The statue of Airlangga at the Airlangga Museum.
The statue of Airlangga at the Airlangga Museum.

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Note on: The Crisis of Civil War at the End of King Airlangga's Reign.

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Taken from: Information Value of the Gaṇḍakuti Inscription for the Final Reconstruction of King Airlangga's Reign; by Ninny Susanti

 

Airlangga needed a long time, from 1021 to 1035 to fight those who opposed him. He defeated Hasin (mentioned in Sri Airlangga: Inscription of Baru (1030AD)), Wuratan, Wengker, Lewa, the female king of the present Tulungagung area, and finally Wurawari.

 

After going through this long period of consolidation, from 1035 to 1042 Airlangga was able to enjoy the golden age of his reign, which according to the Kamalagyan inscription (1037) was centered in Kahuripan.

 

 

The Gandakuti=Kambang inscription (964 Saka/1042 AD) reports that King Airlangga has chosen a life as a priest, which means abdicating.

Not more than a month after issuing the Gandakuti inscription, the king issued the Pamwatan Inscription (1042) which announced the new center of the kingdom, namely Dahana (Dahanapura) ruled by Airlangga accompanied by the crown prince Sri Sanggramawijaya Dharmaprasadottunggadewi.

 

Still in the same year, 1042, the king issued another inscription, namely the Pandaan inscription. This inscription was issued by King Airlangga with Rakryan Mahamantri i Hino Sri Samarawijaya Dharmasuparnawahana Tguh Uttunggadewa. The existence of two crown princes mentioned in two inscriptions issued in the same year raises suspicions that there has been an internal political turmoil within the kingdom. It seems that the king of Airlangga faced the dilemma of civil war between his son, the heir to the throne, and Dharmmawangsa Tguh's son (the son of his sister) who was still alive during the pralaya disaster in 1016, or it could also be that a power struggle occurred between the children of Airlangga. There was no other way for King Airlangga except to divide the land of Java into two. Then there was the kingdom of Pangjalu in the east and the kingdom of Janggala in the west. But after Airlangga's death, civil war could no longer be prevented.

 

The inscriptions that corroborate the civil war include:

 

The Pandan inscription (1042) is an inscription found in fragments like several other inscriptions from King Airlangga, namely the Kusambyan inscription, Katemas inscription, Razor inscription and Garudamukha inscription. It is very possible that this destruction was done on purpose because if you look at the period after the division of the kingdom, there was a prolonged civil war which is estimated to have lasted up to 60 years.

The Pandan inscription supports the allegation that Samarawijaya was the king of Panjalu while Mapanji Garasakan was the king of Janggala.

 

The Garaman inscription (1053) tells of the king of Garasakan who gave the sima award to the village of Garaman, because they were credited with giving a report about the arrival of an enemy, namely his relative Raja Pangjalu. Raja was in Garung village when he was attacked by his troops. Garung is thought to be an area in Sambeng, Lamongan Regency, north of Mojokerto.

 

DOUBT ABOUT THE INFORMATION VALUE OF THE GANDHAKUTI INSCRIPTION

 

Experts suspect that Airlangga abdicated (Gandakuti inscription 964 Saka -1042AD) then returned to the throne and moved the center of the kingdom (Pamwatan inscription 964 Saka) with the crown prince Sanggramawijaya. He then gave the position of crown prince to Samarawijaya (Pandan inscription 964 Saka) and replaced the position of crown prince to Sanggramawijaya again (Pasar legi inscription 965 Saka).

The confusion lies in the chronology when Airlangga stepped down from the throne, then shortly afterwards he re-appointed himself as king again and ruled with the crown prince Sri Sanggramawijaya Dharmmaprasadottunggadewi and then moved the center of the kingdom.

Historian Ninny Susanty through a paper she presented in Malang in 2019 concluded that the Gandakuti inscription is a tinulad inscription or a copy made during the Majapahit period. Contextually, the Gandakuti inscription can be equated with works of ancient literature which were written much later after the events took place. He delayed the use of the Gandakuti inscription in compiling a chronology for the end of King Airlangga's reign due to the discrepancy between the contents of this inscription and those of his time.

 

Taken from: Wikipedia.

 

In the Inscription at Ngantang (1135) was Jayabhaya the Javanese King of the Kediri (=Panjalu) Kingdom in East Java, Indonesia which ruled around 1135-1159 CE. The reign of King Jayabhaya is considered the heyday of the Kediri Kingdom. King Jayabaya is credited with reunification of the Kediri(=Panjalu) kingdom following a split due to the death of his predecessor Airlangga. He King Jayabhaya of Kediri(=Panjalu) won the war against the Janggala kingdom as is mentioned in the Ngantang inscription.