Tantu Pagelaran or Tangtu Panggelaran is an Old Javanese manuscript written in the

Kawi language Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

that originated from the 15th century

Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia ...

period. The manuscript describes the mythical origin of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

island.

Legend of moving Meru to Java

The manuscript explained that

Batara Guru Batara Guru (also called Bhattara Guru, Debata Batara Guru and Batara Siwa) is the name of a supreme god in Indonesian Hinduism. His name is derived from Sanskrit ''Bhattaraka'' which means “noble lord".R. Ghose (1966), Saivism in Indonesia dur ...

(

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

) ordered the god

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp ...

and

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

to fill the island of Java with human beings. However at that time Java island was floating freely on the ocean, ever tumbling and always shaking. To make the island still, the gods decided to nail the island upon the earth by moving a part of Mahameru in Jambudvipa (

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

) and attaching it upon Java. The god

transformed into a giant

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

and carried a part of mount Meru upon his back, while the god

transformed into a giant

naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Ri ...

serpent and wrapped his body around the mountain and giant turtle's back, so the Meru mountain can be transported safely to Java. Initially the gods placed the holy mountain on the first part of Java they had arrived upon, which is the western part of Java. However the enormous weight of the Meru mountain had tilted the island and caused the imbalance; the eastern end of Java had risen up high. The gods decided to move the mountain eastward; by doing so the gods had scattered the mountain fragments and created the

volcanoes A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

and mountainous regions spanned from west to east along Java. When the main part of the Meru mountain attached upon the eastern part of Java, the island was still tilted and not well balanced, this time it was the western part of that Java rose up. To make the island balanced, the gods cut a small tip and placed in northwest part of East Java. The tip become Mount Pawitra that today identified with

Mount Penanggungan Mount Penanggungan is a small stratovolcano, immediately north of Arjuno- Welirang volcanic complex in East Java province, Java island, Indonesia. Mount Penanggungan is about 40 kilometers (24.8 mi) south of Surabaya, and can be seen from there ...

, while the main part of Meru mountain became

Semeru The Semeru ( jv, ꦱꦼꦩꦺꦫꦸ), or Mount Semeru ( jv, ꦒꦸꦤꦸꦁꦱꦼꦩꦺꦫꦸ (Pegon:, Gunung Semeru), is an active volcano located in East Java, Indonesia. It is located in a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian plate ...

volcano and became the abode of Lord

. When Sang Hyang

arrived at Java, he saw so many ''Jawawut'' plants, thus the island named Java. Vishnu became the first ruler of Java and incarnated as the king named Kandiawan. He brought civilizations and upheld order and managed government, social, and religious matters.

Interpretation

The mountainous

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

nature and geographic conditions of

and

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

corresponds and is suitable with

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

mythology.

Hindu cosmology Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who all ...

believed that

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...

or Mahameru is the abode of gods and connected the realm of mortals with

svarga Svarga (), also known as Indraloka and Svargaloka, is the celestial abode of the devas in Hinduism. Svarga is one of the seven higher lokas ( esoteric planes) in Hindu cosmology. Svarga is often translated as heaven, though it is regarded to b ...

, the realm of gods. People of

and

still revere mountain as the abode of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

s, Devata,

Hyang ''Hyang'' ( Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese) is a representation of the Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology. This spiritual entity can be either divine or ancestral. The reverence for this spiritual entity can be foun ...

, and other spiritual beings. The legend that mentioned that the island of Java is occasionally shaking is interpreted as the traditional native way to explains the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

natural phenomena.

Notes

References

*Dr. R. Soekmono, ''Pengantar Sejarah Kebudayaan Indonesia'' (Cultural History basic of Indonesia), Yogyakarta, Kanisius, 1973 {{in lang, id Kakawin Hindu texts