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“Although the King has a south Indiansounding Sanskrit name, his grandfather, the chief credited with founding the dynasty, is clearly indigenous Javanese: he is called Kadungga, implying that the same family dynasty continued to rule while changing their names and court language. The transformation, in other words, came not with the sword or conquest but peacefully, possibly with intermarriage, as local chieftains took on the Brahmins’ new religion and, with it, new Hindu names, titles and rituals. The adoption of Indian practices, in other words, came voluntarily over generations, with conversion and influence, and not by conquest and military subjection, as earlier Indian historians once believed.” — William Dalrymple
Although the King has a south Indiansounding Sanskrit name, his grandfather, the chief credited with founding
the dynasty, is clearly indigenous Javanese: he is called Kadungga,
implying that the same family dynasty continued to rule while changing
their names and court language. The transformation, in other words, came
not with the sword or conquest but peacefully, possibly with intermarriage,
as local chieftains took on the Brahmins’ new religion and, with it, new
Hindu names, titles and rituals. The adoption of Indian practices, in other
words, came voluntarily over generations, with conversion and influence,
and not by conquest and military subjection, as earlier Indian historians
once believed.