Mataram Sultanate

Etymology

The name Mataram itself was never the official name of any polity, as the Javanese often refer to their realm simply as Bhumi Jawa or Tanah Jawi (lit. 'Land of Java'). Mataram refers to the historical areas of plains south of Mount Merapi around present-day Muntilan, Sleman, Yogyakarta, and Prambanan. More precisely, it refers to the Kota Gede area, the capital of the Sultanate on the outskirts of southern Yogyakarta.

A common practice in Java is to refer to their kingdom by metonymy, specifically by the location of its capital. Historically, there were two kingdoms that have existed in this region and both are called Mataram. The later kingdom, however, is often called Mataram Islam or "Mataram Sultanate" to distinguish it from the Hindu-Buddhist 9th-century Kingdom of Mataram.

History

Formation and growth

According to Javanese records, the kings of Mataram were descended from one Ki Ageng Sela (Sela is a village near the present-day Demak). In the 1570s, one of Ki Ageng Sela's descendants, Kyai Gedhe Pamanahan was awarded rule of the land of Mataram by the King of Pajang, Sultan Hadiwijaya, as the reward for his service of defeating Arya Panangsang, Hadiwijaya's enemy. Pajang was located near the current site of Surakarta, and Mataram was originally a vassal of Pajang. Pamanahan was often referred to as Kyai Gedhe Mataram. A kyai is a Muslim cleric who is well educated and tend to be well-respected.

Meanwhile, in Pajang, there were major power struggles that took place after the death of Sultan Hadiwijaya in 1582. Hadiwijaya's heir, Pangeran (Prince) Benowo, was ousted by Arya Pangiri of Demak, and was removed to Jipang. Pamanahan's son, Sutawijaya or Panembahan Senapati Ingalaga, replaced his father around 1584, and he began to release Mataram from Pajang's control. Under Sutawijaya, Mataram grew substantially through military campaigns against Mataram's overlord of Pajang and Pajang's former overlord, Demak. The new Pajang Sultan, Arya Pangiri, was an unpopular ruler, and Benowo quickly rallied support to regain his throne and recruited Sutawijaya's support against Pajang. Subsequently, Pajang was attacked from two directions: by Prince Benowo from Jipang and by Sutawijaya from Mataram, and was finally defeated. After the defeat of Pajang, Prince Benowo did not dare to stand against Senapati and agreed to bow down to him and submit Pajang to Mataram's rule. This event in 1586, marked the end of Pajang kingdom and the rise of its former vassal, the Mataram Sultanate.

Senapati assumed royal status by wearing the title "Panembahan" (literally "one who is worshipped/sembah"). He revealed the expansive nature of his reign and began the fateful campaign to the East along the course of Solo River that would bring endless conflicts. In 1586, the wealthy port city of Surabaya rose against Panembahan Senapati. Senapati however was unable to penetrate Surabayan defence. He then conquered Madiun in 1590-1 instead, and turned east from Madiun to conquer Kediri in 1591 and Ponorogo. Perhaps during the same time he also conquered Jipang (present day Bojonegoro) and Jagaraga (north of present-day Magetan). He reached east as far as Pasuruan, who may have used his threat to reduce pressure from the then powerful Surabaya. After his campaign in Central and East Java, Panembahan Senapati turned his attention to the West, as he forced Cirebon and Galuh in West Java to acknowledge Mataram's overlordship in 1595. His effort to conquer Banten in West Java in 1597 — witnessed by Dutch sailors — failed, perhaps due to lack of water transport. Later, Demak and Pati revolted and their forces almost reach the Mataram capital, before Senapati's cavalry manage to destroy them. Panembahan Senapati died in 1601 and entombed in Kota Gede, he succeed on establishing a firm foundation of a new state. His successor, Mas Jolang or later known as Susuhunan Anyokrawati or Panembahan Sedo ing Krapyak, would face further rebellion.

Golden age

Susuhunan Anyokrowati was succeeded by his son, Adipati Martapura. Adipati Martapura, however, was of poor health and quickly replaced by his brother, Raden Mas Rangsang in 1613, who assumed the title Panembahan ing Alaga, and later in 1641 took the title of Sultan Agung Anyokrokusumo ("Great Sultan"). The Mataram Sultanate under the reign of Sultan Agung is popularly remembered as the apogee of Mataram's rule on Java, and the golden age of native Javanese power prior to European colonisation in the following century.

