Latest / Majapahit: The Empire That Once Ruled Indonesia — Fexingo History / Majapahit's Bhre Kertabhumi: The Last King and the Fall of an Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Majapahit's rise, its golden age under Hayam Wuruk and Gajah Mada, and the terrible civil war that split the empire apart — the Paregreg. But what came after? Who was left to pick up the pieces? Luna: I've always wondered that. After the Paregreg, the empire just sort of... fades from the story, right? Lucas: Exactly. And the figure at the center of that fade-out is King Bhre Kertabhumi — also known as Brawijaya in some later traditions, though that name gets tangled up with a few different rulers. He came to power around 1468, after the Paregreg had already shattered the old order. But his reign is fascinating because it was a time of transformation, not just decline. Luna: Transformation? What kind? Lucas: Well, for one, Kertabhumi didn't rule from the old capital of Trowulan the same way his predecessors had. The Paregreg had devastated the inland heartland. So he and his court shifted focus toward the northern coast — the pasisir. That's where trade was booming. The old agrarian base was shrinking, but the ports were growing. Lucas: And with that shift came a huge cultural change. The pasisir was a melting pot. Merchants from Gujarat, China, and the Malay world were bringing Islam with them. Kertabhumi was a Hindu king, but he was remarkably tolerant. In fact, he's remembered for patronizing the Wali Songo — the nine saints who spread Islam across Java. Luna: Wait — a Hindu king supporting Islamic missionaries? That's not something you hear every day. Lucas: It's striking, isn't it? But it makes sense in context. The Wali Songo weren't just religious figures — they were also political mediators and cultural innovators. Sunan Ampel, for instance, established a school in Surabaya that attracted students from all over. Sunan Kalijaga used wayang kulit puppet shows to convey Islamic teachings, blending it with Javanese tradition. Lucas: Kertabhumi even allowed the construction of the Great Mosque of Demak — Masjid Agung Demak — which is traditionally said to have been built in 1474 CE. That mosque became the heart of a new power center: Demak, a port city ruled by Raden Patah. Luna: And Raden Patah — wasn't he supposed to be Kertabhumi's own son? Lucas: That's the tradition, yes. According to the Babad Tanah Jawi and some later Javanese chronicles, Raden Patah was the son of Kertabhumi and a Chinese concubine — though historians debate that. What's clear is that Raden Patah was a powerful figure in his own right, and by the 1470s, Demak was effectively an independent state. Lucas: So you have this interesting dynamic: Kertabhumi, the Hindu king in Trowulan, supporting the very forces that would eventually eclipse his own realm. He may have seen the Wali Songo and the coastal lords as useful allies against the old inland aristocracy. Luna: Did that strategy work? Lucas: For a while, yes. But tensions grew. The old Hindu-Buddhist elites in the interior resented the influence of the coastal Muslims. There's evidence of a conflict around 1478, when a rebellion led by a figure named Girindrawardhana — possibly a descendant of the old royal line — attacked Trowulan. Kertabhumi was killed in that attack, according to the Pararaton. Luna: So that was the end of Majapahit? Lucas: Not quite. After Kertabhumi's death, his son-in-law or nephew — it's not entirely clear — named Ranawijaya or Udara, held on for a few more decades. But the real power had shifted to Demak. Raden Patah and his successors, especially his son Trenggana, completed the conquest of the remaining Majapahit territories. Lucas: The final blow came around 1527, when Demak forces under Sunan Gunung Jati — another Wali Songo — captured the old capital of Daha. The Majapahit king at that time was a figure known as Prabu Udara, who fled to Bali. And that's really the end: the Majapahit realm, which had once stretched from Sumatra to Papua, was gone. Luna: So Kertabhumi's reign was really the turning point — where the old empire gave way to the Islamic sultanates. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's not a simple story of decline. Kertabhumi's policies were forward-looking. He embraced change, but the forces he unleashed were too powerful to control. The pasisir became the new heart of Javanese civilization, and the legacy of Majapahit lived on in the culture, the language, the arts — and of course, in the motto 'Bhinneka Tunggal Ika' that we talked about before. Lucas: You know, it's moments like this that make me appreciate how much we owe to the people who support this show. If you've been following along with our series on Southeast Asia, a small donation — just a couple of dollars a month — genuinely helps keep these conversations going. It's at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really does make a difference. And it keeps the show ad-free, which I love. Lucas: Exactly. So back to Kertabhumi — one more thing I want to mention. There's a fascinating stone inscription from his reign, the Waringin Pitu inscription, dated 1478. It mentions the king's donation of land to a Buddhist monastery. So even as Islam grew, the old traditions were still honored. That kind of pluralism is something we could learn from today. Luna: It's amazing how much of that spirit survived, even in the sultanates that followed. Lucas: Right. The Demak sultanate, for example, adopted many Majapahit court traditions. The keris, the wayang, the administrative structures — all of it continued. In a way, Majapahit never truly died. It just changed form. Luna: And that's why studying that transition is so important — it's not just about an empire falling, but about how its legacy endures. Lucas: Exactly. And on that note, I think we've covered Kertabhumi and the end of Majapahit. Next time, we might look at the early years of Demak — how that first Islamic sultanate in Java built on Majapahit's foundations. Luna: Looking forward to it.