The Seen and Unseen Worlds in Java, 1726-1749: History, Literature and Islam in the Court of Pakubuwana II (Southeast Asia Publications Series) - Hardcover

Ricklefs, Merle C

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0824820525 ISBN 13: 9780824820527

Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2002

Synopsis

In this work Professor M.C. Ricklefs explores the nexus between religious belief and mundane behaviour in mid-eighteenth century Java - exploding widely accepted stereotypes about the role of Islam in Javanese civilisation as he does so. Pakubuwana II was a malleable 16-year-old who came to the throne under the religious influence of his pious and mystical grandmother Ratu Pakubuwana. He was shaped into the model mystic monarch, who eventually went to Holy War against the Dutch East India Company. Images of Javanese cultural history as a contest between Javanist and Islamic modes are shown to be unsustainable in the light of this vital period in Indonesian history. Islam is central to this story. This study rests upon a vast range of Javanese and Dutch sources. Readers will gain a unique sense of how members of the Javanese elite thought, prayed and performed at this time, when pre-colonial Javanese court culture was at its height. Professor M.C. Ricklefs is an acknowledged authority on Indonesian, and especially Javanese, history. His major books include Jogjakarta under Sultan Mangkubumi 1749-92 (1974), War, Culture and Economy in Java 1677-1726 (1993) and the standard reference A History of Modern Indonesia since c1300 (1981, 2nd edn 1993), the Indonesian edition of which (1991) is widely used in Indonesia. Professor Ricklefs held academic appointments at London University, All Souls College Oxford and Monash University before being appointed (1993) as Director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University.

About this title

About the Author

Merle Ricklefs is Director of the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University and one of the world's leading historians of Indonesia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0824820525
• ISBN 13: 9780824820527
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416