A Review of Khubilai Khan and the Beautiful Princess of

Tumapel, The Mongols Between History and Literature

in Java, by David Bade. A. Chuluunbat Publisher,
Ulaanbaatar, 2002, 9 appendices, 244 pages.

Dr. Alicia J. Campi


It is rare in a Mongolian historians lifetime that new primary sources on
the Mongol Empire period are brought to light. Perhaps archaeology will turn
up more materials in the 21
st
century, which will significantly alter or add to our
understanding of the period. When we do encounter such new sources,
possibilities for expanded avenues of research abound. David Bade, an
American librarian at the University of Chicago, has in fact given the
Mongolian researcher of history and culture new exciting material in this book
on the Mongol campaign to Java. Bades publication includes available, but
barely utilized, Javanese accounts and then analyses and compares them to each
other and the generally known Book 210 of the Yuan shi and the histories of
Rashid al-Din and other western writers. The contents of the Javanese sources
from literary and historical traditions allow Bade to also contemplate the
development of the historical Mongolian naval expedition into modern
Indonesian political consciousness through the literary reworking of a
tradition. (pg. 5)
Reading this book was one of the most exciting experiences this reviewer
has enjoyed in some time, because Bade has brought new facts and perspectives
from basically unknown primary accounts into the world of Mongol Studies.
He has found materials which speak out to us and shake up our conceptions of
Mongolian foreign policy under Khubilai Khanconceptions that are highly
molded by Chinese analysis. Although he has not discovered a new voice for
the Mongol side, Bade does present the point of view of the other side or
Javanese side which supposedly incurred and repelled the Mongol invasion:
The Javanese versions of the Mongolian expedition to Java present a view of
the Mongols which both challenges and enlarges the more widely known views
found in other Asian and European chronicles and eye-witness accounts, and
further study based on both traditionsJavanese and Chinesepromises to
enrich our understanding not only of the Javanese campaign, but also of
Khubilai, his reign, and the imperial period in general. (pg. 66)
Bades book comes to two rather spectacular conclusions:
1. The reason for the Mongol military sailing to Java was to help out its
allies--the Javanese--in an internal civil war, not to invade in anger over
an insult to a Mongol envoy.
2. The political role of Javanese princesses, omitted in its entirety from the
Yuan shi, is decisive in the Javanese records for explaining the breaking
of the Mongol-Javanese alliance and the Mongol retreat from Java.
It should be clearly said that Bade disclaims the intention to write a

philological treatise on the texts or to undertake an exhaustive historical study.
In his Preface he states that he wrote the book to introduce the Javanese version
of the events of 1293 to Mongolists in the way that Groeneveldt introduced the
Chinese version from the Yuan shih through his translations of relevant sections.
By exposing the Old Javanese sources to Mongol researchers, Bade sought to
bring this neglected tradition into Mongol studies. Another reason he became
interested in the Javanese accounts was that this historiographical tradition from
the past has been revived in Indonesia in the late 20
th
century and used for its
own nationalistic purposes. Finally, he wrote the book as a gift for my
Mongolian friends. (pp. 8-9)
The book is divided into three main parts. Part I discusses the mission of
Mongol envoy Meng-qi and his possible role in the subsequent Java campaign.
Part II, the heart of the book, which is very excellent and thought-provoking,
has three sections: 1) Chinese histories, 2) Javanese texts, and 3) Western
accounts and modern scholarship. Part III is of more interest to students of
literature and historiography because it explores literature as history and themes
such as unity, universality, justice, peace, kingship, love, war and women. The
concluding nine appendices are particularly invaluable because they provide the
English translations of the primary and literary sources on the Mongol invasion
of Java in a readable form for all to utilize.
Bade begins his examination of the Mongol-Javanese relationship by
telling the reader that the King of Tatar or Khubilai is called Sri Laksemana by
the Javanese (pg. 12). Actually this key fact is not clearly substantiated by
Bade and it is very important because one wonders if the confusion or
ambiguity in the Javanese sources is a mistake in identification between
Khubilai and one of the Mongol commanders of the military forces such as
Shih-pi, Ike Mese, or Kau Hsing. It is obvious that the King of Tatar himself
did not go to Java, but one of the generals who did may have called himself the
King of Tatar (as distinguished from his superior, the Emperor of Tatar).
Clarification of this point by Bade or others would be welcome.
In Part Is A History: The Mongol Campaign in Java the discussion
begins with the question why Java was the site of the Mongol expedition. This
leads into a discussion of how historians traditionally have focused on the
convenient concept of Mongol imperialism which sought control of the
maritime trade routes. Explanations for why Java include western and modern
theories about the Mongol attempt to control the spice trade; Khubilais desire to
eradicate remnants of the Sung army which may have fled to Java; Khubilais
need to impress or distract his Chinese subjects; Khubilais depression,
alcoholism and megalomania; or a spiritual war waged by the Javanese king
Kertanagara against Khubilai. Bade notes that the main Chinese and Javanese
sources mention none of these reasons, but rather offer very simple explanations
for the expedition: the Yuan shi says that the Mongol envoy Meng-qi was
branded on the face by Kertanagara, ruler of the Singhasari Kingdom in Java so
an expedition was sent for punishment, while the Javanese sources ALL state
that the Regent of Madura, Wiraraja, requested Mongol military assistance to
resolve a civil war. (pg. 15)

