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| Lokapala - The Guardians of the directions |
When we look for the origin of the name 'Java', on Wikipedia we can find the narrative that "it can be traced to Sanskrit chronicles which mention the existence of an island called Yavadvip(a) ( dvipa means "island", and yava means "barley ” or also “grain”).
This explanation refers to what Thomas Stamford Raffles said in his book "The History of Java" (1965: p. 3). And it seems that this is the argument for the origin of the name 'Java' that has been most widely spread so far.
Ron Hatley provides another suggestion that the word 'Java' comes from a root word in Proto-Austronesian which means "home" ( " Mapping cultural regions of Java" in: Other Javas away from the kraton . pp. 1–32)
During that time, the term 'Java' by historical scientists was usually considered related and a form of phonetic change from the word "saba" which is often found in ancient records.
The word 'saba' is considered a transliteration of the term 'She-po' which is a toponym in ancient Chinese chronicles for a country in the southern sea region ( nan hai ) which we know as the archipelago or Indonesia today.
In line with this, Giovanni de Marignolli, a prominent Catholic traveler from Europe who traveled to China in the 14th century AD, stated in his travel notes that, when he was on his way home from China to return to Avignon (Italy), he decided to use the route sea, after previously using land routes to enter Chinese territory, which thus enabled him to stop by the archipelago and India.
On his return trip he said he took the time to visit the country of Saba mentioned in the holy book, which he discovered was still ruled by a queen.
He said the kingdom was located on the most beautiful island in the world. The walls of the palace are decorated with fine historical pictures; chariots and elephants are widely used, especially for the women; there is a very high mountain, called Gybeit or “Blessed One.”
The Queen treated the travelers well by presenting them with gold sashes; there were some Christians there.
Looking at Marignolli's notes, it can be assumed that the 'Saba' country he visited was Java, and the kingdom he visited was Majapahit, which at that time was led by Tribhuwana Tunggadewi immediately after King Jayanagara died.
This is in line with the facts shown in the Berumbung charter issued by Rani Tribhuwana Tunggadewi in the Saka year 1251, the month of Bhadra or around August-September 1329 AD. This time corresponds to the range of years of Marignolli's travels in Asia. (Berumbung Charter, 1329, alluded to by NJ Krom _in "Epigraphisce Aanteekeningen 239-258).
Dr. Maharsi in the Java Kawi Indonesia dictionary (Pura Pustaka, 2009) considers that the word "Saba" comes from the Javanese word Kawi, namely 'Saba' which means "meeting" or "meeting". Thus, according to him, the word can be interpreted as "meeting place".
In line with Dr. Maharsi, Fahmi Basya in his book "Indonesia Negeri Saba", interprets the word more as meaning "meeting place", "gathering place", or "gathering place of nations".
This is the information that has so far emerged in our literature regarding the origin of the name 'Java'.
Javanese and Javanese
Regarding the term 'jawi', William Edward Maxwell explains in " A Manual of the Malay Language: With an Introductory Sketch of the Sanskrit Element in Malay " that, 'jawi' comes from Arabic, formed in accordance with the Arabic grammar rules of the word Java / Java objects. Just like 'Makkah', 'Mecca', which gives rise to the derivation 'Makk-i' or 'maki'.
What is interesting, regarding the phenomenon of the term 'Jawi', William Edward Maxwell said that in ancient times there was a fairly large Malay and Javanese colony in Mecca, where all Meccans were known indiscriminately as Jawi. This is in line with my hypothesis in many previous articles - for example in the article: Discourse on the 'Yemeni Diaspora' - which revealed that in ancient times, people from the eastern region (specifically from the archipelago) who were skilled seafarers, had migrated and created colonies -colonies in the western region.
Apart from traces of them being found in the Middle East today (as stated by Maxwell above), other traces can also be found in Central Asia, and especially in Madagascar. I have discussed this in the article "Traces of Indonesian Traders in Central Asia in Ancient Times" .
The existence of quite large Malay and Javanese colonies in Mecca in ancient times, which is what Maxwell calls, is strongly related to the hypothesis I discussed in the article "Here are some ancient records that call the archipelago the land of Saba" .
