The Arrival of Hinduism
Both Java and Sumatra were subject to considerable cultural influence from India during the first and second millennia. Both Hinduism and Buddhism, which share a common historical background and whose membership may even overlap at times, were widely followed and instilled across the maritime kingdoms of Southeast Asia.
Hinduism, and the Sanskrit language through which it was transmitted, became highly prestigious in Java. Many Hindu temples were built, including the Prambanan complex near Yogyakarta, now designated a World Heritage Site, and Hindu kingdoms flourished, the most important being the Majapahit.
In the sixth and seventh centuries several maritime kingdoms emerged in Sumatra and Java, and ideally located to control the waters in the Straits of Malacca, enabling them to flourish from the increasing sea trade between China and India and beyond. It was during this time that scholars from India and China visited these kingdoms to translate literary and religious texts.
Majapahit was based in Central Java, from where it ruled a large part of what is now western Indonesia. The remnants of the Majapahit kingdom shifted to Bali during the sixteenth century as Muslim kingdoms in the western part of the island gained influence.
Although Java was substantially converted to Islam during the 15th century and afterwards, substantial elements of Hindu (and pre-Hindu) customs and beliefs persist among ordinary Javanese. Particularly in central and eastern Java, Abangan or 'nominal' Muslims are predominant. 'Javanists', who uphold this folk tradition, coexist along with more orthodox Islamicizing elements.
Hindu Kingdom of Yawadvipa
Indian scholars wrote about the Dwipantara or Jawa Dwipa Hindu kingdom in Java and Sumatra around 200 BC. "Yawadvipa" is mentioned in India's earliest epic, the Ramayana.
Rama and Lakshmana with Sugriva in conversation about the Search for Sita
Sugriva, the chief of Rama's army dispatched his men to Yawadvipa, the island of Java, in search of Sita. It was hence referred to in Indian by the Sanskrit name "yāvaka dvīpa", dvīpa, meaning island. This part of Southeast Asia was frequently visited by traders from eastern India, particularly Kalinga, as well as from the kingdoms of South India.
A 1600-year-old stone inscription from the era of Purnawarman, king of Tarumanagara, found in the Tugu sub-district of Jakarta.
There was a marked Buddhist influence starting about 425 in the region. Around the 6th century, the Kalingga Indianized kingdom was established along the northern coast of Central Java. The name of this kingdom derived directly from Kalinga on the east coast of India.
These Southeast Asian seafaring peoples engaged in extensive trade with India and China, so much so that they attracted the attention of the Mongols, Chinese and Japanese, as well as Islamic traders, who reached the Aceh area of Sumatra in the 12th century.
Some scholars have pointed out that the legends of Ikshvaku and Sumati may have their origin in the Southeast-Asian myth of the birth of humanity from a bitter gourd. The legend of Sumati, the wife of King Sagar, tells the story of how she produced offspring with the aid of a bitter gourd.
Hindu influences reached the Indonesian Archipelago as early as the first century. Historical evidence is unclear about the diffusion process of cultural and spiritual ideas from India. Javanese legends refer to Saka-era, traced to 78 AD. Stories from the Mahabharata Epic have been traced in Indonesian islands back to the first century, and these versions mirror those found in the southeast Indian peninsular region (now Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh).
In Indonesia, the version of the Mahabharata was developed in ancient Java as Kakawin Bhāratayuddha in the 11th century under the patronage of King Dharmawangsa (990–1016) and later the epic was spread to the neighboring island of Bali, where the Balinese population remains mostly Hindu on the island today.
Also known as Bharatayuddha, it has become a fertile source for Javanese literature, dance drama (wayang wong), and wayang shadow puppet performances.
This Javanese version of the Mahābhārata differs slightly from the original Indian version. For example, Draupadi is only married to Yudhishthira, not to all the Pandava brothers; this might demonstrate ancient Javanese opposition to polyandry. The author added some female characters to be married to the Pandavas later, as for example, Arjuna is described as having many wives and consorts along with Subhadra. Another difference is that Shikhandini does not change her gender and remains a woman, and to be married to Arjuna, whilst taking the role of a warrior princess during the war. Another twist is that Gandhari is described as an antagonistic character who hates the Pandavas: her hate is out of jealousy because during Gandhari's swayamvara, she was in love with Pandu but was later married to his blind elder brother instead, whom she did not love. She then blindfolded herself in protest. Another interesting difference is the inclusion of the comic figures of the Punakawans, the clown servants of the main characters in the storyline. These characters include Semar, Petruk, Gareng and Bagong, who are much loved by Indonesian audiences. There are some spin-off episodes that were developed in ancient Java, such as Arjunawiwaha composed in 11th century.
