Soenan Kalidjaga — also Raden Sahid, in the Babad Tanah Djawi the son of the tumenggong of Wilatikta, in the Sadjarah Banten Raden Sa’id — is, in the Javanese wali sanga tradition, the most popular of Java’s saints, and in De Roo de la Faille’s conflation the same person as Pati Oenoes of Japara and Demak. His traditional career — the conversion by Pangeran Bonang at the pasar of Djatisaripa/Djatiswara, the tapa at the river Kali Djaga in Tjarabon, the marriage of his younger sister to Sunan Gunung Jati, and the building of the Demak mosque — is the principal Javanese hagiographic material that De Roo de la Faille reads through the bedekte taal lens.
The conversion story
The Babad Tanah Djawi tells that Raden Sahid, the wild son of the tumenggong of Wilatikta, “was a wild fellow, given to gambling and idling; he came as far as the neighbourhood of Japara. When he had lost, he went out robbing, waited for people in the forest of Djatisekar, to the north-east of Lasem”. One day Soenan Bonang came through that forest; Raden Sahid held him up to rob him, but Soenan Bonang told him: “if later someone passes here, dressed entirely in black and with a wora-wari flower behind his ear, a red kembang spatu, you must plunder him”. Three days later Soenan Bonang himself returned in that guise; Raden Sahid held him up; “Soenan Bonang became his sa-kawan — his companion”; Raden Sahid repented, and after two years of tapa he settled at the river Kali Djaga in Tjarabon, whence his name.
Decoding the conversion story
De Roo de la Faille reads the conversion story as bedekte taal: Bonang — the name of the mysterious pangeran who converts Raden Sahid — is the name of a desa in Rembang south of Lasem, but “meant was Worawari on Sumatra”. Rembang is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, the Javanese remembrance of the Ari-ke-mbang of the Sumatran Overwal — the land of the Kalang’s, Javanese people who were not “real” Javanese but djawa-ka of lang-ka, the Sumatran country from which they had been brought as war-booty. The “pasar of Djatisaripa” — at which Raden Sahid’s conversion takes place — is read as djati-pa-sar d-ipa, “the Heiland with the pasar of the Heer des Rijkdoms”; and the place to which Raden Sahid is sent — Poelo Oepih, “the island of the ancestors” — is read as Poelo K—oe—mpi, “the same remarkable hilly islet in the bay of Aroe close under the mainland that the Controleur S.B. Van Rijn of Alkemade described so picturesquely in 1888”.
Marriage to Sunan Gunung Jati’s line and the Demak mosque
In the Sadjarah Banten, Raden Sahid — converted by Pangeran Bonang at the pasar — was directed to seek the ngélmoe sadjati (the True Knowledge) from “the dara poetin of 1-ang mangkoe” at Poelo Oepih, which De Roo de la Faille decodes as Kampi. His later marriage of his younger sister to Sunan Gunung Jati — the Paseier who crossed to Java after the fall of Pasej — is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, the dynastic link that brought the Pasej Islamic tradition into the Javanese wali world.
The Babad Tanah Djawi further records that when the walis built the Demak mosque, Soenan Kalidjaga — having gone to tirakat at Pamantingan — returned late, gathered the tatal (shavings) into a bundle, raised the saka goeroe (main pillar) in a single act, and from the heavens received a bundle containing the saléndang of the Prophet — which he sewed into the kjahi goendil, the leather over-garment that later Javanese kings were to wear at their installation and on the field of battle.
Identification with Pati Oenoes
The boldest claim of De Roo de la Faille’s chapter is that Soenan Kalidjaga and Pati Oenoes of Japara/Demak are the same person. The convergences — both associated with the pasar of Kampi, both connected with the Demak mosque, and the patya-oenoes (market-master’s toll) reading of the title Pati Oenoes — produce, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, a single historical figure: a Javanese commander who attacked Malacca in 1513, gave his sister to a Paseier in 1523–1524, and built the Demak mosque before his death in the 1546 attack on Pasoeroewan.
Significance
For AcehWiki, Soenan Kalidjaga’s significance lies chiefly in the Kampi decoding of his conversion story — which ties the most popular of the Javanese walis to the bay of Aroe and to the Pasej–Atjeh religious tradition — and in his sister’s marriage to Sunan Gunung Jati, which is the dynastic link between the Pasej and Javanese Islamic establishments. His identification, by De Roo de la Faille, with Pati Oenoes also makes him, in the bedekte taal reading, the “Coming Man” of the ngélmoe sadjati tradition.
See Also
- Pati Oenoes
- Faletahan
- Soenan Bonang
- Demak
- Japara
- Cirebon
- Poelo Kampi
- Djatisaripa
- Djatiswara
- Worawari
- Djawaka
- Kalang
- Babad Tanah Djawi
- Sadjarah Banten
- Bedekte taal
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Soenan Kalidjaga”, pp. 43-58.