In that article I reviewed that the claim of the Archipelago as "Negeri Sabah" which is only based on the consideration of the existence of several toponyms in the Archipelago which are considered similar to the name "Saba or Sabah", such as "Wonosobo, Sabah, and many more," will encounter serious difficulties when faced with similar objections and claims that there are also toponyms or ethnonyms identical to Saba in other parts of the world, which are "even" supported by more concrete evidence in the form of ancient manuscripts and various other artifacts.
For example "kebra nagast". An ancient record from the 14th century, which contains an explanation of how the Queen of Sheba (Queen Makeda of Ethiopia) met King Solomon and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with Menelik I (Menyelek). Regarding this, David Allan Hubbard explained in his writing "The Literary Sources of the Kebra Nagast" (Dissertation. University of Saint Andrews, 1956).
There are also archaeological findings in the Yemeni region (southern Arabia) regarding the existence of the Saba kingdom in that region in ancient times. As explained by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman (2007) in the book "David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition" which confirms that the country of Saba is located in Southern Arabia.
Facing more concrete facts like that, will cause the claim of "Nusantara as the Land of Sabah" to be vulnerable to being underestimated, or even considered as "pseudoscience" which is usually sarcastically called "compatibilityology" by netizens in cyberspace.
And this is also what I see, making historical scientists in Indonesia "impress" not too interested in discussing this theme. It could be said that they are in a position that considers the claim of "Nusantara as the Land of Sabah" to be unscientific, pseudoscientific, and that discussing it could potentially cause damage to their "scientific reputation or reputation of scientists"...
But actually, the claim "Nusantara as the Land of Sabah" is not a weak claim. There are many literary sources from ancient times that show the archipelago as the land of Sabah.
The term Nusantara as Sabah or Saba, apart from being able to find the transliterated form in many Chinese chronicles (namely She-po or Cho-po), we can also find it discussed in Ptolemy's "The Geography" notes which mention this region as Sabadeiba. Likewise in Giovanni de Marignolli's travel notes (which I discussed above).
In fact, considering the story narrated in the holy book that, the land of Saba was the land of Queen Balkis (wife of Prophet Sulaiman), then, we can also find the connection between the Land of Saba and the archipelago region revealed in the notes of Raja Ali Haji's "Tuhfat al- Nafis " Ibn Ahmad, which was later translated by Virginia Matheson and Barbara Watson Andaya (1982) with the title "The Precious Gift ( Tuhfat al-Nafis ) Raja Ali Haji Ibn Ahmad".
In the book it is revealed that . ..The Bugis kings who traveled west from Bugis land came from Sitti Mallangkik, Queen of a country called Luwu. Some Bugis traditions suspect that it originates from Princess Balkis, Queen of Sheba, who was the wife of the Prophet Solomon.
The determination of time zones in ancient times strengthened the Indonesia archipelago's claim to be the land of Saba
Apart from all these literary sources, I personally think that the hypothesis of the existence of a division of time zones in ancient times is an indisputable fact for the claim of "The Archipelago as the Land of Sabah". I have discussed this in the article " This is the reason why in ancient times the archipelago was called Sabah Country or Morning Country (Division of Time Zones in Ancient Times) ".
In this article, I outlined the hypothesis that in ancient times there was a concept of dividing time zones on earth according to the position of the sun in the sky. This is proven by the existence of traces of toponyms whose meaning can be said to be identical to the names of the times (morning, afternoon, evening and sunset), and which are located at evenly distributed longitude positions, namely each 45 degrees apart (or 3 hours apart).
Assuming that the apparent movement of the sun during the day from east to west forms an angle of 180 degrees (half the side of the globe), and by referring to the determination of the 0 degree meridian point at Greenwich (as is the agreement in force in the modern world today), then the division We can see that the time zones in ancient times were arranged as follows:
- The 06.00 hour zone (earliest sunrise) is at 180 degrees longitude – its position in the Pacific country of Tuvalu;
- The 09.00 (morning) zone is at 135 degrees longitude – the position of Eastern Indonesian Time;
- The 12.00 (noon) zone is at 90 degrees longitude – the position of Bangladesh/the Bay of Bengal region, and its surroundings;
- The 15.00 (afternoon) zone is at 45 degrees longitude – the position of Egypt, Iraq and its surroundings;
- The 18.00 zone (sunset) is at 0 degrees longitude, the position of Morocco or Greenwich and its surroundings.