A Kawi version of the Mahabharata, of which eight of the eighteen parvas survive, has been found on the Indonesian island of Bali, and translated into English by Dr. I. Gusti Putu Phalgunadi.
The Javanese literary work Tantu Pagelaran from the 14th century, a collection of ancient tales, arts and crafts of Indonesia, uses Sanskrit words extensively, using the names of Indian deities and religious concepts.
Legend of moving Mount Meru to Java
The manuscript tells the story that Batara Guru (Shiva) ordered the god Brahma and Vishnu to fill the island of Java with human beings.
However, at this time Java as an island was floating freely on the ocean, tumbling and shaking. To make the island stable, the gods decided to fix the island upon the earth by moving a significant part of Mahameru in Jambudvipa (India) and placing it upon Java.
Initially the gods placed the holy mountain on the first part of Java they encountered, in the western part of Java. However the enormous weight of the Meru mountain tilted the whole island and caused a dramatic instability resulting in the eastern end of Java to rise. So, the gods decided to move the mountain eastward, but in doing so the gods scattered the mountain fragments thus creating the volcanoes and mountainous regions that run from west to east spanning the entire length of the island of Java.
When the main part of the Meru mountain attached upon the eastern part of Java, the island was still tilted and imbalanced, and this time it was the western part of that Java rose up. To balance the island the gods cut a small tip of the land and placed it in the northwest part of East Java. This become Mount Pawitra and that today is taken to be Mount Penanggungan, while the main part of the Meru mountain became the Semeru volcano and the abode of Lord Shiva.
Semeru volcano, July 2004
When Sang Hyang Shiva arrived at Java, he saw so many Jawawut plants that he named the island Java. Vishnu became the first ruler of Java, incarnated in the form of the king named Kandiawan, and it was he that brought civilization, upheld order and governance, and regulating social and religious matters.
The mountainous volcanic nature and geographic conditions of Java and Bali fits easily with Hindu mythology. Hindu cosmology includes the belief that Mount Meru or Mahameru is the abode of gods and also connects the realm of mortals with svarga, the realm of gods. Some Javanese and Balinese still revere mountains as the abode of Gods, Devata, Hyang, and other spiritual beings, whilst the legend of the moving of Mount Meru, to stabilize the island of Java, which was always shaking, can be interpreted as a traditional and ancient way of expressing something fundamental about a country where the frequency of earthquakes is so pronounced.
Similarly ancient Chandis (temples) excavated in Java and western Indonesian islands, as well as ancient inscriptions such as the 8th century Canggal inscription discovered in Indonesia, confirm widespread adoption of Shiva lingam iconography, his companion goddess Parvati, Ganesha, Vishnu, Brahma, Arjuna, and other Hindu deities by about the middle to late 1st millennium AD.
Prambanan temple compound. The towering candi prasada (temple towers) are believed to represent the cosmic Mount Meru, the abode of gods.
Chandi, or Candi refers to a structure based on the Indian type of single-celled shrine, with a pyramidal tower above it, and a portico. The term Candi is given as a prefix to the many temple-mountains in Indonesia, built as a representation of the Cosmic Mount Meru, an epitome of the universe. However, the term also applied to many non-religious structures dated from the same period, such as gapura (gates), petirtaan (pools) and some of habitation complexes. Examples of non-temple candis are the Bajang Ratu and Wringin Lawang gates of Majapahit. The "Candi Tikus bathing pool" in Trowulan and Jalatunda in Penanggungan slopes, as well as the remnants of non-religious habitation and urban structures such as Ratu Boko and some of Trowulan city ruins, are also considered candi.
"Between the 7th and 15th centuries, hundred of religious structures were constructed of brick and stone in Java, Sumatra and Bali. These are called candi. The term refers to other pre-Islamic structures including gateways and even bathing places, but its principal manifestation is the religious shrine."— Soekmono, R. "Candi:Symbol of the Universe".
In ancient Java, a temple was probably originally called prāsāda (Sanskrit: प्रासाद), as evidence in the Manjusrigrha inscription (dated from 792 CE), that mentioned "Prasada Vajrasana Manjusrigrha" to refer to the Sewu temple. The term prasad itself refer to a sacred offering or a sacrament. This term is in par with Cambodian and Thai term prasat which refer to the towering structure of a temple.
Ancient Chinese records of Fa Hien on his return voyage from Ceylon to China in 414 AD mention two schools of Hinduism in Java, while Chinese documents from 8th century refer to the Hindu kingdom of King Sanjaya as Holing, calling it "exceedingly wealthy," and that it coexisted peacefully with Buddhist people and Sailendra ruler in Kedu Plain of the Java island.
