mentary to it and hardly worth reckoning, has reference to the families of the
cultivators. The terms employed are chachah-siti, which literally means “ census ot
the land,” and gave-ning-wong, 1“ a man’s work or labour.” But, practically, both
terms signify the quantity of land cultivated by a family of peasants. The property
in the land being thus in the sovereign, he deals with it by families, retaining a small
portion as a domain in his own hands, and bestowing the rest in temporary trust as
appanages to the members of his family and his chief officers, or m small allotments
to inferior public functionaries down to those of the lowest degree. The land in tact,
constitutes nearly the whole public exchequer.
All other sources of taxation than the land are, under the native government,
comparatively trifling. In some cases a small capitation tax is levied, but this also is
confined to the cultivators, and is sometimes called by them sarcastically pangawan,
which means “ air tax,” pretty much in the same way in which we ourselves used
to call our own “ window tax ” a tax on light. A property in the nests esculent
swallow, and in certain fish-ponds or stews, formed another branch of the native
revenue. Taxes on consumption in the shape of customs, transit duties, and market
dues formed a third, but probably most of these are of comparatively modern origin ,
and will be presently considered. _______
The Javanese cannot, in any rational sense of the word, be said to possess any
writing deserving the name of history; and no people in such a state of society as
theirs ever indeed possessed such. The Hindus, even so much more advanced in
the scale of civilisation, certainly had none until it was written for them by their
northern conquerors. Something similar to this was the case with the Javanese,
whose story began only to have some semblance of congniity from the time ot their
conversion to the Mahommedan religion, which all parties are agreed in asserting to
have been consummated by the overthrow of the most potent Hindu state ot the
island in the year of Christ 1478. All that transpired previous to this date is more
a matter of archaeologv than of history or chronology. The Javanese possess
chronological tables, but in these the earlier period is palpably fabulous, and dates
after the manner of the Hindus being expressed, not in numeral characters, or m
words representing numbers, but in mystical terms, differently interpreted by
different parties, it follows that these lists often differ by whole centuries one from
another. The character of these chronologies may be illustrated by a few examples.
The commencement of most of them begins with the year 1 of the Javanese era,
when a certain Indian chief is stated to have arrived in Java. This personage is
called Aii saka, which in Sanscrit means “ king Saka.” Saka, however, turns out to be
only another name for Salivana, the founder of an era prevalent in the southern part
of the continent of India, that portion of the country of the Hindus from which the
Javanese drew their religion, and with it this era. The certainty is that the real
Saka not only never emigrated to Java, but that in all probability, he was unaware
even of the existence of the island. In Hindu records there is certainly no notice
of the island, and still less of any emigration to it, the intercourse being, m all
likelihood, confined to a few obscure traders, and Bramms following m their tram.
I t is a favourite notion with Javanese chronologists that the islands of Sumatra, Java,
Bali, Lomboc, and Sumbawa formed at one time a continuous land, and they assign
precise dates preposterously modern, to the times in which they became so many
different islands. Sumatra, according to these statements, was separated from Java
in the year 1192, Bali from Java in 1282, and Lomboc from Sumbawa m 1350, that
is above half a century after Marco Polo had passed through the Archipelago.
The same chronologists assign dates to the origin of certain islands on the coast of
Java, and to some of its principal mountains. Thus the islands Buron and Baweyan
are said to have first appeared in the year of Christ, 88; the mountains Brama
and Sumeru, both Sanscrit names, in 158. Prom the 11th century, the Javanese
chronology assumes an air of, at least, some feasibility; but even from that time
down to 1478, there is much discrepancy between different statements, according as
the mystic words in which dates are expressed, are interpreted. Thus, the i thousand
temples ” of Brambanan, the finest remains of Hinduism m the island, are said
by one account, to have been built in 1096, and by another m 1266. The most
celebrated work of Javanese literature is the Bratayuda, the epitome of the Hindu
poem of the Mahabarat, before mentioned; and this is said by one account to have
been written in 786; by another, in 1175; and by a third m 1195.
