Talk:Kings of Indonesia

By Vishal Agarwal

About 85% of the population of Indonesia today is Muslim, and it has the largest number of Muslims of any country in the world. Only about 2% of Indonesians today are Hindus, and form a majority on the beautiful island of Bali. However, most people of the country follow Hindu culture. The national airline of Indonesia is called ‘‘Garuḍa Air’’ after the mount of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Most people have Sanskrit names (with a little modification). A very large percentage of the words in their languages are derived from Sanskrit.

Many ancient Hindu scriptures like the Bṛhaspati Tattva and Gaṇapati Tattva were written in Indonesia many centuries ago. Indonesians believe that Hindu dharm was brought to their country by none other than Ṛṣi Agastya. There are many ancient Hindu temples in Indonesia, like the Śiva temple at Prambanan. In many major cities like Jakārtā (the capital), one can see giant carvings from Hindu scriptures like Kṛṣṇa teaching the Bhagavad Gītā to Arjuna. The Indonesian embassy in Washington DC (USA) has installed a beautiful 16-foot tall statue of Devī Sarasvatī in a park.

One of the reasons why Indonesians follow the Hindu culture is that for many centuries, their country was ruled by Hindu kings. The most famous Hindu dynasty of Indonesia was the Majāpahit who ruled large parts of the country from their capital on the island of Java from 1293 to approximately 1500 CE. This dynasty was the first to unite the islands into one country that is today called Indonesia. After 1500 CE, the Majāpahit dynasty became very weak and lost many battles to Muslim kingdoms on the western half of Java. Finally, the members of the royal family and many poets, scholars and other leaders of the empire fled to the island of Bali, which is still a Hindu island.

Even today, Muslim Indonesians show a great pride in the achievements of the Hindu Majāpahit empire. Many Muslims and others have even converted to Hindu dharm in recent years because they regard the Majāpahit empire as the golden period of the history of Indonesia. The flags of Indonesia and their navy are red and white in color because these two colors were found on the flag of the Majāpahit kings. The national motto of Indonesia is also derived from a great poet who lived in the Majāpahit empire. The currency bills of Indonesia show many pictures that are related to Hindu culture.