The two major theories for the arrival of Hinduism in Indonesia include that South Indian sea traders brought Hinduism with them, and second being that Indonesian royalty welcomed Indian religions and culture, and it is they who first adopted these spiritual ideas followed by the masses. Indonesian islands adopted both Hindu and Buddhist ideas, fusing them with pre-existing native folk religion and Animist beliefs. In the 4th century, the kingdom of Kutai in East Kalimantan, Tarumanagara in West Java, and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java, were among the early Hindu states established in the region. Excavations between 1950 and 2005, particularly at the Cibuaya and Batujaya sites, suggests that Tarumanagara revered deity Wisnu (Vishnu) of Hinduism. Ancient Hindu kingdoms of Java built many square temples, named rivers on the island as Gomati and Ganges, and completed major irrigation and infrastructure projects.
Several notable ancient Indonesian Hindu kingdoms were Mataram, famous for the construction of one of the world's largest Hindu temple complexes - the Prambanan temple, followed by Kediri and Singhasari. Hinduism along with Buddhism spread across the archipelago. Numerous sastras and sutras of Hinduism were translated into the Javanese language, and expressed in art form. Rishi Agastya, for example, is described as the principal figure in the 11th century Javanese text Agastya parva; the text includes puranas, and a mixture of ideas from the Samkhya and Vedanta schools of Hinduism. The Hindu-Buddhist ideas reached the peak of their influence in the 14th century. The last and largest among the Hindu-Buddhist Javanese empires, Majapahit, influenced the Indonesian archipelago.
The Majapahit Empire
The Majapahit Empire (Javanese: ꦏꦫꦠꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀ Karaton Majapahit, Indonesian: Kerajaan Majapahit) was a sea-power in Southeast Asia, based on the island of Java (part of modern-day Indonesia), that existed from 1293 to circa 1500.
Majapahit reached its peak of glory during the era of Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 was marked by conquest which extended through Southeast Asia. His achievement is also credited to his prime minister, Gajah Mada.
Nagarakretagama palm-leaf manuscript
The Nagarakretagama contains detailed descriptions of the Majapahit Empire during its greatest extent. The poem affirms the importance of Hindu–Buddhism in the Majapahit empire by describing temples and palaces and several ceremonial observances.
"The wonders of the city: the red stone walls, thick and high, around the palace. The west gate called Pura Waktra, overlooking a spacious ground, belted with trench. Brahmastana tree with bodhi tree trunk, lining along the square, neatly shaped. That is where the royal guards stay, constantly patrolling and guarding the paseban. On the north side stood a beautiful gate with ornate iron door. To the east is the high stage, with stone-lined floor, white and shiny. In the north, south from the marketplace, full with elongated houses, very beautiful. On the south a road intersection: a soldier hall stood, where they held a meeting every Caitra month."Canto 8, stanza 1 and 2.
According to the Nagarakretagama (Desawarñana) written in 1365, Majapahit was an empire of 98 tributaries, stretching from Sumatra to New Guinea; consisting of present-day Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand, Sulu Archipelago and East Timor, although the true nature of Majapahit sphere of influence is still the subject of studies among historians.
Majapahit was one of the last major empires of the region and is considered to be one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the history of Indonesia and Southeast Asia, one that is sometimes seen as the precedent for Indonesia's modern boundaries. Its influence extended beyond the modern territory of Indonesia and has been the subject of many studies.
Sunni Muslim traders bring Islam across the Indian Ocean
Sunni Muslim traders of the Shafi'i fiqh, as well as Sufi Muslim traders from India, Oman and Yemen brought Islam to Indonesia.
The earliest known mention of a small Islamic community midst the Hindus of Indonesia is credited to Marco Polo, about 1297 AD, whom he referred to as a new community of Moorish traders in Perlak. Over the period of the 15th and 16th centuries, a Muslim campaign led by Sultans attacked Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms and various communities in the Indonesian archipelago, with each Sultan trying to carve out a region or island for control. Four diverse and contentious Islamic Sultanates emerged in north Sumatra (Aceh), south Sumatra, west and central Java, and in southern Borneo (Kalimantan).
These Sultanates declared Islam as their state religion and pursued war against each other as well as the Hindus and other non-Muslim infidels. Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian and Animist communities in these Indonesian Sultanates bought peace by agreeing to pay jizya tax to the Muslim ruler, while others began adopting Islam to escape the jizya tax. For example, jizya was imposed on unbelievers of Islam in Sumatra, as a condition for peace by the local Sultan.
In some regions, Indonesian people continued their old beliefs and adopted a syncretic version of Islam. In other cases, Hindus and Buddhists left and concentrated as communities in islands that they could defend. Hindus of western Java, for example, moved to Bali and neighboring small islands.
