30 Facts About Gajah Mada

Gajah Mada is credited in Old Javanese manuscripts, poems, and inscriptions with bringing the empire to its peak of glory.

Gajah Mada delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to rest until he had conquered all of the Southeast Asian archipelago of Nusantara for Majapahit.

Gajah Mada is considered an important national hero in modern Indonesia, as well as a symbol of patriotism and national unity.

Much of the modern popular depiction of Gajah Mada derives from the imagination of Mohammad Yamin in his 1945 book Gajah Mada: Pahlawan Persatuan Nusantara.

Gajah Mada found fragments of terracotta, one of which was a piggy bank in the form of the face of a man with a stocky face and curly hair.

Many people disagree with Yamin's opinion because it is impossible for the face of a figure as big as Gajah Mada to be displayed in a piggy bank.

Gajah Mada interpreted that Gajah Mada was depicted as Bima in wayang shadow-puppet shows, with a transverse mustache.

In popular depiction, Gajah Mada is mostly shown bare-chested, wearing a sarong, and using a weapon in the form of a kris.

Gajah Mada wears clothes and jewelry, bracelets, and an upper armband in the form of a snake-like Bima's.

The traditional Bima statue depiction associated with Gajah Mada was made at the end of Majapahit in the mid-15th century.

The similarity between the statue of Brajanata as the embodiment of Gajah Mada and the statue of Bima is not a coincidence, but there is an underlying conception that is developed along with the distance between historical events and their worshippers at a later time.

Not much is known about Gajah Mada's early life, but he was born into an ordinary family.

Later Gajah Mada helped the king return to the capital and crush the rebellion.

Gajah Mada's solution was to arrange for a surgeon to murder the king while pretending to perform surgery.

However, the Majapahit general Ra Kembar, a rival of Gajah Mada, preceded his arrival with his army to crush both rebellions.

Gajah Mada then sent the navy westward to attack the remnants of the thalassocratic kingdom of Sriwijaya in Palembang.

Gajah Mada then conquered the first Islamic sultanate in Southeast Asia, Samudra Pasai, and another state in Svarnadvipa.

Gajah Mada conquered Bintan, Tumasik, Melayu, and Kalimantan.

Gajah Mada retained his position as mahapatih under the new king and continued his military campaign by expanding eastward into Logajah, Gurun, Seram, Hutankadali, Sasak, Buton, Banggai, Kunir, Galiyan, Salayar, Sumba, Muar, Solor, Bima, Wandan, Ambon, Timor, and Dompo.

The special reverence to King Kertanegara of Singhasari demonstrated by Gajah Mada suggests that the mahapatih honoured the late king tremendously, and possibly the two are related.

Gajah Mada was given the task to go to the Bubat square in the northern part of Trowulan to welcome the princess as she arrived with her father and escort to Majapahit palace.

Gajah Mada took this opportunity to demand Sunda submission to Majapahit rule.

Gajah Mada stated that the Princess of Sunda was not to be hailed as the new queen consort of Majapahit, but merely as a concubine, as a sign of submission of Sunda to Majapahit.

Gajah Mada was promptly demoted and spent the rest of his days at the estate of Madakaripura in Probolinggo in East Java.

Gajah Mada died in obscurity in 1364, at the age of 74.

King Hayam Wuruk considered the power Gajah Mada had accumulated during his time as mahapatih too much to handle for a single person.

Gajah Mada's reign helped further Indianisation of Javanese culture through the spread of Hinduism and sanskritization.

The mask of Gajah Mada has been protected and brought to life every couple of years to unite and harmonize the world, this sacred ritual was intended to bring peace to Bali.

Gajah Mada's legacy is important for Indonesian Nationalism, and invoked by the Indonesian Nationalist movement in the early 20th century.

Universitas Gadjah Mada, in Yogyakarta is named in honour of Gajah Mada and was completed in 1945, and had the honour of being the first Medicine Faculty freely open to natives.