Decline
By 1625, Mataram was the undisputed ruler of Java. However, its military strength did not deter Mataram’s former overlords from rebellion. Pajang rebelled in 1617, and Pati rebelled in 1627. Following the capture of Surabaya in 1625, expansion halted as the empire was beset by rebellions. In 1630, Mataram crushed a rebellion in Tembayat (southeast of Klaten) and in 1631-36, Mataram had to suppress the rebellion of Sumedang and Ukur in West Java. M. C. Ricklefs and H. J. De Graaf argued that these rebellions in the later part of Sultan Agung’s reign were mainly due to his inability to capture Batavia in 1628-29, which shattered his reputation of invincibility and inspired Mataram’s vassals to rebel. This argument seems untenable for two reasons. Rebellions against Sultan Agung began as far back as 1617 and occurred in Pati even during his peak of perceived invincibility, after his conquest of Surabaya in 1625. Secondly, his military failure to capture Batavia was not seen as political failure from the Javanese point of view.
Read more about this topic: Sultan Agung Of Mataram
Famous quotes containing the word decline:
“I rather think the cinema will die. Look at the energy being exerted to revive it—yesterday it was color, today three dimensions. I don’t give it forty years more. Witness the decline of conversation. Only the Irish have remained incomparable conversationalists, maybe because technical progress has passed them by.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)
“The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time.”
—Luis Buñuel (1900–1983)
“Families suffered badly under industrialization, but they survived, and the lives of men, women, and children improved. Children, once marginal and exploited figures, have moved to a position of greater protection and respect,... The historic decline in the overall death rates for children is an astonishing social fact, notwithstanding the disgraceful infant mortality figures for the poor and minorities. Like the decline in death from childbirth for women, this is a stunning achievement.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)