The explanation is as follows...
After the sun rises in the east, then moves west, the sun takes 3 hours to arrive or rise in the Eastern Indonesia Region (WIT), it takes 4 hours to arrive and rise in the Central Indonesia Region (WITA), and it takes 5 hours for arrival and sunrise in the Western Indonesia Region (WIB).
So, when the sun rises in these three regions of Indonesia, at the same time at the eastern tip of the earth (Tuvalu) the clock shows: 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, and 11 o'clock. This is the reason why people in ancient times called the archipelago region the “Negeri Sabah”, which means “Land of the Morning”. We know that in Arabic "sabah" means "morning, which is identical to the word Fajr in Indonesian. In other words, Sabah or Subuh basically mean the same thing: Beginning of the Day, or morning.
Furthermore, it takes 6 hours for the Sun to move westward to arrive and rise in the area of 90 degrees longitude (Bangladesh and surrounding areas), so that at the same time, in Tuvalu it is exactly 12 noon. This region of Bangladesh was then called the "Land of Noon" or "Land of midday" by people in ancient times.
This is proven by the toponym "Madyanagar bazar" which is located right at the 90 degree longitude line in Bangladesh.
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| Toponym Madyanagar bazaar in Bangladesh (docpri) |
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| Madyanagar bazar is exactly at 90 degrees longitude (docpri) |
In Sanskrit the word "madhyaAhna" means noon or midday. Thus it can be assumed that the etiomological form of Madhyanagar comes from the word "madhyaAhna" which means "afternoon" or "midday"; and "nagar" which means "land". So, it is possible that in the past this area was called: "MadhyAhna Country" or "Noon Country" or "Midday Country".
The word 'bazar' in the toponym "Madyanagar bazar" means "market". So, overall, the meaning of "Madyanagar bazar" is more or less: "Middle Country Market".
In a review of another article " Finding (Recent) Traces of the Madyan, Aikah, and Rass People Mentioned in the Al-Quran ", I have also revealed that the people of the Prophet Syuaib named Madyan, who in the holy book are narrated to be punished by Allah due to cheating in Trading or buying and selling activities actually originate from this region. Strategically, their country is right in the middle between east and west, making their territory a market center that serves traders coming from the east and west.
Next, the sun takes 9 hours to move westward to arrive and rise in the area of 45 degrees longitude (Egypt, Iraq and surrounding areas), so that at the same time, in Tuvalu it is already 15 pm; and, It takes 12 hours to move westward to arrive and rise at 0 degrees longitude (Morocco, or Greenwich, and its surroundings), so that at the same time, in Tuvalu it is 18 pm/Maghrib.
To be more concise, to get a more detailed discussion regarding the area with a longitude of 45 degrees and the area with a longitude of 0 degrees, please read the article " This is the reason why in ancient times the archipelago was called Negeri Sabah or Negeri Pagi (Division of Time Zones in Ancient Times) ", or in the article " Finding Traces (Recent) of Madyan, Aikah, and Rass People Mentioned in the Koran ".
Thus, there are many facts from ancient times that can be a reference and at the same time strengthen the claim of the true "Nusantara as the Land of Sabah".
Personally, I am of the view that the existence of the Kingdom of Saba in Yemen (Southern Arabia) and the Kingdom of Saba in Ethiopia, is a manifestation of the migration or dispersal of the people of the archipelago in ancient times to the western region, who built new colonies there, while still using their original names or identities.
This is actually what Maxwell revealed that "in ancient times there was a fairly large Malay and Javanese colony in Mecca, where all Meccans were known indiscriminately as Jawi". The colony occupied the region of Yemen (Southern Arabia) where the kingdom of Saba once stood.
This region of South Arabia is where the "Thay People" lived, people who migrated from Southeast Asia who brought the culture of rice cultivation to the Arabian peninsula in ancient times. I have discussed this in the article "Thay, Ancient Tribes in Southeast Asia and the Arabian Peninsula: Pioneers of Rice Farming".