Sultan Agung of Mataram

Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Hanyakrakusuma
(Javanese: , Sultan
Agung Adi Prabu Hanykrkusum) was the third
Sultan of Mataram in Central Java ruling from 1613
to 1645. A skilled soldier he conquered neighbouring
states and expanded and consolidated his kingdom to its
greatest territorial and military power.
Sultan Agung (literally, Great Sultan or Majestic Sul-
tan) is subject of a substantial amount of literature due
to his legacy as a Javanese ruler, a ghter against the in-
cursions of the Dutch East India Company, a conqueror,
and his existence within a cultural framework where myth The economy of Mataram was centered on agriculture,
and magic are well intertwined with veriable historical thus Sultan Agung who was openly contemptous of trade,
events and personages.
1 Territorial conquests
See also: Mataram conquest of Surabaya
Sultan Agung became the ruler of Mataram in 1613
N
Dutch
avail. Sultan Agung weakened Surabaya by capturing
Sukadana, Surabayas ally in southwest Kalimantan, in
1622, and the island of Madura, another ally of Surabaya,
in 1624 after a erce battle. After ve years of war Agung
nally 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 re-
mained outside Agungs control.
saw no need to maintain signicant naval forces. This
was later to prove costly when in 1629 he attacked and at-
tempted to drive the Dutch out of their base at the coastal
city of Jakarta. Though he possessed larger and supe-
rior land based forces, the Dutch had decisive advantages
in naval power and were able to withstand the Siege of
Batavia.
After the failure of the siege, Agung turned against the
Balinese, then controlling Balambangan in East Java, in a
Sukadana
(Southwest Borneo)
1622
ASIA

Banten
Batavia

1628-1629
holy war against indels. His campaign was successful
JAVA SEA
Cimanuk

Jepara
BANTEN

in Java, but he was unable to extend his power to the island

Cirebon Lasem
Pakuan Pati
Cita

Sumedang Vassalized 1617 Pekalongan

Tegal Demak 1616 Tuban
Kendal
rum

olo 1619
CIREBON nS MADURA Sumenep
wa
Pa

Gresik
ga
Jipang
ma

n
Priangan
of Bali itself. Bali thus retained its identity as a Hindu
JAVA Be Surabaya 1624
Pajang
li

Ciamis
1614 and 1625
MADURA STRAIT
o

1618
ayu
Prog

GALUH Sar Pajang

Legend Pasuruan
M A T A R A M Wirasaba
Brantas

1617
1615
Center of power, capital city

state in the midst of the predominantly Muslim states of

Karta Kotagede Kediri Malang
Imogiri 1614
Important settlement
Blambangan Buleleng
Territory of Mataram Sultanate prior 1613
BALI

the archipelago.
Blambangan
Mataram Sultanate expansion under the reign of Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo (1613-1645)
Gianyar
Campaign of Mataram Sultanate during Sultan Agungs reign INDIAN OCEAN
50 km
Battle

Apart from his conquests the Sultan also sought to ratio-

The maximum extent of Mataram Sultanate during the reign ofnalize and improve the internal government of his king-
Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo (1613-1645) dom. He reformed the tax-code and brought the courts
and judicial system more in line with Qurnic precepts.
and the next year attacked Surabaya, as well as Malang He commissioned the building of the Karta Palace in
which lies south of Surabaya, and the eastern end of 1614, the Royal Graveyard of Imogiri, as well as other
the Java island, but failed to conquer them both. He social and civic structures within the kingdom.
was however able to extraxt a signicant indemnity and
used this in 1615, to conquer Wirasaba (present day
Mojoagung, near Mojokerto), an operation which he per-
sonally lead. In 1616, Surabaya attempted to attack 2 Rebellions
Mataram in retaliation, but lacking allies the Surabaya
army was crushed by Sultan Agungs forces in Siwalan, By 1625, Mataram was the undisputed ruler of most of
Pajang (near Surakarta). The coastal city of Lasem, near Java.[3]:31 However, its military strength did not deter
Rembang, was conquered later in 1616, and Pasuruan, Matarams vassals from rebellion, due to his inability to
south-east of Surabaya, was taken in 1617. Tuban, one conquer Batavia. Pajang rebelled in 1617, and Pati re-
of the oldest and biggest cities on the coast of Java, was belled in 1627. Following the capture of Surabaya in
taken in 1619. 1625, expansion halted as the empire was beset by rebel-
Surabaya had been Matarams most formidable adversary lions. In 1630, Mataram crushed a rebellion in Tembayat
thus far. Agungs grandfather, Senapati or Senopati, had (southeast of Klaten). However, in 1631-36, Mataram
not felt strong enough to attack this powerful city, and had to suppress the rebellion of Sumedang and Ukur in
his father, Panembahan Seda Krapyak, attacked it to no West Java. Agungs attempt to capture Batavia in 1628-

