom he had so long held
under his thumb." He submitted the proposition to his officers, and they,
without dissent, were decidedly opposed, especially stubborn being Joao Serrao,
veteran of many fights in the East, and a man of tried courage. As usual,
however, the captain-general had determined upon his course before calling a
council, and, though all were opposed, he had resolved to push matters to a
conclusion.
Magellan thus believed that he had made
himself an ally of the Sultan and had taken him under his protection -- an act
and belief that soon to cost him his life. He could not foresee, however, the
terrible consequences of this misstep, though his reason should have warned him
against mingling in the strife of these people. He could not understand them,
for they were entirely new to him, and they had had their feuds and petty wars
for generations. Neither could he estimate their strength nor their valor, both
which were great, and were to prove more than he could prevail against, with
all his ships and soldiers.
In the Cirebon account, it states, unknown to
the Sultan the ruma bichara had
convened and agreed to assassinate him for allying with Magellan (who was
referred as “Portuguese captain-general”), thus betraying the saudara.
The Battle of Medang
Medang is a historic geographical name to
identify the plain south of Mount Merapi in central Java, roughly corresponds
to modern Yogyakarta, Sleman and Bantul Regency. It looks like an island as it
is divided by two rivers -- the Pamali River (Ci Pamali, the present day Brebes
River) and the Serayu River (Ci Sarayu). Sunda Kelapa lies off the harbor of Medang,
only a few miles distant from Demak, and its invasion was not a matter of
difficulty -- provided no opposition was offered. Shortly before midnight of
April 26th, Magellan's expedition against Medang set forth: sixty Spaniards,
and about a thousand natives, commanded by the Sultan. With this expedition
went also the chief historian of Magellan's voyage, Antonio Pigafetta.
Pigafetta had vividly described the battle being an eye-witness himself as
follows:
"The captain-general decided to go
thither with three boat-loads of soldiers. We begged him repeatedly not to go
himself, but he, like a good shepherd, refused to abandon his flock. At
midnight, sixty men of us set out armed with corselets and helmets, together
with the Christianized king, the prince, and some of the chief men, in twenty
or thirty balanghais.
"We reached Medang (not Mactan) three hours before
dawn. The captain did not wish to fight then, but sent a message to the natives
by the converted Moro (the Shahbandar),
to the effect that if they would obey the King of Spain, recognize the
sovereignty of Sumatra (Menangkabaw), and pay us tribute, he would be their friend; but that if
they wished otherwise, they should wait to see what our lances could do!
"They replied that while we had lances,
they also had them, made of bamboo, with points hardened in the fire. They
requested us not to attack them then, but to wait till after daylight, as they
expected reinforcements, with which they could meet us on more nearly equal
terms. This was a ruse, intended to decoy us at once to the attack, for they
had dug a long, deep ditch, faced with sharp stakes, and our destruction would
have been sure.
"The coral reefs, by which Medang was
surrounded, prevented the approach of the boats near shore, and when morning
came forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked
through it for more than two crossbow-flights before we could reach dry land.
Eleven men remained behind to guard the boats and serve the lombards." 156
Magellan himself led the way, with naked sword
in hand, and regardless of the missiles of the foe, which soon filled the air
around him. The dawn of that morning, Sunday, April 28, 1521 (Philippine time),
was the last which Magellan was to witness on earth; but no premonition of
disaster oppressed him then. He and his men struggled through the water to
shore, and formed upon the sands. Opposed to them were thousands of islanders
(in the Sundanese account, it was 1,452 troops from the Cirebon-Demak alliance),
who, forming in three divisions, so as to attack the Spaniards front and flank,
charged down upon them furiously, brandishing their spears, and yelling like
mad.
Pigafetta continued:
"When our captain saw that, he formed us
into two divisions, and thus did we begin the fight. The musketeers and
cross-bow-men shot from a distance for about half an hour, but uselessly, as
their shots either fell short, or passed merely through the shields with which
the natives were armed. Seeing this, our captain cried to them: 'Cease, cease
firing!' but his order was not heeded. When, therefore, the natives saw that we
were shooting our muskets to no purpose, they redoubled their shouts and their
efforts to break into our ranks. They leaped hither and thither, to defeat the
aim of the musketeers, at the same time covering themselves with their shields.
They shot so many arrows at us, and hurled so many bamboo spears tipped with
iron at our captain-general, besides fire-hardened stakes, stones, and mud,
that we could scarcely defend ourselves.
"Seeing that, our captain-general sent
some men to burn their houses, in order to terrify them; but when they saw them
burning, they were only roused to greater fury. Twenty or thirty houses were
burned; but two of our men were killed, of the party that made the attempt. So
many of them now charged upon us that they pressed us close, and shot our
captain through the right leg with a poisoned arrow. On that account he ordered
us to retire slowly, but the men, being unaccustomed to defeat, were terrified
at such an order, and most of them took to flight immediately—all except six or
eight of us, who remained by our captain. Seeing that our vulnerable spots were
the legs, as they were exposed, the natives shot only at them, and so many were
the spears and stones they hurled at us, that we could offer no resistance.
"The mortars in the boats could not aid
us, being too far away; thus we were in a terrible plight. So we continued to
retire, for more than a good cross-bow flight from the shore, always fighting
up to our knees in the water. The natives continued to pursue us, and picking
up the same spears, hurled them at us again and again. Recognizing our captain,
so many turned upon him that they succeeded in knocking off his helmet twice;
but he ever withstood them, like the good knight he was, and at last we made a
stand for more than an hour, refusing to go any farther.” 157
Seeing that, Magellan sent some men to burn
the villages in order to terrify the native warriors. Thirty houses had been
burned down. Instead of terrifying the native warriors it only heightened their
anger. Two of the Spaniards were killed near the houses.
“So many of them charged down upon us that
they shot the captain through the right leg with a poisoned arrow; on that
account, he ordered us to retreat slowly, but the men took to flight, except
six or eight of us who remained with the captain. The natives shot only at our
legs because they were naked.” 158
The Sultan had sent four warriors to assist
Magellan but they were hit by the mortars coming from the balangay of Tullah.
Either they used the lantaka or had stolen mortars from the Spanish ships was
not clear.
Finally, an Indian had cast a bamboo spear
into Magellan's face. The said Indian warrior was depicted in some of the
drawings done by survivors afterwards as wearing a traditional war dress of a
Dyak king; hence, it is very probable that the front squad was the head-hunting
tribe of Borneo – the Dyak and their leader who was killed with his own lance
was Abdullah Sulayman (Prabu Cakrabuana or the Damong Sari or Damang Sari).
Yet, Magellan had set upon and killed the said Indian instantly with his lance,
which he left in his body. Thus, the symbolism of Castor was personified in the
image of the dead Abdullah Sulayman while Pollux was in Tullah. Then,
attempting to draw his sword, Magellan was unable to do so, because of a wound
in the arm by a bamboo spear.
This act was the sealing of his fate, because,
when the natives saw that, they all hurled themselves upon him. Tullah gashed
Magellan’s leg with a huge scimitar, which caused him to fall forward upon his
face, when they all rushed upon him with their iron-tipped bamboo spears and
their scimitars, and thus they ran him through Magellan -- the Spaniards’
“mirror of chivalry, light, comforter, and true guide” -- and killed him.
In the Malaccan account, Tullah used a keris named as Taming Sari. In Brunei account, it was named as Si-Naga. But in
Mindanao and in the Arab world since the time of King Solomon of Israel the keris mentioned is not really a kris but
the Zulfiqar (Arabic: ذو الفقار Dhū l-Fiqār; also Zulfikar, Dhu’l-fakr, or
Thul-fakr), a kampilan. According to
the Islamic tradition, the sword called Zulfiqar belonged to Ali, the first
Caliph after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Zulfiqar is one of the oldest
symbols in Islam and according to Shiites its existence goes back to Adam, who
carried it out of Eden down to the Earth. The tradition says that the sword
once belonged to Muhammed too, who gave it to Ali before his death. In
Christian tradition it is the sword of Saint Michael the Archangel. In the
S’yair Awang Semaun, it is stated that Awang Si Ayu had killed a Spaniard who
had attacked the Sultanate of Brunei. Tullah was also called in Cirebon account
as Fatahilla (“victorious”), hence it is very probable that upon striking his
scimitar at Magellan he shouted the Muslim battle cry – “La fatà illa Ali, la saif illa Zulfiqar” which means "there is
no victory without Ali, there is no sword except (his sword) Zulfiqar”.
“Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded,
retreated as best we could to the boats, which were already pulling off. Had it
not been for our gallant captain, not a single one of us would have been saved,
for while he was so desperately fighting, the others had time to retire to the
boats. While the savages were most closely pressing him, in sooth, he several
times turned round towards us, to see if we were all in safety, as if his
protracted resistance was to cover our retreat."159
Thus fell Fernan Magellan, with his face to
the foe, sacrificing himself for the safety of his comrades. That he threw away
his life for no good cause, having gone to his death through his own
stubbornness, does not detract from the heroism of his latest hours, which was
nothing less than sublime. He was brave and unselfish to the very last, as we
might have expected of the Fernan Magellan who rescued his friend Serrao from
the Malays; who remained with his men on that wreck in the Indian Ocean whence
all his brother officers had fled.Sunda Kelapa by then was renamed as Djakarta
which means “glorious victory”.163
The Sundanese account had set the date of the Battle of Sunda Kelapa at Medang on June 22, 1527 instead of April 28, 1521. This was obviously a confusion with the date of the defeat and killing of Kalender Çelebi, leader of the Turkoman rebels in Anatolia, by the Ottomans who dispersed his army.
When Sultan Muhammad Shah heard of Magellan's
death, he is said to have shed tears, and lamented that he could not have saved
him by going to his rescue. He had been expressly forbidden to mingle in the
fight, as the captain-general wished to show him what Spaniards could do, thus
he and his thousand men remained idle spectators of the battle, though by
participation they might have turned the scale in favor of their allies. But
more probably the Sultan cried over the death of the lost of his alliance with
Spain for his ambition to regain Malacca from the Portuguese and to dominate
the entire Southeast Asian region as promised by Magellan after he had been baptized
and not really because of Magellan. With
all the fighting, only twelve of the allies were killed, and fifteen of the
enemy, so it appears that Magellan perished in an avoidable skirmish with the
underestimated local warriors whom he had boasted that a Spaniard in shining
armor was equivalent to a hundred tattooed warriors which proved him wrong in
the end. What is more applicable to say is that a wise man is more than a
hundred soldiers in full gear.
