Monday, August 28, 2023

2023: Agung - Agus

 



Agung
Agung (Sultan Agung) (Sultan Agung Anyokrokusumo) (Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo).  Sultan of Mataram (r. 1613-1645).  Sultan Agung or Sultan Agung Anyokrokusumo or Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo (Ha and A is the same character in Javanese letter) was the constructor of the Karta Palace, and the Royal Graveyard of Imogiri.  He is considered to be the greatest ruler of the Mataram dynasty of Java.  Sultan Agung (called “the greatest sultan,” a posthumous appellation) succeeded his grandfather Senapati Ingalaga (r. c. 1584-1601) and father, Seda ing Krapyak (r. c. 1601-1613), who had laid the foundations for hegemony in the Javanese speaking heartlands of Central and East Java.  Agung completed the conquest of this area by defeating a coalition led by the great city of Surabaya, which itself fell to Agung in 1625.  This war caused much death and devastation.

Agung then turned to deal with the Dutch East India Company (the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie -- the “VOC”), which had established its headquarters in Batavia (now Jakarta) in West Java in 1619.  In 1628 and 1629, Agung’s armies besieged the VOC post but failed to take it.  Minor hostilities between Mataram and the VOC continued for several years, but neither Agung nor any other Javanese king ever again attacked Batavia.

Batavia’s defeat of Agung encouraged some of his vassals to reassert their independence, but Agung responded by brutally crushing these attempts.  Some of these were led by religious figures.  About 1636, Agung therefore destroyed the most important center of religious opposition to him, a shrine located at Giri, the holy grave site of one of the putative walis (apostles) of Islam, near Surabaya.  From 1636 to 1640, Agung conquered the Eastern Salient of Java, which had previously been under Balinese rule.  Finally, Agung’s conquests came to an end, and the last years of his reign saw peace.  

Agung was a brilliant general, a ruthless and brutal king.  Yet he paid attention to the legitimation of his rule, seeking consensus, constructing a new court, and taking the title of sultan in 1641.  Javanese tradition also remembers him as a pious Muslim.

Sultan Agung which means 'the Great Sultan', has attracted a substantial literature due to his legacy as a Javanese ruler, a fighter of Dutch colonialists (in the form of the Dutch East India Company), and his existence within a cultural framework where myth and magic are as intertwined with verifiable historical events and personages. Agung was responsible for the great expansion and lasting historical legacy of Mataram due to the extensive military conquests of his long reign.

Sultan Agung attacked Surabaya in 1614, and also Malang, south of Surabaya, and the eastern end of Java. In 1615, he conquered Wirasaba (present day Mojoagung, near Mojokerto). In 1616, Surabaya tried to attack Mataram but this army was crushed by Sultan Agung's forces in Siwalan, Pajang (near Surakarta). The coastal city of Lasem, near Rembang, was conquered in 1616, and Pasuruan, south-east of Surabaya, was taken in 1617. Tuban, one of the oldest and biggest cities on the coast of Java, was taken in 1619.

Surabaya was Mataram's most difficult enemy. Agung's grandfather, Senapati, had not felt strong enough to attack this powerful city, and his father, Seda ing Krapyak, attacked it to no avail. Sultan Agung weakened Surabaya by capturing Sukadana, Surabaya's ally in southwest Kalimantan, in 1622, and the island of Madura, 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, and Madura, except for the west and east end of the island and its mountainous south (except for Mataram, of course). In the west Banten and the Dutch settlement in Batavia remained outside Agung's control. He tried in 1628-29 to drive the Dutch from Batavia, but failed. On August 27, 1628 he led the Siege of Batavia, which was unsuccessful.

By 1625, Mataram was undisputed ruler of Java. Such a mighty feat of arms, however, did not deter Mataram’s former overlords from rebellion. Pajang rebelled in 1617, and Pati rebelled in 1627. After the capture of Surabaya in 1625, expansion stopped, while the empire was busied by rebellions. In 1630, Mataram crushed a rebellion in Tembayat (southeast of Klaten) and in 1631-36, Mataram had to suppress rebellion of Sumedang and Ukur in West Java.

In 1645 Sultan Agung began building Imogiri, his burial place, about fifteen kilometers south of Yogyakarta. Imogiri remains the resting place of most of the royalty of Yogyakarta and Surakarta to this day. Agung died in the spring of 1646, leaving behind an empire that covered most of Java and stretched to its neighboring islands.

The development of the sacred dance bedhaya, and important developments in gamelan and wayang 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.  

Sultan Agung is also attributed with the founding of the unique Javanese calendar - a calendar which is still in use.

Pilgrimage to graveyard complex of Sultan Agung is considered to be significant to many Javanese pilgrims, who make considerable effort to go to Imogiri at appropriate times and days in the Javanese and Islamic calendars.

In the Sukarno era, Sultan Agung was nominated and confirmed as a National Hero of Indonesia (Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia).

"The Greatest Sultan" see Agung
Sultan Agung see Agung
Sultan Agung Anyokrokusumo see Agung
Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo see Agung




Agus Salim, Haji
Agus Salim, Haji (Haji Agus Salim) (October 8, 1884 - November 4, 1954).  Indonesian political leader who was one of Indonesia's founding fathers and prominent diplomats.  He was born in Kota Gadang, West Sumatra.  Before becoming prominent in the Sarekat Islam (PSII), an Indonesian nationalist party, he was employed at the Dutch consulate in Jeddah.  He joined the Sarekat Islam in 1915 and represented it in the Volksraad (“people’s council”) from 1921 to 1924.  During his Sarekat Islam years, Agus Salim was editor of such periodicals as Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, Neratja, Fadjar Asia, and Moestika and was active in the labor movement.  In 1937, he was expelled from the party when, dissatisfied with its policy of non-cooperation with the Dutch, he founded the Barisan Panjedar PSII (“movement to make the PSII conscious”).  In 1945, he helped draft the Jakarta Charter.  From 1946 to 1949, he served as the vice-minister and later as the minister of foreign affairs.

Salim, Haji Agus see Agus Salim, Haji
Haji Agus Salim see Agus Salim, Haji

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