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Sacred Sanctuaries of the Majapahit Period (I)

A. Short History Of The Majapahit Kingdom

Majapahit is a large kingdom that was established by Raden Wijaya in the year 1293 A.D. in the Trik forest,  estimated to be located in nowaday Trowulan.





It was an agro-maritime kingdom, which population lived from agriculture and trade.





Based on artefactual data, and textual data like inscriptions, Old Javanese/Middle Javanese literature, as well as Chinese records, this kingdom ended around the sixteenth century.

The collapse of this kingdom was first caused by civil war, power struggle and, secondly by natural disasters of volcano explosions. According to research by Dr. Sartono and Bandono from the Bandung Institute of Technology (1995), after the death of king Hayam Wuruk, eight explosions of Kelud mountain occurred, inflicting loss of livelihood in Majapahit.

The history of Majapahit started when Raden Wijaya, son-in-law of the last king of the Singasari kingdom, Krtanagara, defeated king Jaya Katwang of Kediri with the help of Arya Wiraraja, a Madurese high official.

Besides for political reasons, Wijaya attacked Jayakatwang, because this king of Kediri, also Krtanagara’s  in-laws, had attacked and killed king Krtanagara when he was carrying out a religious ceremony together with Singasari authorities and royal religious persons.  Raden Wijaya then was designated as the first Majapahit king with the title (abhiseka name) Krtarajasa Jayawarddhana.  He started to constitute Majapahit’s hegemony by legitimation of his position based on his connection with king Krtanagara, the last king of Singasari.

In the Gunung Penanggungan inscription issued at the order of Wijaya in the year 1296 A.D. it is written that Krtarajasa Jayawarddhana had four wives, all daughters of Krtanagara ( sacaturbhratr-patnika).  They were Sri Parameswari Dyah Dewi Tribhuwaneswari, Sri Mahadewi Dyah Narendraduhita, Sri Jayendradewi Dyah Prajnaparamita, and Rajendradewi Dyah Dewi Gayatri.

The beginning of the Majapahit kingdom was marked by various revolts against the first three kings who reigned consecutively. First Wijaya after establishing Majapahit wanted to extend his kingdom, but was hindered by those rebellions until his death, and he was replaced by his son, Jayanegara (1309-1328).
Jayanegara had no son until his death, and so his reign was extended by queen Tribhuwanottungadewi Jayawisnuwarddhani (1328-1350), sister of Jayanegara. Several uprisings were annihilated by Mpu Mada or Gajah Mada, a young bhayangkari, and in front of queen Tribhuwana and other authorities this Mpu Mada pronounced his sumpah palapa. He  announced his  idea on the Nusantara policy, namely to subjugate and unite the regions under Majapahit’s power.

For his merits in destroying the mutinies, Gajah Mada then was appointed as patih in Daha, and afterwards  he became Mahapatih in Majapahit during the reign of king Hayam Wuruk, the fourth Majapahit king ruling from 1350-1389.

During the reign of king Hayam Wuruk, Majapahit attained its golden age, Majapahit’s hegemony was maintained, although he stood alone for 25 years without the company of Gajah Mada who died in 1364.

The increasing activities in commerce and navigation in the Majapahit brought the foreign merchants to come and probably stayed permanently in the city of Majapahit.  Cultural contacts between the foreign merchants and the inhabitants of Majapahit increased with the result to create multiculture in Majapahit .

According to the Nagarakrtagama 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 Nagarakrtagama,  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.  Another important occasion during his reign,  a sraddha funerary ceremony for the Rajapatni Gayatri, Hayam Wuruk’s grandmother was held after 12 years Rajapatni’s passed away.  The ceremony was done by the Buddhist and  Siwait clergymen in the same courtyard  where the ceremony was performed. The caturdwija (rsi-saiwa-sogata-mahabrahmana) were invited to join the ceremony.
After Hayam Wuruk’s death, however, in 1389, internal conflicts for power struggle began, 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, eventhough 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.

There is still no agreement yet on when the Majapahit kingdom actually ended.  According to the Babad tradition and other books, Majapahit’s fall was caused by the Demak kings around the fifteenth century, mentioned by candrasengkala as “sirna ilang kertaning bhumi”. which means 1400 Saka (1478 A.D.). However apparently there are still four Majapahit inscriptions, called the prasasti Jiu or Trailokyapuri from 1486 A.D. of the reigning king Dyah Ranawijaya with the title Girindrawarddhana.

Also important to be mentioned here that according to Babad tradition, there were Majapahit kings named Brawijaya I, II, III and so forth, but their titles were never found in the royal official charter inscriptions, nor in the Old Javanese/Middle Javanese literary works.  Those titles may come from the synthesis of honorifix prefixes of the Majapahit kings, namely Bhatara shortened to Bhra or Bhre (Bhra + i) and Wijaya from the name of the first Majapahit king.

B. Religion And Ritual Means

As mentioned before, the kings on Java since Mpu Sindok were mostly adherents of the Siwa religion from the Siwasiddhanta school. The Majapahit kings were generally of Siwasiddhanta religion, except queen Tribhuwanottungadewi, king Hayam Wuruk’s mother who was an adherent of the Buddha Mahayana religion. Although not many kings were Buddhist, both religions, namely the Siwa and the Buddha religion became Majapahit’s official religions.

In order to monitor various religious activities two  Saiwa and Buddha religion high officials were appointed. These functions were Dharmadhyaksa ring Kasaiwan or Saiwadhyaksa, and Dharmadhyaksa ring Kasogatan or Buddhadhyaksa.