In the evening during that day, Sultan
Muhammad Shah had sent a courier, on the Spanish behalf, to Tullah to give the
corpses of Magellan and the other Spaniards who were killed in the battle in
return of as much merchandise as he wished. But Tullah answered:
“We will not give up such a man, as they have
hoped they will. We will not give him up for all the riches in the world. We
will keep him as a monument of our triumph.” 160
There is an inscription from the Medang kingdom known as the Shivargha inscription which mentions a battle for royal succession against Jatiningrat, the rebel having made a fortress of hundreds of stones for refuge. This fortress is connected to the site of Ratu Boko. It could be very possible that the battle mentioned was actually the battle between Tullah and the Spaniards and the said inscription must had been written only during the time of the Spanish invasion. The date 856 CE which was indicated in the inscription must be the date when the Saiva temple complex, the Loro Jonggrong, must had been built and not really the date when the inscription was written.
It could also very probable that the whole tale in the said inscription was about the "celestial fairy", her brother Trenggana, her father, her husband Muhammad Shah, and her lover Tullah but it was only equated with different names from older generation. It could also be very probable that Tullah must had been equated to Dharanindra who also assumed the royal title Sri Sanggrama Dhananjaya. Hence, Tullah might had also been hailed as the new Wairiwarawiramardana or "the slayer of courageous enemies". If this is true then the one mentioned as Sarwwarimadawimathana in Ligor B inscription discovered in Southern Thailand Malay Peninsula was actually Tullah and not the hero in the 9th century AD. He could be the valiant and warlike character who embarked on military naval expedition overseas and had brought Sailendra dynasty's control on Ligor in Malay Peninsula. It could be suspected that the Sailendra dynasty was really a Muslim Malay dynasty hiding in the clad of Saivism whose real intention could be to protect or posses the "monsoons' orbs" or the "jewels of Tara" which were believed to possess not only symbolical imperial powers but also literal supernatural powers. Tullah must had been equated to the ninth century hero Jatiningrat mentioned and described as "the young prince in possesion of royal majesty, protected the country of Java, righteous and majestous in battles and in feasts, full of fervour and perfect, victorious but free from passion, a Great King of excellent devotion... a killer as fast as the wind..." while Sultan Muhammad Shah must had been equated to Balaputra to whom his life was very similar and parallel to. Or perhaps the term Jatiningrat was only referring to the title of the Madjapahit prince being of Tanjung Pura in origin and that of the Malaccan sultan as Balaputra indicating the title of the Sri Vijayan emperor indicating his Menangkabaw origin. If this was the case, then the tale stated in the said inscription must had been a narrative of an historical event that happened in the early quarter of the 16th century. Likewise, the folklore about Loro Jonggrong might also be a fairytale version of the life of the "celestial fairy" who was also known in the Sejarah Melayu as Putri Naya Kasuma who later became the wife of Sangaji Jaya Ningrat who was also known as Radin Prana Langu (Sangu or Sanku Ningrat) and as Kyai Kimas Jiva who was most probably referring to Tullah himself.
Upon the death of Magellan, Duarte Barbosa and
Joao Serrao were chosen as the new commanders of the ships. After Barbosa became
the commander of the Trinidad he immediately commanded Trenggana to go ashore
and help the four Spaniards who stayed in the city of Kampar to carry back the
merchandise. But Trenggana who was slightly wounded with a poisoned arrow and
had a fever would not go and said that he was no longer a slave since Magellan
his master was already dead. Barbosa shouted at him that if he would not go he
would be flogged and that he would see to it that if they had returned to Spain
he would continue to be a slave of Doña Beatrice, the wife of Magellan. In
sullen silence, Trenggana arose and received the message, then leaped into a
skiff and rowed ashore. Instead of going to assist the men in removing the
goods from the warehouse, however, as he had been directed, after delivering
the message to the Sultan he lingered at the palace.
Duarte Barbosa who was aware of Magellan's last will and testament concerning Trenggana had obviously no plan of granting that wish which stated:
"I declare and ordain that from the day of my death thenceforward for ever, my captured slave Enrique, mulatto, native of the city of Malacca, of the age of twenty-six years more or less, shall be free and manumitted, and quit, exempt, and relieved of every obligation of slavery and subjection, that he may act as he desires and thinks fit; and I desire that of my estate there may be given to the said Enrique the sum of ten thousand maravedis (Spanish gold coins) in money for his support..."
Trenggana had told the Sultan that the
Spaniards intended to take him captive, after first destroying the town; but
that, while they were still unsuspicious, he might forestall them by a massacre.
He told the Sultan that if he would follow his advice they would be able to
gain the galleons and all the merchandise therein. And that they could avenge
the death of the fifty virgins – probably ten of that were daughters of Tullah.
So they had arranged a plot of how to do it. Yet unknown to the Sultan,
Trenggana had another plan with Tullah – escaping away from the Sultan before
he would do the same with them afterwards.
The Massacre in Sumatra
On the morning of May 1, the Shahbandar told Barbosa that the jewels
– the two pearls-of-Allah -- that the Sultan had promised to send to the King
of Spain were ready, and that the Sultan begged them and their companions to
come to dine with him that morning, when he would give them the jewels.
Twenty-four men excluding Pigafetta went ashore.
The banquet had been prepared. Unknown to the
Sultan, Tullah had returned and secretly took away Father Pedro Valderrama to
his house which was seen by Juan Carvalho and the constable, Gonzalo
Espinosa. Suspecting, the two had
returned hurriedly to the galleons. While the Sultan was focused at the
banquet, Trenggana took his sister – the “celestial fairy” – and her two
ladies-in-waiting; and the four very beautiful musicians, who had entertained
Pigafetta upon their arrival in Demak, of which one of them was Dayang, the
favorite stewardess of the Sultan and Trenggana’s captured bride. Then they
went to Tullah’s house. From there they went to two separate balangays. The “celestial princess”, her
two ladies-in-waiting, Trenggana, and the four Muses went to the larger royal
junk commanded by Sulayman’s son while the seven remaining datus (three of them were killed in the Battle of Medang) on the
junk commanded by Tullah. They immediately sailed away.
The two Spaniards succeeded in worming their
way through the throng and reached the shore, where they took a boat for the
Trinidad. They had scarcely arrived when a great commotion ashore attracted
their attention, and looking towards the land they saw their comrades
surrounded by clamorous natives, who, with spear and kris, were stabbing
promiscuously. One by one they fell, fighting desperately to the last, until
there was left only Captain Serrao, whom the natives dragged to the shore, in
order to barter his life for cannon and other things they had hoped to gain by
surprising the fleet.
The caution and watchfulness of Carvalho alone
prevented them from plundering the ships, as he hove up anchor at the first
sign of disturbance, and, running abreast the town, poured into it several
broadsides. The Victoria and the Concepcion followed suit, and then all sailed
out of the bay towards the open sea, without an attempt at the rescue of
Serrao, who stood on the shore, whither he had been dragged by his captors,
vainly imploring assistance. He was wounded and bleeding, he was the only
survivor of the party he and Barbosa had led to its doom, yet his shipmate and
boon companion, Carvalho, refused to send a boat ashore for his rescue! At
first he wept and implored, while his captors, with daggers at his throat,
awaited the response from the ship; but as it became apparent that Carvalho was
abandoning him to be murdered in cold blood, he raised a bleeding hand to
Heaven and invoked curses upon that comrade, his compadre, who could do a thing
so base and cowardly. "I pray God," he cried, "that He may
demand my soul of thee, Juan Carvalho, at the last great day of judgment!"
The imprecation ended in a cry of despair, as
his ferocious captors bore him to the ground, where they stabbed him to death
with their daggers. Speechless from terror, and seemingly incapable of action,
the cowardly sailors on board the fleet saw their former friends and shipmates
massacred. They also witnessed, as they were borne to safety from the harbor, a
great crowd of fanatical natives engaged in tearing down the cross that had
been raised so short a time before in the consecrated square. The recantation
of the Sultan and his subjects was complete, for they promptly returned to
Islam, and the only reminder of the religion they had so transiently professed
was the carven image of the Señor Santo Niño which Magellan had presented to
the queen.
Twenty-six valiant Spaniards and Portuguese
were slain in that massacre, comprised in the list of dead being three captains
of the fleet's vessels, a pilot, two notaries, a gunner, a cooper, common
seamen, servants, and sobresalientes, or supernumeraries. Through the
negligence of Magellan, he did not only lost his own life, but indirectly
brought about the loss of others, when, deprived of their sagacious head, the
officials of the fleet unwisely accepted the invitation to that fatal banquet.
Respecting the death of Serrao, an eye-witness
says: "As soon as the men in the ships saw the slaughter, they hoisted the
anchors and tried to set sail. At that juncture, the savages brought Joao
Serrao, one of those whom they desired to ransom, and asked two guns and two
bahars of copper for him. Serrao told them to take him to the ship and he would
give them what they asked; but they insisted that those things be taken ashore.
And the men on the ship, fearing another act of treachery, set sail and
abandoned that man there, and nothing more was ever heard of him."
Despite his treachery to Serrao, the wretch
whom fortune had placed in command of the flag-ship, Juan Carvalho, was
confirmed as captain-general of the fleet. It is claimed by his enemies that it
was owing to his desire to acquire supreme command that he so brutally sailed
away and left poor Serrao to his fate. Three vessels then comprised the armada,
and this small fleet was still further reduced, after the narrow channel called the Strait of Malacca had been passed (passing Sumatra, Singapore, and the Malay Peninsula), by the burning
of the Concepcion at Kampong Bohol in Selangor, Malaysia (not Bohol in the Visayan Islands). This vessel was found to be leaking badly, and as all the
ships were then short-handed, owing to the loss of so many men, her contents
and crew were divided between the Trinidad and Victoria. These two were all
that remained, the first week in May, 1521, of the gallant fleet which had set
sail from Seville nineteen months before, for the Santiago’s bones were
bleaching on the coast of Patagonia, the San Antonio had deserted her
companions in the Strait of Magellan, and the Concepcion was burned to the
water's edge off the Klang River.
Journey to the Spicy Paradise
On July 9, sailing near to the harbor of
Brunei, the Spanish galleons was met by three great balangays decorated in gold, and flying a blue-and-white banner
surmounted with peacock feathers. Beneath the banners sat groups of musicians,
beating gongs and drums; and in this manner, preceded by stately balangays, and to the sound of martial
music, the ships entered the beautiful harbor of Brunei, in Borneo. As soon as
the ships had anchored, a fleet of balangays
came out to take the passengers ashore, where, to their astonishment, they
found a troop of richly caparisoned elephants awaiting them. After they had
timorously mounted the beasts, a procession was formed which set out for the
sultan's palace, preceded by ten men carrying presents in porcelain jars covered
with silk. The streets of Brunei were filled with half-naked warriors bearing
swords, shields, spears, and cutlasses, while the great hall of the palace
contained hundreds of soldiers clad in cloth-of-gold, with daggers on their
thighs adorned with pearls and precious stones.
