Hindu temple in
Priangan highlands, estimated was built in the 7th century. The history of the Sunda Kingdom spanned for almost a millennium, between the 7th to 16th century. One of the few remnants is the 7th century
Bojongmenje Hindu temple near
Bandung. It was one of the earliest temple structures in Java, older than
temples of Dieng in Central Java, and linked to the Sunda Kingdom. The earlier period is unclear, much owed to only two manuscripts dated from a much later period, the
Carita Parahyangan. Its relations to
Tarumanagara, a previous kingdom in western Java is unknown. The history of later period, however, after the late 14th century, is clearer especially following the reign of King Wastu Kancana and
Sri Baduga Maharaja. This is contributed mainly to the availability of historical sources, including numbers of foreign reports, especially Portuguese's
Suma Oriental, several stone inscriptions (
prasasti) especially
Batutulis, and native primary historical manuscripts of
Bujangga Manik and
Sanghyang Siksakanda ng Karesian.
Rakryan Juru Pangambat According to
Kebon Kopi II inscription, dated from 932, discovered near
Bogor, a skilled hunter named
Rakryan Juru Pangambat, declared that the authority is restored to the king of Sunda. The port of Sunda referred by Chou Ju-kua probably referred to
Old Banten, instead of
Sunda Kelapa. It seems that by the early 13th century, the maritime trade was still dominated by Srivijayan mandala based in Sumatra.
Golden age The name Sunda appeared in Javanese source, the
Pararaton, reported that in 1336, during the inauguration of his newly appointed position as Prime Minister,
Gajah Mada declared the
Palapa oath, which stated his foreign policy to unify the archipelago under Majapahit domination.
Pararaton recorded what Gajah Mada had said: Translation: Sunda was mentioned as one of the kingdoms targeted by Mada's overseas campaign. It seems by the early 14th century, the Kingdom of Sunda has grown quite prosperous and took part in international maritime trade.
Prabu Maharaja The
Carita Parahyangan and
Pararaton named him as
Prěbu Maharaja, while the pseudohistorical Wangsakerta give a detailed name of Prabu Maharaja Lingga Buana. He ruled from Kawali Galuh, and died in the
Battle of Bubat in 1357, fell victim to a
stratagem crafted by the Majapahit prime minister,
Gajah Mada.
Hayam Wuruk, the king of Majapahit, intended to marry Princess
Dyah Pitaloka, the daughter of Prabu Maharaja. Delighted, the Sunda king and his royal family came to Majapahit, to marry off his daughter to Hayam Wuruk. The Sunda party erected the encampment on Bubat square in the northern part of
Trowulan and awaited the proper wedding ceremony. Gajah Mada however, saw this event as an opportunity to demand Sunda's submission to Majapahit overlordship and insisted that the princess was to be presented as a token of submission. Angered and humiliated, the Sunda king decided to cancel the wedding and to return home, resulting in a skirmish between the Sunda royal family and the Majapahit army. Outnumbered, almost the entire Sundanese party, including the princess, perished in this tragedy. The tradition says Princess Dyah Pitaloka
committed suicide to defend the honour of her country. After his death, Prabu Maharaja was revered as Prabu Wangi () for the heroic defence of his honour. Thus his successors, the later kings of Sunda, were later called
Siliwangi (lit. successor of Wangi). The story is the main theme of the book
Kidung Sunda, another source reporting this incident found in Bali.
Niskala Wastu Kancana s. The next king of Sunda was
Niskala Wastu Kancana, who was the youngest son of Prabu Maharaja and younger brother to Princess Dyah Pitaloka, who both perished in Bubat Incident. In 1371, Prince Wastu ascended to the throne, stylized as Prabu Raja Wastu Kancana. According to one of
Astana Gede inscriptions, approximately dated from the second half of the 14th century, the king ordered the construction of defensive structures, walls and moats surrounding Kawali city, and renovated Surawisesa palace. The construction of moats and other defensive measures, was probably as a response to a perceived foreign threat. Especially since the relations between Sunda and its powerful eastern neighbour Majapahit empire badly deteriorated following the Bubat incident.
