archaeology

Candi Belahan, on the eastern slope of Mt Penanggungan, is traditionally believed to be a memorial to King Airlangga. Seen above, statues of the goddesses Sri and Lakshmi are still at the site. Originally they flanked the central image of Wisnu on Garuda, now on display at the Trowulan Museum.

The famous ‘Calcutta Stone’, dating from A.D. 1041, describes a terrible calamity which befell the East Javanese kingdom of Isana in the early years of the 11th century. A rebellion incited by a jealous vassal king resulted in the destruction of the capital of Watugaluh. The reigning king, Dharmawangsa, successor to Sri Makutawangsawardhana, was murdered along with his entire family. Only the young Airlangga, who was aged about 16 at the time, managed to escape unharmed.
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    The archaeological sites of Majapahit consist, for the most part, of the remains of religious foundations, or candi, built usually from stone or brick. From the two most important and informative literary sources dealing with the history of Majapahit, the Nagarakertagama and Pararaton, we learn that a large number of sacred buildings were constructed as memorial shrines to deceased rulers and their families. The death of a king or queen saw the beginning of a series of funeral rites designed to guide the departed soul back to the source from which it had originated. These rites culminated in the shraddha ceremony, held 12 years after death, upon completion of which it was believed that final liberation was ensured. In memory of the deceased,a stone image of a god or goddess, with whom the ruler had been identified in life, was fashioned as an ‘ideal portrait’ and placed within a shrine. The Nagarakertagama gives a very complete description of the sbraddha ceremony conducted on behalf of the Rajapatni, grandmother of King Hayam Wuruk, in the year 1362.

The extensive ruins of 8 th century Candi Sewu, near Yogyakarta visible in the distance is the spire of the Shiwa temple at Prambanan.

    The kingdom of Majapahit, with its capital in East Java, flourished at the end of what is known as Indonesia’s ‘classical age’. This was a period in which the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism were predominant cultural influences. Beginning with the first appearance of Hinduized kingdoms in the archipelago in the 5th century A.D., this classical age was to last for more than a millennium, until the final collapse of Majapahit in the early 16th century and the establishing of Java’s first Islamic sultanate at Demak.