The sultan was invisible to the strangers, and
they were compelled to converse with him through a "speaking-tube" –
obviously to avoid detection that he was one and the same with the Sultan who
had slaughtered their comrades in Kampar. Yet, Pigafetta had chanced to see him
slightly as the curtains that barred him from view were slightly pushed away to
accept the presents given by the Spaniards – on a side-view, the tattooed
jovial sultan identical in description with the rajah of Kampar was slightly
seen. The Sultan sent the Spaniards to their rooms delighted with his
graciousness. There, for the first time in many months, they slept on cotton
mattresses, "whose lining was of taffeta, and the sheets of kembaya."
This unwonted luxury caused them to sleep till late in the morning, when they
were regaled at breakfast with capons, veal, peacocks, and fish, washed down
with wine of rice, called arrack,
which they drank from dainty cups the size of an egg. They returned to the
sea-shore as they had come, on elephant-back, and each man with his hands full
of gifts from the sultan.
The city of Brunei was built after the fashion
of the ancient lake-dwellers' towns, mainly on piles, above the placid waters
of a great bay, with waterways for boats, instead of streets; but the sultan's
palace was on dry land. In the river beyond the bay were anchored fleets of
war-balangays that had just arrived from Medang, manned by fierce-looking
Malays, which had been constantly increasing in number since the arrival of the
ships. Carvalho and Espinosa had been watching them suspiciously several days,
for many of them had taken position between the ships and the sea.
One morning, in the last week of July, the
three balangays commanded by Tullah
and by Karim had arrived from their long journey of hide-and-seek from the
Sultan. Tullah commanded the captains of the war-balangays to surround the
Spanish fleet. Carvalho being watchful had observed that two hundred or more of
the war-balangays suddenly hove up
their anchors and started to surround them. No sooner had the war-balangays had done so, the Spanish
commanders met them with a discharge of their batteries, then set sail and
stood out of the harbor. Many balangays
were shattered or overturned, and in open water outside the harbor the royal
junk commanded by Karim was captured. Carvalho thought that he was then
returning from a plundering expedition and laden with spoils. In exchange for a
large portion of his treasure, it is said, Captain Carvalho gave him his
liberty, but he retained as captives the three very beautiful girls -- the
“celestial fairy” and her two ladies-in-waiting whom Tullah had abducted from
the Sultan -- and was taking as a present to the Queen of Spain. Karim’s junk
had sailed away to Sabah to keep safe Trenggana who had returned later to Demak
and assumed the throne he had left for ten years while Tullah was chasing the
Spanish fleets.
When the news of the arrival of Tullah who had
“abducted the celestial fairy with the twin pearls of the monsoon winds” had
reached Sultan Muhammad Shah, he immediately set off on his royal junk to
search for him and get back the damhara
amihan and the pearls.
The crafty Carvalho was speedily punished for
his dereliction from duty, as, by allowing the prince to go free in exchange
for gold, he was prevented from redeeming two of his men who, in the haste of
departure, had been left ashore at Brunei. One of these was his own son by an
Indian woman of Brazil; yet he left him without any apparent compunction, and
probably never heard of him more. It was a long descent from Magellan to
Carvalho as commander, and even his countrymen on board the ship could not
endure him longer; so they deposed him, sometime during the voyage from Borneo
to the Moluccas. They elected Espinosa, the alguacil, commander-in-chief, and
Juan Sebastian del Cano captain of the Victoria.
Not long after, the Spanish fleet was
following the balangay of Sultan Muhammad Shah whom they thought was going to
the Moluccas which route they did not know and whose lands they did not yet has
a view. They had noticed that the said balangay pursued and overhauled junk
after junk, but all to no purpose, and in their devious wanderings found
themselves back again on the coast of Mindanao, which they reached by way of
the Sulu Archipelago. Sultan Muhammad who had introduced himself as Sultan
Amir-ul-Umara of Sulu had told del Cano that they were searching for his two
pearls “that were as big as hen's eggs, and so round that they would not stand
still on a table," which according to him had been taken by pirates from
Borneo who were sailing somewhere on that sea. When the Sultan heard that the
Spaniards were seeking for the Moluccas, he instructed them the direction –
southeast of Sulu, ten degrees they must sail, first through the Celebes Sea,
then into that of the Moluccas, where they would find the islands Ternate and
Tidor, with others, that produced nutmegs, cloves and cinnamon.
Between Sulu and Mindanao, the balangay of Tullah was attacked and
captured by Del Cano. The seven datus who had fought against the Spanish
soldiers were all slain while Tullah was put in irons. When asked about his
identity he told them that as a young boy he was taken by a garuda to a tree at the top of a
mountain and he was living inside the hatched egg until he was found by a
hunter and was adopted as a son. Del Cano asked him about the legendary pearls
of the monsoon winds and he confirmed its existence. Tullah was in despair but
when he learned that the Spaniards were in search of the Spiceries, he offered
to pilot them there, provided they gave him his liberty and his balangay to command again. Most gladly
they promised, for their provisions were failing once more, and after sailing
hither and thither so many months, on a quest which it seemed might be endless,
they desired rest and refreshment.
Gladly, Tullah, had exclaimed, "Lo, I can
take ye there, for I have friends in those islands whom I have visited often.
Among them one of your countrymen, Francisco Serrao, who was my friend, but now
is no more, for the King of Tidor caused him to be poisoned as a revenge for
kidnapping his daughter and giving her as a gift to his liege lord, the king of
Ternate, Prabu Udara. Djamaluddin, the first Muslim king of Tidor lured
Francisco Serrao to his island on a pretense of trading in spices, poisoned
him, out of revenge."
Then indeed they rejoiced -- though their joy
was tinctured with sadness, to learn of the passing away of that gallant
Portuguese, Serrao. Upon close questioning of the pirate captain, it was found
that he had been murdered the very week that Magellan, his most intimate
friend, and Joao Serrao, his brother, met death by violence at Sunda Kelapa and
Kampar respectively. Thus had perished the reckless soldier, Francisco Serrao, who, during
at least seven or eight years of his residence in the Moluccas, had maintained
an occasional correspondence with his dearest friend Fernan Magellan. To him,
more than to any other mortal, Magellan was indebted for the idea of reaching
the Spice Islands by sailing westward from Africa, and for information
concerning their resources. Francisco Serrao, in fact, not only lighted the
beacon-flame that guided Magellan and beckoned him on, but fed that flame for
years, in the hope of bringing his friend to him at last. He probably knew of
the expedition commanded by Magellan, as the King of Portugal had dispatched an
armada to the Spice Islands for the purpose of intercepting and destroying it.
Only a few months more of life to each, and these old comrades would have met;
but the hand of grim Death stretched forth and dragged them both into the
grave.
With Tullah at the helm of the flag-ship, the
two ships in company sailed across the Celebes Sea -- or, rather, they skirted
it, dodging in and out among volcanic islands --until finally, in the morning
of November 6, 1521, four lofty islands rose on the horizon. These, Tullah told
them, were the Moluccas, of which they had been in search no less than
twenty-six months, that being the time that had elapsed since they sailed out
of Seville. Two pointed peaks, they said, the conical tips of insular volcanoes
covered with a vegetation ravishingly beautiful to behold, were the
cloud-wreathed crowns of Ternate and Tidor. As they approached them, fragrant
gales were wafted to the fleet, and the weary sailors needed not to be told
that here before them, at last, were the long-sought, long-looked-for Islands
of Spices!
"Three hours before sunset of Friday,
November 8th," says Pigafetta, "we entered the harbor of an island called
Tidor, and anchoring near the shore, in twenty fathoms of water, fired off all
our artillery as a salute to its king. Next day the said king came to the ships
in a proa, and circled about them once. He was seated under a silk awning; in
front of him was one of his sons, with the royal sceptre, and a person on each
side with a gilded casket and a gold jar, containing betel-nuts and water. The
king said to us we were welcome, and that he had dreamt some time before that
we were coming; for he was an astrologer, and his name was Almanzor."
There was only one Almanzor during the period
– Sultan Muhammad Shah who was also called in Malacca as Mansur Shah. If this
hypothesis is correct then Djamaluddin or Raden Patah is more probably one of
those who were slain or burnt at the Battle of Medang and Francisco Serrao must be one of those who were poisoned at the banquet in Java. Francisco Serrao might had gone to Kampar to visit his brother Joao Serrao and his best friend Fernan Magellan and might had warned the latter of the coming Portuguese armada to intercept his voyage to the Moluccas and eventually capture him. It must be noted that it was Francisco Serrão's letters to Ferdinand Magellan, which were carried to Portugal via Portuguese Malacca and which described the 'Spice Islands', that helped Magellan persuade the King of Spain to finance his circumnavigation. Francisco Serrão was the pilot of a round
caravel in the 4th Portuguese India Armada led by Vasco da Gama in 1502 and of the round caravel Botafogo in the 7th Portuguese India Armada led by Francisco de
Almeida in 1505 and later in the capture of Malacca and other actions in the East of which his brother João
Serrão
and hi
s friend Fer
nan Magellan
were among the crews.
The Spaniards received the King of Tidor as
Magellan had received the Prince of Kampar. The red-velvet chair of state was
brought out and sat on deck, he was clothed in a robe of yellow silk, and
presented with such articles as beads, knives, mirrors, drinking-cups, webs of
linen, bales of silk, the robe in which he was draped, and the chair of state
he sat in.
So rejoiced were the commanders and crew at
having arrived in these islands much desired, that they would have given the
king whatever he wanted; but he himself begged them to desist, as he had
nothing worthy, he said, to present them in exchange, for the acceptance of
their king, unless, indeed, he sent himself! But he had cloves and cinnamon,
and for these the ships had been laden with goods to barter many, many months
before. The spices, Almanzor informed his guests, were on the way to the coast,
being products of the interior country, and especially of the mountain
districts, where the fragrant groves covered hills and vales alike.
So anxious were the Spaniards to please this
king of the Spiceries that they presented him with the three beautiful girls
for his harem. Unknown to the Spaniards one of those girls was the “celestial
fairy” and wife of that sultan. The Spaniards knowing that the sultan was a
Muslim, had all the pigs on board the two ships killed, in order not to offend
his religious sensibilities. For the Spaniards knew quite well that they were
trespassing upon a Portuguese dependency, and that this same sovereign was
bound by treaty to trade exclusively with their rivals.