While this era of religious conflict and inter-Sultanate warfare was unfolding, and new power centers were attempting to consolidate regions under their control, European colonialism arrived. The Indonesian archipelago was soon dominated by the Dutch colonial empire. The Dutch colonial empire helped prevent inter-religious conflict, and it slowly began the process of excavating, understanding and preserving Indonesia's ancient Hindu-Buddhist cultural foundations, particularly in Java and western islands of Indonesia.
The spread of Islam to Indonesia
The history of arrival and spread of Islam in Indonesia is unclear. One theory states it arrived directly from Arabia before the 9th century, while another credits Sufi merchants and preachers for bringing Islam to Indonesian islands in the 12th or 13th century either from Gujarat in India or directly from the Middle East.
As set out above on this page, before the arrival of Islam, the predominant religions in Indonesia were Buddhism and Hinduism (particularly its Shaivism tradition).
Initially, the spread of Islam was slow and gradual. Though historical documents are incomplete, the limited evidence suggests that the spread of Islam accelerated in the 15th century, as the military power of Melaka Sultanate in Malay Peninsular today Malaysia and other Islamic Sultanates dominated the region aided by episodes of Muslim coup such as in 1446, wars and superior control of maritime trading and ultimate markets.
The Wali Sanga (also transcribed as Wali Songo) are revered saints of Islam in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java, because of their reputed historic role in the Spread of Islam in Indonesia. The word wali is Arabic for "trusted one" ("guardian" in other contexts in Indonesia) or "friend of God" ("saint" in this context), while the word sanga is Javanese for the number nine. Thus, the term is often translated as "nine saints".
Although referred to as a group, there is good evidence that fewer than nine were alive at any given time. Also, there are sources that use the term "Wali Sanga" to refer to saintly mystic(s) other than the most well-known nine individuals.
At first, it was not easy for Islam to enter and thrive in the archipelago. Even in the historical record, over a span of about 800 years, Islam had not been able to establish a substantial presence.
Notes from the time of the Tang Dynasty of China indicated that merchants from the Middle East had come to the kingdom of Shih-li-fo-shi (Srivijaya) in Sumatra, and Holing (Kalinga) in Java in the year 674 AD, i.e., in the transitional period of Caliph Ali to Muawiyah. In the 10th century, a group of Persian called the Lor tribes came to Java. They live in an area in Ngudung (Kudus), also known as Loram (from the word "Lor" which means North). They also formed other communities in other areas, such as in Gresik. The existence of the gravestone of Fatimah binti Maimun bin Hibatallah in Gresi, dated to the 10th century AD, is considered evidence of the incoming migration of the Persian tribes.
In his notes, Marco Polo relates that when returning from China to Italy in 1292 AD, he did not travel via the Silk Road, but instead traveled by sea towards the Persian Gulf. He stopped in Perlak, a port city in Aceh, southern Malacca. According to Polo, in Perlak there were three groups, namely the ethnic Chinese, who were all Muslims; secondly, the Western (Persians), also entirely Muslim; and thirdly, indigenous people in the hinterland, who worshipped trees, rocks, and spirits.
In his testimony, he said regarding the "Kingdom of Ferlec (Perlak)":
This kingdom, you must know, is so much frequented by the Saracen merchants that they have converted the natives to the Law of Mohammet — I mean the townspeople only, for the Java hill-people live for all the world like beasts, and eat human flesh, as well as all other kinds of flesh, clean or unclean. And they worship this, that, and the other thing; for in fact the first thing that they see on rising in the morning, that they do worship for the rest of the day.
One hundred years after Polo, the Admiral Zheng He(鄭和) came to Java in 1405 AD. When stopped in Tuban, he noted that there were 1,000 Chinese religious Muslim families there. In Gresik, he also found there were 1,000 Chinese Muslim families, with the same amount reported in Surabaya. On Zheng He's seventh (last) visit to Java in 1433 AD, he invited his scribe named Ma Huan. According to Ma Huan, the Chinese and the Arab population of the cities on the northern beaches of Java were all Muslim, while the indigenous population were mostly non-Muslim as they were worshipping the trees, rocks, and spirits.
Early in the 15th century CE, Ali Murtadho and Ali Rahmat (sons of Maulana Malik Ibrahim) relocated from the Kingdom of Champa (Southern Vietnam) to Java, namely Sheikh Ibrahim Samarqandi (Maulana Malik Ibrahim) and settled in the Tuban area, precisely in the Gesikharjo Village at Palang District. Sheikh/Maulana Malik Ibrahim was buried there in 1419. After the funeral, both of his sons then heading to the Capital of Majapahit, because their aunt (Princess Dwarawati) was married with the King of Majapahit. And by the King's order, both of them then were appointed as officials of Majapahit Empire. Ali Murtadho as Raja Pandhita (Minister of Religion) for the Muslims, while Ali Rahmat was appointed as Imam (High Priest for Muslims) in Surabaya. Ali Rahmat was known as Raden Rahmat (Prince Rahmat), who then became Sunan Ampel.
