Sabdapalon was a mystic, Hindu high priest and spiritual advisor to King Brawijaya V, the last king of Majapahit, Indonesia’s most powerful empire.
He is said to have cursed his king upon the conversion of the latter to islam in 1478.
Upon his conversion, King Brawijaya was considered to have lost his spiritual sovereignty.
Sabdapalon then promised to return after 500 years and at a time of widespread political corruption and natural disasters, to sweep islam from the island and restore the Hindu-Javanese religion and civilization, or Kawruh.
Sabdapalon’s Curse and Prophecy
As described in the Dharmagandhul, Sabdapalon gave his predictions about the future:
“My lord, you need to understand, if you turn to islam, your offspring would be damned, and the Jawi (the persons who understand the Javanese kawruh) will leave Java (or losing their Javanese-ness) and the Javanese will have to follow other nations.
But one day, the world will be led by a Jawi (Javanese) who understands.”
In Sabdapalon’s speech, he stated that he was ashamed towards the Earth and Sky of King Brawijaya’s decision to convert to islam.
Sabdapalon warned:
“There will be the most miserable period in Java and the archipelago in the years called “lawon sapta ngesti aji”.
After that time, earthquakes and volcano eruptions will occur, and the rivers will overflow into the surrounding areas and from the ocean will appear [tsunamis].
The great flood will continue, swallowing victims everywhere. That year, seven mounts will erupt. Danger will spread throughout the land of Java.”
Before he left, Sabdapalon said:
“After 500 years from now I will return and restore spirituality all around Java.
Those who refuse will be diminished, they will be food for the demons, I won’t be satisfied until they are all shattered.
When Mount Merapi erupts and its lava and ashes fall to the South-West with a terrible smell, that is the signal that I will be coming soon.”
Indonesians as ”slaves and followers of other nations”
The prophecy also mentions that during all that time, the Javanese people will have no more sovereignty, nor will they be respected by other nations.
- Indeed, since the time of Demak, the ”sultans” had to invoke the legitimacy of their power from the clerics of Mecca in Arabia
- The sultans of Sumatra and Banten and many others sought their legitimacy from the Turkish Ottoman Empire
- Later, Java and the archipelago were colonized by the Netherlands, England and Japan
- To this day, Indonesians are culturally dependent on either Western or Middle Eastern influences
It is told that when Sabdapalon returns, he will be followed by a Ratu Adil (‘Just King’), who will bring justice to the nation.
The return of Sabdapalon wil mark the end of Zaman Kalabendu (the ‘Crazy Era’), and then Indonesia will be back to a Golden Era.
It is also said that Sabdapalon is none other than Dang Hyang Nirartha.
King Brawijaya V and his two high priests, Sabdapalon and Nayagenggong met in Blambangan next to a sacred Javanese water source (petirtaan) called Banyuwangi, when Kalijaga, one of the main Moslem prozelityzers came.
Using a combination of threats and promises, Kalijaga wanted the King to turn himself into a Moslem.
After being persuaded, King Brawijaya V agreed.
After which, the king asked his high priests Sabdapalon and Nayagenggong to become Moslems too.
But the two high priests vehemently refused.
The verses tell how disappointed Sabdapalon was with the King.
He said that as a Javanese king, he should have a Javanese spirituality (Kawruh).
Sabdapalon then said harshly:
“I am the servant of all of the Dang Hyang (devas and spirits) in the land of Java.
Starting from the first ancestor of your majesty, the Wiku Manumanasa, Sakutrem and Bambang Sakri, from generation to generation until today, a servant of the Javanese kings.
For 2,000 years until now, nothing had changed in their religion. I was here to serve the descendants of the Javanese kings.
This is where we part.
I am returning to my origins. However, please our king be reminded, that after 500 years I will restore the Buda religion to all of Java.”
View from the the holy Cetho temple on Mount Lawu in Central Java
Fall of Majapahit and islamization
The Majapahit empire once stretched all the way to Cambodia – it is little-known that the Khmer culture itself was actually only an offshoot of the Hindu-Javanese culture.
However, the empire gradually started to weaken due to internal dissensions, and progressively fell to various Mohammedan influences that had previously taken hold in coastal cities through the presence of foreign merchants and their funding.
King Brawijaya’s son, who had recently been turned Moslem, started an islamic kingdom called Demak, which then attempted to convert the rest of Java through jihad.
The Majapahit loyalists, already weakened by internal rivalries, had to progressively retreat to East Java and eventually to Bali to safeguard the Hindu-Javanese civilization there.
Some of them remained in Central Java and retreated to the Javanese sacred mountains where they could live undisturbed for a while.
As the jihad progressed, a great number of them withdrew to the holy Bromo and Sumeru mountain cluster, where they led a relentless guerilla war against the Mohammedans for several centuries.
These loyalists eventually became the Tengger and Osing people who are the last Hindus in Java today.
Lord Ganesha statue at Mount Brahma (or ”Bromo”), one of the last Hindu strongholds in Java
The King’s Meeting in Blambangan
- The Javanese Dharmagandhul manuscript describes the meeting between King Brawijaya V of Majapahit, his high priest Sabdapalon and Sunan Kalijaga in Blambangan.