Panembahan ing Alaga was an able military general and also a warlike ambitious leader, and he aspired to unite Java under Mataram's banner. He was responsible for the great expansion and lasting historical legacy of Mataram due to the extensive military conquests of his long reign from 1613 to 1646. Under Sultan Agung, Mataram was able to expand its territory to include most of Java after capturing several port cities of northern Java. Surabaya with its strong fortification and surrounded by swamps, was still the most formidable enemy of Mataram. In 1614, Surabaya forged an alliance with Kediri, Tuban and Pasuruan, and launched invasion against Mataram. In the following year, Sultan Agung managed to repel allied Surabaya forces in Wirasaba (present day Mojoagung, near Mojokerto). He also conquered Malang, south of Surabaya. In 1616, Surabaya tried to attack Mataram but this army was crushed by Sultan Agung's forces in Siwalan, Pajang (near Solo). The coastal city of Lasem, near Rembang, was conquered in 1616 and Pasuruan, southeast of Surabaya, was taken in 1617. Tuban, one of the oldest and largest port cities on the coast of Java, was taken in 1619.

Surabaya was Mataram's most difficult enemy. Senapati was not strong enough to attack this powerful city and Anyokrowati attacked it to no avail. Sultan Agung tried to weakened Surabaya by launching a naval campaign across Java Sea and capturing Sukadana, Surabaya's ally in southwest Kalimantan in 1622, and the island of Madura, another ally of Surabaya, was taken in 1624 after a fierce battle. Soon Madura's fortifications in Sumenep and Pamekasan fell, Agung installed Adipati of Sampang as the Adipati of Madura, stylised as Prince Cakraningrat I.

After five years of war, Agung finally conquered Surabaya in 1625. The city was taken not through outright military invasion, but instead through a siege; Agung installed a tight blockade from the land and sea, starving Surabaya into submission. With Surabaya brought into the empire, the Mataram kingdom encompassed all of central and eastern Java, also Madura and Sukadana on southwest Borneo, except for the west and east end of the island and its mountainous south (except for Mataram — of course). Sultan Agung consolidated his political unity by forging marriage alliance of his Adipati to the Princesses of Mataram. Agung himself took the hand of Cirebon Princess as his consort, in an effort to sealed Cirebon as Mataram's loyal ally. By 1625, Mataram was undisputed ruler of Java. Such a mighty feat of arms, however, did not deter Mataram's former overlords from rebellion. Pajang rebelled in 1617, and Pati rebelled in 1627. After the capture of Surabaya in 1625, expansion stopped while the empire was busied by rebellions.

Decline

Upon taking the throne, Agung's son Susuhunan Amangkurat I tried to bring long-term stability to Mataram's realm, by murdering local leaders that were insufficiently deferential to him, including the still-powerful noble from Surabaya, Pangeran Pekik, his father-in-law, and executed Panembahan Adiningkusuma (posthumous: Panembahan Girilaya), king of Cirebon, his son in-law. He also closed ports and destroyed ships in Javanese coastal cities to prevent them from getting too powerful from their wealth. This action devastated the Javanese coastal economy and crippled the Javanese maritime prowess that had been nurtured since the Singhasari and Majapahit era. This thus turned Mataram into a mainly agricultural inland kingdom for the next centuries. Because of this, Amangkurat I was notarized as a ruthless king. He even massacred 5,000–6,000 ulema and their family members due to their alleged involvement in a coup plot. Despite his political ruthlessness, unlike his father, Amangkurat I was not an accomplished military leader and dare not to pursue confrontation against the Dutch, as in 1646 he signed peace agreement with them. To further his glory, the new king abandoned Karta, Sultan Agung's capital, and moved to a grander red-brick palace in Plered (formerly the palace was built of wood).