In sum, multiple sources and conventional wisdom agree that the Wali Sanga contributed to the propagation of Islam (but not its original introduction) in the area now known as Indonesia. However, it is difficult to prove the extent of their influence in quantitative terms such as an increase in the number of adherents or masjids in the areas of their work in contrast to localities where they were not active.
By the time European merchants such as Portuguese and Dutch traders began actively trading in Indonesia in the 16th century, Buddhism and Hinduism were extinct in the major islands of Indonesia, except for pockets such as Bali which became the refuge for the Hindus from other Indonesian islands after Muslim Sultanates and Hindu kingdom wars in the 15th century.
The spread of Islam in eastern islands of Indonesia is recorded in 1605 when three Islamic pious men collectively known as Dato' Tallu came from Makasar, namely Dato'ri Bandang (Abdul Makmur or Khatib Tunggal), Dato'ri Pattimang (Sulaiman Ali or Khatib Sulung) and Dato'ri Tiro (Abdul Jawad or Khatib Bungsu. Dato' Tallu converted King of Gowa and Tallo to Islam and changed their name to Sultan Muhammad.
The spread of Islam was initially driven by increasing trade links outside of the archipelago. Traders and the royalty of major kingdoms were usually the first to convert to Islam. Dominant kingdoms included Mataram in Central Java, and the sultanates of Ternate and Tidore in the Maluku Islands to the east. By the end of the 13th century, Islam had been established in North Sumatra; by the 14th in northeast Malaya, Brunei, the southern Philippines and among some courtiers of East Java; and the 15th in Malacca and other areas of the Malay Peninsula. Although it is known that the spread of Islam began in the west of the archipelago, the fragmentary evidence does not suggest a rolling wave of conversion through adjacent areas; rather, it suggests the process was complicated and slow.
Despite being one of the most significant developments in Indonesian history, historical evidence is fragmentary and generally uninformative such that understandings of the coming of Islam to Indonesia are limited; there is considerable debate amongst scholars about what conclusions can be drawn about the conversion of Indonesian peoples. The primary evidence, at least of the earlier stages of the process, are gravestones and a few travellers' accounts, but these can only show that indigenous Muslims were in a certain place at a certain time. This evidence cannot explain more complicated matters such as how lifestyles were affected by the new religion or how deeply it affected societies. It cannot be assumed, for example, that because a ruler was known to be a Muslim, that the process of Islamisation of that area was complete; rather the process was, and remains to this day, continuous in Indonesia. Nevertheless, a clear turning point occurred when the Hindu empire Majapahit in Java fell to the Islamised Demak Sultanate.
In 1527, the Muslim ruler renamed newly conquered Sunda Kelapa as Jayakarta (meaning "precious victory") which was eventually contracted to Jakarta. Assimilation increased rapidly in the wake of this conquest.
Grand Mosque of Demak, the first Muslim state in Java
Inscriptions in Old Javanese rather than Arabic on a significant series of gravestones dating back to 1369 in East Java, indicate that these are almost certainly Javanese, rather than foreign Muslims. Due to their elaborate decorations and proximity to the site of the former Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit capital, it is suggested that these are the graves of very distinguished Javanese, perhaps even royalty. If this was the case then some of the Javanese elite adopted Islam at a time when the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit was at the height of its glory.
As a kingdom with far-reaching political and trading contacts, Majapahit would have almost certainly been in contact with Muslim traders, however there is conjecture over the likelihood of its sophisticated courtiers being attracted to a religion of merchants. A distinct possibility however, is that mystical Sufi Muslim teachers, possibly claiming supernatural powers (keramat), are more likely to have beeen a more probable agent of religious conversion of these Javanese court elites, who had already been long been familiar with aspects of Hindu and Buddhist mysticism.
Central and East Java, the areas where the ethnic Javanese lived, was still claimed by the Hindu-Buddhist king living in the interior of east java at Daha. The coastal areas such as Surabaya were, however, Islamised and were often at war with the interior, except for Tuban, which remained loyal to the Hindu-Buddhist king.
Some of the coastal Muslim lords were converted Javanese, or Muslim Chinese, Indians, Arabs, and Malays who had settled and established their trading state on the coast. This war between the Muslim-coast and Hindu-Buddhist interior continued long after the fall of the Majapahit at the hands of the Demak Sultanate, and this animosity continued long after both of these regions had ended up adopteding Islam.
