Medang Kingdom

  General Description   The Medang, or Mataram, Kingdom, is the first well-attested Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in central Java. In 732 CE, in an inscription written in Sanskrit, a local ruler called Sanjaya made the ’first definite claim to kingship’ known from the region. ^[1] Over the next few centuries, his successors would extend their influence over areas suitable for irrigated rice agriculture in upland central Java. The Medang Kingdom is famous for its large-scale sacred construction projects, such as the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Borobudur (a series of ascending stone terraces decorated with stone reliefs and topped with stupas) and Prambanan, a Hindu temple complex. ^[2]
A long-standing debate about dynastic succession in late 1st-millennium CE central Java is still unresolved, ^[3] showing that there are still many gaps in our understanding of the kingdom. Some scholars hold that there were two competing dynasties, the Buddhist Sailendras and the Shaivite descendants of King Sanjaya, while others believe that the rulers mentioned in inscriptions were two branches of the same family. In the early 10th century CE, the centre of royal power shifted from the high volcanic plains of central Java to the east of the island, signalling the increased importance of maritime trade to the polity. ^[4]
Population and political organization
King Sanjaya and his successors drew their legitimacy from Indic religious concepts, sometimes devoting themselves to Hindu deities (especially Shiva) and sometimes favouring Buddhist practices. ^{[5] [6]} They gathered courtly entourages about them and drew their wealth from the taxation of rice and other goods and the use of corvée labour. ^[7] Local lords, known as rakrayan, and temple foundations could be granted the right to collect taxes from the population within a given parcel of land: these sima tax-grants were a useful way for the Medang kings to reward and ensure loyalty. ^{[8] [9]}
Secure population estimates for the Medang Kingdom are lacking, but in the early 11th century CE, the East Javanese settlements of Cane, Patakan and Baru each had populations of over 1000 people. ^[10] The demographer Peter McDonald believes the population of the island as a whole in the 14th century could have been as high as five million. ^[11] Evidence from Javanese inscriptions suggests that by this time, the population levels of East Javanese states had been rising ‘fairly consistently’ since the early 10th century. ^[12]

[1]: (Reid 2015, 36) Reid, Anthony. 2015. A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RF6M65Q8.

[2]: (Hall 2010, 135) Hall, Kenneth R. 2010. A History of Early Southeast Asia: Maritime Trade and Societal Development, 100-1500. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZMR59WPU.

[3]: John Miksic 2016, personal communication.

[4]: (Hall 2010, 137) Hall, Kenneth R. 2010. A History of Early Southeast Asia: Maritime Trade and Societal Development, 100-1500. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZMR59WPU.

[5]: (Klokke 2008, 155) Klokke, Marijke I. 2008. “The Buddhist Temples of the Śailendra Dynasty in Central Java.” Arts Asiatiques, no. 63: 154-67. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/JJGM87CV.

[6]: (Sundberg 2003, 176) Sundberg, Jeffrey Roger. 2003. “A Buddhist Mantra Recovered from the Ratu Baka Plateau: A Preliminary Study of Its Implications for Sailendra-Era Java.” Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde 159 (1): 163-88. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/D8NSQ36W.

[7]: (Hall 1992, 206-08) Hall, Kenneth R. 1992. “Economic History of Early Southeast Asia.” In The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, Vol. I: From Early Times to C. 1800, edited by Nicholas Tarling, 183-275. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/87P3WM2E.

[8]: (Zakharov 2012, 86) Zakharov, Anton O. 2012. “Epigraphy, Political History, and Collective Action in Ancient Java.” In Connecting Empires and States: Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, edited by Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, Andreas Reinecke, and Dominik Bonatz, 82-89. Singapore: NUS Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HAW7WMKC.

[9]: (van Naerssen 1977, 53) Naerssen, F. H. van. 1977. “The Economic and Administrative History of Early Indonesia.” In The Economic and Administrative History of Early Indonesia, by F. H. van Naerssen and R. C. de Iongh, 1-84. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/I7TSZH8T.

[10]: (Wisseman Christie 1991, 28-29) Wisseman Christie, Jan. 1991. “States without Cities: Demographic Trends in Early Java.” Indonesia 52: 23-40. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/D57DW4VN.

[11]: (McDonald 1980, cited in Wisseman Christie 1991, 29) Wisseman Christie, Jan. 1991. “States without Cities: Demographic Trends in Early Java.” Indonesia 52: 23-40. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/D57DW4VN.

[12]: (Wisseman Christie 1991, 34) Wisseman Christie, Jan. 1991. “States without Cities: Demographic Trends in Early Java.” Indonesia 52: 23-40. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/D57DW4VN.