Hayam Wuruk

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Hayam Wuruk

King Hayam Wuruk born in 1334, the year that Gajah Mada declared his oath Sumpah Palapa. Hayam Wuruk means "scholar rooster". He was the son of Tribhuwana Tunggadewi and Sri Kertawardhana or Cakradhara. His mother was the daughter of Raden Wijaya founder of Majapahit, meanwhile his father was the son of Bhre Tumapel lesser king of Singhasari. Both Pararaton and Nagarakretagama praised Hayam Wuruk as a handsome, bright, talented, and exceptional student in courtly martial art of archery and fencing, also mastering politics scriptures, as well as arts and music. He was known as an accomplished ceremonial dancer in the court. Some accounts report about Hayam Wuruk performances in a traditional ceremonial Javanese mask dance. His mother, Queen Tribhuwana educate and groom him to become the next monarch of Majapahit.

The Reign

In 1350 Gayatri Rajapatni died in her retirement at a buddhist monastery, she was the consort of Raden Wijaya, the first king of Majapahit, also the grandmother of Hayam Wuruk. Queen Tribhuwana had to descend from the throne because she ruled Majapahit under Rajapatni's auspices, and she must relinquish her throne to her son.
Hayam Wuruk inherited the throne in 1350 at the age of 16, when the patih (prime minister) Gajah Mada was at the height of his career. Under his rule, Majapahit extended its power throughout the Indonesian archipelago.
According to Pararaton and Kidung Sunda, in 1357 King Hayam Wuruk was supposed to be married to Dyah Pitaloka Citraresmi, the princess of Sunda Kingdom. The reasons of this royal engagement was probably a political one, to foster alliance between Majapahit and the Sundanese Kingdom. However in the Bubat incident, the Sunda royal family and their guards was involved in skirmish with Majapahit troops. The planned royal wedding ended in disaster with the death of the princess and the whole of Sunda royal party. The court officials blamed Gajah Mada, because it was his intention to demand submission from Sunda Kingdom that ended in bloodshed.
Several years later Hayam Wuruk wed his cousin, Paduka Sori. In 1365 (or 1287 Saka year), Mpu Prapanca wrote kakawin Nagarakretagama, the old Javanese eulogy for King Hayam Wuruk. The manuscript described Hayam Wuruk's royal excursion around Majapahit realm, villages, holy shrines, vassal kingdoms and territory in East Java.
From Queen Sori, Hayam Wuruk had a daughter Kusumawardhani, a crown princess who later married to a relative, Prince Wikramawardhana. However from a consort concubine Hayam Wuruk had a son, Prince Wirabhumi. After Hayam Wuruks death in 1389, the empire went into chaos and decline caused by the contest of succession between Wikramawardhana and Wirabhumi, which ended in Wirabhumi defeat in Paregreg war. Wikramawardhana succeeded Hayam Wuruk as the King of Majapahit.

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