When, exactly, the peoples of the north coast of Java adopted Islam is unclear. Chinese Muslim, Ma Huan and envoy of the Yongle Emperor of China, visited the Java coast in 1416 and reported in his book, Ying-yai Sheng-lan:
The overall survey of the ocean's shores' (1433), that there were only three types of people in Java: Muslims from the west, Chinese (some Muslim) and the heathen Javanese.
Since the east Javan gravestones were those of Javanese Muslims fifty years before, Ma Huan’s report indicates that Islam may have indeed been adopted by Javanese courtiers before the coastal Javanese.
An early Muslim gravestone dated AH 822 (AD 1419) has been found at Gresik an East Javanese port and marks the burial of Malik Ibrahim. As it seems that he was a non-Javanese foreigner, the gravestone does not provide evidence of coastal Javanese conversion. Malik Ibrahim was, however, according to Javanese tradition one of the first nine apostles of Islam in Java (the Wali Sanga) although no documentary evidence has as yet been found for this tradition. In the late 15th century, the powerful Majapahit empire in Java was in decline.
Having been defeated in several battles, the last Hindu kingdom in Java fell under the rising power of the Islamised Kingdom of Demak in 1520.
429 years later . . .
. . . in 1949, after Indonesia gained its independence from Dutch colonial rule, it officially recognized only monotheistic religions under pressure from political Islam.
Further, Indonesia required an individual to have a religion to gain full Indonesian citizenship rights, and officially Indonesia did not recognize Hindus. It considered Hindus as orang yang belum beragama (people without religion), and as those who must be converted.
In 1952, the Indonesian Ministry of Religion declared Bali and other islands with Hindus as needing a systematic campaign of proselytization to accept Islam. The local government of Bali, shocked by this official national policy, declared itself an autonomous religious area in 1953. The Balinese government also reached out to India and former Dutch colonial officials for diplomatic and human rights support.
A series of student and cultural exchange initiatives between Bali and India helped formulate the core principles behind Balinese Hinduism (Catur Veda, Upanishad, Puranas, Itihasa).
In particular, the political self-determination movement in Bali in mid 1950s led to a non-violent passive resistance movement and the joint petition of 1958 which demanded Indonesian government recognize Hindu Dharma. This joint petition quoted the following Sanskrit mantra from Hindu scriptures,
Om tat sat ekam eva advitiyam
Translation: Om, thus is the essence of the all prevading, infinite, undivided one.
— Joint petition by Hindus of Bali, 14 June 1958
The petition's focus on the "undivided one" was to satisfy the constitutional requirement that Indonesian citizens have a monotheistic belief in one God.
The petitioners identified Ida Sanghyang Widhi Wasa as the undivided one. In the Balinese language this term has two meanings: the Divine ruler of the Universe and the Divine Absolute Cosmic Law. This creative phrase met the monotheistic requirement of the Indonesian Ministry of Religion in the former sense, while the latter sense of its meaning preserved the central ideas of dharma in ancient scripts of Hinduism. In 1959, Indonesian President Sukarno supported the petition and a Hindu-Balinese Affairs section was officially launched within the Ministry of Religion.
Indonesian politics and religious affairs went through turmoil from 1959 to 1962, with Sukarno dissolving the Konstituante and weakening the impact of the communist movement in Indonesia along with political Islam. Nevertheless, officially identifying their religion as Hinduism was not a legal possibility for Indonesians until 1962, when it became the fifth state-recognized religion. This recognition was initially sought by Balinese religious organizations and granted for the sake of Bali, where the majority were Hindu.
Between 1966 and 1980, along with Balinese Hindus, large numbers of Indonesians in eastern Java, as well as parts of South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Central and South Kalimantan officially declared themselves to be Hindus. They politically organized themselves to press and preserve their rights. The largest of these organizations, Parisada Hindu Dharma Bali, changed its name to Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia (PHDI) in 1986, reflecting subsequent efforts to define Hinduism as a national rather than just a Balinese concern.
While Hindus in Bali, with their large majority, developed and freely practiced their religion, in other islands of Indonesia they suffered discrimination and persecution by local officials as these Hindus were considered to be those who had left Islam, the majority religion. However, the central government of Indonesia supported the Hindus.
In the 1960s, Hinduism was an umbrella also used by Indonesians whose faith was Buddhism and Confucianism, but when neither of these two were officially recognized. Furthermore, Hindu political activists of Indonesia worked to protect people of those faiths under rights they had gained at the Indonesian Ministry of Religion.
To gain official acceptance and their rights in a Muslim-dominated country, Hinduism in Indonesia was politically forced to adapt. Currently Hindu Dharma is one of the five officially recognized monotheistic religions in Indonesia.
Folk religions and animists with a deep concern for the preservation of their traditional ancestor religions declared their religion to be Hinduism, considering it a more flexible option than Islam, in the outer islands.