Sri Baduga Maharaja Sang Ratu Jayadewata (reigned 1482 to 1521) or also known as
Sri Baduga Maharaja, is a grandson of Prabu Wastu Kancana. Jayadewata is often linked with a popular character
Prabu Siliwangi in the
Sundanese oral tradition of pantun. King Jayadewata moved the government seat from
Kawali back to
Pakuan in 1482. It is not clear, however, the reason behind the transfer of capital westward; it might be a geopolitical move to secure the capital away from the eastern threat from the rising Muslim power of
Demak in Central Java. By 1482, according to
Purwaka Caruban Nagari, a Cirebon chronicle,
Cirebon declared its independence from Sunda and no longer sent tribute to the Sunda court. Based on the Kebantenan copperplate inscription, he established a
tanah devasasana sacred estate at Mount Samya or Rancamaya. He also announced the construction of a sacred compound in Sunda Sembawa, stipulated as the resident of the priests. According to
Batutulis inscription, Sri Baduga Maharaja built defensive
moats surrounding
Pakuan Pajajaran; he built
gugunungan (sacred mounds), established huts and sacred Samya forest, reserves for wood destined for offerings, and the artificial lake Talaga Rena Mahawijaya (which apparently served as a reservoir). Certainly, there was a good road to
Sunda Kalapa (present-day Jakarta), the most important harbour of the Sunda kingdom. At the time of
Tome Pirés's visit to Pakuan, Sri Baduga Maharaja reigned over the Sunda kingdom. The reign of King Jayadewata was hailed as the golden age of the Sundanese people. The kingdom consolidated its rule and exercised power throughout the western part of Java. It also marked the era of great prosperity resulting from efficient agriculture management and the thriving pepper trade in the region. This era of great wealth also marked the beginning of the Sunda kingdom's decline.
Decline During the reign of King Jayadewata, there was already a group of Sunda inhabitants that had converted to
Islam, as testified by Portuguese account. Tomé Pires in 1513 reported, there was a significant number of
Muslims residing in the port of Cimanuk (today
Indramayu), the easternmost port of Sunda Kingdom. According to a Portuguese report, the port of
Cirebon which is located just east of Cimanuk is already a Muslim port by that time, ruled by Javanese. These new converts most probably were the people referred to in Carita Parahyangan as "those who felt no peace because of having strayed from
Sanghyang Siksa". Nevertheless, during this time, Islamic influence had not yet penetrated inland into the capital. As mentioned in Carita Parahyangan that
"mana mo kadatangan ku musuh ganal, musu(h) alit", which means the capital is "safe from rough/coarse enemy, (as well as) soft/subtle enemy". The term "coarse enemy" refers to an actual invading foreign army, while "subtle enemy" refers to the propagation of a new faith or new religion that might upset the established spiritual order of the kingdom. The character described in Purwaka Caruban Nagari, as
Prabu Siliwangi, matched the historic character of Dewa Niskala or Ningrat Kancana, referred as Lord of Galuh in Carita Parahyangan. Tohaan di Galuh was the son and heir of Niskala Wastu Kancana. The pressure from coastal Javan Islamic states drove the king of Sunda,
Sri Baduga Maharaja, to seek assistance from the Portuguese at
Malacca. In 1512 and again in 1521, he sent his son, the crown prince Surawisesa also known as Ratu Sang Hyang (Samian) to
Malacca to request the Portuguese to sign an alliance treaty, to trade in pepper and to build a fort at his main port of Sunda Kalapa. Sunan Gunung Jati's son later also established the
Sultanate of Banten, which later become a menace for the Hindu Sunda Kingdom.