Only by suffrance, they realized, could they
procure the precious spices they had come so far to find, and the sultan was
treated as though he were, "in very truth, a king." This policy had
its effect, as was soon shown by the stream of runners from the country, each
one bearing on his back a bale of cloves. The trading then "waxed fast and
furious," for not only the factors of the ships began purchasing, but all
the common sailors as well, each man being entitled to a quintalada, or
percentage of the lading-space aboard ship, ranging from eighty quintals
allowed the captain-general, to a quintal and a half for a sailor.
Trading began on the night of November 24, at
which time the van-guard of the spice-army arrived. The sultan launched his balangay, with its gorgeous banners and
silken awnings, and, with drums beating furiously, circled around the ships,
which saluted him repeatedly by discharges of cannon, "for the joy that
was felt over the arrival of the cloves." The first loads were scarcely
aboard the ships, when the sultan invited officers and crews to join him at a
banquet in his palace among the palm-trees on shore; but, with the horrors of Kampar's
massacre in mind, the invitation was declined.
The king was not offended thereby, but
continued friendly, for there was great rivalry between him and several other
sovereigns for the trade and good-will of the Spaniards. In this merry war
joined the kings of Ternate, of Batchian, and Gilolo, who vied with each other
in their efforts to win the regard of the strangers. The first sent vast
quantities of cloves, the second a slave for the Emperor of Spain, and the
third skins of the bird-of-paradise, which had never been seen by Spaniards
before. These skins were without feet, and this fact, together with their
wonderfully beautiful plumage, led the Spaniards to believe what the natives
told them: that the birds descended from paradise, where they lived with the
souls of the saints; that they never touched the earth, but pursued a strictly
aerial existence, ever floating about in the air, not even alighting in trees.
Judging from the regal state of these island
sovereigns, they were kings, indeed, and more than semi-savage chiefs.
According to the reports gathered by Pigafetta who was in the Trinidad,
Almanzor had a palace in town and another in the country, with a hundred wives
in each; when he ate he sat alone, or with the wife he loved best, in a high
gallery, with the other ninety-nine looking on in admiration; when he had
finished, they were permitted to partake, or remove from the table what they
liked best and eat it alone in their chambers; he had eight sons and eighteen
daughters; but the Moro kings of Gilolo surpassed him, for one rejoiced in the
possession of six hundred children, and the other five hundred and twenty-five.
While the Spaniards were so merrily lading
their ships with the spices they had come so far to procure, and enjoying to
the utmost the material delights of these paradisiacal isles, they were
reminded occasionally, by rumors from Ternate that they were yet in a position
of peril. These islands were considered appanages of Portugal, because a
Portuguese navigator had, first of all Europeans, visited and traded with them.
One day there came over from Ternate a Portuguese named Lorosa, who informed
them that not long before a fleet of armed traders under Don Tristan de Meneses
had been there, looking for Magellan as well as for trade. The King of Portugal
had also sent an armada to the Cape of Good Hope, in order to intercept that
"renegade," as well as one to the coast of Patagonia; but all had
failed to find and capture him. It was almost time, however, he said, for the
fleet to return, and in case of its coming the Spaniards would certainly be in
peril, for although Portugal and Spain were at peace as to the Iberian
Peninsula, they were likely to war over their colonial possessions; and the
coming armada was a strong one, far surpassing in tonnage, guns, and men that
of the Spaniards.
This information caused the commanders such
anxiety that they hurried forward the lading by night and by day. By
mid-December both ships had so much cargo that no more could be taken without
risk of over-lading, and the king was told that soon they must take their
departure. He was both astonished and grieved, says Pigafetta, and immediately
went to the flag-ship to express his displeasure.
"He said that we should not depart then,
for that was not the season for sailing among those islands. However, if it was
our determination to depart then, we should take back all our merchandise, else
all the kings roundabout would say that the King of Tidor had received so many
presents from so great a king, and had given nothing in return; and that, also,
they would think we had departed only for fear of some treason, and would
always call him a traitor. Then he had his Koran brought, and, first kissing it
and placing it four or five times above his head, at the same time muttering
certain words to himself, he declared in the presence of all that he swore, by
Allah and the Koran, that he would always be faithful to the King of Spain. He
spoke all those words nearly in tears, and in sympathy for him we promised to
wait yet a few days longer; but not many, as the time had come to go."
While the sailors were awaiting orders to
sail, they amused themselves by making excursions into the country, where they
found fruits and flowers in profusion. On one of these trips they met a strange
procession consisting almost entirely of women, each woman nude to the waist,
but with a silken skirt from the waist to the knees. On their heads they bore
large wooden trays filled with food, as also jars of wine. Some of the men
followed them and ascertained that they were taking the material for a banquet
to the King of Batchian, then a guest of the King of Tidor, who received them
sitting on a carpet, beneath a red-and-yellow canopy. Perceiving the Spaniards
on their return, some of the women captured several, and refused to allow them
their freedom until they had made presents to the company. When the king heard
of this adventure, he warned the Spaniards against going abroad at night, as
there were certain men in his island who, though headless, could see in the
dark, and who rubbed a poisonous ointment on the faces of all strangers they
met, from which they fell sick and died.
The inhabitants of the islands in general were
so peace-loving and gentle, and the islands themselves so entrancingly sweet
and attractive, with their various vegetation and delicious atmosphere, that
the strangers felt more disposed to remain than to depart. But the time arrived
when, as the winter monsoon had set in, they must take their leave of the
hospitable king and his beautiful island. They had found the famed Spice
Islands even more attractive than had been represented to Magellan; and many
there were on board the ships who sighed at thought of him in his grave at Medang,
while they were enjoying what he had given his life for them to find.
The Rise of the Winds
After the Trinidad had been stranded in Tidor
for a leaking that had been discovered for unknown cause but most probably done
by Tullah, the Victoria had set sail leaving behind the Trinidad for its future
destruction. The Sultan had loaned Captain Espinosa two hundred carpenters, who
worked by shifts for months.
In the Malaccan and Javanese accounts, after
the Chinese fleet had defeated the Portuguese led by Simão de Andrade at the
Battle of Tamao, Sultan Muhammad Shah was inspired to attack the Portuguese
fleets in Malacca for the second time with the assistance of forces coming from
Demak and from Javanese-Chinese. As the sea-battle begun between the Sultan’s
forces against the Portuguese fleets, the “celestial fairy” was intercepted by
the Sultan at sea near Johor. According to numerous legends concerning the “celestial
fairy”, while she was embroidering at the deck of the ship she was embraced
from behind by the Sultan which startled her and accidentally hit his finger
with the needle (Johor account). The Sultan who was angered asked her if she’s
still a virgin after so many men had already captured her he would not believe
that she had remained faithful (Kelantan account). Furious, she retaliated by
stabbing him at the chest with a dagger or in other version a hairpin. There
were hairpins as sharp as an ice-pick and bigger than a nail used by princesses
during that period. The “celestial fairy” then escaped to an ancient Malay city
of Ulu Kelantan, not very far from Malacca, and vowed never to marry again. In
Ulu Kelantan the “celestial fairy” being a widow was also called in their
legends as Che’ Siti (“the widow who
controls the inner winds”). The Sultan’s fleet was defeated. In traditions the
fleet was hit by a storm which indirectly caused by its defeat. Those junks and
merchant ships that did not capsize were captured by the Portuguese armada
which was composed of nine vessels. In one of the ships, the Portuguese found
the dead body of the Nakhoda Bolkeiah. If Magellan and Serrao had lived at that
moment they must have gazed upon the cadaver with grim satisfaction, and have
felt that the scheme of revenge for the slaughter of their comrades was to be
fulfilled. The Sultan was then remembered by his people as the Pangeran Sabrang Lor which means “the
Prince who crossed (the Java Sea) to North (Malay Peninsula)”. The raids helped
convince the Portuguese that the exiled sultan's forces must be silenced.
According to Javanese tradition, among the
ships overturned by the said storm was Tullah’s. He was stranded on the coast
of Jepara and was saved by a Chinese junk captained by a Chinese minister named
Tjie Hwio Gwan. When asked by the
minister who he was, accordingly, he told the minister that he was a merchant
prince from Sumatra and his name was Toyib,
the son of Emperor Shah Mughayat king Aceh. The minister had brought Tullah to
his residence in a village known as Kalinyamat
and adopted him there as his own son and named him Tjie Bin Thang (either means King of Banten or King of Butuan). Later
he was also known in another Chinese name as Chek Kopo.
If taken into consideration the probability
that the ship used by the Sultan to regain Malacca was the Trinidad, his death
must fall on April 10, 1522. In the Spanish account, it was reported that the
Trinidad left Tidor on April 6, 1522 on its voyage to Panama but met directly
in the teeth of the head-winds and howling gales which lasted for five days.
The real destination might be Malacca in corroboration with Southeast Asian
traditions but the real story might be compelled for political reasons. The
crippled Trinidad was captured by a Portuguese fleet under Antonio de Brito.
Its timbers were used in the construction of a Portuguese fort in Ternate. Its
captain and crew were imprisoned, and treated with such barbarity that no less
than fifty of them perished, only four surviving to reach their native land.
Espinosa was one of the four who, wasted and wan, arrived in Spain early in
1525.
In Cirebon, Brunei, and Sulu traditions, after
the death of Sultan Muhammad Shah in April 1522, the people of Brunei and Sulu
had requested Tullah to become their new sultan. He became the second sultan of
Brunei under the Muslim title Sultan Sharif Ali (سلطان شريف علي), as defender
of Islam and possessor of the powerful Zulfiqar or the Taming Sari. He was
supposedly the third sultan of Sulu who was supposed to have the title Ala’
ud-Din or Nur-ul-Allah ud-Din but it was the “celestial fairy” who had assumed
the throne and the said title by deceit previously for the reasons already
mentioned earlier hence instead of third he became the fifth sultan of Sulu
with the title Muizzul-Mutawadi-in.
He was known in Mindanao as Maharaja Upo.
He was both a son and a grandson of Abu Bakr since the latter married his niece
who happened to be the mother of Tullah. However, there are Javanese legends
which suggest that he was “a son of his half-sister” for Sharifah accordingly
was a twin-sister of Fatah who was delivered later by her mother who died in
childbirth. In that version, Abu Bakr (also known as Jumadil Kubra, a feminine
form for Abu Bakr) drowned himself in the river upon knowing the incestuous
relationship he had committed with his daughter.
During this year too, Dom Jorge de Albuquerque had sent a ship, the São Sebastião under
Captain Henrique Leme, to Sunda Kalapa with valuable gifts for the king of
Sunda (Tullah). Two written sources detail the concluding of the treaty (the
so-called Luso-Sundanese Treaty): the original Portuguese document of 1522, with
the text of the treaty and the signatures of the witnesses; and João de
Barros’s report in his book Décadas da Ásia, printed after 1777 or 1778.
