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| Anyakrakusuma | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sultan Agung Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Maulana Matarani al-Jawi | |||||||||
 A modern representation of Sultan Agung's appearance, painting by Basuki Bawono (2008). | |||||||||
| 3rd Sultan of Mataram | |||||||||
| Reign | 1613–1645 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Anyakrawati [id] | ||||||||
| Successor | Amangkurat I | ||||||||
| Born | Raden Mas Jatmika 1593 Kutagede,Mataram Sultanate | ||||||||
| Died | 1645 (aged 51–52) Karta, Mataram Sultanate | ||||||||
| Burial | Astana Kasultan Agungan | ||||||||
| Queen consort | Ratu Kulon/West Queen(first) Ratu Wetan/East Queen(second) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | Mataram | ||||||||
| Father | Anyakrawati | ||||||||
| Mother | Dyah Banawati | ||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||
| National Hero of Indonesia S.K. President No. 106 / TK / 1975 dated November 3, 1975. | |||||||||
Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Anyakrakusuma (Javanese:ꦱꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦲꦒꦸꦁꦲꦢꦶꦥꦿꦧꦸꦲꦚꦏꦿꦏꦸꦱꦸꦩ), commonly known asSultan Agung, was the thirdSultan of Mataram in CentralJava ruling from 1613 to 1645. He was a skilled soldier who conquered neighbouring states and expanded and consolidated his kingdom to its greatest territorial and military power.
Sultan Agung orSusuhunan Agung (literally, "Great Sultan" or "Majestic Sultan") is subject to a substantial amount of literature due to his legacy as a Javanese ruler, a fighter against the incursions of theDutch East India Company, a conqueror, and his existence within a cultural framework where myth and magic are intertwined with verifiable historical events and personages. The Dutch literature wrote his name asAgoeng de Grote (literally, "Agung the Great").
For his service as a fighter and cultural observer, Sultan Agung was declared asNational Hero of Indonesia on November 3, 1975.
Rangsang ascended to the throne when he was 20 years old, succeeding his half-brother, Duke Martapura, who became Sultan of Mataram for only one day. Rangsang was technically the fourth Sultan of Mataram, but he is commonly considered the third sultan because the coronation of his intellectually disabled half-brother was just to fulfill his father's promise to his wife, Queen Tulungayu, Martapura's mother.
During the second year of Sultan Agung's reign, Patih Mandaraka died of old age, and his position aspatih (viceregent) was occupied by Tumenggung Singaranu.
The capital of Mataram during his coronation was still located inKotagede. In 1614, the newKarta Palace was built in Karta, approximately 5 km in southwest of Kotagede, which began to be occupied four years later.
Sultan Agung became the ruler of Mataram in 1613. In the following year he attackedSurabaya, as well asMalang which lies south of Surabaya, and the eastern end ofJava island, but failed to conquer them both. He was however able to extract a significant indemnity and used this in 1615, to conquer Wirasaba (present-dayMojoagung, near Mojokerto), an operation which he led.
In 1616, Surabaya attempted to attack Mataram in retaliation, but lacking allies the Surabaya army was crushed by Sultan Agung's forces in Siwalan,Panjang (nearSurakarta). The coastal city ofLasem, nearRembang, was conquered later in 1616, andPasuruan, southeast of Surabaya, was taken in 1617.Tuban, one of the oldest and biggest cities on the coast ofJava, was taken in 1619.
Surabaya had been Mataram's most formidable adversary thus far. Agung's grandfather,Senopati (Senapati), had not felt strong enough to attack this powerful city, and his father, Panembahan Seda Krapyak, attacked it to no avail. Sultan Agung weakened Surabaya by capturingSukadana, Surabaya's ally in southwestKalimantan, in 1622, and also captured the island ofMadura, another ally of Surabaya, in 1624 after a fierce battle. After five years of war, Agung finally conquered Surabaya in a siege in 1625. With Surabaya brought into the empire, the Mataram kingdom encompassed all of central and eastern Java (plus Madura), except for the west end of Java and its mountainous south. In the west,Banten and the Dutch settlement inBatavia remained outside Agung's control.
The economy of Mataram was centered on agriculture, thus Sultan Agung who was openly contemptuous of trade, saw no need to maintain significant naval forces. This was later to prove costly when in 1629 he attacked and attempted to drive the Dutch out of their base at the coastal city ofJakarta. Though he possessed larger and superior land-based forces, the Dutch had decisive advantages in naval power and were able to withstand theSiege of Batavia.
After the failure of the siege, Agung turned against theBalinese, then controlling Balambangan in East Java, in a "holy war" against infidels. His campaign was successful in Java, but he was unable to extend his power to the island of Bali itself. Bali thus retained its identity as a Hindu state amid the predominantlyMuslim states of thearchipelago.
By 1625, Mataram was the undisputed ruler of most of Java.[1]: 31 However, its military strength did not deter Mataram's vassals from rebellion, due to his inability to conquer Batavia. Pajang rebelled in 1617, andPati rebelled in 1627. Following the capture of Surabaya in 1625, expansion halted as the empire was beset by rebellions.