- Kalijaga is today considered by the Moslems to be part of the semi-mythical group of ‘nine saints’ who islamized Java, called the ”Wali Sanga” – an artificial construct designed to replace the worship of the Dewata Nawa Sanga in Java.
- Kalijaga and other prozelityzers had been shrewd enough to first introduce Islam through its Sufi version, which is closer to the Javanese folk religion.
- He was careful to only progressively dilute the Javanese culture, particularly in its carvings, wayang kulit and gamelan and introduced the Sekaten and Grebeg Maulud rituals, among others.
- From the Babad Tanah Jawi (a Moslemized version of Javanese history), Kalijaga seems to have been a foreign highway robber later converted to islam by Sunan Bonang, a local Chinese Moslem, who was also later counted as a member of the ”Wali Sanga”.
- In those times, the spread of islam in Java was accompanied with significant violence and warfare, as the new converts used the foreign religion to join forces to take over land and assets, replace the existing royalty and carve their own kingdoms from the remnants of the empire.
- Therefore, the Javanese had been tricked into accepting Sufi islam and later end up with Sunni islam.
1500 years of Hindu-Javanese culture progressively came to an end around the 16th century
The Jayabaya Prophecy
King Jayabaya of Kediri also predicted similar events. His prophecies are called the Jangka Jayabaya:
“When iron wagons drive without horses and ships sail through the sky [i.e. cars and airplanes]”, he will come to rescue and reunite [Indonesia] after an acute crisis, ushering in the dawn of a new golden age.”
“People exult, because the Almighty (Para Shiva) has come for justice; armed with the trident of the Vedas; the priests also in worship.
It is a caring Sabdapalon; who have borne the shame but the luminary; everything seems bright; there is no shortage of complaining
It is a sign that the time of kalabendu was over; changed his glory days; strengthen the fabric of the Universe.”
Both Javanese prophecies of Sabdapalon and Jayabhaya therefore promise that Hindu civilization will be restored to its former glory, with Java as the political center of a new world order.
Semar, the guardian spirit of Java
Future restoration of spirituality in Java
The politics and economy envisaged in the Jayabaya prophecy are based on a model of spiritual hierarchy, under the leadership of a divine ruler.
The aim of this hierarchy is frequently stated to benefit the wong cilik, ‘the little people’, to create conditions where the common people can live in peace and prosperity.
While the islamic prophecies envisage a ‘final cataclysm’ and ‘judgement day’, the Hindu-Javanese versions are more cyclical and thus envisage a time thereafter, the dawn of a new Golden Age when once again the forces of light will rule supreme.
The Jayabaya prophecy is of profound significance to Indonesians of all persuasion and all walks of life.
For instance, all presidential candidates perform secret visits to the ancestral origin temple of Raja Jayabaya in Bali, in the remote mountain sanctuary of Pura Pucak Penulisan.
Presidents Abdurahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri regularly visited sacred sites associated with the prophecy, such as the Lokamoksa Jayabaya, the site where the king-priest is said to have achieved moksha, leaving no mortal body behind.
Batara Guru (Shiva) in Java
Semar and the Hindu prophecies
In his speech, Sabdapalon also confirms that he is one with Semar.
In Javanese spirituality, Semar is the divine messenger of Sang Hyang Ismaya (God Almighty, or Shiva for the Hindu-Javanese) to help the human beings to always worship God, to be always grateful and conscious and walk in the way of goodness, according to Kejawen principles.
He got a special assignment from God to maintain and preserve the Universe in general and the Indonesian archipelago in particular.
Among Javanese mystics, the existence of Semar is believed to be a “voice without form”.
But for those who understand the deeper meanings, Semar is also known to come into being as a human in a different form in each time period.
Semar, the protector spirit of Java
The 110 names of Semar
In His human manifestation, Semar incarnates as a Begawan (saint) or Pandhita (priest and scholar).
- Semar himself has 110 names, including the Ki Sabdapalon, Sang Hyang Ismaya, Ki Badranaya, and others.
- He is for example represented as a royal advisor to the Pandava princes in Javanese wayang.
- It was stated by Sabdapalon that he will ‘’go back to his origin’’ for 500 years.
- Semar is the incarnation of Sang Hyang Ismoyo.
- So when Sabdapalon plans to return to ”his natural origin” (nature of the gods), it means again as a manifestation of God, or Sang Hyang Ismaya.
Sabdapalon said his coming back on Earth in the land of Java will be accompanied with certain signs:
- The main sign will be Merapi vomiting lava to the South-West, and that it will smell bad.
- This will then followed by other disasters.
In the Javanese and Balinese Wayang theater, this is called Semar Ngejawantah.
It is said that the Eight Powers of God together will bring Sabdapalon to come down to Earth again.
In both Kejawen and Javanese Shaivism, the Eight powers of Shiva (Sang Hyang Ismaya, or Kala Bhairava) are related to the Eight Cardinal Directions, which means that the Eight Powers of God converge to welcome and deliver the Divine to come down on Earth.
