The Laksamana ( Jawi: ) is a position within the armed forces, similar to the position of

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

sultanates and in present-day countries like

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Since South East Asia was part of

Indosphere Indosphere is a term coined by the linguist James Matisoff for areas of Indian linguistic and cultural influence in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is commonly used in areal linguistics in contrast with Sinosphere. Influence The Tibeto-Burma ...

Greater India Greater India, or the Indian cultural sphere, is an area composed of many countries and regions in South and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture, which itself formed from the various distinct indigenous cultures ...

since earlier, during and after the Hinduised

Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...

empire, Hindu titles based on Sanskrit were used. The word Laksamana originated from ''

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

'', a figure in the Hindu epic of

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

Malacca Sultanate

The Laksamana in the

Malacca Sultanate The Malacca Sultanate ( ms, Kesultanan Melaka; Jawi script: ) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parameswa ...

was in charge for the sea security of the Sultanate, and most importantly, the China-India trade route within the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

. That trade route was the lifeline of the Empire. He was in full command of the Malaccan fleet, outranked only by the

Bendahara Bendahara ( Jawi: بنداهارا) is an administrative position within classical Malay kingdoms comparable to a vizier before the intervention of European powers during the 19th century. A bendahara was appointed by a sultan and was a heredit ...

and the Sultan. Malacca's most famous Laksamana is

Hang Tuah Hang Tuah ( Jawi: , /tuah/ or /toh/) is said to have been a warrior who lived in Malacca during the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah in the 15th century. There is limited historical evidence for his existence. However, he was supposedly a great laks ...

Modern-day usage

Navy and coast guard

In modern times, the word refers to a rank in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

(by the

Royal Brunei Navy The Royal Brunei Navy ( ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei, abbreviated TLDB) is the naval defence force of Brunei Darussalam. It is a small but relatively well-equipped force whose main responsibility is to conduct search and rescue missions and ...

), in

(by the

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol I ...

and

Indonesian Maritime Security Agency The Indonesian Maritime Security Agency ( id, Badan Keamanan Laut Republik Indonesia – Bakamla) is a maritime patrol and rescue agency of the Republic of Indonesia. Bakamla is a non-ministerial government institution which reports directly to t ...

) and in

(by the

Royal Malaysian Navy The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN, ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia; TLDM; Jawi: ) is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defense operations. RMN's area of o ...

and

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency ( Abbr.; MMEA; ms, Agensi Penguatkuasaan Maritim Malaysia – ''APMM''); formally known as Malaysia Coast Guard for international identification, is the coast guard organisation of Malaysia, and princip ...

). The common grades for "Laksamana" title are: # (, a five-star rank used by

) # (, a five-star rank used by

) # (, a four-star rank) # (, " Vice Admiral", a three-star rank) # (, "

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

", a two-star rank) # (, a one-star rank,

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

)

Surname

''Laksamana'', along with its

Hispanicized Hispanicization ( es, hispanización) refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is il ...

forms ''Lacsamana'' and ''Laxamana'', is a

family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

among the

Pampangan people The Kapampangan people ( pam, Taung Kapampangan), Pampangueños or Pampangos, are the sixth largest Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, numbering about 2,784,526 in 2010. They live mainly in the provinces ...

of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and their descendants.

Reference

History of Pampanga Indonesian Navy Military history of Malaysia Malay culture ms:Laksamana {{SEAsia-hist-stub

Malacca Sultanate

Modern-day usage

Navy and coast guard

Surname

See also

Reference