The Seen and Unseen Worlds in Java, 1726-1749: History, Literature and Islam in the Court of Pakubuwana II

In this work Professor M.C. Ricklefs explores the nexus between religious belief and mundane behaviour in mid-eighteenth century Java - exploding widely accepted stereotypes about the role of Islam in Javanese civilisation as he does so. Pakubuwana II was a malleable 16-year-old who came to the throne under the religious influence of his pious and mystical grandmother Ratu Pakubuwana. He was shaped into the model mystic monarch, who eventually went to Holy War against the Dutch East India Company. Images of Javanese cultural history as a contest between Javanist and Islamic modes are shown to be unsustainable in the light of this vital period in Indonesian history. Islam is central to this story. This study rests upon a vast range of Javanese and Dutch sources. Readers will gain a unique sense of how members of the Javanese elite thought, prayed and performed at this time, when pre-colonial Javanese court culture was at its height. Professor M.C. Ricklefs is an acknowledged authority on Indonesian, and especially Javanese, history. His major books include Jogjakarta under Sultan Mangkubumi 1749-92 (1974), War, Culture and Economy in Java 1677-1726 (1993) and the standard reference A History of Modern Indonesia since c1300 (1981, 2nd edn 1993), the Indonesian edition of which (1991) is widely used in Indonesia. Professor Ricklefs held academic appointments at London University, All Souls College Oxford and Monash University before being appointed (1993) as Director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University.

Table of Contents:
Maps Illustrations Preface Transcription, orthography and personal names Abbreviations Introduction 1.Seen and unseen worlds at the start of Pakubuwana II's reign, 1726-8 2.Ratu Pakubuwana's three magic books from the time of Sultan Agung, 1729-30 3.Ratu Pakubuwana's minor texts and Sultan Agung's Suluk Garwa Kancan, 1730 4.The tales of Cabolek and Prince Mangkubumi, c.1731 5.The younger generation takes charge, 1731-6 6.Belief, power and literature, 1737-8 7.The failure of the mystic king, 1739-40 8.Holy War and catastrophe, 1741-2 9.Winners, losers and the supernatural, 1742-4 10.Last acts: The abandonment of Kartasura and the final years of Pakubuwana II, 1744-9 Conclusion: Religion and the reign of Pakubuwana II Appendix I: Raffles Java 14: Caritanira Askandar Dulkarnen Appendix II: Principal members of the Mataram dynasty in the later seventeenth and eig

About the Author :
Merle Ricklefs is Director of the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and one of the world's leading historians of Indonesia.