By the mid-1670s dissatisfaction with the king was turning into open revolt, beginning from the recalcitrant Eastern Java and creeping inward. The Crown Prince (future Amangkurat II) felt that his life was not safe in the court after he took his father's concubine with the help of his maternal grandfather, Pangeran Pekik of Surabaya, making Amangkurat I suspicious of a conspiracy among Surabayan factions to grab power in the capital by using Pekiks’ grandson's powerful position as the Crown Prince. He conspired with Panembahan Rama from Kajoran, west of Magelang, who proposed a stratagem in which the Crown Prince financed Rama's son-in-law, Trunajaya, to begin a rebellion in the East Java. Raden Trunajaya, a prince from Arosbaya, Madura, led a revolt supported by itinerant fighters from faraway Makassar led by Kraeng Galesong. The Trunajaya rebellion moved swiftly and strong, and captured the king's court at Plered in Mataram in mid-1677. The king escaped to the north coast with his eldest son, the future king Amangkurat II, leaving his younger son Pangeran Puger in Mataram. Apparently more interested in profit and revenge than in running a struggling empire, the rebel Trunajaya looted the court and withdrew to his stronghold in Kediri, East Java, leaving Prince Puger in control of a weak court. Seizing this opportunity, Puger assumed the throne in the ruins of Plered with the title Susuhanan ing Alaga.

On his way to Batavia to ask for Dutch's help, Amangkurat I died in the village of Tegalarum near Tegal just after his expulsion, making Amangkurat II king in 1677. He too was nearly helpless, having fled without an army nor treasury to build one. In an attempt to regain his kingdom, he made substantial concessions to the Dutch East India Company (VOC), who then went to war to reinstate him. He promised to give the VOC the port town of Semarang if they lend him some troops. For the Dutch, a stable Mataram empire that was deeply indebted to them would help ensure continued trade on favourable terms. They were willing to lend their military might to keep the kingdom together.

Division of Mataram

The fall of Kartasura made the palace inauspicious for the king and Pakubuwana II built a new kraton in Surakarta or Solo and moved there in 1746. However, Pakubuwana II was far from secure in this throne. Raden Mas Said, or Pangeran Sambernyawa (meaning "Soul Reaper"), son of banished Arya Mangkunegara, who later would establish the princely house of Mangkunagara in Solo, and several other princes of the royal blood still maintained rebellion. Pakubuwana II declared that anyone who can suppress the rebellion in Sukawati, areas around present day Sragen, would be rewarded with 3000 households. Pangeran Mangkubumi, Pakuwana II's brother, who would later establish the royal house of Yogyakarta took the challenge and defeated Mas Said in 1746. But when he claimed his prize, his old enemy, patih Pringgalaya, advised the king against it. In the middle of this problem, the VOC's governor general, van Imhoff, paid a visit to the kraton, the first one to do so during the whole history of the relation between Mataram and the VOC, to confirm the de facto Dutch possession of coastal and several interior regions. Pakubuwana II hesitantly accepted the cession in lieu of 20,000 real per year. Mangkubumi was dissatisfied with his brother's decision to yield to van Imhoff's insistence, which was made without consulting the other members of royal family and great nobles. van Imhoff had neither experience nor tactfulness to understand the delicate situation in Mataram and he rebuked Mangkubumi as "too ambitious" before the whole court when Mangkubumi claimed the 3000 households. This shameful treatment from a foreigner who had wrested the most prosperous lands of Mataram from his weak brother led him to raise his followers into rebellion in May 1746, this time with the help of Mas Said.

In the midst of Mangkubumi rebellion in 1749, Pakubuwana II fell ill and called van Hohendorff, his trusted friend who saved his life during the fall of Kartasura in 1742. He asked Hohendorff to assume control over the kingdom. Hohendorff was naturally surprised and refused, thinking that he would be made king of Mataram, but when the king insisted on it, he asked his sick friend to confirm it in writing. On 11 December 1749, Pakubuwana II signed an agreement in which the "sovereignty" of Mataram was given to the VOC.

On 15 December 1749, Hohendorff announced the accession of Pakubuwana II's son as the new king of Mataram with the title Pakubuwana III. However, three days earlier, Mangkubumi in his stronghold in Yogyakarta also announced his accession with the title Mangkubumi, with Mas Said as his patih. This rebellion got stronger day by day and even in 1753 the Crown Prince of Surakarta joined the rebels. The VOC decided that it did have not the military capability to suppress this rebellion, though in 1752, Mas Said broke away from Hamengkubuwana. By 1754, all parties were tired of war and ready to negotiate.

