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A letter from Prince     Java. These military victories did not only   between the world of the pesantren and          vorstendommen (Priests-kingdoms)       pesantrens continued their role as
          Suryakusuma Raganata     mean the loss of potential competitors   that of the palace. Apparently, traditional          areas as minor palaces that might      institutions that competed with the
          of Pamekasan to the      to the central palace, Mataram, but also   pandita ratu and the continuing of the             challenge his suzerainty. The alliance   palaces, which had become centers
          Governor General of the   the severance of Java’s international   institution of perdikan or “exempted                 of Trunajaya, the prince of Madura with   and symbols of power. In the process,
                                                                               36
          VOC in 1749.             economic relations. And, the VOC        land”  were the major causes of conflict              his father in law, the ruler of Kajoran,   a specific type of tradition emerged. If
          Source: Yayasan Lontar.   endeavored to prevent Java from        in the multiple-palace political system in            the “abode of the righteous”, to fight   in other places a tradition of integration
                                   restoring its role as an important trading   Java. Sunan Gunung Jati from Cirebon,            Amangkurat I of Mataram  in 1670, the   emerged with Islam at the core of strong,
                                   center. Suspicious, Mataram monitored   Sunan Giri, Sunan Kudus and the other                 king who in 1646 had killed thousands   supportive myths, in Java, a “tradition
                                                                                                                                                         38
                                   all forms of the growth of politics and   Walis were not just religious scholars              of ulama and their families,  showed   of dialogue” emerged. This tradition first
                                   trade that might occur in the coastal   in the strictest sense --- wandering                  that the separation of the palace and   of all has to be seen as the outcome
                                   regions. Amangkurat I (1645-1677),      religious teachers or preachers--- but                the Islamic boarding schools pesantren   of ongoing cultural encounters and
                                   Sultan Agung’s successor, closed all    they were also the rulers of their own                had entered the minor palaces into the   accommodation during the Islamization
                                                                                  37
                                   ports when he saw that commercial       regions.  In other words, they were                   multiple-palace political system.      process. It resulted in the destruction
                                   activities had started to be resumed.   the rulers of minor palaces. So, in the               The destruction of the ruling ulama    of the Siwa-Buddhist kingdoms and the
                                   Unlike Sultan Agung who was quite       multiple-palace Javanese tradition they               dynasties did not obliterate boarding   emergence of centers of political Islam
                                   satisfied with the formal recognition of   were also potentially challenged by the            schools as centers of religious        and palace centers that had converted
                                   his power, Amangkurat I preferred to    central palace. Sultan Agung’s military               teaching.  Pesantren also had other    to Islam. However, this tradition was the
                                   wipe out all local aristocrats, including his   movement against the coastal regions          political functions. They were places   arena where continuity and the impetus
                                   closest family members. 35              (except Cirebon that was respected by                 of refuge for disillusioned nobles. Like   towards socio-cultural change had to find
                                                                           Mataram) clearly shows that the central
                                   One of the most important regions Sultan   palace indeed treated the Priester-                markets, pesantrens as learning centers   shared possibilities. Anthropologically
                                   Agung conquered and Amangkurat I        36.  Perdikan was an institution in the pre-Islamic   of a universal religion entertained    we may see this as proof that the realm
                                   subsequently destroyed was Giri, whose   era, which was established by royal decree in        cosmopolitan tendencies. However, since   of the abangan element had to cope
                                   ruler was nicknamed “the Pope”  in      which a village or region was handed over to          they implicitly were also propagation   with the continuing penetration of ideas
                                                                                                                                                                                                  40
                                   the notes of the Dutch in the early 17th   religious institutions. As a sign of the grace of   institutions they could keep their    proposed by santri elements,  the
                                                                           the king, the village or the land was exempt from
                                   century. The destruction of the Pandita   scrutiny and taxes for the king. On this ancient    cosmopolitan attitudes in check in     adherents of the pesantren world view.
                                   Ratu region, which had become the       institution view see B. Schrieke, “Iets over het      order to fit local conditions. Pesantren   Seen from the political and cultural
                                                                           Perdikan Instituut”, TBG, LVIII, 391-423, 1919,
                                   center of Islamization for the eastern   391-423. About boarding school Perdikan, see         leaders were ulama who were often      perspective, this tradition of dialogue was
                                                                                                                                 part of chains of an international type of
                                   part of the archipelago, was one of     Claude Guillot, Le role historique des perdikan ou                                           a situation where one side may assume
                                   the summits of the separation process   “village frames”: Le Cas de Tegalsari”, Archipel,     teacher-student networks that acted as   that the other was its challenger. Or if
                                                                           30, 1985, pp. 137-162.
                                                                                                                                 cultural brokers.  In this atmosphere,
                                                                                                                                               39
                                   35.  H.J. de Graaf, De regering van Sunan   37.  De Graaf,De Eerste Moslimse Vorstendommen                                           Broken”, CSHS, II, 2: 228-249.
                                   Mangkurat 1, Tegal Wangi Vorst van Mataram,   op Java, Studien Over de Staatkundige           38.  De Graaf, De regering van Sunan Mangkurat I.  40.  An anthropological meaning of the sense was
                                   1646 - 1677, Leiden: VKITLV, Martinus Njjhoff,   Geschiedenis van de 15de en 15de en 16de Eeuw.   39.  This has been discussed by C. Geertz, “The   introduced by C. Geertz in The Religion of Java,
                                   1961.                                   .                                                     Javanese Kijaji: the Changing Role of a Cultural   Glencoe: XX, Free Press, 1960.

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