In 1630, Mataram crushed a rebellion in Tembayat (southeast ofKlaten). However, in 1631–1636, Mataram had to suppress the rebellion ofSumedang andUkur in West Java. Agung's attempt to capture Batavia in 1628–1629 and his attempts to drive the Dutch from Java failed.[2][3]
Rebellions continued, the next one was the Giri Kedaton rebellion, whose people were unwilling to submit to Mataram. As Mataram's troops still respectedGiri Kedaton's soldiers which was considered the descendant ofSunan Giri, a member of theWalisanga, Sultan Agung assignedPangeran Pekik, a descendant ofSunan Ampel (Sunan Giri's father-in-law), to suppress the rebellion. Pangeran Pekik himself had been married to Queen Pandansari, Sultan Agung's sister, in 1633. The Giri Kedaton rebellion would be completely suppressed by them three years later.[citation needed]
In 1632 Sultan Agung began buildingImogiri, his burial place, about 15 kilometers south ofYogyakarta. Imogiri remains the resting place of most of the royalty of Yogyakarta andSurakarta to this day. In Agung's complex, Sultan Agung, Queen Batang, and their sons are also buried. Agung died in the spring of 1645, leaving behind an empire that covered most of Java and stretched to its neighboring islands.
In accordance with his will, Sultan Agung was succeeded by his son, RM. Sayidin, styledAmangkurat I.
Sultan Agung's major legacy lies however in the administrative reforms he undertook in the conquered territories. The ever-increasing large territorial extent of these territories led him to create an innovative and rational administrative structure.[4]
Apart from his conquests, the sultan also sought to rationalize and improve the internal government of his kingdom. He reformed the tax code and brought the courts and judicial system more in line with Quranic precepts. He commissioned the building of the Karta Palace in 1614, the Royal Graveyard ofImogiri, as well as other social and civic structures within the kingdom.
He created "provinces" by appointing people asadipati (equivalent toDuke) at the head of territories calledkadipaten (Duchy), particularly those territories in the western part of Java, where Mataram was facing Banten and Batavia, two places that resisted his wars of conquest. Akabupaten likeKarawang, for instance, was created when Sultan Agung appointed Prince Kertabumi as its firstadipati in 1636.
When theDutch East India Company (VOC) took control of Mataram territories, it kept thekadipaten structure. Under the colonial administration of the VOC,adipati, now calledbupati, were calledregenten, andkadipaten, nowkabupaten,regentschappen. The title of abupati consisted generally of a formal name, for instance, "Sastradiningrat" in the case of Karawang, preceded by "Raden Aria Adipati", hence "Raden Aria Adipati Sastradiningrat" (shortened into R. A. A. Sastradiningrat). The wordadipati survived in the colonial system.
The Dutch had groupedkabupaten into regions under aresident, calledresidenties. The Indonesian government kept thekabupaten but disbanded theresidenties in the 1950s, resulting inkabupaten being administrative subdivisions directly under a province. The laws on regional autonomy promulgated in 1999 give a high degree of autonomy to thekabupaten, not to the provinces.
In the environment of Mataram Palace, Sultan Agung established a standard language called Bagongan obliged to be used by Mataramnoblemen and officials to eradicate imbalance between them. The language was created to form a unity across royal court officials. TheSundanese language had been changed since Mataram's rule in West Java, marked by the creation of a refined language only previously known inCentral Java.
Sultan Agung is also attributed with the founding of the uniqueJavanese calendar – this established a uniquely indigenous calendar that is still in use. Besides that, Sultan Agung had written a mystical manuscript, entitledSastra Gending.
The development of the sacred dancebedhaya and important developments ingamelan andwayang are attributed to the court of Sultan Agung. However, there is almost no historical evidence for the claims of high artistic achievement, and there is little information at all about the arts in the court. Some written evidence comes from a handful of mentions in Dutch accounts, which can be difficult to interpret.[5]
Sultan Agung is revered in contemporary Java for his unification of Java, modernizing reforms, and his wars with the colonial Dutch. In 1975, he was nominated and confirmed as aNational Hero of Indonesia (Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia). His existence within a cultural framework, where myth and magic are intertwined and the scarcity of verifiable records of his early life, have elevated him to heroic and near-mythical status.
In the syncretic religious culture of Java, with its mixture ofHinduism,Buddhism, andIslam, pilgrimage to his grave is considered auspicious, and many make considerable effort to go to Imogiri at appropriate times and days in theJavanese andIslamic calendars.
His influence and imagination in the popular mind remain strong to the present day, exemplified by the making of the 2018 Indonesian filmSultan Agung Mataram 1628.
His original name was Raden Mas Jatmika, also popularly known as Raden Mas Rangsang. He was the son of Anyakrawati and Ratu Mas Adi Dyah Banawati. His father was Mataram's second monarch, and his mother was the daughter of Prince Benawa, the last Sultan of Pajang.
Another account states that Sultan Agung was the son of Prince Purbaya, brother of Anyakrawati, and that Prince Purbaya exchanged the baby born by his wife with one born by Dyah Banawati; this is a minority and unverified opinion.
Like other Mataram monarchs, Sultan Agung had two main queen consorts:
From hisqueen consorts, Sultan Agung had nine children:
In his early reign, Rangsang's title was Susuhunan Anyakrakusuma or Prabu Pandita Anyakrakusuma. After conqueringMadura in 1624, he changed his title to Susuhunan Agung Anyakrakusuma, abbreviated as Sunan Agung Anyakrakusuma.
In 1640s, he used the title Sultan Agung Senapati ing Alaga Abdurrahman. In 1641, Sunan Agung had an Arabic title, Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Maulana of Mataram, bestowed by imams inMecca.
For the sake of convenience, the name used in this article is the most common and popular: Sultan Agung.
| Preceded by | Sultan of Mataram 1613–1645 | Succeeded by |
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