Demographics

The paucity of reliable contemporary data makes precise estimates of population difficult. A royal census taken in 1651 records a total of 500,000 cacahs (taxable households). From this figure, Ricklefs estimates a maximum of three million Javanese around that time, further arguing that conventionalized local figures indicate a downward trend in population, beginning with a major decline reported in 1678 at the peak of the Trunajaya war and ending with a population boom in the peace following the division of the realm.

In the mid-seventeenth century, the royal capital of Mataram was one of the most populous cities in Southeast Asia, with an estimated population of 150,000-200,000 people. A Dutch observer in 1624 claimed the court city could muster 200,000 fighting men, which Reid uses to extrapolate a total population of ~800,000, though this might be an overestimation. The cities of the Pasisir, meanwhile, fluctuated rapidly in fortunes and therefore population over the course of the centuries. VOC estimates in the early seventeenth century yield a population of 130,000 and >50,000 for Tuban and Surabaya respectively, while the ports of Semarang and Jepara were reckoned at ~100,000 people. Nagtegaal gives a more modest estimate of 10,000-20,000, while Reid approximates a maximum population of 50,000 in the northern ports.

As for ethnic composition, the vast majority of the population living in the Javanese mainland were Javanese, but Ricklefs argues it would be a mistake to regard these peoples as possessing a strong homogenizing, unifying identity, as regional identities might have taken more prominence over "ethnic" ones. There were also Chinese to be found everywhere along the Pasisir and even in the interior, but in some of the smaller towns there were too few of them to form separate kampungs. Pekalongan, for instance, had only four Chinese before 1680. Malay, Makassarese, and Balinese immigrants settled chiefly in Jepara, Semarang, Gresik and cities of the Blambangan region where they made a living in various trades, such as commerce, mercenary work, and carpentry. The northern coasts also housed a fluctuating number of other minorities, including Madurese, Europeans, "Moors", Buginese, and others.

Government and state

The Susuhunan's exercise of power was for the most part indirect, through the cooperation of lesser notables. The kingdom has been characterized by scholars as a "network state" based on complex personal structures between patrons and clients within various rungs of the court hierarchy. Especially where the administration of outlying provinces were concerned, there was as such minimal regularization across administrative offices and titles. The individual powers of officials and governors were dependent in part on their personal relationship with the Susuhunan or some other court dignitary. Some regents could claim to be the Susuhunan's equal in wealth and military might, while others were figures of little significance. Ricklefs argued that the inability of pre-Kartasura Mataram to undergo substantial institutionalisation and regularisation, despite attempts by some of its rulers, was rooted in Java's geographic, climatic and demographic circumstances. The realm was vast, but the population was scattered across pockets of population separated by wild jungle, mountain ranges and plateaus. There were rivers and well-constructed roads, as well as calm coastal waters, to facilitate easy communication between settlements; roads, however, were easily cut by volcanic eruptions and ruined by the monsoon rains, rivers could be too flooded or too low for safe travel, and monsoon rains could make coastal navigation treacherous.

Territorial division

The realm of Mataram was conventionally regarded in state chronicles not as a bounded state with fixed boundaries, but rather a series of concentric circles radiating outward from its centre, that being the capital city. These 'circles' may be enumerated, by proximity, as follows:

Negara: the capital city, in which the Susuhunan resides in his court (kraton)

Negaragung: the core territories immediately surrounding the court city; the Mataram region.

Mancanegara: the "foreign" or outer lands; in practice, the interior districts to the east of the court (Kediri, Madiun, Blora, Jipang)

Pasisir: the north coasts of Java, ranging from Cirebon to the Eastern Salient

Tanah Sabrang: "overseas", other islands and beyond; this may also include other places in Java outside the Javanese-speaking heartland, such as Batavia.

