CARUBAN NAGARI and CIREBON

A. G. Maisey · 24th June 2009, 01:11 AM

And there Pak Ganja, you have identified our problems beautifully.

Gather together any number of academics with expertise in early Javanese history, and you will probably finish up with more than one opinion from each academic in respect of any question.

The whole fabric of history, not just Javanese history, is riddled with doubt.

As they say:- victors write the history books.

Then there is the input from popular belief, legend and myth.

Look at current era history:- we even have multiple versions of events that occurred within the last year. Go back 50 years and who knows what really happened? Go back to the 15th century? Good luck!!

My position in respect of early Javanese history is that all the stories are interesting, many probably have a kernel of truth, but none should be accepted as absolute, iron clad fact. However, if we look at all the versions, we can usually get a feel for the overall situation of the society at that time, and that is where history is useful.

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24th June 2009, 01:11 AM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,013	And there Pak Ganja, you have identified our problems beautifully. Gather together any number of academics with expertise in early Javanese history, and you will probably finish up with more than one opinion from each academic in respect of any question. The whole fabric of history, not just Javanese history, is riddled with doubt. As they say:- victors write the history books. Then there is the input from popular belief, legend and myth. Look at current era history:- we even have multiple versions of events that occurred within the last year. Go back 50 years and who knows what really happened? Go back to the 15th century? Good luck!! My position in respect of early Javanese history is that all the stories are interesting, many probably have a kernel of truth, but none should be accepted as absolute, iron clad fact. However, if we look at all the versions, we can usually get a feel for the overall situation of the society at that time, and that is where history is useful.