Bade reviews the different accounts in the various sources beginning with
the Chinese ones. He quotes from the Yuan shih and the Tong jian gang mu
that during a journey by the imperial envoy Meng-qi, the king of Java branded
him and sent him back to Khubilai. The timing of this visit is not clear. 1291
and 1289 are mentioned as possibilities. Curiously the biography of Meng-qi
in Book 160 of Yuan shih, like the early Javanese sources, does not include this
incident. (pg. 17) The purpose of Meng-qis trip then becomes a matter for
investigation. Bade discusses several likely reasons including Meng-qi was on
a trade mission; Meng-qi was a diplomatic envoy who demanded vassalage and
tribute for Khubilai; Meng-qi was a diplomat sent in response to a Javanese
campaign of anti-Mongol expansionism.
As part of his analysis, Bade reviews the nature of Chinese-Javanese trade
in the early years of Mongol rule and the growth of commerce in the Indianized
states of Southeast Asia. He includes Morris Rossabis commentary from his
biography of Khubilai Khan that two of the most important factors underlying
Yuan trade policy were the Mongol regard for artisanry and artisan goods, and
the lack of any negative opinions about traders. Bade notes that Rossabis
belief that the mission of Meng-qi and the military campaign in Java of 1292-93
were related to control of the spice trade in the southern archipelago is also
present in Indonesian literary texts of the 20
th
century (Babad Majapait first
published in 1935), but not found in any earlier Javanese sources. (pg. 20)
While agreeing that Mongol military manoeuvres to control piracy and capture
trade routes were plausible, he finds no documentation in contemporary Chinese
or Javanese sources. However, Bade does see some justification to the
argument that the Yuan wanted to control southern maritime trade to stem the
outflow of money, because by controlling the Javanese ports, the money would
be in Chinese hands coming and going and slow the depletion of the treasury.
Still, he found no sources which talk about the expedition as due to economic
factors. Bade specifically rejects Rossabis claim that Khubilai was trying to
wrest control of the spice trade from the Javanese King Kertanagara, arguing the
Arabs not Kertanagara controlled the spice trade and if Khubilai wanted control
he would have contested with the Arab merchants living in his own kingdom.
Moreover, the so-called branding of Meng-qi in fact did not stop trade relations
between the Mongols and the Javanese.
The Tong jian gang mu claims that Meng-qis mission was in fact
diplomatic and seeking Javanese submission. Bade reviews the analysis of
Denys Lombard (Le carrefour javanais: essai dhistoire globale, Tome II),
who believes that a new political structure developed around the emerging
power of the port city merchants in Sumatra and Java which intruded into
politics. (pg. 25) There is discussion of the tribute system signifying political
submission for the Chinese but a mere formality with economic but not military
consequences for the Javanese. Another intriguing possibility Bade explores is
that Kertanagara, King of Singhasari formerly known as Tumapel, was himself
engaged in an aggressive military campaign to unite the archipelago and
mainland southeast Asia. The author outlines the arguments of C.C. Berg in
the 1950s and 1960s which are incorporated by Rossabi in his biography of