According to these sources,
the Portuguese were welcomed warmly by the former crown prince, now Raya Prabu
Surawisesa Jayapercosa (or King Surawisesa of Pajundan, also called Ratu Sang
Hyang, Portuguese Ratu Samian); Barros called him King Samião -- no other than
Tullah himself. The Portuguese were allowed to build a fortress at the mouth of
the Ciliwung River where they could load black pepper to their ships. Tullah
also pledged to give one thousand sacks (more than 20 tons) each year to the
Portuguese. The treaty was executed in two copies, one for the king of Sunda,
one for the king of Portugal; each was signed on August 21, 1522. The Sundanese
king's deputies were the chief mandarin Padam Tumangu (Honourable Tumenggung)
-- Tullah himself being the Pangiran Temenggong, the mandarins Sang Adipati and Bendahara, and the Shahbandar
of the land, named Fabian.
"On the said day",
these mandarins and other honorable men, together with Henrique Leme and his
entourage, went to the mouth of the river where the fortress would be
constructed, on the "land called Sunda Kalapa". There they erected a
memorial stone, called a padrão, in what is now the Tugu sub-district of North
Jakarta. It was a Portuguese custom to set up a padrão (memorial stone) when
they discovered a new land. The padrão, now called the Luso-Sundanese padrão,
is kept in the National Museum.
Because of troubles in Goa,
Portuguese India, the Portuguese failed to keep their promise to come back the
following year to construct the fortress. They did not return to the Java Sea
until November, 1526, when they arrived in six ships from Bintan under the
command of Francisco de Sá.
At that time, thirty Portuguese sailors, shipwrecked by storms, swam to the beach at Sunda Kelapa only to be killed by Tullah’s men. The Portuguese recognized the political leadership had changed when they were not allowed to set foot on the land. As they were too weak for a battle, they set sail back to Malacca. The next year, a second attempt failed because of striking sailors angry at not having been paid.
The padrão was rediscovered
at the junction between Jalan Cengkeh and Jalan Kali Besar Timur in 1918 when
the Dutch East Indies government made a reclamation in this area.
The Luso-Sundanese padrão is
a 165 cm high stone pillar. The upper part of the padrão shows an armillary
sphere, a symbol of discovery used by King Manuel of Portugal. On top of the
sphere is a trefoil. A cross of the Order of Christ has been carved above the
first line of the inscription. The inscription itself, OSPOR .ESFERЯa/Mo is an
abbreviation of O Senhor de Portugal. Esfera/Espera do Mundo, meaning The Lord
of Portugal. Sphere/Hope of the World. Most probably the said padrão was the
monument really erected at the site where Fernan Magellan was buried and the
phrase "O Lord of Portugal, Hope of the World" was really referring
to Magellan who was described by Pigafetta as "... our mirror, our light,
our comfort, and our true guide..."
Tullah’s reign in Sulu lasted until 1548.
During his reign as sultan he became very pious by which he was called as
Sultan Berkat (“Blessed Sultan”) in Brunei; Si Maayo (“He who is Good”) in
Cebu; Simaun or Si Ayo in Brunei; Ratu Adil or Sultan Adil in Java and Sulu
respectively which both means “good ruler”; Mir Shah Raju among the Arabs; and
Fatahillah and Sharif Hidayatullah among the Cirebonese. He was the first
sultan to build a mosque, and fortified the defense of Brunei by ordering his
people to build a stone fortress. Tullah governed Brunei according to Islamic
principles and his reign was popular and highly respected. He ruled the
Sultanate of Brunei for six years. Following his coronation as sultan, as a
Muslim tradition, he traveled to Mecca for a hajj and stayed in Egypt for three
years with his ancestral tribe – the Bani Israil (Cirebon account). Within
those years, he had ordered a very special crown to be made for the woman he
wanted to marry upon his return. It was designed after the legendary phoenix of
Egypt – a golden crown decorated with a number of gems (Sulu account).
In 1524, upon his return, Tullah had already
become a sheiykh named Nurullah and a sharif named Hidayatullah. He entered the
service of Sultan Trenggana, the ruling Madjapahit Emperor whose seat was in
Demak, as the general commander of all his fleets. In that year, the Portuguese
Dom Jorge de Albuquerque had reported that the final triumph of Islam in the
region was due to Tullah whom Albuquerque called as Sultan Ali Balfakih of
Brunei. In the same year, Tullah married the sister of Trenggana, the
“celestial fairy”, whom he had found to be alive and living in Ulu Kelantan.
According to Mindanao account, the coronation and wedding ceremony was done in
a royal junk at the middle of Lake Lanao. The palace of Tullah was used to
stand by the lake. The area during his time was used to be called as Kalanawan
which was mentioned by Pigafetta as Calaghan. To recall the first kingdoms of
Tullah was the area in Mindanao from Lanao to Butuan and the islands of Cebu,
where prior to the coming of Magellan he was called as Sri Lumay – the Sumatran
bupati who was fond of making
love-potion since he was taught by Dayang
Ratna. After the ceremony, the first and original rendition of the dance
called Singkil -- which was a combination of Arab steps and Indo-Malay ethnic
music & creativity of the Ummah communities of the Maranao and Maguindanao
– was performed by Tullah & Kesuma who were also known as Bantugan and Putri Gandingan respectively in the epic Darangen (a Maranao version of the Ramayana which actually recounts
the heroism of a real historical figure who was forgotten to be once ruling the
Philippine Archipelago).161
In 1526 he was met by the Portuguese, Vasco
Lourenço, who visited Brunei. He was already known at that time as Sultan
Berkat (“Pious or Blessed Sultan”) as opposed to Muhammad or Ahmad who was
known as Sultan Makatunaw (“Tyrant Sultan”). It was reported that Vasco
Lourenço showed him the piece of goods that he had brought with him, and opened
a tapestry of Arras on which was portrayed the marriage of the King of England
with the aunt of the Emperor (Henry VIII & Katharine of Aragon). The King
was life size with royal robes, scepter and crown, and the other figures were standing
round him. When Tullah saw this strange thing he asked what it was, and they
explained to him. But he suspected that they were deceiving him and that the
Portuguese were sorcerers, and that those were magic figures that they wanted
to introduce into his abode, so that they might slay him at night and seize his
kingdom. He was, according to the report, was very frightened and ordered that
those things at once be taken away, and that the Portuguese should leave the
port, for he would have in his kingdom no other king but himself, and that if
the Portuguese would remain there, he would punish them. The Portuguese were
astonished. Afonso Pires and some Moors sought to remove this suspicion from
his mind, but they were unsuccessful and Afonso Pires returned to Malacca,
Vasco Lourenço going with him.162
Suspecting that the Portuguese had already known that he was the valiant hero
who had killed Magellan and fearful that they would come back and attack him
unprepared, Tullah went to Banten.During that time the original settlement of
Banten was situated not on the coast, but about ten kilometers inland on the
Cibanten River, in the area which is today occupied by the southern suburbs of
the town of Serang. It was known as Banten Girang, meaning “Banten-up-the-river"
owing to its location. Tullah at first lived in Banten Girang, then part of the
Hindu kingdom of Sunda, as ordinary ulama,
whose purpose was to spread the word of Islam in that still Hindu town, and
used the name Hasanudin.
In 1527, Tullah abdicated the throne of Brunei
in favor of his son Tugao who was crowned as “Sulayman” named after Abdullah
Sulayman (Prabu Cakrabuana) the hero who was killed by Magellan with his own
lance at the Battle of Medang and who later became a maulana under the name Yusuf. Nevertheless, Tullah had not
given up the Sultanate of Sulu for another co-regent.
In that year, Tullah concentrated on reviving
the fortunes of the ancient kingdom of Sunda. One of his earliest decisions was
to travel to southern Sumatra, which had traditionally belonged to the kingdom
of Sunda, and from which the bulk of the pepper sold in the Sundanese region
came. He was keen to assure himself of the loyalty of these wealthy areas as
soon as possible and to guarantee supplies of pepper for his ports, since it
was on this spice that all international trade was based and, hence, in which
the wealth of his kingdom lay.
Having established control over the ports and
the pepper trade, Tullah decided to build a new capital, to symbolize the new
era which was beginning. He chose to construct it on the coast at the mouth of
the Cibanten River. That a settlement already existed at this place is evidence
by its harbor activities, but at this time the seat of political power was in
Banten Girang. The royal city was founded on the delta, formed by the two arms
of the river. Two main streets running north-south and east-west divided the
city into quarters. The royal palace surrounded by residences of the principal
minister of state, was built on the south side of the royal square and the
great mosque on the west side. Foreigners, for the most part merchants, had to
live outside the royal city -- that is, on either side of the delta.
In 1529, the Sultanate of Atjeh (Acheh) on
the northern tip of Sumatra became powerful enough to consider controlling the
Straits of Malacca. Luzon ships formed part of the Atjehnese fleet that
attacked key settlements along the straits. At the same time, Luzon warriors
formed part of the opposing Batak-Menangkabau army that besieged Atjeh.164
In 1546, Dalem Ketut, the first king of Gelgel (in Bali) who posed as an opponent of Islam and an enemy of Pasuruan and Mataram (in central Java), had proposed to marry the daughter of Sri Juru, the king of Blambangan (in Madura) but the princess refused. A Balinese army was therefore sent to Blambangan where it trapped and killed Sri Juru. The children of the slain king fled to Pasuruan on Java's north coast and Blambangan was brought under Balinese suzerainty. Furthermore, Lombok and West Sumbawa were brought under the authority of Dalem Baturenggong, the 10-year old son of Dalem Ketut.
According to the Portuguese writer Ferñao Mendes Pinto (c. 1509-1583) in his work Peregrinacam, Bali was a pagan island dependent on the Javanese Muslim Demak kingdom but rebelled in 1546.
