Religion live in Majapahit Kingdom and culture

There were three groups of disciples in the Majapahit Kingdom, they were the disciples of Resi, the disciples of Shiva, and the disciples of Buddhism. The three groups of people were called Tripaksa.

In his book, Sutasoma, Empu Tantular tried to unite the three groups by stating that the three religions were actually the same. He suggested a philosophical saying, ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, tan Hana dharma mangrawa’, which means “unity in the diversity, there is not two-sided truth, but in essence, they were one, so the disciples should not have different attitudes.

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The government managed religious order by appointing officials whose duty was to regulate religious life – the officials were called Dharmadhyaksa and were assigned to each religion.

Hayam Wuruk attempted to enforce the order of Tripitaka by warning the people to obey the rules as well as possible. The absence of crime gave a feeling of security to the people and hermits. The actions were taken to create national stability in the Majapahit Kingdom.

Majapahit culture
In this book, Negarakertagama, Empu Prapanca depicted the custom in Majapahit. He described what he saw by himself.

Every year, in the month of Phalguna, the minister, high-rank officials kings including the kings from outside Java came to see King Hayam Wuruk and pay their tributes to the king. On that occasion, the capital town of Majapahit, especially the markets were full of merchants who displayed their goods.

A procession was also held in which a tall status was carried around the town seven times. After that, people went to the hall of the palace, carrying offerings.

On the 14th the king was seated on a palanquin and carried around the town, escorted by high-rank officials and subordinate kings. The people greeted them along the way, the town square was full of decorated carts.

In the next month, Caitra, a military ceremony was held, attended also by the ministers, high-rank officials, and religious leaders. In the ceremony, the principles of the military called kapa-kapa were read. Some of the contents were: soldiers should not be greedy, they were not allowed to step on a forbidden road and were not allowed to take things belonging to a temple in order to keep the country prosperous.

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