In the early seventies, the Toraja people of Sulawesi were the first to realize this opportunity by seeking shelter for their indigenous ancestor religion under the broad umbrella of 'Hinduism', followed by the Karo Batak of Sumatra in 1977.
In central and southern Kalimantan, a large Hindu movement has grown among the local indigenous Dayak population which lead to a mass declaration of 'Hinduism' on this island in 1980. However, this was different from the Javanese case, in that conversions followed a clear ethnic division. Indigenous Dayak were confronted with a mostly Muslim population of government-sponsored (and predominantly Madurese) migrants and officials, and deeply resentful at the dispossession of their land and its natural resources.
Compared to their counterparts among Javanese Hindus, many Dayak leaders were also more deeply concerned about Balinese efforts to standardize Hindu ritual practice nationally; fearing a decline of their own unique 'Hindu Kaharingan' traditions and renewed external domination. By contrast, most Javanese were slow to consider Hinduism at the time, lacking a distinct organization along ethnic lines and fearing retribution from locally powerful Islamic organizations like the Nahdatul Ulama (NU).
Several native tribal peoples with beliefs such as Sundanese Sunda Wiwitan, Torajan Aluk To Dolo, and Batak Malim, with their own unique syncretic faith, have declared themselves as Hindus in order to comply with Indonesian law, while preserving their distinct traditions with differences from mainstream Indonesian Hinduism dominated by the Balinese. These factors and political activity has led to a certain resurgence of Hinduism outside of its Balinese stronghold.
The new Hindu communities in Java tend to be concentrated around recently built temples (pura) or around archaeological temple sites (candi) which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship.
An important new Hindu temple in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt. Semeru, Java's highest mountain.
Mass conversions have also occurred in the region around Pura Agung Blambangan, another new temple, built on a site with minor archaeological remnants attributed to the Kingdom of Blambangan, the last Hindu polity on Java, and Pura Loka Moksa Jayabaya (in the village of Menang near Kediri), where the Hindu king and prophet Jayabaya is said to have achieved spiritual liberation (moksa).
Pucak Giri Raung Temple, located in Sumberasih Hamlet, Songgon District Banyuwangi, founded by the Balinese Hindu community who migrated to Banyuwangi for Clove farming
Another site is the new Pura Pucak Raung in East Java, which is mentioned in Balinese literature as the place from where Maharishi Markandeya took Hinduism to Bali in the 5th century.
An example of resurgence around major archaeological remains of ancient Hindu temple sites was observed in Trowulan near Mojokerto, the capital of the legendary Hindu empire Majapahit.
A local Hindu movement is struggling to gain control of a newly excavated temple building which they wish to see restored as a site of active Hindu worship. The temple is to be dedicated to Gajah Mada, the man attributed with transforming the small Hindu kingdom of Majapahit into an empire. Although there has been a more pronounced history of resistance to Islamization in East Java, Hindu communities are also expanding in Central Java near the ancient Hindu monuments of Prambanan. The current estimates of Hinduism in Indonesia range from 4 to 8 percent.
The contemporary religious and cultural demographic and geographic distribution in Indonesia
Internal migration in Indonesia has altered the demographic makeup of the country over the past three decades. It has increased the percentage of Muslims in formerly predominantly Christian eastern parts of the country. By the early 1990s, Christians became a minority for the first time in some areas of the Maluku Islands. Government-sponsored transmigration from heavily populated Java and Madura to less populated areas has contributed to the increase in the Muslim population in the resettlement areas. Regardless of government intent, the economic and political consequences of the transmigration policy contributed to religious conflicts in Maluku, Central Sulawesi, and to a lesser extent in Papua.
In 2017 Islam is, and has been, the most adhered to religion in Indonesia since gaining independence, and previously during the centuries of Dutch administration and colonial rule. In 2010 it was estimated that 87.2% of Indonesian population identifying themselves as Muslim in 2010. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, with approximately 225 million Muslims.
In terms of denomination, absolute majority adheres to Sunni Islam, while there are around one million Shias (0.5%), who are concentrated around Jakarta, and about 400,000 Ahmadi Muslims (0.2%).
In terms of Islamic schools of jurisprudence, based on demographic statistics, 99% of Indonesian Muslims mainly follow the Shafi'i school, although when asked, 56% does not adhere to any specific school.
Trends of thought within Islam in Indonesia can be broadly categorized into two orientations; "modernism" which closely adheres to orthodox theology while embracing modern learning, and "traditionalism" which tends to follow the interpretations of local religious leaders and religious teachers at Islamic boarding schools (pesantren). There is also a historically important presence of syncretic form of Islam known as kebatinan.