As the new dynasty was so firmly
established, Tullah without hesitation had left the kingdom to take part in a
military expedition against the Balinese in Pasuruan (which controlled Blambangan) in eastern Java, at the request of Sultan
Trenggana.165 An alliance of 7,000 warriors from Cirebon, Banten, and Sunda Kelapa (Jayakarta) was led by Tullah. Demak troops had surrounded Panarukan for three months but had not able to capture the city. Sultan Trenggana consulted the governors (who were also the powerful merchants at that time) to launch further attacks. Dalem Baturenggong who was interested in the proceedings did not hear the order. He was eager to stop the Islamic expansion in the area and control it. Angered, Trenggana beat him who in turn spontaneously stabbed Trenggana's chest with a knife. Trenggana lost his life and was taken immediately back to Demak. It is likely that Tullah took advantage of his suzerain’s death and the
troubles which ensued to free his kingdom from any further obligations to this
royal house. Upon the death of Trenggana, Tullah was crowned as the last
Madjapahit emperor and by possessing one of the “pearls-of-Allah” he acquired
the titles: Nur Jila and Nur Zila – the winds of freedom and
peace. The “celestial fairy” became his co-regent and she directly ruled over Japara
with its seat at Kalinyamat and chose the Chinese minister Tjie Hwio Gwan as her grand vizier.166
On the mainland, Luzon warriors aided the Burmese king in his invasion of Siam in 1547 AD. At the same time, Luzon warriors fought alongside the king of Thailand and faced the same elephant army of the Burmese king in the defense of the Siamese capital at Ayuthaya.167
In 1548, Tullah abdicated the throne of the
Sulu sultanate in favor of his son Sulayman, who was crowned in Sulu as Sultan
Nasirud-Din I (1548-1568). According to tradition, he also managed the
development of the Sunda kingdom as co-regent of his father following the
custom long practiced within the empire.168
In 1550, upon the request of the Sultan of
Johor, the “celestial fairy” had sent 4,000 soldiers in 40 ships to aid the
said sultan in freeing Malacca from the European powers. Accordingly, the
fleets from Japara were later joined forces with the Malay alliance and manage
to rally around 200 warships. The combined forces attacked from the north and
captured most of Malacca. But the Portuguese managed to retaliate and draw back
the Malay alliance to the sea while the troops from Japara remained on shore
but withdrew when their leader was slain. As the battle continued in land and
at sea, two thousand soldiers of Japara were killed. It was worsened by a storm
which held the other two ships of Japara stranded at the shore of Malacca which
had given the Portuguese the chance to slay the stranded soldiers. The number
of soldiers of Japara who managed to escape back to Java was less than a half
of those who were sent.169
In the same year, the Ming Empire finally put
an end to overseas trade altogether. Yet, ironically, the Ming Empire's ban on
overseas trade became a blessing to Luzon. The port cities in Fujian and Canton
that had been profiting from overseas trade since the Sung Dynasty cannot
simply end its trade relations with Southeast Asia just because the central
government in Beijing does not see profit from it. Chinese ships from Fujian
and Canton continue to smuggle goods out of China. They chose the port cities
of Tondo and Manila in Luzon as a drop off point. Ships from other parts of
Asia, mostly Brunei and Malacca would then sail to Luzon to pick up their
percentage of the Chinese goods.170
Also during this period, Tullah decided to
launch the final blow to what remained of the kingdom of Sunda. Sulayman led
the attack on Dayeuh Pakuan, its capital city located in modern Bogor. After
losing its most important port Sunda Kelapa, the kingdom, already deprived of
its trading revenues, was of symbolic importance only. The kingdom put up
little resistance and henceforth Banten ruled over the entire territory of the
former kingdom of Sunda, which corresponds to most of current Indonesian
province of West Java. The sacred stone (watu gigilang) that was serving as the
sovereign’s throne of Sunda kingdom was taken away and put at the street
intersection in the royal square of Banten, thus marking the end of the
Sundanese dynasty. Henceforth this stone was to serve as the Banten sovereign’s
throne.171
The End of the Madjapahit Empire
In 1564, Tullah had asked the regent of Demak,
Aryan Pangiri, to send assistance to the Sultanate of Aceh in attacking the
Portuguese in Malacca. But the suspicious regent had the envoys killed.172 In the same year, the Portuguese captain-general, Gonzalo Pereira
attacked Cebu and Bohol and captured many natives to be sold for slavery. 173
Miguel López de Legazpi's fleet consisting of
five galleons and 500 men arrived in the Philippines and landed in the shores
of Cebu, believing it to be the place where Magellan had gone, on February 14,
1565. The Shahbandar, on his balangay with seven datus, who was under the instruction of Tullah,went to Legazpi and
advised him that they (the Spaniards) would be more successful if they
befriended the neighboring chiefs before attempting to land in Cebu or they
would meet the same fate with Fernan Magellan. After a brief struggle with
hostile natives, they left the island in search of food, water, supplies and other
resources.
While the Spaniards had sailed away, Tullah
who was called Simaggio (that is, “Si Maayo”) in the Legazpi expedition’s
account met with his brother-in-law, Rajah Tupas, the governor of Cebu, and
planned to evacuate the people to the interior away from the city for safety.
On February 22, 1565 they reached the island
of Samar guided by Datu Urrao. The Spaniards and their native allies left the
island for the nearby islands of Mazaua and Leyte, guided by Datu Bankaw. Their
ships drifted to the coast of Bohol on March 16, 1565 where they befriended
with Datu Sikatuna and Rajah Sigala. Legazpi made a blood compact with the
native chieftain, Datu Sikatuna, as a sign of friendship between the two
people. There, the Spaniards obtained spices and gold after convincing the
natives that they were not Portuguese.
Legazpi was helped very much by his friendship
of the natives of Bohol so that his mission which was to land in Cebu was
eased. Yet, he was so cautious about his strategy so he dispatched 15 Spanish
soldiers on the captured balangay of
the Shahbandar to Cebu in order to make friendship and peace with the
inhabitants and to gather all possible information in relation to his mission.
The Shahbandar guided the said Spaniards on his balangay and acted as their interpreter. Among the said Spanish
messengers were Juan de la Isla, Martin de Goiti, and Estevan Rodriguez who
described the natives as “these Indians wear gold earrings, and the chiefs wear
two clasps about the feet… All the body, legs, and arms are painted and he who
is the bravest (Tullah) is painted most”. The Shahbandar turned them over to
Tullah who had sailed towards them. Tullah at this time was blackened by
constant marauding in the seas against the Portuguese and now against the
Spaniards, whom he thought at first as another Portuguese invaders. In order to
avoid suspicion, Tullah told the Spaniards, through the Shahbandar, that he was
a merchant and he was on his way to India and Malacca though he had the intention
to facilitate Legazpi to land in Cebu. He inquired from the messengers what the
Spaniards preferred. As the decision could only be made by Legazpi, the
Spaniards had Legazpi met Tullah at sea since he was a “trader”. Tullah asked
Legazpi if he intended to settle in Cebu and if he desired he must settle in
the interior because food was very abundant there and that even the return of
the vessel Legazpi to Spain to inform the Spanish king could easily be filled
with whatever they wanted to give to the Spanish king. But this was obviously a
reverse tactic – that is, Tullah wanted the Spaniards to avoid in going to the
interior to give time for the civilians to fully evacuate the city unharmed.
Legazpi cautious of what had happened to Magellan thought otherwise – if they
would be cut off from the outside and when they misbehaved they would easily be
controlled by the natives of Cebu. Legazpi immediately called a council and it
was decided that the fleet should go to Cebu without delay, in order that they might
make a settlement and dispatch the flagship San Pedro before the rainy season
sets in.
On Easter Day, the fleet set sail for Cebu but
being delayed by contrary winds and the tides it did not reach its destination
“until the 28th and 30th of April”. It was openly agreed
by Legazpi with the Shahbandar and Tullah that the intention of the Spaniards
was “to make peace inasmuch as their chiefs had been baptized, and had
afterwards been apostatized.
But contrary to what had been agreed, Legazpi,
on April 28, 1565, exactly 44 years ago when Magellan was killed in Mactan,
bombarded the city of Cebu before landing on the soil which shots burned the
houses of the natives. He then sent a group of his men ashore. Finding the city
vacated, thinking that the natives ran away upon hearing the explosions of the
cannons, the said group of men burned the city, of which “about 100 houses were
burned”. Then Legazpi and his men settled near the seashore contrary to the
advice of Tullah. The soldiers were quartered in the houses remaining after the
fire.174
Tullah, with 100 men, guided Legazpi and his
men towards the palace of the “celestial fairy”, the present-day Basilica
Minore del Santo Niño, where they found the image of Señor Santo Niño covered
with a white cloth in its fine cradle with fresh flowers. Tullah who had
introduced himself as “Si Maayu” (Simaggio in Spanish account) or as “Mir Shah
Raju” (Mermeo in Spanish account) took the image and gave it to Legazpi. When
Legazpi saw it, “he fell on his knees, receiving it with great devotion. He
took it in his hands – kissed its feet; and raising his eyes to heaven he said:
‘Lord, thou art powerful to punish the offenses committed in this island
against thy majesty, and to found herein the house, and holy church, where thy
glory and honor, and the exaltation of the Holy Catholic faith.’ And ordered
that this sacred image be placed with all reverence in the first church that
should be founded, and the city where it was found be called the City of the
Most Holy Name of Jesus. It gave great happiness and inspiration to all to see
such an auspicious beginning, for of a truth it seemed a work of God to have
preserved so completely this image among the infidels for such a long time; and
an auspicious augury in the part where the settlement was to be made.” 175
The Spaniards had searched for Rajah Tupas,
the governor of Cebu, who had treated with Fernan Magellan in 1521 as
representative of Sultan Muhammad Shah. But the natives had vacated the city
since the arrival of the Spaniards in February. According to Balamban oral
tradition, the “celestial fairy” (Hara Amihan) with Rajah Tupas and some of the
soldiers had managed to escape by way of the Combado-Lusaran river tributary
system. The “celestial fairy” had sailed away back to Java from the old town of
Balamban which was used to stand at the coast of Nangka, a barangay of
Balamban, before it sank to the sea around 1870’s.176 Unable to treat with Tupas, the Spanish envoy announced that the
Cebuanos had submitted to Spanish Suzarainty 44 years before and were
rebellious Spanish subjects. The Spanish sacked the town and began construction
of a stockaded camp and took possession of the whole island of Cebu in the name
of Spain.
On May 8, 1565, Tupas with a thousand warriors
armed with “long, sharp iron lance, throwing sticks, shields, small daggers,
wooden corselets, corded breastplates, a few bows and arrows and culverins”
presented himself at the Spanish fort and agreed to formalize a treaty. But
Tupas was bewildered after hearing what Legazpi had told, “We come thither for
the King of Castilla, whose land this is, who had sent other people here
before, but they had been killed – as for instance, Magallanes. But everything
will be pardoned if you will become our friend.” Tupas acceded with the peace
proposal but did not return at the appointed time to conclude the preliminaries
after finding that those men were not Portuguese but Spaniards, the same “bad
men” who did not have a word of honor. Tupas sent the aged, mothers, and
children deeper into the hills away from the Spaniards. A body of men was then
sent out by Legazpi who had captured twenty of the natives, among them were
Birorang Kinis, the niece of Tupas who was kept hostage by the Spaniards. But
she had been freed after Tupas ordered her release. A Spaniard named Pedro de
Aranda had been killed during that incident.
