Maritime in the Literary Works during The Kaḍiri- Majapahit Period (XII –XVI Centuries)

Abstract

Kerajaan-kerajaan masa Jawa Kuno dikenal sebagai negara agraris. Meskipun demikian tidak menjadikan kerajaan-kerajaan tersebut hanya bergerak di bidang pertanian saja, tetapi juga di bidang kemaritiman. Informasi yang menjelaskan kehidupan dan aktivitas kemaritiman pada masa Jawa Kuno didapatkan dari data arkeologis dan tekstual berupa prasasti, berita asing, dan naskah. Data tekstual yang dipakai sebagai sumber, umumnya dibagi ke dalam sumber primer dan sekunder. Sumber primer dianggap sebagai data yang lebih akurat dibandingkan dengan sumber sekunder, karena merupakan dokumen penting dan ditulis pada masanya. Data tekstual yang dianggap sebagai sumber primer adalah prasasti dan berita asing (tambo Dinasti Cina dan berita dari orang Eropa terutama Portugis), sedangkan yang dianggap sumber sekunder adalah naskah terutama karya sastra. Tujuan dari penulisan ini adalah mengungkapkan berbagai hal terkait aktivitas kemaritiman pada masa Jawa Kuno, terutama yang digambarkan dalam karya-karya sastra. Ternyata dalam karya sastra dari masa Kaḍiri-Majapahit banyak menuliskan tentang hal-hal yang berhubungan dengan kemaritiman, baik jenis perahu, perahu karam, bajak laut, maupun aktivitas masyarakat pesisir. Metode yang dipakai dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif analisis dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Hasil dari kajian ini memperlihatkan bahwa karya-karya sastra meskipun dianggap sebagai data sekunder, namun dari tulisan karya sastra terdapat kebenaran data yang tidak didapatkan dalam data primer. The kingdoms of the Old Javanese period were known as agrarian. However, this does not make these kingdoms only engaged in agriculture but also the maritime sector. Much information that contains maritime culture and activities during the Old Javanese period was acquired from various archaeological and textual data such as ancient inscriptions, foreign records, and texts. Textual data used as sources segmented into primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are considered more accurate than secondary sources because the primary sources record many events written at that time. Textual data that are considered primary sources are ancient inscriptions and foreign evidence such as the Chinese Dynasty tambo and European records, mostly Portuguese. Meanwhile, secondary sources such as ancient manuscripts, mainly ancient literary texts. This study aims to reveal various affairs related to maritime activities in the Old Javanese period, especially those expressed and portrayed in ancient literature. By the initial study, ancient literature from the Kaḍiri-Majapahit period contains many things related to maritime culture, both types of watercraft, shipwrecks, pirates, and the activities of the people who lived in the seacoast environment. The method used in this study is descriptive analysis with a qualitative approach. This study shows not much description of the maritime culture in Old Javanese inscriptions as the primary sources. However, it figures prominently in literary texts that contained many interesting facts. Historical information about maritime affairs in the Old Javanese period can be interpreted in more detail with supplementary information from literary texts as secondary sources

Similar works

This paper was published in Kapata Arkeologi.

Having an issue?

Is data on this page outdated, violates copyrights or anything else? Report the problem now and we will take corresponding actions after reviewing your request.