The meaning behind the discovery of the word “Sultan” engraved on a tombstone in Banten

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JAKARTA (ANTARA) – The recent discovery of a tombstone inscribed with the name of “Sultan” in Banten province has made a breakthrough in efforts to rewrite the history of Islamic civilization in Indonesia.

According to Sariyat Alifia, a researcher and author of the book “Fatahillah”, the tombstone with the name “Sultan Mahmud bin Sutun” engraved on it dates back to the 16th-17th century and does have archaeological evidence.

He said that while the sultan’s name had been mentioned in community histories in Banten and other parts of Java, the archaeological evidence found at Sultan Maulana Yusuf’s tomb was the first to be discovered.

Therefore, he said in a statement received on Wednesday that the discovery of the inscription “Sulthan Mahmud bin Sulthon” on the tombstone can be considered “a historical event.”

Arifia believes that this discovery is an important result of the joint efforts of historians and history enthusiasts from all parties.

The parties involved in the collaboration include Cikande’s “Fatahillah” history team, Aceh history enthusiasts – Masyarakat Peduli History Aceh (Mapesa), Banten heirloom clinic – Klinik Pusaka Banten, Lawang Agung Foundation and the Sultan’s royal descendant Banten Maulana Yusuf – Dzurriyat Sultan Maulana Yusuf.

Munawir, a calligrapher and member of Mapesa, read the inscription and found the following: On the top of the stele is written “The Judgment of Tauhid and Sulthan Mahmud bin Sulthon”. On the body of the stele is written “Muhammad bin Sulthan Yusuf” on the first line, “bin Sulthan” on the second line, and the third line is no longer legible due to its poor condition.

However, to complete the reading of the third line, Arya Purbaya, also a member of Mapesa, was sure that it was “Hasanuddin”, although Arifiya believed that due to the condition of the stone, the letters “nun” were incomplete and could not be read.

Although the public believes that Hasanuddin was the first Sultan of Banten, efforts to improve the status of the tombstone could help historians obtain more comprehensive evidence of this period of history.

For this reason, the tombstone needs to be specially preserved so that historians can interpret the text on the tombstone more comprehensively. This tombstone is the first tombstone in Java recorded so far with the name of the “Sultan” engraved on it.

Ariffia also said the tombstone had been carefully observed because the cemetery complex had been visited 13 times in the past three years in connection with his Fatahillah research project.

Together with a group of history enthusiasts, he collected data and read ancient tomb inscriptions from across Java, from Malik Ibrahim in East Java to Sultan Mahmud in Banten.

According to Ariffia, he and his team members have drawn and read epitaphs many times in Banten, and he can confirm that the tombstone in Banten does have the inscription “Sultan Mahmud”.

“We also conducted a thorough study of Fatahilla in Banten, following Claude Gillot’s four-year excavation,” he said.

Refer to João da Barros’s record of Fatahillah’s arrival in Banten in the Ten Books of Asia, which mentions that Fatahillah came from Pasay (in Aceh).

“In this context, we studied all the tombstones of the Pasay/Aceh type in Banten province, and the connection of Pasay or now known as Aceh to Banten, and their relationship to Cilabung in West Java, and other parts of Java, including the north and south coasts,” he said.

These studies, which took a long time to complete, allowed him and other historians to respond to the facts of the “colonization of history.”

He said he was eager to rewrite the country’s history to avoid the falsification and distortion of historical records by colonizers.

Meanwhile, Dzurriyat Panembahan Maulana Yusuf chairman Tubagus Safarudin (Sultan Plituk) expressed his appreciation for the recently discovered tombstone which is carved and inscribed with the name of “Sulthan Mahmud bin Sulthon”.

He believes that this discovery will be able to lift the “dark veil” that the Dutch colonists deliberately created through Christian Snooker Hegeronnier to mislead society for hundreds of years.

“The falsification of stories is ingrained into our society and has been going on for 500 years. So I am very grateful for this discovery,” he said.

Safaruddin urged relevant government agencies, especially the Cultural Heritage Protection Agency (BPCB), to take immediate steps to follow up on the discovery and consider its positive impact on Indonesian history.

Mapesa chairman Mizuar was also happy about the discovery of the inscription with the name of the Sultan of Banten.

“As far as we know in Mapesa, we have thoroughly studied and read the epitaphs on the tombstones of famous Muslim figures in Aceh. Especially for this tombstone in Banten, I asked Ariffia to study it carefully. Regarding the fact that the Banten tombstone was found, it is the only tombstone in Java so far with the word ‘Sultan’ engraved on it,” he said.

This discovery clearly sheds new light on the Islamic era of Java and will allow for further research projects to uncover the tombstones of many other important Muslim historical figures.

“We hope that there will be closer relations between historians and history enthusiasts in Indonesia to strengthen the study of Islamic historiography,” he said.

The discovery of Sultan Mahmud’s epitaph on a tombstone in Banten has laid a new foundation for enriching Indonesian Islamic civilization, strengthening the unity of the Indonesian people, and opposing the distortion of Indonesian history by the colonizers.