Administration

Members of the royal family did not normally hold administrative positions. They might at times be appointed supreme authority or viceroy of a region, but the tedium of day-to-day administration was usually delegated to the priyayi, an official class of professional bureaucrats who were nonetheless bound to the aristocratic class by intermarriage and links of economic advantage. The sovereign's family and their courtiers received for their maintenance royal apanages (lungguh) derived from the revenues of lands in the Negaragung, whose sizes corresponded with the rank of the holder in the hierarchy of the court. These lands were administered, and taxes collected, by officials appointed by the landholder. When the landholder passed, these apanage fields were reverted to the Crown to be handed out again. In the Mancanegara and the Pasisir, more patrimonial structures prevailed, where regents of independent stature held office. Regional dynasties sometimes of ancient origins still held sway; between 1680 and 1740, an average of 54% of eastern coastal regencies were ruled by governors of local origin.

In the pre-Kartasura period there existed the office of the Tumenggung of Mataram, who may be identified as the prime minister of the state equivalent to the Patih of pre-Islamic times. The office of Patih in fact returned from the Kartasura period onwards, at times held by more than one person, who presided over various provisional structures for the administration of the kingdom's provinces. Finances were handled by two treasurers, the wedana gedong kiwa (roughly, Treasurer of the Left) and the wedana gedong tengen (Treasurer of the Right). Matters of law and justice were handled by the Jaksa Agung (Supreme Judge), though the dispensal of capital punishment was normally the sole prerogative of the Susuhunan. There were in addition innumerable other titles and offices, whose functions were probably less regularised than was later the case in the post-Giyanti period: mantris, lurahs, umbuls, patinggis, tumenggungs, ngabehis, and so on.

The Pasisir presented a special case, as its geographic and cultural separation from the inland centre inhibited the court's ability to effectively control its commercial wealth. Mataram rule was far from inviolable there, and the more established dynasties of the coasts more or less regarded themselves as under permanent occupation by the "upstart" dynasty. Susuhunan Amangkurat I experimented with a series of administrative systems, with varying levels of success, to govern this lucrative region. Early in his reign (~1651-1657) the Susuhunan appointed supervisors (tugur) as his representatives on the coasts, acting as a check against local authority. Complaints by the common people on the unsavoury governance of these tugurs compelled the Susuhunan to transform the system. This time the Pasisir was divided between four supreme governors (Tumenggung), who were in theory equal in status. Alarmed at their growing authority, the Susuhunan aimed at a separation of powers by narrowing their jurisdiction to military and judicial functions, while entrusting fiscal and commercial responsibilities to other officials. By the 1670s, the provincial regents (umbuls) backed by courtly patrons rose supreme, further curtailing the authority of the governors.

The ideals of Javanese kingship

Javanese courtly chronicles and Orientalist scholarship emphasize the doctrine of the sacredness of the ruler as the cosmic centre of the kingdom and, indeed, the universe: as a semi-divine being (devaraja) in pre-Islamic times and the 'shadow of God on Earth' thereafter. This model of Javanese kingship has been criticized by modern scholars as assuming a static, changeless society, thereby lacking chronological specificity. Public acceptance of this doctrine, furthermore, does not necessarily mean acquiescence to the sovereign, as the idea of legitimacy rooted in divine sacredness need not imply it is in the possession of the present ruler. It is entirely possible for someone independent of the ruling dynasty to possess this 'divine' quality, just as it is possible for a ruler who possessed it to suddenly lose it for various reasons. Alternate channels of power did exist. Raden Trunajaya, for instance, challenged the legitimacy of the Mataram dynasty as descended from the "blood of farmers", as opposed to his own claims of descent from the Majapahit imperial house. He also refused to recognize the Susuhunan on the grounds of him not being a Sultan. The Pangeran of Giri rallied followers under the prophecy that Mataram was surely to fall if it continued to dally with the "infidels" of the VOC. Ricklefs contends that the Susuhunan's imperial authority resided in his capacity to "persuade, cajole, threaten or compel other powerful men with more direct control of resources until he achieved a consensus of notables in his favour".

