Jayabhaya or Jayabaya ( Javanese spelled: Ratu Jayabaya) was the Javanese

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of the

Kediri Kingdom Kediri Kingdom (also known as Panjalu) Javanese script : ꧋ꦥŋꦗꦭꦸ, was a ''Hindu-Buddhist'' Javanese Kingdom based in East Java from 1042 to around 1222. This kingdom is centered in the ancient city ''Dahanapura'', despite the lack o ...

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

which ruled around 1135-1159 CE. With the title of ''abhiseka'' used is Sri Maharaja Sang Mapanji Jayabhaya Sri Warmeswara Madhusudana Awataranindita Suhtrisingha Parakrama Uttunggadewa. The reign of King Jayabhaya is considered the heyday of the

. King Jayabaya is credited with reunification of the Kediri kingdom following a split due to the death of his predecessor

Airlangga Airlangga (also spelled Erlangga), regnal name Rakai Halu Sri Lokeswara Dharmawangsa Airlangga Anantawikramottunggadewa (born 1000/02 in Bali, Indonesia – died 1049 in Java), was the only raja of the Kingdom of Kahuripan. The Kingdom was ...

. King Jayabaya was known for his just and prosperous rule, and reputed to have been an incarnation of the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

deity

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

. King Jayabaya epitomized the archetypal

Ratu Adil The Ratu Adil, literally meaning ''Just Queen/King'', is a messianic figure found in Indonesian folklore, more precisely in Javanese tradition. It is believed that he (or she) will establish universal peace and justice in the manner of similar ...

: the just king reborn in the dark age of suffering ''"Jaman Edan"'' (Madness Era) to restore the ''Jaman Raharja'': social justice, order, and harmony in the world, as Javanese believed in a cyclical history of alternating prosperity

epochs In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

of (''Jaman Raharja'') followed an era of suffering (''Jaman edan''), to cycle back to an era of prosperity (''Jaman Raharja''). Jabaya termed his kingdom ''Widarba'', meaning a thousand cities in ''Pamenang'', modern Kediri Regency. Intertwined between fact and myth are records that his father ''Gendrayana the Revolutionary'', claimed to be a descendant of

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

as being son of Yudayana: the son of

Parikshit Parikshit ( sa, परीक्षित्, ) was a Kuru king who reigned during the Middle Vedic period (12th-10th centuries BCE). Along with his son and successor, Janamejaya, he played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, ...

: the son of Abhimanyu: the son of Arjuna from the family Pandavas. From Jayaba's queen consort ''Dewi Sara'' wife were born all daughters ''Jaya Amijaya'', ''Dewi Pramesti'', ''Dewi Pramuni'' and ''Dewi Sasanti''. Jaya Amijaya was married to Queen consort Astradarma Pramesti Yawastina king and birthed King of Anglingdarma: Malawapati. Jayabaya abdicated in old age and sought a life of meditation as a Hindu recluse, informing a ''moksha'' he was the incarnation of vishnu, in the village of ''Menang'', in Pagu sub-district of Kediri Regency, until the modern era still considered a sacred pilgrimage site, according to Kejawen belief system. Sukarno and Suharto both meditated at length in Menang to attain an air of kingly legitimacy, supernatural abilities, Jayabaya's blessings and/or powers.

Prophecies

Ratu Jayabaya is most famous for his oracles or prophesies attributed to him, namely the ''Serat Jayabaya Musarar'', ''Serat Pranitiwakya'', and some debatable others. The ''mangala'' (

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

) of the famous ''

Kakawin Bhāratayuddha Kakawin Bhāratayuddha is an Old Javanese poetical rendering of some books (''parva'') of the ''Mahabharata'' by Mpu Sedah and his brother Mpu Panuluh in Indian meters (''kāvya'' or ''Kakawin''). The commencement of this work was exactly 6 No ...

'' names King Jayabaya as the patron of the two poets, Mpu Sedah and Mpu Panuluh who were the authors of the work. Jayabaya is also attributed as author of the ''Prelambang Jayabaya'', a prophetic book that played an important role in the Japanese occupation. According to a selectively abridged set of stanzas within a Jayabaya prophesy (all are extremely long epic poems):

The Javanese would be ruled by whites for 3 centuries and by yellow dwarfs for the life span of a maize plant prior to the return of the Ratu Adil: whose name must contain at least one syllable of the Javanese Nata Nagara.

When Japan occupied the Netherlands East Indies, in the first weeks of 1942, many

ns danced in the streets, welcoming the Japanese army as the fulfillment of the prophecy ascribed to Jayabaya, who foretold the day when white men would one day establish their rule on

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

and oppress the people for many years – but they would be driven out by the arrival of yellow men from the north. These yellow dwarves, Joyoboyo had predicted, would remain for one crop cycle (3 1/2 months, which translated as 3 1/2 years of Japanese occupation), and after that Java would be freed from foreign domination. To most of the Javanese, Japan was a liberator: the prophecy had been fulfilled.R. B. Cribb, Audrey Kahin: 2004. ''Historical dictionary of Indonesia: Volume 51 of Historical dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East''. Scarecrow Press, 2004. , . 583 pages. pp210 The Japanese freed Indonesian

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

s from

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

prisons and hired them as civil servants and administrators. In the waning days of 1944, however, it was clear that Japan could not win the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. The Japanese officially handed its authority over to Indonesia to be independent on 9 August 1945, and the commander of Japan's Southeast Asian forces appointed future President Sukarno as chairman of the preparatory committee for

Indonesian independence The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence ( id, Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 on Friday, 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of th ...

. As one account of Indonesian history puts it, ''"With the minor exception that three crops had been harvested, Jayabaya's prophecy had been realized."'' Many believe that the time for the arrival of a new ''Ratu Adil'' is near (as the prophecies put it, ''"when iron wagons could drive without horses and ships could sail through the sky"''), and that he will come to rescue and reunite

after an acute crisis, ushering in the dawn of a new golden age.

References

{{reflist

Prophecies

References

Further reading