The great events of Javanese history are the respective conversions 01 the peop e
to Hinduism and Mahommedanism. Of the time when the first of these took place,
or the manner in which it, was brought about, we have no. positive information,
either Javanese or Hindu. The ample evidence derived from language and ancient
monuments, sufficiently attest the general prevalence, if not, indeed, the universality
of some form or modification of the religion of the Hindus over the island ; but anything
beyond this is matter of inference or conjecture. One fact respecting Javanese
history is sufficiently established, — that the whole island was never subject to
the rule of a single power, constituting a permanent and undivided empire. Ancient
states existed which had acquired a considerable amount of civilisation and power,
as is shown by the ruins of palaces and temples; but none of them had any durability,—
none of them ruled over the whole island, while several of them, according
to tradition, existed at one and the same time.
Inscriptions on copper and stone have been found among the ruins thus alluded
to ; but, unfortunately, the earlier ones, instead of having dates expressed in plain
writing, or numerical figures, have them ail in the mystical words expressing
numbers, already mentioned; so that the same terms being capable of several, or even
of many, different interpretations, little or no reliance can be placed on them. The
earliest dates we possess are the years of Saka, 505 and 506, or of Christ, 583 and
584, contained in two inscriptions on stone in the fine province of Kádu. Supposing
these dates to be authentic, which, however, is very improbable, the next to them, in
point of time, is 735 of Saka, leaving thus a gap of 230 years without any recorded
date at all. The next date to this last, in sequence, is 845 of Saka, and hence, therefore,
there is here a dateless chasm of 110 years. This last date is followed by others
of nearly the same time, 863 and 865. From this last named year up to 1220 of Saka,
not a single monumental date occurs on brass or stone, leaving a chasm of 355 years.
From the year 1220 now alluded to, the dates are expressed generally in numeral
figures, and consequently are trust-worthy. They continue to be thus represented
on various monuments, to within a short time of the conquest of the last Hindu
state of any importance; an event which all parties seem to agree in placing in the
year 1400 of Saka, or 1478 of our own time.
With the exception of the last event named, not one of the different dates now
quoted refers to any historical event. In so far as the inscriptions containing them
have been deciphered, they are found to be mere laudations of some pious chieftain,
powerful, no doubt, in his time, but unknown even to Javanese fame. They are
historical only from having been found amid the ruins of places well known as
having been once the seats of independent governments.
The Hindus, it is highly probable, migrated to Java and established their religion
in it, even at the earliest of the dates alleged to be those of the inscriptions, that
is, in the 6th century; but it cannot at the same time be asserted, that there
exists any precise or reliable evidence of their having done so. That the Hindus
and their religion, however, existed in Java from the end of the 13th to that of
the 15th century, is a matter of certainty, proved by monumental dates entirely
reliable.
The history of the conversion of the Javanese to the religion of Mahommed,
although even of this comparatively recent event much is enveloped in fable, is far
more authentic than that of their adoption of Hinduism. The parties who effected
this conversion were the mixed descendants of Arabs, Persians, Malays, and Mahom-
medans of Hindustan,—parties who had settled on its northern coast for the purposes
of trade,—who were intimately acquainted with the natives of the country and
their language; and who, in process of time, had acquired wealth and influence. Of
such men, were the real missionaries of Islam in Java composed, and the work of
conversion was certainly a slow one. As early as the year of our time, 1358, an
unsuccessful attempt had been made by missionaries of this description to convert
the Sunda nation. Another was made in 1391, to convert the proper Javanese; and
the tomb of one of the reputed saints who made this attempt, one Maulana Ibrahim,
still exists in Gressik, bearing the year of Salivana, 1334, or of our time, 1412.
In the year of Christ, 1460, the Mahommedan converts assembled a force for the
conquest of Majapait, the capital of the principal Hindu state, but were defeated;
and it was not until 1478, eighteen years after, that they succeeded in capturing
the capital, overthrowing the state, and establishing their own power and faith.
All authorities are agreed in assigning the year 1400 of Salivana, or 1478 of Christ,
as that in which Majapait was overthrown; and in considering this event as the
virtual overthrow of Hinduism. The Sunda nation appears to have been converted
about the same time, the conquests proceeding from Cheribon, and ending with
Bantam in 1480. The Mahommedan chiefs assumed the government of the respective
states which they had subjugated, under the title Susunan, abbreviated Sunan,