Soenan Kalidjaga — also Raden Sahid, in the Babad Tanah Djawi the son of the tumenggong of Wilatikta, in the Sadjarah Banten Raden Sa’id — is, in the Javanese wali sanga tradition, the most popular of Java’s saints, and in De Roo de la Faille’s conflation the same person as Pati Oenoes of Japara and Demak. His traditional career — the conversion by Pangeran Bonang at the pasar of Djatisaripa/Djatiswara, the tapa at the river Kali Djaga in Tjarabon, the marriage of his younger sister to Sunan Gunung Jati, and the building of the Demak mosque — is the principal Javanese hagiographic material that De Roo de la Faille reads through the bedekte taal lens.
The conversion story
The Babad Tanah Djawi tells that Raden Sahid, the wild son of the tumenggong of Wilatikta, “was a wild fellow, given to gambling and idling; he came as far as the neighbourhood of Japara. When he had lost, he went out robbing, waited for people in the forest of Djatisekar, to the north-east of Lasem”. One day Soenan Bonang came through that forest; Raden Sahid held him up to rob him, but Soenan Bonang told him: “if later someone passes here, dressed entirely in black and with a wora-wari flower behind his ear, a red kembang spatu, you must plunder him”. Three days later Soenan Bonang himself returned in that guise; Raden Sahid held him up; “Soenan Bonang became his sa-kawan — his companion”; Raden Sahid repented, and after two years of tapa he settled at the river Kali Djaga in Tjarabon, whence his name.
Decoding the conversion story
De Roo de la Faille reads the conversion story as bedekte taal: Bonang — the name of the mysterious pangeran who converts Raden Sahid — is the name of a desa in Rembang south of Lasem, but “meant was Worawari on Sumatra”. Rembang is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, the Javanese remembrance of the Ari-ke-mbang of the Sumatran Overwal — the land of the Kalang’s, Javanese people who were not “real” Javanese but djawa-ka of lang-ka, the Sumatran country from which they had been brought as war-booty. The “pasar of Djatisaripa” — at which Raden Sahid’s conversion takes place — is read as djati-pa-sar d-ipa, “the Heiland with the pasar of the Heer des Rijkdoms”; and the place to which Raden Sahid is sent — Poelo Oepih, “the island of the ancestors” — is read as Poelo K—oe—mpi, “the same remarkable hilly islet in the bay of Aroe close under the mainland that the Controleur S.B. Van Rijn of Alkemade described so picturesquely in 1888”.
Marriage to Sunan Gunung Jati’s line and the Demak mosque
In the Sadjarah Banten, Raden Sahid — converted by Pangeran Bonang at the pasar — was directed to seek the ngélmoe sadjati (the True Knowledge) from “the dara poetin of 1-ang mangkoe” at Poelo Oepih, which De Roo de la Faille decodes as Kampi. His later marriage of his younger sister to Sunan Gunung Jati — the Paseier who crossed to Java after the fall of Pasej — is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, the dynastic link that brought the Pasej Islamic tradition into the Javanese wali world.
The Babad Tanah Djawi further records that when the walis built the Demak mosque, Soenan Kalidjaga — having gone to tirakat at Pamantingan — returned late, gathered the tatal (shavings) into a bundle, raised the saka goeroe (main pillar) in a single act, and from the heavens received a bundle containing the saléndang of the Prophet — which he sewed into the kjahi goendil, the leather over-garment that later Javanese kings were to wear at their installation and on the field of battle.
Identification with Pati Oenoes
The boldest claim of De Roo de la Faille’s chapter is that Soenan Kalidjaga and Pati Oenoes of Japara/Demak are the same person. The convergences — both associated with the pasar of Kampi, both connected with the Demak mosque, and the patya-oenoes (market-master’s toll) reading of the title Pati Oenoes — produce, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, a single historical figure: a Javanese commander who attacked Malacca in 1513, gave his sister to a Paseier in 1523–1524, and built the Demak mosque before his death in the 1546 attack on Pasoeroewan.
Significance
For AcehWiki, Soenan Kalidjaga’s significance lies chiefly in the Kampi decoding of his conversion story — which ties the most popular of the Javanese walis to the bay of Aroe and to the Pasej–Atjeh religious tradition — and in his sister’s marriage to Sunan Gunung Jati, which is the dynastic link between the Pasej and Javanese Islamic establishments. His identification, by De Roo de la Faille, with Pati Oenoes also makes him, in the bedekte taal reading, the “Coming Man” of the ngélmoe sadjati tradition.
See Also
- Pati Oenoes
- Faletahan
- Soenan Bonang
- Demak
- Japara
- Cirebon
- Poelo Kampi
- Djatisaripa
- Djatiswara
- Worawari
- Djawaka
- Kalang
- Babad Tanah Djawi
- Sadjarah Banten
- Bedekte taal
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Soenan Kalidjaga”, pp. 43-58.