Indonesia About 100 - 1000

Indonesia About Year 100

"Dvipantara" or "Jawa Dwipa" kingdom is reported by Indian scholars to be in Java and Sumatra. Prince Aji Saka introduces writing system to Java based on scripts of southern India. Hindu kings rule the area around Kutai on Kalimantan. "Langasuka" kingdom founded around Kedah in Malaya.

Indonesia About Year 130

Salaka or Salanka kingdom, Salakanegara, is founded in West Java.

Indonesia About Year 400

Taruma kingdom or Tarumanegara flourishes in West Java.

In these early days, many new plants were introduced into Indonesia, including pepper and teak.

The Naskah Wangsakerta, a document written in Cirebon many years later, mentions the first king of Tarumanegara as taking power in the year 358, and lists a line of kings through 669.

Indonesia About Year 425

Buddhism reaches Sumatra.

Records from these days in Indonesia are scarce, but we do know that sophisticated cultures already existed. The kings and cities of Sumatra and Java are mentioned in records from China, because ambassadors were sent there. Arabs and Persians knew about the area from traders, and even the Greeks and Romans had very distant reports.

Records from inside Indonesia are very few, though, since writing was done on palm leaves and other materials that did not survive well. Much of our knowledge comes from stone buildings and inscriptions. By the time we start to get a clear history of Java and Sumatra, there are already great buildings in stone, fine sculptures, classical music and dance, much as we know them today.

Indonesia About Year 500

Beginning of Srivijaya kingdom near Palembang, in Sumatra.

Indonesia About Year 600

Melayu kingdom flourishes around present-day Jambi on Sumatra.

Chinese records from around this time mention kingdoms at Jambi and Palembang on Sumatra, and three kingdoms on Java, a western kingdom related to the Taruma of inscriptions, a central kingdom called "Kalinga", and an eastern kingdom with a capital perhaps near Surabaya or Malang.

Indonesia About Year 670

Chinese traveller I Ching visits Palembang, capital of Srivijaya.

Hindu temples built in the high Dieng plateau of central Java.

About this time, the first Sunda kingdom rises after the end of the Tarumanegara kingdom.

Indonesia About Year 686

Srivijaya takes the Melayu kingdom at Jambi, and sends an expedition against the kingdoms in Java.

Stone tablets dated 683 and 686 from southern Sumatra and Bangka describe the military campaigns of Srivijaya against Melayu and Java. They are the oldest known writings in any Malayo-Polynesian language.

Indonesia About Year 700

Suwawa kingdom flourishes in North Sulawesi.
By now, Srivijaya had also conquered Kedah, on the Malay peninsula.

Indonesia About Year 732

Sanjaya founds the Sanjaya line of princes in central Java.

Indonesia About Year 770

Sailendra King Vishnu (or Dharmatunga) begins building Borobudur.

Beginning of building activity on the plain of Prambanan.

Buddhism, one of Indonesia's five religions.

Indonesia About Year 782

Sailendra king Vishnu is succeeded by Indra (or Sangramadhanamjaya).

Indonesia About Year 790

Sailendra kingdom attacks and defeats Chenla (today Cambodia); rules over Chenla for about 12 years.
The Sailendra kings remembered that their ancestors came from what is now Thailand or Cambodia.

Indonesia About Year 812

Sailendra king Indra is succeeded by Samaratunga.

Indonesia About Year 825

Borobudur is finished under king Samaratunga.

Borobudur
Borobudur is a huge Buddhist monument covering a volcanic hill a few miles between present-day Magelang and Yogyakarta. It is in levels representing the stages to enlightenment. The large central stupa is empty. The many beautiful relief sculptures may have been used to educate young monks.

Indonesia About Year 835

Samaratunga passes away. His young son Balaputra has the throne taken from him by the father of his sister's husband, Patapan of Sanjaya, who replaces Buddhism on Java with Hinduism.

By this time, Buddhist culture had spread as far east as Lombok.

Indonesia About Year 838

Patapan is succeeded by his son Pikatan (or Jatiningrat).

Indonesia About Year 846

Tidore is visited by a representative of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil from Baghdad.

Indonesia About Year 850

Pikatan defeats forces of Balaputra, then resigns the throne to become an ascetic. He is succeeded by Kayuwani.

Balaputra, claimant to the Sailendra throne, escapes to Sumatra and takes power in Srivijaya.

King Warmadewa rules on Bali.

From about this time we have a version of the Ramayana epic in the Old Javanese language. The work is sophisticated, and there were probably many earlier such works in Old Javanese that have not survived.

Indonesia About Year 898

Sanjaya King Balitung takes power in central Java.

Stone tablets of King Balitung are the first mention of "Mataram" in central Java.

Indonesia About Year 910

Sanjaya King Daksa succeeds Balitung in Mataram. He begins building the major Hindu temples at Prambanan.

Indonesia About Year 919

Sanjaya King Tulodong succeeds Daksa; reigns until 921.

Indonesia About Year 924

Sanjaya King Wawa takes throne of Mataram, rules until 928.

Indonesia About Year 929

Sanjaya King Mpu Sindok takes power. He moves the court from Mataram to East Java (near Jombang).

A major eruption of Mount Merapi in 928 or 929 may have been the reason that the king of Mataram and many of his subjects moved east.

Indonesia About Year 947

Sri Isana Tunggawijaya, daughter of Mpu Sindok, succeeds Mpu Sindok as ruler in East Java.

Indonesia About Year 975

King Udayana of Bali, father of Airlangga, is born.

Indonesia About Year 985

Dharmavamsa becomes king of Mataram. He conquers Bali and founds a settlement in western Kalimantan.

Dharmavamsa is also remembered for ordering the translation of the Mahabharata into Javanese.

Indonesia About Year 990

Dharmavamsa and Mataram send an army overseas to attack Srivijaya and take Palembang, but fail.

Indonesia About Year 992

King Chulamanivarmadeva of Srivijaya sends an ambassador to China to ask for protection against the forces of Dharmavamsa from Java.

By : gimonca