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common for young men of the gentry, away from the courts to pesantren in rural
like Ronggowarsito, to have studied at a Java. With this development, religious
pesantren (Drewes 1974: 205). scholars began to enter a new period in
their history. Pesantrens made religious
Tegalsari is just one example out of
many Islamic boarding schools that scholars deal with and be parts of rural
were established in Java. The Dutch Muslim communities, which brought
survey mentioned above confirms this about a different Islamic discourse away
development. It offers strong evidence of from the cosmopolitan environment of the
the spread of pesantren throughout Java: maritime kingdoms in the coastal areas.
Banten, Bogor, Karawang, and Priangan
in West Java; Tegal, Pekalongan, and
Rembang in Central Java; Gresik, Kedu,
Surabaya, Pasuruan and Banyuwangi in
East Java (van der Chijs 1864: 215-219).
In these areas, a number of pesantren,
especially in the Central Java and East
Java, were established in Perdikan
villages. Therefore, it is not surprising
that the palace gentry had a close
relationship with scholars at pesantren.
After reading the Serat Centini, Soebardi
(1971: 331-49) concluded that its author
came from the aristocratic milieu of the
Mataram court and that he was familiar
with Islamic education in pesantren.
However, it must be said that the Serat
Cebolek shows that boarding schools had
existed outside the kingdom. Thus, the
establishment of pesantrens proved the
beginning of a new religious landscape
after the fall of the maritime empires and
the shift of the centers of Islamic education

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