Legazpi resolved to send Urdaneta back to New
Spain, both to try and find an effective return route across the Pacific, and
to try and obtain help for the new colony from New Spain. Between his departure
from Cebu on 1 June 1565, and his arrival in Acapulco, New Spain, on 8 October
1565, Urdaneta discovered the northern, eastbound, return route from the
Philippines to New Spain which made possible the establishment of the Manilla
galleon trade.
After knowing that the San Pedro had left and
after receiving a letter of apology from the Spanish king addressed to Tullah
as king of Cebu for the lootings done by Magellan and his men, Tullah and Tupas
who had found it an opportune time to sign a treaty sent the Shahbandar, Cid
Hamal, to negotiate with Legazpi on June 2, 1565, a day after the Spanish
flagship left.
“Legazpi expressed his sorrow that the natives
were fleeing to the mountains and would not give credence to the friendship and
peace offered them in the name of the king, by the Castillians. Word was sent
to Tupas that Legazpi regretted the necessity of warring with the natives and
that when they wished to return, they might do name the governor and captain
residing the island, and to receive the latter whenever he should come to the
islands, towns and houses – whether for peace or for war, without any
resistance or hostility, to fulfill his commands, and not to withdraw
themselves from this dominion, now or in the future. This they promised for
themselves and their future descendants, under risk of falling under and
incurring the penalties which should be imposed in case of treachery and
treason against their king and lord.”
Showing his sincerity with the peace treaty,
Tupas told Legazpi that “his wife and daughters would like to come to see him,
because they had a great desire to know him. He replied that he would be very
glad and that Tupas should bring them whenever he wished; accordingly Tupas did
so after a few days.”
It was described by Legazpi that “the women
came by themselves in procession, two and two, and the one last of all. After
this manner came the wife of Tupas (Hara Si Hupay), with her on the shoulder of
two principal women, with a procession of more than sixty women, all singing in
high voices. Most of them wore palm leaf hats on their heads and some of them
garland of various kinds of flowers, some were adorned with gold, and some with
clasps on their legs and wearing earrings, armlets and gold rings on their
hands and fingers. They were all clad in colored petticoats or shirts and
shawls, some of them made of taffeta.”
Within this period Tupas had sent some of his datus to other islands to inform the
other chiefs about the presence of Legazpi in Cebu so that they could
strengthen their defenses and for possible offenses they would make to get rid
of the Spaniards.
A few days after the coming of Hara Si Hupay
and the other women, Tupas sent Birorang Kinis (Jandulaman in other account),
the widowed daughter of Tullah, to Legazpi and was baptized Isabel in honor of
Isabel Garces, Legazpi’s deceased wife. Later, she married Master Andrea
Calafata, a Greek calker. Andrea is a masculine name among the Greeks
equivalent to Andrew. The said wedding was officiated by Fray Diego Herrera. On
that day during the wedding, Tullah had sent his eight datus from Sulu to spy
within the Spanish settlement and fort. On their vinta, Muhammad ul-Halim, the
grandson of Tullah who was still a Pangiran
Buddiman at that time, the leader of the said datus asked the permission from Legazpi to trade with the Spaniards
if they would trade with them. They told Legazpi that they learmed of the
Spanish settlement in Cebu through the Shahbandar who had been sent to Panay to
buy rice for the fort and that they did no harm to anyone and were possessed of
a great quantity of silver and small coins and they came to find out the manner
of trading. The said datus kept on coming to the port of Cebu. One day while
trading for pearls, one of them had sneezed for which reason they declared that
they could not buy according to their custom for if they did, they would sin
therein. The said datus induced two
junks from Mindoro “to come to trade at Cebu and told about the good treatment
afforded to them”. And they had gone to Tanjay too “to get some provisions”.
Probably trade was only made as an alibi by Tullah but in the actual sense, the
said datus were sent as envoys to
recruit combatants against the Spaniards if they would misbehave like Magellan
did.
After some delay, the treaty was formalized on
July 3, 1565. The said treaty signed by Tupas in behalf of Cebu and by Legazpi
in behalf of Spain provided the following:
1)
On condition, that the chief who killed Pedro
de Aranda by treachery should not enjoy this peace and friendship, until he had
appeared before the said governor to make his plea and whose punishment the
governor said he reserved for himself.
2)
On condition, that if the said Tupas and
chiefs asked the said governor for the aid of his men against any Indians
hostile to them, who were making or should make war upon them, the said
governor was obliged to give them aid, protection and reinforcement of men for
it. Likewise, if the said governor should request people from the said Indians,
they would be obliged to volunteer to fight against his enemies. All the spoils
taken when the said Spaniards and Indians were acting in consent should be
divided into two equal parts, of which the said governor and his people were to
have one part and the said natives the other.
The signing of the treaty was sealed by a
blood compact between Tupas and Legazpi.
“Legazpi promised the natives that for the
first year they pay no tribute for the King of Castille had no need of their possessions,
nor wished more than that they recognized him as Lord, since they were his and
within his demarcation. As this was made clear, Tupas and his men curtsied in
recognition of the agreement and upon seeing this Legazpi promised to protect
and defend as such.”
Historian William Henry Scott characterizes
the treaty as "... actually the terms of an unconditional surrender... a
kind of prototype of the unequal treaties which western nations were to fasten
on Oriental peoples for the next three centuries."
On November 28, 1565, the people of Cebu had
witnessed the weakness of Legazpi’s leadership and his cruelty even among his
men. Some of Legazpi’s soldiers and servants conspired to seize the San Juan,
one of the galleons composing the Spanish fleet, and making first a cruise
through the islands, to seize “the junks of Borneo, Luzon and Mindoro, trading
among the islands”. The mutiny had every appearance of succeeding for the
master of the San Pablo had in his care all the artillery, powders, and ammunition
aboard the ship. The master of San Pablo divulged the conspiracy of the
master-of-the-camp, Mateo del Sanz, who immediately informed Legazpi. Pablo
Hernandez, a native of Venice, head of conspiracy fled, first making an
ineffectual attempt to assume the ecclesiastical garb, in order that he might
not be lost; he gave himself up, and was hanged.
It could be understood that Tullah who had
known the Portuguese captain-general, Gonzalo Pereira, who was assigned in
Malacca, had informed the latter about the presence of the Spaniards in Cebu so
that the Portuguese would indirectly help the Cebuanos get rid of the
Spaniards. Thus, on September 18, 1565, a small vessel of Portuguese captained
by Antonio Ronbo da Costa (Antonio Rrumbo de Acosta in Spanish) arrived at the
port of Cebu. He had with him a letter from the captain-general telling Legazpi
that their army was near the port of Cebu. And on September 30, 1565, the said
captain-general entered the port of Cebu with a heavy fleet of Portuguese and
demanded that the Spaniards went with them to India and that they should leave
the islands since they were within the demarcation of the king of Portugal.
Two years later, in 1567, about 2,100
Spaniards and Mexicans arrived in Cebu under orders of the Spanish king. They
built the Fuerza de San Pedro (Fortress of Saint Peter), which provided a haven
for arriving Mexican ships and protection from hostile natives. Between March
and June 1567, the Portuguese at Amboyna were reinforced by Pereira with twelve
ships while the inhabitants put the friendly peoples of Atire and Tavira to the
sword.
Tupas and 25-year old son Pinsuncan, were
baptized on March 21, 1568. Tupas was
renamed Felipe after Philip II while Pinsuncan was renamed as Carlos.
The Spanish settlement in Cebu was regarded
with great jealousy by the Portuguese established in the Moluccas. In October
1568, the latter sent an armed expedition to break it up. Exchanges of letters
between Pereira and Legazpi followed within the intervals of October 14, 19, &
21. Pereira and Legazpi had carried on protracted negotiations. The latter
claimed that he had come to make new discoveries for his king; to propagate
Christianity and ransom Christians held captive by the heathen in those
regions; and that he regarded the Philippines as being within the jurisdiction
of Spain. Pereira insisted that the islands were of Portugal under the Treaty
of Tordesillas and stated that if he was mistaken he would depart from the
islands, promising to transport them to India, and offering them all aid and
kindness, if they would accede to this demand. Legazpi refused.
Within that interval, the warriors of Taguima
(now known as Basilan), under the leadership of Tullah, attacked the
unsuspecting Portuguese who were trading at the Moluccas. They took the
Portuguese galleon and killed a number of Portuguese. Those who were captured
alive were taken to Sulu and were sold out to the new reigning sultan, Muhammad
ul-Halim, who was a “friend” of the Portuguese. It is to be recalled that the
merchants coming from Taguima who traded at the Moluccas were oppressed by the
Portuguese and more often cheated by the latter. Hence, their act was a sort of
retaliation or revenge. Within that period too, the Catholics at the islands of
Morobachan (now Batjan), Anboyno (now Amboina), and Celebs (Celebes but now
known as Sulawesi) were harassed by the Muslims, according to the report. Thus,
on October 19, 1568, Pereira had sent a letter addressed to the king of Ternate
to investigate on the matter.
The Portuguese attacked Cebu and proceeded to
blockade its port, to secure that no food aid and weapon supplies will reach
the Spanish settlement, making the island of Cebu as another site where the
Spanish and the Portuguese Empire clashed for world colonization. The
Portuguese blockaded the Spaniards upon all sides and the galleys and pinnaces
aforesaid had sacked, fired, and burned all the neighboring villages, and
killed the natives and inhabitants, without exempting even women and children,
in the towns of Gavi (in Mactan), Cotcot, Lilo-an, Danao and Mandaue. The
battle lasted for few days but the blockade lasted for months.
In a series of letters to their respective
kings, both Legazpi and Pereira blamed each other on who started to fire. Both
were claiming that they only started to fire as a result of the attack of the
other.
On June 5 & 8, 1569, the Portuguese
attacked on Cebu and wrecked a Spanish vessel dispatched to Spain with a cargo
of spices. And again on July 1, Gonzalo Pereira had made another attack.
Later, Legazpi was informed that some of his
men were killed in Mactan. He informed Tupas that he wanted to wage war against
Mactan and asked him to send troops to aid him but Tupas told him not to wage
war against Mactan for he had already sent his men to secure food from the said
island. Then when Legazpi learned that some of his men were also killed in
Baybay (Leyte) by the warriors coming from Mactan who had migrated to the
former after the battle that ensued in Mactan and that he wished to wage war against
them, again, Tupas told Legazpi the same thing. In that way, war was avoided.
But Tupas unable to tolerate the banditry of the Spaniards who kept on saying
they wanted to go-a-trading but had no merchandise to barter with and the
usurpation of Legazpi who proclaimed himself as governor of Cebu had thought of
ending it by trickery. He had collaborated with his datus and his sister Birorang Batungay in executing a plan of
poisoning the Spaniards which they found to be drunkards.