Military

Military technology

Military technology was one of the most developed branches of industry in Java. Chinese cannons were introduced to the island by the Mongol invasion of 1293. Rudimentary gunpowder technologies continued to spread through the island across the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The expeditions of Zheng He, for instance, left behind an extant Chinese bombard dated 1421. This period saw a flourishing in local innovations and adaptations, such as the early cetbang, the Java arquebus and the Istinggar. Following their conquest of Melaka, the Portuguese reported that "the gun founders were as good as those in Germany" and that the Jepara fleet which later attacked Melaka in 1513 was armed with cannons cast in Java. Portuguese techniques of gunpowder manufacturing were introduced by at least the 1620s, and Mataram was recorded to manufacture its own gunpowder thereafter, though scholars contend that the Javanese have manufactured their own gunpowder since long before. Reid calls Aceh and Mataram two of Southeast Asia's most powerful "gunpowder empires".

Mataram used and manufactured its own matchlock muskets. Rijckloff van Goens describes, while visiting the royal court's gun foundry, the laborious procedure followed by the Javanese artisans: iron cannon and musket barrels were forged around an iron core which must afterwards be withdrawn with great difficulty, upon which the hole was bored out to its desired calibre using a steel bit of square cross-section. Nonetheless, van Goens was impressed by the muskets and gunpowder. The year later he reported that within the space of three months, the Susuhunan's artisans had produced 800 muskets and many iron cannons. With greater intercourse in the subsequent decades between Mataram and the various European nations, Javanese gun-casting techniques improved. Decades later, many of the pieces defending VOC forts in the Pasisir belonged to the Susuhunan, and the VOC was unable to determine which were his and its own.

Until the early nineteenth century, there appeared to have been no significant difference between European and Javanese military technology, chiefly because the Javanese quickly adopted those few technical innovations which the VOC brought from Europe. Ricklefs notes that the transfer of military technology from the European to the Javanese side was "virtually immediate", contrasting this with the slower case of the Mughals and Tokugawa Japan. The Trunajaya war in the late 1670s set off decades of near-continuous warfare where the VOC were often partisans of the various factions contending for the throne. During this period, many innovations in infantry armaments were introduced to Java, including the snaphaen (snaphance), flintlocks, pre-packaged paper cartridges, handheld Coehoorn mortars and bayonets.

Culture

Despite being an Islamic Sultanate, Mataram had never adopted Islamic culture, systems and institutions thoroughly. Its political system was more like a syncretism of earlier Javanese Hindu civilisation merged with Islamic elements. The major formation took place during Sultan Agung's reign as he adapted Islam to the Hindu-Javanese tradition and introduced a new calendar in 1633 based on Islamic and Javanese practice. The arts during Sultan Agung's reign were a mixture of Islamic and Hindu-Javanese elements. The mainstream belief system was the Kejawen tradition, while the Islamic beliefs was held by a handful of kiyai or ulama religious elite clustering around Kauman area near court's mosque. The Javanese court ceremonies, culture and rituals of Mataram still bears Hindu-Buddhist elements. Javanese cultural elements, such as gamelan, batik, kris, wayang kulit and Javanese dance were formulated, codified and took its present form during this period, and inherited by its successors, the courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, and the princedom of Mangkunegaran and Pakualaman.

Islam is presented in Java adaptively to the original Javanese culture. This cultural adaptation was acceptable to the Javanese community, so the indigenousization of Islam was considered successful because Islam developed rapidly in Java naturally and through the cultural process of the Javanese community itself.

List of Susuhunan (Kings) of Mataram

The kings of Mataram initially held the title panembahan and then the susuhunan, the title of sultan was only used in 1641-1645 during the reign of Anyokrokusumo.

Danang Sutawijaya (Panembahan Senopati) : 1586–1601

Raden Mas Jolang (Susuhunan Anyakrawati / Sunan Krapyak) : 1601–1613

Raden Mas Jatmika (Susuhunan Anyokrokusumo / Sultan Agung) : 1613–1645)

Raden Mas Sayyidin (Susuhunan Amangkurat I / Sunan Tegalarum) : 1646–1677

Raden Mas Rahmat (Susuhunan Amangkurat II / Sunan Amral) : 1677–1703

Raden Mas Sutikna (Susuhunan Amangkurat III / Sunan Mas) : 1703–1704

Raden Mas Darajat (Susuhunan Pakubuwono I / Sunan Ngalaga) : 1704–1719

Raden Mas Suryaputra (Susuhunan Amangkurat IV / Sunan Jawi) : 1719–1726

Raden Mas Prabasuyasa (Susuhunan Pakubuwono II / Sunan Kumbul) : 1726–1742

Raden Mas Garendi (Susuhunan Amangkurat V / Sunan Kuning) : 1742–1743

Raden Mas Prabasuyasa (Susuhunan Pakubuwono II / Sunan Kumbul) : 1743–1749

Mataram was divided in 1755, as a result of the Third Javanese War of Succession. The incident is referred to in Javanese as 'Palihan Nagari'.

