Aji Saka is a Javanese legend that tells the story of how

civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...

came to

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, brought by the legendary first king of Java named Aji Saka, and the mythical story of the origin of

Javanese script Javanese script (natively known as ''Aksara Jawa'', ''Hanacaraka'', ''Carakan'', and ''Dentawyanjana'') is one of Indonesia's traditional scripts developed on the island of Java. The script is primarily used to write the Javanese language ...

Origin

Aji Saka is said to have come from Bhumi Majeti, a mythical location in Jambudvipa. His name comes from the Javanese word ''saka'' or ''soko'' meaning essential, important, or in this case primordial. Thus the name Aji Saka literally means "primordial king." A more modern interpretation derives his name from the

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

Indo-Scythian The Indo-Scythians, also known as Indo-Sakas, were a group of nomadic people of Iranian peoples, Iranic Scythians, Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the present-day regions of Afghanistan, Eastern Iran and the northwe ...

Western Satraps of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

.Foreign Influence on Ancient India, Krishna Chandra Sagar, Northern Book Centre, 199
p.131
/ref> In either case, the legend is viewed as symbolizing the advent of Dharmic

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

civilization in Java. The legend also holds that Aji Saka was the inventor of the Saka year, or at least the first king that initiated the adoption of this Hindu calendar system in Java. The kingdom of Medang Kamulan was probably linked to the historical Medang Kingdom. The story of Aji Saka defeating a man-eating king has also been interpreted as the downfall of an unpopular previous ruler, the rise from cannibalism to civilization.

Summary

The pacification of Java

Soon after the gods created and nailed the island of Java to its place, the island became habitable. However, the first race that ruled the island was the race of ''denawa'' (giant demons) that repressed all creatures and ate humans. The first kingdom in Java was Medang Kamulan, and the king was the Giant King Dewata Cengkar, the cruel King of the country who had a habit of eating the human flesh of his own people. One day came a young wise man, by the name of Aji Saka, to fight Dewata Cengkar. Aji Saka himself came from Bumi Majeti. One day he told his two servants, by the name of Dora and Sembodo, that he was going to Java. He told them that while he was away, both of them had to guard his Pusaka (heirloom). No one except Aji Saka himself was allowed to take the Pusaka. After arriving in Java, Aji Saka moved inland to the kingdom of Medang Kamulan. In the big battle, Aji Saka was able to push Dewata Cengkar to fall into the Javan Southern Sea (

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

). Dewata Cengkar did not die; he became a Bajul Putih (White Crocodile). Aji Saka became a ruler of Medang Kamulan.

The tale of a giant snake

Meanwhile, a woman from the village of Dadapan found an egg. She put the egg in her ''lumbung'' ( rice barn). After a certain period the egg vanished, and instead a snake was found in the rice barn. The villagers wanted to kill the snake, but the snake said: "I'm the son of Aji Saka, bring me to him." Aji Saka told the snake that he would be recognized as his son if he could kill the Bajul Putih in the South Sea. After a long stormy battle in which both sides demonstrated physical strength and showed skillful fighting ability, the snake was able to kill Bajul Putih. As had been promised, the snake was recognized as Aji Saka's son and he was given a name, Jaka Linglung (a stupid boy). In the palace Jaka Linglung greedily ate domestic pets of the palace. He was punished by the King, expelling him to live in the Jungle of Pesanga. He was tightly roped until he could not move his head. He was instructed only to eat things which fell to his mouth. One day, a group of nine village boys were playing around in that Jungle. Suddenly it was raining heavily. They had to find a shelter; luckily there was a cave. Only eight boys went inside the cave; the other one was suffering from a very bad skin disease, his skin was stinging and he was dirty, and he had to stay out of the cave. All of a sudden, the cave fell apart. The eight boys vanished, only the one who stayed outside was safe. The cave in fact was the mouth of Jaka Linglung.

The origin of Javanese script

Meanwhile, after becoming ruler of the Medang Kamulan kingdom, Aji Saka sent a messenger back home to inform his faithful servants Dora and Sembodo, to bring the pusoko (heirloom) to Java and send them to Aji Saka. Then Dora came to Sembodo and told Aji Saka's order. Sembodo refused since he clearly remembered Aji Saka's previous order: no one except Aji Saka himself was allowed to take the pusoko. Dora and Sembodo each felt suspicious towards another, and suspecting each other tried to steal the pusoko. So they fought each other to death. Aji Saka was curious about why it was taking so long for the two to come to Java; he finally came home himself, only to discover the body of his two faithful servants and the terrible misunderstanding between them. To remember the faithful acts of his two servants, Aji Saka composed a poem that later become the origin of hanacaraka

. The Javanese alphabet itself forms a poem, and a perfect

pangram A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and typing. Origins The best-k ...

, of which the line-by-line translation is as follows.:Soemarmo, Marmo. "Javanese Script." Ohio Working Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching 14.Winter (1995): 69-103. ''Hana caraka'' There (were) two messengers
''data sawala'' (They) had animosity (among each other)
''padha jayanya'' (They were) equally powerful (in fight)
''maga bathanga'' Here are the corpses. in detail: ''hana'' / ''ana'' = there were/was
''caraka'' = messenger (actually, 'one who is loyal to and trusted by someone')
''data'' = have/has
''sawala'' = difference (regarding a matter)
''padha'' = same, equal
''jayanya'' = 'their power', 'jaya' could mean 'glory' as well
''maga'' = 'here'
''bathanga'' = corpses File:Hanacaraka legend 1.png, ''Hana caraka'' (There were two messengers) File:Hanacaraka legend 2.png, ''Data sawala'' (They had animosity) File:Hanacaraka legend 3.png, ''Padha jayanya'' (They were equally powerful in fight) File:Hanacaraka legend 4.png, ''Maga bathanga'' (Here are the corpses)

Analysis

Although Aji Saka is said to be the bearer of civilization on Java, the story of Aji Saka (78 AD) received several objections and rebuttal from other historical sources. Valmiki's

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, made around 500 BC, records that Java already had a governmental organization long before the story:

"Yawadwipa is decorated with seven kingdoms, gold and silver islands, rich in gold mines, and there is Cicira (cold) Mountain that touches the sky with its peak."

According to Chinese records, the Javanese kingdom was founded in 65 BC, or 143 years before the story of Aji Saka began.W.P Groeneveldt (1880). ''Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca Compiled from Chinese Sources''. Batavia. The story of Saka or Aji Saka is a Neo Javanese story. This story has not yet been found to be relevant in the Old Javanese text. This story tells of events in the Medang Kamulan kingdom in Java in the past. At that time, the king of Medang Kamulan Prabu Dewata Cengkar was replaced by Aji Saka. This story is considered as an allegory of the entry of Indians into Java. Referring to the

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

information, the Javanese kingdom was divided into two: the pre-Hinduism kingdom and the post-Hindu kingdom, which began in 78 AD.

References

{{Reflist Javanese folklore

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...