The next day, Birorang Batungay who garbed
herself in men’s clothing went with some of the chiefs at the trading center
where the men of Legazpi always went in big groups. They traded a great
quantity of palm wine to which the Spaniards gave themselves with good
appetite, saying that they did not miss the wine of the Castille but could not
refuse the local wine which they found better than the former even though it
was already forbidden by Legazpi since some of them had become sick. Birorang
Batungay who found the Spaniards rude squeezed some poisonous vine into the
jars of palm wine until it was found that most men of Legazpi died of
poisoning.
An investigation on the tragedy was done but
still Legazpi could not pinpoint the culprit. Soon after, all the natives were
called and required to confess their sins to the Spanish priests in order to
catch the criminal. The confessions should never be divulged according to the
Catholic dogma – the reason why all of the natives went to confess. Birorang
Batungay who confessed was hanged.
On September 1, 1569, the warriors led by
Tupas attacked the Spanish settlement from all directions from the land. The
fight continued for months until Legazpi felt they would lose to the fierce
natives. In the dark evenings most of the Spaniards would stay in their boats
and pataches for safety while few of the men would be left to guard their fort.
This was discovered by the natives and coincidentally Gonzalo Pereira patrolled
the seas of Cebu now and then and saw the Spanish galleons there and during these
patrols they fought side by side with the natives against the Spaniards. The
Portuguese though did not fight continuously and lengthily since they had to
return to India for reinforcement whenever it would be needed. They were only
on patrol to their “territories”. The Spaniards were trapped – the natives on
land and the Portuguese at sea.
On March 23, 1570, Legazpi and his men moved
to Panay to establish a second Spanish settlement. But the warriors coming from
Cebu chased after them and continued attacking them until they were driven to
Luzon on May 1, 1570.177
The Spaniards led by Martin de Goiti who were
sent from Cebu by Legaspi arrived in Luzon on May 8, 1570 and camped on the
shores of Manila Bay for several weeks. While forming an alliance with the
Muslim tribal chiefs, on May 24, 1570, after disputes and hostility erupted
between the two groups, the Spaniards occupied the villages of Tondo where they
were greeted with thousands of warriors. There, they defeated most of the
tribes of Karim (known as Rajah Matanda in Luzon), the son of Abdullah Sulayman
(Prabu Cakrabuana); Tullah (known as Lakan Dula in Luzon); and Sulayman, the
“son” of Tullah. The Spaniards marched their armies towards the Pasig River,
and occupied the villages in Manila on June 6, 1570 and burned the settlements.
Guerrilla warfare broke out following the battle, which continued for about ten
months. The Spaniards fortified themselves in the area and constructed their
military barracks of Fuerza de Santiago (Fortress of Saint James), which became
their outpost for trade with Mexico.
On October 19, 1570, while Fernando Riquel,
chief government notary of Spain, was building some gabions on the river of
Cebu City, for the defense of certain pieces of artillery, which Legazpi had ordered
to be mounted there, Pereira, who had anchored at the port had sent him a
letter demanding him to stop working on the gabions. The following day, to
please Pereira, Legazpi ordered the work to be stopped. Yet on the next day
again, in the morning, Pereira had sent another letter demanding the demolition
of the said gabions for it seemed to be a menace to him and his fleet for if
not he would take it for granted as a declaration of war. In the afternoon, the
Portuguese galleys and small boats came ashore; battered down the said gabions
with a great number of guns; and continued until sunset.
However, when it became clear that Legazpi and
the Spanish would not leave the Philippines, Pereira decided to give up and
went back to Malacca. Despite having a supreme force against Legazpi, Pereira
would not dare have any loss on his part because Portuguese possessions in
Moluccas were being attacked by local enemies too. Even if Pereira beat
Legazpi, he will risk the entire Moluccas which is more vital to Portugal than
their claim of the Philippines.
Pereira’s attack in Cebu marked the last time
that the Portuguese tried to capture the Philippines from Spain.
The Spaniards gained control of the
settlements on June 24, 1571, after the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi in
Manila, who agreed to a peace agreement.
The Spanish colonization paved the way for the
establishment of Manila as a permanent settlement and capital city of the
Spanish East Indies. He later explored Pampanga, Pangasinan and founded several
Spanish cities in Luzon between the periods of 1571-1573. De Goiti, along with
other soldiers was granted with haciendas (estates) for the lands they had
conquered, by Philip II of Spain.178
On August 20, 1572, Legazpi died passing the
control of Luzon to his 13-year old nephew Juan de Salcedo.179
In September 1573, Pereira had been ordered to
Malacca to crush the “celestial fairy” at Jepara but refused for want of
adequate equipment and returned to Lisbon. There was confusion among some
“historians” who suggested that Pereira went to Moluccas and died there after
his attacks on Cebu.180 Yet, the earlier Gonzalo
Pereira who was assigned as governor of Moluccas in 1530 and was murdered by
the inhabitants of Ternate in 1531 was obviously a different person.181
In 1574, Tristào Vaz de Veiga was appointed
commander at Malacca.182 In that year too, Diego
de Sanbucho was sent to Moluccas as its new appointed governor only to find out
that the fort at Ternate had already been destroyed by the inhabitants. It was
found out that a certain Portuguese killed the king of Ternate and captured the
king’s son, Francisco, and three relatives namely Enrique, Pablo Desa, and
Jordan de Fletes were taken to India and then to Malacca. Raged with fury, the
people of Ternate attacked and surrounded the fort until the Portuguese who
were there died of hunger. Those who had fled with their families and cattle
settled in Ambon or in Malacca. Later on, those who went to Malacca had
transferred to Ambon. The people of Ternate demanded from the Portuguese the
return of Francisco, the prince of Ternate, and only by then that they would
make peace-talk and return back the fort to them. Though the Portuguese had to
stay at Ternate for the next century their hold at Moluccas, the whole of Asia,
had gradually diminished due to that revolt at Ternate.183
On June 21, 1574, King Philip II of Spain had
bestowed on Luzon the New Kingdom of Castille and on Manila that of
“Distinguished and Ever Loyal City”. Soon after that almost the entire Luzon was
subjugated to the Spanish crown under the leadership of the 16-year old Juan de
Salcedo by marrying lot of princesses. The natives were easily converted to
Christianity.184
In October 1574, the combined fleets of Aceh
lead by its admiral Ki Demat and the 300 ships containing 15,000 soldiers of Japara
sent by the “celestial fairy” attacked the Portuguese at Malacca again,
particularly the Porta da Santiago.
But it was beaten. Japara troops immediately opened fire from the strait then
penetrated on land the following day and built defenses. But the Portuguese had
able to destroy the defenses and set 30 ships from Japara on fire. The
Portuguese denied any peace talks and confiscated the six ship-loads of
supplies coming from Japara. Weakened, the combined fleets of Aceh and Jepara
retreated. Only about a hundred ships were able to return to Jepara. Though
twice defeated, the “celestial fairy” had shown an example of bravery by which
she was described by the Portuguese as “Rainha da Joparra, Senhora poderosa e
rica, da kranige Dame” which means "Queen of Japara, a rich and powerful
woman, a brave woman".185
Still in the same year, De Goiti fought in the
war during the invasion of about 3,000 Chinese sea pirates who had sailed from
the South China Sea. Their leader, Limahong, besieged the Spanish settlements
in Manila. De Goiti was killed by pirates, who massacred most of the Spaniards
in the villages. Most of the Spanish reinforcements came from Vigan and Cebu.
Martín de Goiti's second in command, Juan de Salcedo left Ilocos Sur, after
hearing the news and traveled to Manila where he discovered their settlements
had been ceded to the pirates. Salcedo's forces attacked and drove the pirates
out of Manila. Limahong and his fleets retreated to Pangasinan where they
re-organize their forces. Probably, Limahong was not really a pirate but a
general sent by the Ming emperor to aid Tullah in subjugating the Spanish
invaders.
In 1575, Salcedo's army marched north to
Pangasinan, in pursuit of the pirates, and besieged them for three months.
There the Spaniards captured Limahong and his fleets in the river of Pangasinan
and were executed. The following year Salcedo died at the age of 27.186
In 1578, Sebastian, the king of Portugal, was
killed in a battle at Morocco against the Muslims leaving without heir to the
throne. King Philip II of Spain being the son of Princess Isabel of Portugal,
the wife of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, claimed the throne. And in
1581, he enthroned himself at Lisbon as the king of Spain and Portugal. That
union lasted until 1640.187
In 1591 AD, the Cambodian king, Phra Unkar Langara, sent a gift of two
royal elephants, gems and horses to the lords of Luzon to petition them to aid
him in the war against Siam.188
In 1593, the Spaniards from the Philippines
had built a fort at Ternate. In the next 50 years, Manila was managing the
trade while the Spaniards were ruling the Moluccas with the assistance of the
Pampangeños from Luzon.189
The Banten account suggested that Tullah died
in 1570, a year when Martin de Goiti besieged Manila which could very probable
and would suggest that he died fighting until the end and as a Muslim. Yet,
according to Mindanao account Tullah died 90 years old at old age which would
occur around 1572 coinciding with the death of Legazpi which would suggest that
he did not only die at old age but also as converted Christian. But the Cirebon
account states that he died at the age of 120 and that would fall around 1602
and died a Muslim yet there is a passage in the said Cirebon account that
seemed to suggest that he was a Christian or a Muslim who planted Christianity (at
Long Bawan) or a practicing Jew who merged Christianity and Islam in his Judaic
root. Whichever of the three choices given is correct one thing is for sure:
Tullah was a real national hero not only to Indonesia but to all
countries in Southeast Asia. Yet, a somewhat funny irony is that, though his
real identity has been forgotten, his memory that is still struggling to exist
has become an epitome of a fish – that is, the corruption of his name has
become a name of a fish (lapu-lapu)
and his real name has become synonymous to the act of boiling a fish (tuah or tulah) -- which is a sad fate
for a hero who fight and die for freedom and democracy. Probably, it is the
effect of eating the wonderful archerfish or the red grouper which legend tells
made him strong. Or he has chosen to transform into a fish so that even at the
end of times he can still protect and guard the “Pearl of the Orient Seas”
whose beloved “Queen of the South” has become its core. That heroic fish that
is protecting the “Pearl of the Orient Seas” and was transported to paradise by
bird is now a subject in Maranao art – the sarimanok
with a fish.
The fall of Madjapahit Empire occurred in the
latter half of the sixteenth century. Decline has been attributed to: (a) the
entrance of Islam into Java's politics and (b) the conquest of European
explorers like the Dutch, Portuguese, British, French, and Spanish with the
battle-cry of propagating Christianity but in reality of the ambition of
controlling maritime trade over Southeast Asia.
