The Java war, 1825-30 : some Javanese aspects, including an excerpt from the Babad Dipanegara of the bupati of Purwaredja

Abstract

The story of the Java War (1825-30) and of prince Dipanegara, who led the Javanese forces against the Dutch, has been recounted many times. Very full accounts are to be found in Bahasa Indonesia and Dutch, while brief but adequate summaries are to be found in English language works. The field would seem to be so thoroughly covered that further study could scarcely reveal anything else of interest. Yet one aspect of the Java War - the Javanese view - has been neglected« Few attempts have been made to understand Javanese attitudes to prince Dipanegara. the causes of the war,and the Dutch, Yet the means for exploring Javanese attitudes have been readily available in the form of several babads (Javanese historical books) of the Java War. In this work the author has attempted to discover how the period prior to the outbreak of the war, and the principal protagonist, Pangeran Dipanegara, were seen by contemporary Javanese. To do this, the Babad Dipanegara of the bupati of Purwaredja was used. The first nine cantos of this babad have provided an interesting and uniquely Javanese account of the events that led to the beginning of the war, as well as other important aspects of the war and Dipanegara’s part in it. From the value of the small excerpt of the babad used in this work, one can gauge the importance of the large number of babads that remain neglected. This work thus merely points the way to further studies of the babads of the Java War.