M
ajapahit
was a most powerful and maritime kingdom in the 14th century. In
every discourse of history, there is no one may deny this historical fact. In
this article, I seek to investigate the origin of this source of power.
Between 1188-1222 M, the most powerful
kingdom in Java island was Daha kingdom, which was located in Kediri (now East
Java). This kingdom, at that time, was ruled by Sri Baginda Kretajaya. If we
analyzed in details, Sri Baginda Kretajaya was the descent of Sri Erlangga (the
King of Kahuripan) and this meant the he was from dynasty Isyana.
Tumapel (now Malang) was an inseparable
part of the great kingdom of Daha Kediri. But when Ken Arok was in power
through a coup d’etat with violence, the contact between Tumapel and Daha was
severed. Unfortunately, the new king of Tumapel, Ken Arok, dared to oppose the
king of Great Daha. Furthermore, Ken Arok bolstered by his people declared to
oppose and fight against Kretajaya in Kediri. As consequence, the war of Ganter
was broken in which finally Tumapel was able to repulse and champion the war.
This meant that the domination of Daha Kediri ended. The domination of power,
then, shifted from Daha Kediri to Tumapel Malang.
Following the fall of Daha, Ken Arok
sought to consolidate his power to strengthen his authority over his new
territory. Attempting to make his power stronger, he established New Kingdom
so-called Singosari, which later was ultimately being ruled by his heirs. It
seemed that some former followers of Kretajaya could not admit the defeat. In
attempt to take revenge, they committed sporadic attacks over the domination of
Singosari. The followers of Kretajaya continuously committed sporadic attacks
until Raden Wijaya (the fourth descendent of Ken Arok and Ken Dedes).
Considering with the danger over the
existence of Singosari, Raden Wijaya tried to defend the unity and glory of the
kingdom. But his opponents were to strong to face that finally Singosari fell
in 1292 M. Raden Wijaya succeeded to escape and live in roaming. But in his
conscience, there was a strong spirit to revive the great ideals of his
ancestor – Ken Arok.
At that time, Jayakatwang who was from
Isyana dynasty had ruled some regions in Javanese Island, including Singosari.
At the same time, Raden Wijaya was still a fugitive or escapee. But
incidentally, the army of Kubilai Khan came and attacked Jayakatwang in attempt
to dominate Javanese Island. The large numbers of the army finally could defeat
Jayakatwang. From certain historical point of view, Raden Wijaya was engaged in
the attacks that it caused the decline of Jayakatwang.
But when Kubilai Khan’s armies
commemorated their victory over Jayakatwang, Raden Wijaya and his followers
suddenly attacked them that caused most of them killed while the rests left
Java Island. In this context, it can be stated that the spirit and intelligence
of Ken Arok incarnated to Raden Wijaya. Considering that his position had been
strongly established, he found Majapahit kingdom and he was crowned as the
first king of Majapahit entitled Sri Narpati Kertarajasa Jawawardhana.
In the national history, Majapahit was a
great kingdom that became the origin or the founding of this archipelago. If we
analyze in details, we will find that one of the founding of Majapahit was the
fourth descendent of Ken Arok and Ken Dedes named Raden Wijaya. This means that
the origin of this archipelago unity, currently the republic of Indonesia, was
from a small region named Tumapel. Of course, the majority of the driving
forces for the process was Arek-arek Tumapel.
Now, we should take a lesson from this
great history to develop and build a civilized, prosperous and great Kota
Malang.
*Artikel ini diambil dari buku Wasiat Mpu Tantular karangan KRT.Peni Suparto, atas ijin pengarangnya.