Airlangga, The Threshold of the Second Millennium
Our knowledge of the life of king Airlangga is based on the text of the 'Calcutta' inscription, thus called because it was transferred to India at the beginning of the 19th century and placed in the Indian Museum at Calcutta. It is one of the very few bilingual texts known in Indonesia with one side in Sanskrit verses, the other in Old Javanese prose. Though both sides are concerned with the foundation by Airlangga of a hermitage south of present Surabaya they give lengthy introductions in which Airlangga's struggle is explained. In fact, these preliminaries occupy the major part of both texts as though Airlangga's main consideration was that they should present an autobiography emphasizing the motives, course and results of his struggle leading to the foundation of a strong East Javanese state.By J. G. de Casparis
The inscriptions have been published by Kern in 1885 (the Sanskrit verses) and 1913 (the Old Javanese prose text) with introductions, translations, and notes. Since then Kern's edition has become the basis of a number of critical historical discussions and corrections by scholars such as Poerbatjaraka, Krom, Stutterheim, Damais and others, but no new edition has appeared, although this would be desirable.An important correction of the chronology of the course of events explained in the text was recently proposed by L. Ch. Damais. The text, after an elaborate genealogy of Airlangga in the Sanskrit version, first describes the complete destruction of the capital during a raid, in which also the king, Dharmawangsa Tëguh, and his principal assistants lost their lives. Airlangga, a sixteen-year old Balinese prince who had married one of Tëguh's daughters, escaped and sought refuge in a hermitage. According to Kern's reading this raid took place in the year 928 of the Saka era, corresponding to AD 1006/7. Subsequently, again according to Kern, Airlangga received a delegation from the ravaged capital in 1010/11, requesting him to re-establish the state that had been split into a number of rival principalities.
The correction proposed by Damais applies to the date of the complete destruction. Kern's reading of 928 was corrected to 938. Actually, below the figure read as 2 by Kern one can distinguish some kind of curl, which could transform the numeral to 3. A few years ago, I studied the excellent estampage in the Fakultas Sastra U.I. at Depok, together with Ms drs Nini S. Yulianto. I got the impression that the 'curl' noticed by Damais is not a part of the numeral but is a mere scratch in the stone, so that Kern's identification as a 2 still stands. Damais would have withdrawn his attempted correction if he had also consulted the Sanskrit version. The latter gives the precise date of the request by the delegation from the capital in verse 10. In this connection I may quote Kern's transcription with my own remarks:
sakendretha locanagnivadane yate mahavatsare
maghe masi sitatrayodasa-tithau vare sasinyutsukaih /
agatya pranatair janair dvijavarais sasvasam abhyarthita-
s sri lokesvaraniralanganrpatih pahy utantan ksitim //
Apparently Kern had some difficulty reading this verse, for he left one short syllable open. On the estampage of the Fakultas Sastra, however, the correct reading is beyond doubt, it should be: sakendre sasalanchanagnivadane, i.e. 'in the year of the Saka king moon (lit. having a hare as its mark), i.e. one, fire (three), mouth (nine) or Saka 931 = AD 1009/10. In other words, this happened three years after the destruction of the capital, when prominent people there were in despair at the chaos and therefore appealed to Airlangga to re-establish normal order ('Protect thou the entire earth up to its end!'). The text makes it clear that Airlangga accepted this proposal and then started his reign officially, but he required many more years (up to 1035) to deal with his numerous enemies.
Protect the earth
If we had adopted Damais' reading of the date corresponding to 1016/7 the visit to the hermitage by a delegation from the capital would have made no sense, as it would have taken place before the destruction of the capital! We should therefore return to the earlier reading according to which the raid took place in 1006/7 and the official beginning of
Airlangga's reign in 1009/10, or rather, the beginning of 1010 when Airlangga was twenty years of age.
A few other remarks may not be out of place. It has often been suggested that the attack of 1006/7 attributed to a certain hadji Wurawari, was inspired by Srivijaya, bent on avenging the Javanese raid of about 995. For the Sumatranese empire 1006/7 was a favourable time for such an adventure, because it had just concluded a treaty with the Colas leading to the foundation by the Sumatranese king of a vihara at Negapatam. For this reason Srivijaya had nothing to fear from the Colas at that time and had its hands free to sponsor retaliatory action against Java. Ten years later it was a different matter since relations with the Colas had deteriorated, leading to the well-known Cola raid of 1023/4.
Finally, the just quoted verse from the Calcutta inscription is interesting for two other reasons, In the last pada we read the words pronounced by members of the delegation: pahity=utantan=ksitim, 'protect thou the earth up to its end!' For those familiar with Indian epigraphy these words remind one strongly of almost the same words addressed by the dying Candra Gupta I to his son Samudra Gupta in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription in northern India (viz. nikhilam pahy evam urvim iti, 'Protect thou thus the entire earth!'. This happened in about AD 330.
A similar example can be noticed at the accession of king Harsha of Kanauj (c. 606-647) in Uttar Pradesh, India. In the account by the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan Tsang it is told how Harsha, after the death of his brother-in-law Grahavarman and his elder brother Rajyavardhana, was approached by a delegation of nobles of Kanauj requesting him to mount the throne. After an oracle in which the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara gave him the same advice in a dream, Harsha finally decided to accede to the throne.
It is clear that in both examples from Indian history the accession of both Samudra Gupta and Harsha was contested so that special steps had to be taken before they were able to reign as lawful kings. This strongly suggests that Airlangga's succession too, was contested. This is hardly surprising if one looks at the genealogy presented in the Sanskrit part of the Calcutta inscription where Airlangga traces his ancestry back to king Sindok for three generations and along a fairly tortuous line. Presumably Sindok had numerous descendants, some of whom with equal or stronger claims to the throne. If this is correct it would show that the Indonesian pundits responsible for the elaborate charters were well acquainted with details of the history of India.
Professor J. G. de Casparis is a guest researcher at the Projects Division, Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania, Leiden University.