THE JOYOBOYO PROPHESY FROM JAVA, INDONESIA

     In Indonesia there is a well known prophesy called the Jojoboyo prophesy.  Joyoboyo is a king from Kediri kingdom in east Java who ruled since 1135 AD to 1157 AD.  At the time Kediri was a major power in Southeast Asia.  Javanese literature flourished in this era.  Empu Sedah and Empu Panuluh translated Indian epic of Mahabharata from Sanskrit into old Javanese language.  This work will develop later into Javanese traditional theater called wayang kulit and wayang wong.  Empu Panuluh also wrote Gatotkacasraya and Hariwangsa.  Empu Darmaja wrote Smaradahana.  The most well known work from this era is Jangka Joyoboyo or Joyoboyo prophesy. 

It predicted the future of JavaIsland, especially social and political events that will take place.  Amazingly the prophesy is accurate.  The prophesy uses metaphors so it is hard to interpret some parts of it.  But after it happened it will be easy to understand.  However, there is a controversy over it.  The language is modern Javanese language while Joyoboyo lived in the 12^th century.  All books written in that era must have used old Javanese language.  So maybe someone else wrote it but he / she used the name of the king to gain popularity.  Probably Joyoboyo or his writers never wrote it.  They even never knew its existence.  Whoever the writer was, the content is interesting for its accuracy.  Here are its main points in brief.

The most well known part of it is the prediction on colonialism.  It predicted that someday JavaIsland will be occupied by white buffalo for a long time.  The fact is Java and the whole Indonesia was occupied by the Netherlands for about three centuries.  Then it predicted that the white buffalo will be defeated by small people from the north who bring black sugar cane as their weapon.  They will rule over Java for a brief period, as brief as the life cycle of corn.  The fact is the Netherlands colonialism was wiped out by Japanese armed forces.  Indonesia was occupied by Japanese army from 1942 to 1945.  People interpreted black sugar cane as rifle.  The Japanese are not as tall as the European. And Japan is in the north east of Indonesia.  So the prophesy is accurate.

Then there is also prediction on physical and social changes that will take place.  It predicted that JavaIsland will have iron belt. Some people said iron necklace.  Today people interpreted the iron belt or necklace as railway.

It also predicted that someday in the future there will be coach without horses and ships will sail in the sky and the earth will shrink.  The fact is now we have cars and airplanes consequently distance is not a problem.  Now people say that it’s a small world. 

The social change is also predicted.  It says that people will focus on materialism.  They will forget religion and morality.

It also predicted the moral decadence.  It says that women will loose their shyness.  There will be many widows who give birth.  There will be many husbands who forget their family.  Many people will break their promises.  People will hate religion.  They will break God’s law.  Many people will act as if they were holy.  There will be prostitution. 

In politics, it says that the king will not be just.  The ruler will be unreliable.  Good people will be rejected and the evil ones will hold high positions.  The real clean will be isolated and the bad ones will rise to the top.  Then someday there will be a great war from every direction.  By the end it predicted that the Javanese people will remain only a half and the Chinese people will left only a couple.  This part remains a mystery.  Perhaps there will be a third world war.  With today’s nuclear arsenal the consequences will be catastrophic.  The victims will be enormous.  The prophesy said that the Javanese will remain a half and the Chinese will remain a couple.  We never now when it happened since the prophesy does not give description about the year.