Legacy

The Mataram Sultanate was the last major native polity in Java prior the kingdom broke into of courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, and the princedom of Mangkunegaran and Pakualaman, and prior the island was completely ruled by the Dutch. For some Central Javanese, especially those hailed from Yogyakarta and Surakarta city, the Mataram Sultanate, especially Sultan Agung's era, was remembered with pride as a glorious past, as Mataram become the regional hegemon after Majapahit, almost completely unified Java island, and almost succeed to drive the Dutch out of Java. However, for those of former Mataram's rivals or vassals; East Javanese Surabayan, Madurese and Blambangan, also Priangan and Cirebon of West Java, Mataram era is remembered as the era of Central Javanese overlordship over them, marked with authoritarianism and arbitrariness of feudal Javanese regime. In the future this would lead to interregional Madura – Central Java animosity. Also to some degree, Priangan–Mataraman rivalry. Within Mataraman realm, the disintegration of the Mataram Sultanate into several competing Keratons, also would lead to Surakarta–Yogyakarta rivalry.

In art and culture, the Mataram Sultanate has left an everlasting mark in Javanese culture, as many of Javanese cultural elements, such as gamelan, batik, kris, wayang kulit and Javanese dance were formulated, codified and took its present form during this period, inherited and preserved diligently by its successor keratons. During the height of the Mataram Sultanate in the first half of the 17th century, Javanese culture expanded, much of Western and East Java region are being Javanized. Mataram's campaign on Eastern Javanese principalities such as Surabaya and Pasuruan expanded Mataraman influences on Java. Mataram expansion includes Sundanese principalities of Priangan highlands; from Galuh Ciamis, Sumedang, Bandung and Cianjur. It was during this period that Sundanese people were exposed and assimilated further into Javanese Kejawen culture. Wayang Golek are Sundanese taking on Javanese Wayang Kulit culture, similar shared culture such as gamelan and batik also flourished. It is probably during this times that Sundanese language began to adopt the stratified degree of term and vocabulary to denote politeness, as reflected in Javanese language. In addition, Javanese scripts also used to write Sundanese as cacarakan.

In political aspect, the incessant war of succession, treason, rebellion and court intrigue of Javanese Mataram keraton during the last period of its history, has made Mataram being remembered in quite unflattering way. Combined with Javanese behaviour, such as obsession with elegance and refinements (Javanese: alus), subtleness, politeness, courtesy, indirectness, emotional restraint and consciousness to one's social stature, has made Mataram politics quite complicated, intricate and deceitful. As the result the negative aspects of Javanisation of contemporary Indonesian politics, such as dishonesty, deceptive, treacherousness, rigidity of social hierarchy, authoritarianism and arbitrariness, accompanied by fondness of status display and arrogance, is often attributed to and called as "Mataramization". A typical negative description of priyayi behaving like the member of Javanese upper class.

Catur Sagotra

Catur Sagotra means four entities that still have a single root kinship, referring to the royal families who succeeded the Islamic Mataram dynasty. These kingdoms are Kasunanan Surakarta, Kasultanan Yogyakarta, Kadipaten Mangkunagaran, and Kadipaten Pakualaman.

The formation of Catur Sagotra began in 2004. King of Surakarta Sri Susuhunan Paku Buwono XII (before he died) once gave the mandate to Mrs. Nani Soedarsono to continue the noble ideals of Catur Sagotra. Catur Sagotra is a joint idea of the four Javanese kings at that time, namely Sri Susuhunan Paku Buwono XII, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX, Sri Paku Alam VIII and Sri Mangku Nagoro VIII. The purpose of Catur Sagotra is to unite the four breeds in the bonds of the same cultural philosophy and historical linkages of Mataram's ancestors.