Kejawèn or Javanism, also called Kebatinan, Agama Jawa, and Kepercayaan, is a Javanese religious tradition, consisting of an amalgam of animistic, Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic, especially Sufi, beliefs and practices. It is rooted in Javanese history and religiosity, syncretizing aspects of different religions.
Nowadays, even though more than 90 percent of the people of Java are Muslims, they can be understood as living on a broad continuum between abangan and santri.
Abangan, at one end of the continuum, are; "the red ones", who do not strictly observe the Islamic rituals. They have mixed pre-Islamic animistic and Hindu-Indian concepts with a superficial acceptance of Islamic belief, and emphasize the importance of the purity of the inner person, the batin.
The santi are; putihan ("the pure ones"), those who pray, performing the five obligatory daily ritual prayers. They are more orthodox in their Islamic belief and practice, and oppose the abangan, who they consider to be heterodox.
Although Java is nominally Islamitic, kejawen, the syncretic Javanese culture, is a strong undercurrent. Pre-Islamic Javan traditions have encouraged Islam in a mystical direction.
Some Javanese texts relate stories about Syekh Siti Jenar (also known as Syekh Lemah Abang) who had conflicts with Wali Sanga, the nine Islamic scholars in Java, and the Sultanate of Demak. Although Syekh Siti Jenar was a sufi whose teaching were similar with Al-Hallaj, most of his followers (Ki Kebo Kenanga) come from Kebatinan. Some historians have doubted the existence of Syekh Siti Jenar, but that these stories represent the conflicts that have taken place between Kebatinan and Islam in the past.
With the Islamisation of Java there emerged a loosely structured society of religious leadership, revolving around kyais, Islamic experts possessing various degrees of proficiency in pre-Islamic and Islamic lore, belief and practice. The kyais are the principal intermediaries between the villages masses and the realm of the supernatural. However, this very looseneess of kyai leadership structure has promoted schism. There were often sharp divisions between orthodox kyais, who merely instructed in Islamic law, with those who taught mysticism and those who sought reformed Islam with modern scientific concepts.
These days, it is more often the distinction that is made between "traditionalism" and "modernism"when it comes to Islamic religious practices and beliefs.
Traditionalism, exemplified by the civil society organization Nahdlatul Ulama, The NU is the largest independent Islamic organization in the world with membership of 40 million in 2003. NU also is a charitable body funding schools and hospitals as well as organizing communities to help alleviate poverty.
The NU is known as an ardent advocate of Islam Nusantara; a distinctive brand of Islam that has undergone interaction, contextualization, indigenization, interpretation and vernacularization according to the prevailing socio-cultural conditions of modern Indonesia. Islam Nusantara promotes moderation, compassion, anti-radicalism, inclusiveness and tolerance. The term "Islam Nusantara" was first officially coined, proposed and promoted by Indonesian Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama in 2015, as an alternative for interpretation and representation of global Islam that currently dominated by Arabic or Middle Eastern perspectives.
Islam Nusantara is defined as an interpretation of Islam that takes into account local Indonesian customs in forming its fiqh. In June 2015, Indonesian President Joko Widodo openly expressed his support for Islam Nusantara, which in his view is the moderate form of Islam and compatible with general Indonesian cultural values.
At the other end of the continuum, or Islamic spectrum, are the ideas that embrace modernism, and which have been inspired by what has been termed the Islamic Modernism movement. The civil society organization Muhammadiyah is an ardent proponent of this attempt to reconcile Islamic faith with modern Western values such as nationalism, democracy, civil rights, rationality, equality, and progress.
Muhammadiyah (Arabic: محمدية, followers of Muhammad. full name: Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah) is a major Islamic non-governmental organization in Indonesia. The organization was founded in 1912 by Ahmad Dahlan in the city of Yogyakarta as a reformist socio-religious movement, advocating ijtihad - individual interpretation of Qur'an and sunnah, as opposed to taqlid - the acceptance of the traditional interpretations propounded by the ulama. Since its establishment, Muhammadiyah has adopted a reformist platform mixing religious and secular education. primarily as a way to promote the upward mobility of Muslims toward a 'modern' community and to purify Indonesian Islam of local syncretic practices. It continues to support local culture and promote religious tolerance in Indonesia, while a few of its higher education institutions are attended mostly by non-Muslims, especially in East Nusa Tenggara and Papua provinces. The group also runs a large chain of charity hospitals, as well as over a hundred universities.
At the moment, Muhammadiyah is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia with 29 million members. Although Muhammadiyah leaders and members are often actively involved in shaping the politics in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah is not a political party. It has devoted itself to social and educational activities.
Modernist Muslims advocate a reformism of Islam in Indonesia that others view as a deviation from a historical Islamic orthodoxy. These critics emphasize the authority of the Qur'an and the Hadiths, and oppose syncretism and taqlid to the ulema.
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