Beside those two officials there was a Judicature Council with a lower function. Its 5-7 members had the title of “Sang Pamgat” and were of both religions. During the reign of Tribhuwana there were seven members, called Sang Saptopapatti. In the Nagarakrtagama kakawin written by Mpu Prapanca the explanation given about those officials was : dharmadhyaksa kalih lawan sang upapatti sapta dulur.  The last Buddhist religious officials were mentioned in the Waringin Pitu inscription of 1447 A.D., while apparently the Siwa religion officials remained in function, monitoring the sacred constructions and the adherents’ activities in the Majapahit region.

Besides those two large religions in Majapahit there were other religions found, among others some schools of the Siwa religion, namely the Siwa Bhairawa religion (Bherawa Siwapaksa) which existed since the Kadiri period.  According to an inscription of king Jayabhaya, the teacher king Jayabhaya was an adherent of the Siwa Bhairawa religion.  In Majapahit furthermore there existed a Siwa religion  developed by the hermits, by Siwa adherents honoring the lingga form, the Waisnawa religion that had not too many followers, and the local religion.  To manage these religions  there were three groups of religious men (tripaksa), namely the rsi-saiwa-sagata, or a group of four (caturdwija), namely the rsi-saiwa-sagata-mahabrahmana.

The rsi (ascetics) here are not  mythical figures, but are hermits who have left the secular world and are leading the third stage of life (wanaprastha) in remote places, in the wilderness or on mountain slopes.  They were clad in bark (walkala), hence they were known as walkaladhara.

The tradition of retreating to isolated places was known in Java before Majapahit era. Two kings, Pikatan king of  Ancient Mataram and king Airlangga took the title of Jatiningrat after retreating, while Airlangga took the same title and also titles: Aji Paduka Mpungku Bhatara Guru Sang Pinaka Catraning Bhuwana.

While the mahabrahmana or dwija  are priests coming from India and some of them stayed in Majapahit’s court..  They are called Brahmaraja, and are experts on  the Vedic culture, Siwa religion, Hindu philosophy and Grammar (Sansekerta).  They were not rsis, because rsis usually lived in remote places, only when they were invited by the king they came to court.

The Nagarakrtagama kakawin also discusses the sacred places of the Majapahit period, including the status of the different kinds of sacred buildings.

According to the kakawin, there are two large groups of holy places. First those under direct supervision of the central government, and secondly those outside the control of the central government. The sacred places onder central government’s control were:

  1. Dharma dalm or dharma haji, the sacred places for the king and his royal family, covering 27 places constructed during the Singasari period. We do not find all those places anymore, some may be destroyed or have changed names. Among others are mentioned Kagenengan(?), Jajaghu (Jago), Kidal, Jawa-jawa (Jawi), Bhayalango and Simping.
  2. Dharma-Ipas, constructions for the Siwa, Buddha and Karesyan religion followers, built on Bhudana (land donated for religious use).

The sacred places outside the control of central government usually belonged to the rsis. and the most important of which is Kadewaguruan known as Mandala, the center for religious education, led by a Maharesi (Siddharesi), also known as Dewaguru. These were situated among others on mountain slopes, at sea shores, and in forests. One Mandala that was visited by Hayam Wuruk when he travelled around visiting his region , was Wanasrama Sagara.

During the Majapahit period another kind of sacred places were found, in the form of sacred bathing place or  patirthan, hermitage caves and others. An example of a Majapahit period patirthan is candi Tikus, located in Trowulan. There is a rectangular formed pool of 22.50 x 22.50 meters, with a depth of 3.50 meters. The stairs are at the north, and there are two small pools in the northern corner pool.

The pool water flows from  fountains in the pool’s wall, formerly there were 46 ones, now only  19 are left, while the water drainage channel is found at the pool base. At the south side is an underlayer (batur) for a  temple miniature and a few altars, used to put on sesaji or to be used for semedi, concentrating one’s thought on Paramasiwa.

In the Siwasiddhanta religion, worship to the gods was carried out in two ways, namely by bahya puja  (outside worship) to a certain god in the form of a statue, yantra or certain objects.

Secondly there was manasa puja (inside worship) without statue or other objects. It was carried out by people with very high spiritual knowledge, for example by the rsis(hermits), so that the temples for the rsis were terraced temples on mountain slopes without any statues.

There are various hermitage caves, nine among them on the Penanggungan mountain slope or Pawitra mountain. One of them stands near a terraced structure Kendali Sada at Penanggungan mountain slope. Its speciality is that the walls are decorated with a relief of Bhima in the middle of an ocean, a citation from the Dewaruci story.
At the end of the Majapahit period, Bhima was considered to be the mediator between man and Siwa, the helper of man who desired to attain moksa. Many of his statues are found on the mountain slopes, in the temples of the rsi (hermits), including on candi Sukuh. Why was the Dewaruci relief used to decorate the Kendalisada hermitage wall?

The Dewaruci narration was compiled during the Majapahit period, and tells how Bhima was ordered by Durna, his teacher, to search for amrta ( the water of life).  After his efforts succeeded, Bhima met with Dewaruci, who supplied knowledge on the secrets of life, understanding on the origin (sangkan) and purpose (paran ) of all that is created (dumadi).  Bhima was ordered to enter Dewaruci’s very small body through his left ear. First he found himself in a vacume without limits, and he lost all orientation. But afterwards he saw again the sun, the earth, the mountains and the sea.  He saw four colors: yellow, red, black and white, and a very small ivory puppet, symbolizing pramana , the divine life principle within himself.  Bhima became aware that the innermost reality is to unite with the Divine. Through his success in attaining the innermost life reality dimension, Bhima became the symbol of success and became the guiding figure (a kind of teacher) of the hermits.


DR. Hariani Santiko

Translated by Mrs. Ediati Kamil  Master of Library Science