Salakanagara


The Salakanagara Kingdom is the first historically recorded Indianised kingdom in Western Java The kingdom existed between 130-362 AD.
A relatively modern literature in the 17th century Pustaka Rajya Rajya i Bhumi Nusantara describes Salakanagara as being founded by an Indian merchant. However no historical records affirms this modern writeup on the ancient kingdom.

Historiography

The history of Salakanagara is quite mysterious as the historical and archaeological sources are scarce. Compared to its successor, Tarumanagara, the kingdom did not leave any local tangible historical records and relics such as inscriptions or temples ruins. The main source of Salakanagara's history was a manuscript Pustaka Rajya-rajya I Bhumi Nusantara composed in 17th century by a council led by Prince Wangsakerta of Cirebon, and a few Chinese sources.

History

According to Pustaka Rajya Rajya i Bhumi Nusantara, Salakanagara was located on west coast of Java, in the present day Banten province. It was founded by Dewawarman, stylised as Prabu Dharmalokapala Dewawarman Haji Raksagapura Sagara. Dewawarman was an Indian ambassador or trader sent from India to establish relations with Javadwipa.
According to a history record from India, the kingdom ruled Javadwipa from 130 CE to 362 CE. The founder of the kingdom was Aki Tirem. The kings of Salakanagara were:
  1. Dewawarman I
  2. Dewawarman II
  3. Dewawarman III
  4. Dewawarman IV
  5. Dewawarman V
  6. Dewawarman VI
  7. Dewawarman VII
  8. Dewawarman VIII
Edi S. Ekajati, one of Indonesia historian, argued that Salakanagara is Argyre which was a mythical island of silver in Greek and Roman mythology because Salakanagara means "country of silver" in Sanskrit.
Salakanagara was replaced by Tarumanagara.

Subordinate kingdom

Salakanagara was in charge of small kingdoms, which were founded by people from the Dewawarman dynasty. Kingdoms that are subordinate to Salakanagara include:
Ujung Kulon Kingdom is located in the Ujung Kulon region and was founded by Senapati Bahadura Harigana Jayasakti. When this kingdom was led by Darma Satyanagara, the king married the daughter of Dewawarman III and later became the 4th king in the Kingdom of Salakanagara. When Tarumanagara grew into a large kingdom, Purnawarman conquered the Ujung Kulon Kingdom. Eventually Ujung Kulon Kingdom became the subordinate kingdom of Tarumanagara. More than that, the Ujung Kulon Royal troops also helped the troops of Wisnuwarman to quell the Cakrawarman rebellion.
The Kingdom of Tanjung Kidul has thousands of cities in Aghrabintapura. This kingdom was led by Sweta Liman Sakti.

Location

There are three locations that have been approved as the center of the Salakanagara Kingdom. They are Teluk Lada, Condet and Mount Salak.
First, Rajatapura is mentioned by the Wangsakerta Manuscript as the center of the Salakanagara government, located in Lada Bay. In the text, Rajatapura is called a translated city in Java. From this the eight King Dewawarman reigned and controlled trade throughout Java.
Second, Ciondet or Condet in East Jakarta, which is 30 kilometers from the port of Sunda Kelapa. This area has a flowing river named Sungai Tiram. The word "Oysters" supports comes from the name of Aki Tirem, in-law of Dewawarman I, founder of Salakanagara.
Third, Mount Salak is a mountain which is a silver-day afternoon compilation. In Sundanese, Salakanagara means Silver Kingdom. In addition, this opinion is also based on the similarity of names between Salaka and Salak.