1
2 6 FURTHER READING

29, and drive the Dutch from Java ended in failure.[4][5]
3 Death
In 1632 Sultan Agung began building Imogiri, his burial
place, about 15 kilometers south of Yogyakarta. Imo-
giri remains the resting place of most of the royalty of
Yogyakarta and Surakarta to this day which in Agungs
complex buried Sultan Agung, Queen Batang, and their
sons. Agung died in the spring of 1646, leaving behind
an empire that covered most of Java and stretched to its
neighboring islands.
4 Historical reputation
divisions directly under a province. The laws on regional
autonomy promulgated in 1999 give a high degree of au-
tonomy to the kabupaten, not to the provinces. Sultan
Agungs legacy is also recognised by modern Indonesia.
Sultan Agung is revered in contemporary Java both for
his unication of Java, modernizing reforms, as well as
his wars with the Dutch. In the Sukarno era he was
nominated and conrmed as a National Hero of Indone-
sia (Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia). His existence within
a cultural framework where myth and magic are inter-
twined and the scarcity of veriable records of his early
life have elevated him to heroic and near-mythical status.
In the syncretic religious culture of Java, with its mix-
ture of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam; pilgrimage to his
graveyard complex is considered auspicious, and many
make considerable eort to go to Imogiri at appropriate
times and days in the Javanese and Islamic calendars.

The development of the sacred dance bedhaya, and im-

portant developments in gamelan and wayang are at- 5 References
tributed to the court of Sultan Agung. However, there is
almost no historical evidence for the claims of high artis- [1] The Queens maiden name was unknown.
tic achievement, and there is little information at all about
the arts in the court. Some written evidence comes from a [2] Dyah Banowatis maiden name was unknown.
handful of mentions in Dutch accounts, which can be dif- [3] Drakeley S. The History of Indonesia. Greenwood, 2005.
cult to interpret.[6] However within the complex eld of ISBN 9780313331145
folklore that attributes Sultan Agung with various powers
and activities, the eld of achievements is much greater. [4] Montanus, A. "Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien", hal. 358
Sultan Agung is also attributed with the founding of the [5] Afbeelding - AMH (Berkas AMH)
unique Javanese calendar this established a uniquely in-
digenous calendar which is still in use. [6] Sumarsam. Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical
Development in Central Java. Chicago: University of
Sultan Agungs major legacy lies however in the adminis- Chicago Press, 1995. Page 20.
trative reforms he undertook in the conquered territories.
The ever increasing large territorial extent of these terri- [7] Bertrand, Romain, Etat colonial, noblesse et nationalisme
tories led him to create an innovative and rational admin- Java, Paris, 2005
istrative structure.[7] He created provinces by appoint-
ing people as adipati (equivalent to Duke) at the head
of territories called kadipaten (Duchy), particularly those 6 Further reading
territories in the western part of Java, where Mataram
was facing Banten and Batavia, two places who resisted Pranata, Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo, Jakarta:
his wars of conquest. A kabupaten like Karawang, for in- Yudha Gama (In Indonesian)
stance, was created when Sultan Agung appointed prince
Kertabumi as its rst adipati in 1636. When the V.O.C.
(the Dutch East India Company) took control of Mataram
territories, it kept the kadipaten structure. Under the
colonial administration of the Netherlands Indies, adi-
pati, now called bupati, were called regenten and kadi-
paten, now kabupaten, regentschappen. The title of a bu-
pati consisted generally in a formal name, for instance
Sastradiningrat in the case of Karawang, preceded by
Raden Aria Adipati, hence Raden Aria Adipati Sastra-
diningrat (shortened into R. A. A. Sastradiningrat). The
word adipati survived in the colonial system.
The Dutch had grouped kabupaten into regions under a
resident, called residenties. The Indonesian government
kept the kabupaten but disbanded the residenties in the
1950s, resulting in kabupaten being administrative sub-
 3

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