Surawisesa and Sunda–Portuguese Treaty 1522 After Sri Baduga Maharaja's death in 1521, the succeeding kings, Prabu
Surawisesa Jayaperkosa, also known as Ratu Sang Hyang whom the Portuguese called Ratu Samian, faced the threat of
Cirebon and
Demak. Under this threat, Surawisesa, who reigned from 1521 to 1535, concluded the treaty with
Portuguese from Malacca to establish a warehouse and fortress at
Sunda Kelapa in return for protection against the threat of these Islamic Sultanates. By 1522, the Portuguese were ready to form a coalition with the King of Sunda to get access to his lucrative pepper trade. The commander of Malacca,
Jorge de Albuquerque, sent a ship, the
São Sebastião, under Captain Henrique Leme, to Sunda Kalapa with valuable gifts for the king of Sunda. Two written sources describe the concluding of the treaty in detail, the original Portuguese document of 1522 with the text of the treaty and the signatories of the witnesses, and a report on that event by
João de Barros in his book
Da Ásia, printed after 1777/78. The king welcomed them warmly upon their arrival. The crown prince had succeeded his father and was now King Prabu Surawisesa, although Barros called him King Samião. This Sunda ruler agreed to an arrangement of friendship with the King of Portugal and granted a fortress at the mouth of the Ciliwung River where the Portuguese could load as many peppers as they wished. In addition, he pledged, dating from the start of construction on the fortress, each year he would donate one thousand sacks of pepper to the Portuguese king. The contract document was drafted into two copies and signed. On the said day in 1522, Henrique Leme of Portuguese and his entourage together with deputies of the King of Sunda erected a commemoration stone at the mouth of the
Ciliwung River.
The fall of Sunda Kalapa ,
South Jakarta, Sunda Kingdom period This
trade and defence treaty was fallen apart tremendously due to Portuguese failure to deliver their promise to construct the fortress in Kalapa. The delay was caused by troubles in
Goa. To make things worse, in 1527
Fatahillah, a military commander sent from Demak, managed to capture the
Sunda Kalapa harbour just before the Portuguese returned. The army of Fatahillah, comprising around Cirebon-Demak troops, conquered Sunda Kalapa. The Sunda authority stationed in the port were fallen. The harbour chief and his family, the royal minister, and all of the people working in the harbour were slaughtered. The port city was completely destroyed and razed, as the Sundanese reinforcements sent from Pakuan was too weak and retreated. The Sunda Kingdom has lost its most important port, thus subsequently Sunda Kalapa was renamed
Jayakarta by its Muslim conqueror. Thirty Portuguese sailors, shipwrecked by storms, swam to the beach at Kalapa only to be killed by Fatahillah's men. The Portuguese recognised the political leadership had changed when they were not allowed to set foot on the land. As they were too weak for a battle, they set sail back to Malacca. The next year, a second attempt failed because of striking sailors angry at not having been paid. , the cradle of
Jakarta. For centuries it was the royal port of Sunda Kingdom serving the capital
Dayeuh Pakuan Pajajaran 60 kilometres inland to the south until it fell to Demak and Cirebon forces in 1527. The failure to rely on Portuguese assistance has led Sunda to fend for their own survival by themselves. Carita Parahyangan mentioned that during his 14 years of reign (1521–1535), King Sang Hyang (Surawisesa) has fought in 15 battles. Unbeatable, all in which he managed to repel the series of invading Muslim forces from Cirebon and Demak. He fought in Kalapa, Tanjung, Ancol Kiji,
Wahanten Girang, Simpang, Gunung Batu, Saung Agung, Rumbut, Gunung, Gunung Banjar, Padang, Panggoakan, Muntur, Hanum, Pagerwesi, and Medangkahyangan. Finally, in 1531, a peace treaty was concluded between King Surawisesa of Sunda and Syarif Hidayatullah of Cirebon. In an apparent sorrow after the tremendous defeat and the loss of his two most important ports, Prabu Surawisesa established the
Batutulis inscription in 1533 to commemorate his late father. This action was probably an attempt to spiritually appeal for ancestral guidance and protection against the powerful Muslim enemy that now loomed by the gates. Because of ongoing battles, he often could not stay in his palace in
Pakuan Pajajaran.
