UNAIR NEWS – According to the legend of Ki Ageng Mahmuddin or commonly known as Mbah Bungkul, he was a Muslim ruler of an area in Surabaya during the 14th century AD. The lecturer of the Department of History Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Adrian Perkasa, S Hum MA, explained more about the legend or folklore and the historical inscription on Mbah Bungkul.
“There are no written references that could be used as a base for Mbah Bungkul’s life history, thus, the source was only came from spoken tradition or legends,” revealed Adrian, a PhD candidate at Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands.
According to him, in the legends, it was not known well how Mbah Bungkul’s acceptance to Islam and how he taught Islam in Surabaya. However, it was known that Mbah Bungkul held a contest in search of a son-in-law by throwing of a pomegranate to the river as offering.
“During the contest, finally the pomegranate ritual was obtained by Raden Paku or Sunan Giri, the most famous Wali Songo figure,” Adrian mentioned. Other folklores also mentioned that Mbah Bungkul is associated with Empu Supo who is known as heirloom maker.
“Investigating further to the Empu community of keris and heirloom makers who are alive today, they often connect their teaching from Empu Supo,” said Adrian. However, almost all northern coastal areas of East Java mentioned the existence of Empu Supo’s graveyard in its region, such as Lamongan and Tuban. Thus it has not yet been clear the truth regarding Mbah Bungkul and Empu Supo as the same person.
The Trowulan or Canggu Inscription originated from King Hayam Wuruk narrated some villages that have tax-free privileges, have access to the kingdom and are free to perform worships. “These villages are located at the large rivers of East Java, such as Brantas and Bengawan Solo,” Adrian revealed.
It was also known that those villages performed five daily prayers. “It indicates that Islam has existed in the Bungkul area since Majapahit’s golden era during the Hayam Wuruk reign,” he continued.
“Ki Ageng Bungkul as the leader had a special role so he could have privilege during the Majapahit golden era,” explained Adrian.
During that period, the strategic geographic location of Bungkul and the close location by the river flow cause various advantages. From the economic side, before Daendels built the roadways, the river was a strategic economic area because it was the main road of trading activities.
“Religiously, the Bungkul area is very strategic in the spread of Islam teaching; it can be seen from the existence of folklores that mentioned him as the father-in-law of Sunan Giri, and also the existence of Adipati and Demang’s graveyard in Mbah Bungkul graveyard complex,” he said.
Adrian said that studying history is important. “By studying Islamization happened in the past, God’s willing, we can achieve wisdom to avoid history anachronism,” he messaged.
Islam did not come just like that massively and replace every religion in Indonesia, but it was through a long process since the Majapahit kingdom period. “It shows how central Wali Songo and their teachings in spreading Islam so it could be a dominant religion today,” he explained.
Author: Thara Bening
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
