Pre-Colonial Kingdoms — Srivijaya·Majapahit
1,000 years of Indonesia before the Dutch arrived in the 17th century — Sumatra's maritime empire Srivijaya, the Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms of Java, the great Majapahit empire, and the rise of Islamic sultanates.
The name Indonesia was only adopted in 1928. For 1,000 years before that, the archipelago was a stage of hundreds of kingdoms rising and falling — and the greatest marks were left by Srivijaya (Sumatra-based, 7th–13th c.), Sailendra·Mataram (Java, 8th–10th c.), and Majapahit (East Java, 13th–16th c.). The fact that Bali's religion, language, and customary law are the heirs of Majapahit is the starting point of Part 3 (Balinese Hindu Dharma).
A. Srivijaya — Maritime Empire of Southeast Asia (7th–13th c.)
Founded in the 7th century around Palembang in southern Sumatra, Srivijaya dominated Southeast Asian maritime trade through its control of the Strait of Malacca. Chinese (Tang and Song), Indian (Chola), and Arab traders all had to pass through this strait, and Srivijaya grew rich on tolls and entrepôt trade.
Religiously, it was a center of Mahayana Buddhism. The 7th-century Chinese monk Yijing (義淨) recorded a six-month stay in Palembang to study Sanskrit on his way to India — evidence that Srivijaya was the scholarly hub of Southeast Asia at the time. Many Srivijaya monks also studied at Nalanda University (Bihar, India).
At its peak, Srivijaya extended from Sumatra through the Malay Peninsula to western Java. After the 11th-century Chola invasion (1025) from India, it declined, and was absorbed by rising Javanese powers around the 13th century.
Sources: Srivijaya · Yijing (Buddhist monk)
B. Hindu and Buddhist Kingdoms of Java — Sailendra·Mataram (8th–10th c.)
In central Java, two dynasties — Sailendra (8th–9th c., Buddhist) and Mataram (8th–10th c., Hindu) — coexisted and left the greatest religious architecture in Southeast Asia.
- Borobudur — The world's largest Buddhist monument, built by Sailendra c. 760–830. A nine-level mandala with 2,672 relief panels. UNESCO-listed in 1991.
- Prambanan — A world-scale Hindu temple complex, built by Mataram c. 850. Three main shrines for Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. UNESCO-listed in 1991.
The two dynasties were not adversaries but coexisted. Buddhism and Hinduism developed in parallel in the same region and the same era, and this tradition of fusion later became the core of Balinese Hindu Dharma (Agama Hindu Dharma) — the blend of Buddhism, Hinduism, and animism (see 3.1.2).
Around 930, what is believed to be a massive Merapi volcanic eruption devastated central Java, and the center of power shifted east. Mataram's successor became the Kadiri and Singhasari kingdoms of East Java, which led to Majapahit.
Sources: Borobudur · Prambanan · Medang Kingdom
C. Majapahit — Southeast Asia's Greatest Empire (1293–1527)
In 1293, Raden Wijaya used invading Mongol forces to found Majapahit as the successor of Singhasari. In the 14th century, under King Hayam Wuruk (1350–1389) and his chief minister Gajah Mada, Majapahit covered the largest territory ever held in Southeast Asia — most of modern Indonesia plus the Malay Peninsula and parts of the southern Philippines under a loose system of tributaries and alliances.
The state religion was Siwa-Buddha — a fusion of Shaivite Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism. The Javanese literary works Tribhuwana, Pararaton, and Negarakretagama were composed in this period, and the seed of the Pancasila idea can be traced here (five principles are mentioned in Hayam Wuruk's political philosophy).
Gajah Mada's Sumpah Palapa — "I shall not taste spice until I have unified the archipelago" — sworn in 1336, is invoked today as a foundation of Indonesian national identity. Jakarta's Gajah Mada University and the Palapa satellite series are named after that oath.
Majapahit's Exile to Bali — The Key Bridge of the Field Notes — When Majapahit fell to the Demak Sultanate in 1527, its royalty, priests, artists, and scholars fled en masse to Bali. The entire Hindu cultural system — caste, names, temples, rituals, scripts, literature — migrated. The Wayan·Made·Nyoman·Ketut naming system (see 4.3.1), the Banjar village self-governance (see 4.1), and the Pura temple system (see 3.2) are all direct descendants of the Majapahit tradition. This is the reason that Bali alone preserved Hinduism while mainland Java Islamized.
Sources: Majapahit · Gajah Mada · Hayam Wuruk · Sumpah Palapa
D. Rise of the Islamic Sultanates (13th–16th c.)
From the 13th century, Islam spread to the archipelago via Arab, Indian, and Chinese Muslim merchants. Aceh (northern Sumatra, 13th c.), Demak (northern Java, 1475), Banten (western Java, 16th c.), Mataram Islamic (central Java, late 16th c.), and Ternate·Tidore (Maluku, the Spice Islands) appeared in succession.
In particular, the Demak Sultanate destroyed Majapahit in 1527, transforming Java's religious landscape. Java, Sumatra, Maluku, and Sulawesi all Islamized, leaving Bali as the only remaining Hindu kingdom (see 2.2.1). This geographic separation is the origin of Indonesia's modern religious landscape — 87% Muslim mainland vs. 87% Hindu Bali.
In the 15th–16th centuries, the spice trade boomed — cloves, nutmeg, pepper — drawing European attention. The Portuguese seizure of Malacca in 1511 and the founding of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602 ushered in the colonial era (see 1.1.2).
Sources: Spread of Islam in Indonesia · Demak Sultanate · Spice trade
Quick Summary
| Period | Kingdom | Religion | Legacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7th–13th c. | Srivijaya (Sumatra) | Mahayana Buddhism | Maritime trade hegemony |
| 8th–10th c. | Sailendra·Mataram (Central Java) | Buddhism + Hinduism | Borobudur, Prambanan |
| 13th–16th c. | Majapahit (East Java) | Siwa-Buddha | Greatest SE Asian empire, root of Balinese Hindu |
| 1527 | Majapahit falls | — | Royalty and priests exile to Bali → Balinese Hindu preserved |
| 13th–16th c. | Aceh·Demak·Mataram Islamic | Islam | Islamization of Java and Sumatra |
| 1602 | VOC founded | — | Beginning of the colonial era (1.1.2) |
Sources / References
- Wiki — Srivijaya · Majapahit · Borobudur · Prambanan · Demak Sultanate · Spread of Islam in Indonesia · Gajah Mada
- Official — UNESCO World Heritage — Borobudur · UNESCO World Heritage — Prambanan · Badan Pelestarian Cagar Budaya — Indonesian Cultural Heritage Agency
- News — The Jakarta Post (Majapahit and Gajah Mada heritage coverage) · Yonhap (Korean visitors to Borobudur)
- Academic — Cribb R., Historical Atlas of Indonesia (Curzon, 2000); Ricklefs M. C., A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200 (Stanford University Press, 4th ed., 2008); Lombard D., Le carrefour javanais (3 vols., EHESS, 1990) — Majapahit and Javanese civilization