Jaya Dewata Prabu Ratu Dewata also known as
Sang Ratu Jaya Dewata, was the successor of Prabu Surawisesa. He was, however, not his son. The reign of Prabu Ratu Dewata between 1535 and 1543 was known as a chaotic and difficult one full of hardship, as Islamic forces from Cirebon and Banten tried multiple times to capture the Dayeuh Pakuan capital. During Ratu Dewata reign, the Carita Parahyangan reported several calamities befell the kingdom; there was a sudden attack, a lot of enemies razed the city, thus mass combat erupted in the grand yard (
buruan ageung). In this battle, the noble princes were killed. The chaos has widespread across the kingdom, the attack also occurred in Ciranjang and
Sumedang. Another terror was the assassination of the
rishis, hermits and Hindu priests that resides in the hermitage sanctuaries. It was reported that the Hindu priests and hermits of mandala Jayagiri, were captured and drowned in the sea. It is highly possible that the attack was launched by Muslim states of Banten or Cirebon. This was a devastating attack straight to the spiritual core of the Sundanese Hindu community. Unable to control the kingdom, instead of fulfilling his duty by maintaining the law and order, Prabu Ratu Dewata retreated himself to become a
Raja Pandita (priestly king), submitted himself deeply into religious rituals as an apparently desperate appeal for gods' salvation. By this time, Sunda Kingdom were already isolated and confined to the inland.
Last kings and the fall of Sunda kingdom in the 16th century. The Islamic
Sultanate of Banten was responsible for the demise of Hindu Sunda Kingdom, and supplant it as the dominant polity in western parts of Java in the following centuries. Series of last Sunda kings were notoriously known as incompetent rulers. The successor of Ratu Dewata, King
Ratu Sakti reigned from 1543 to 1551, was known as a ruthless king, who indulges himself with sensual pleasure. The next successor that ruled from 1551 to 1567, King
Nilakendra, also known as Tohaan di Majaya, is also an incompetent ruler. Instead of fulfilling his duty as a king, he renovates and beautifies the palace. Squander kingdom's fortune by indulging himself in pleasures and luxury. Because of ongoing battles, ironically Tohaan di Majaya could not stay in his newly renovated palace. The last kings of Sunda could no longer reside in Pakuan Pajajaran, since in the 1550s
Hasanuddin, the sultan of Banten has launched a successful attack on Dayeuh Pakuan, captured and razed the capital. The surviving Sunda royalties, nobles and common people fled the fallen city, heading to the mountainous wilderness. After the fall of Pakuan Pajajaran, the royal regalia of Sunda Kingdom was evacuated to the eastern principality of
Sumedang Larang. Among these regalias are
Makuta Binokasih Sanghyang Paké, the royal crown of Sunda. Thus the member of the Sunda dynasty established a surviving minor regional kingdom of Sumedang Larang where Sundanese aristocracy would survive for a few more centuries to come until conquered by
Mataram Sultanate in the 17th century. From 1567 to 1579, under the last king Raja Mulya, also known as
Prabu Surya Kencana, the kingdom declined substantially. In Carita Parahyangan, his name is Nusiya Mulya. He ruled further inland in
Pulasari, near
Pandeglang, at the slope of Mount Palasari. The kingdom has fallen apart, particularly after 1576 due to constant pressure from Banten, and finally collapsed completely in 1579. Thereafter, the
Sultanate of Banten took over most of the former Sunda Kingdom's territory, thus ultimately put an end to a millennium of Hindu-Buddhist Dharmic civilization of West Java. By this time, Java has turned more and more Islamic. Only the kingdom of
Blambangan on the eastern edge was the last surviving Hindu kingdom in Java, well until its demise in the early 18th century. ==Capital==