Khubilai: The key elements in this picture are Kertanagaras fear of Khubilai,
his adoption of Tantric Buddhismlike Khubilaiin order to be spiritually
equal to the Mongol Emperor, and an aggressive campaign of military conquest
which he supposedly undertook to gain allies and power with which to meet
Khubilai far to the north rather than in Java. (pg. 29) Thus, Kertanagaras
expedition to southern Sumatra was not only to expand his own territory, but
also to prevent Khubilais influence from penetrating into Southeast Asia.
Lombards response to Bergs theory is to say that Kertanagaras military
policies were not directed against Khubilai, but in fact destabilized the entire
region and previous trade patterns, which is why Meng-qi was sent as an envoy.
(pg. 32)
Next Bade explores why Meng-qi would be branded by Kertanagara.
Assuming that Meng-qi was sent to Java to encourage trade, reaffirm vassalage,
and warn Kertanagara against military expansion, the reason for his ill treatment
is not mentioned by the Chinese sources. The modern Indonesian historians
postulate that Khubilai through Meng-qi demanded too much (the 1935
Sundanese poem Babad Majapait is nicely translated on pp. 34-35.) These
modern Indonesian texts state that the Mongol envoy was impolite and
arrogant and, equally, the diplomacy of Kertanagara was foolish.
The book then turns to an analysis of the early Javanese accounts which
offer a completely different reason for the arrival of the Mongols. These
medieval works, i.e. in the Pararaton, Kidung Harsawijaya, and Kidung Panji
Wijayakrama, relate that the sole reason for the Mongols arrival in Java is that
Khubilai was a friend of an ally of Kertanargara named Wiraraja, and Wiraraja
asked Khubilai to come to destroy Wirarajas enemy, Jayakatwang (who
usurped the throne of Kertanargara), and place another relative of Kertanargara
called Wijaya on the throne as rightful royal heir IN EXCHANGE FOR A
LOVELY PRINCESS OR TWO! (pg. 36) Bade notes that it is possible to
regard much of the material in the various old Javanese stories as romance or
unhistorical, but he believes that it is still worthwhile to compare the Chinese
and Javanese narratives in order to find a more complete picture of Mongol
activities in Java. His careful review of these old Javanese sources does in fact
expand and explain in a more logical fashion than in the Yuan shih the details of
the Mongol campaign.
Bade outlines the complicated politics in Java prior to the arrival of the
Mongols by citing the old Javanese accounts (the earliest is dated 1294), which
describe the reign of Kertanargara of Tumapel and his military campaigns in
Sumatra in 1275 that leave his realm defenseless against a coup by his rival
Jayakatwang of Daha. The King refused to listen to the advice of his minister
Wiraraja, who is labeled a friend of the King of Tatar (Khubilai), which leads to
Kertanargaras death or suicide. General Wijaya, nephew of Kertanargara and
himself from a kingly line, feigns allegiance to Jayakatwang all the while
waiting for the Mongol friends of Wiraraja to come to assist him in
overthrowing the Daha usurper. The various accounts usually include General
Wijaya marrying lovely princesses of Tumapel, who are later offered to
Khubilai as brides as reward for the Mongol Khans assistance. In one text

Wiraraja sends a message to Wijaya:
Tell your master that the emperor of Tatar is a friend of mine. I will take
the princess. Go back to Majapahit, messenger! After your return I shall
send a letter to Tatar by way of the Tatar boat which is here for trade. I have a
boat too and I will order it to get prepared to join them on their way to Tatar. I
will invite the Tatar Khan to attack Daha. If the king of Daha is defeated, the
beautiful princess of Tumapel whose beauty has no equal all over the land of
Java will be offered to the Tatar Khan. That will be my trap for the Tatar Khan.
Tell this to your master. Then I will join him in attacking Daha. (Phalgunadi
p. 111, see page 47)
Bade reflects that there are three ways to analyze commentary such as
quoted above: 1. To view the whole account as romantic fiction. 2. To
believe Wiraraja knew someone and asked him to take a message to Khubilai.
3. To believe the messenger who carried Wijayas offer of submission, a map
of the kingdom and request for assistance as stated in the Yuan shi as linked to
Wiraraja. The third alternative could then suggest that the Yuan shi and
Javanese accounts, although different in tone, actually refer to the same request.
The rest of Part I is devoted to a retelling of the story of the Mongol
expedition to Java. Our author reviews the details of preparation, which
principally come from the Yuan shih. The size and deployment of the troops
are discussed. Javanese sources agree with the Chinese on the three-pronged
attack against Daha, but there is little mention in these contemporaneous
accounts of any prior Mongol destruction of towns or inflicting terror. Rather,
the Mongol role is seen as a positive assistance to Wijayas conquest over
Jayakatwang. Only the Rangga Lawe [Bergs summary] describes the
Mongols destroying the city of Tuban and frightening the population (pg. 53).
Bede also looks at the biographies of Shi-bi and Gaoxing in Book 162 of the
Yuan Shih. He suggests that Wijayas request for assistance and offer of
submission noted in the Shi-bi biography may refer to the same event which the
Javanese sources describe as Wirarajas request.
The remaining major difference between the Javanese and Chinese
accounts is the role of the beautiful princesses and Wijayas refusal to give them
up to the Mongols as the reason for the rulers turning on his Mongol allies.
The Yuan shih does mention that family members including children of the
defeated usurper Jayakatwang were taken back to the Mongol court. (pg. 57)
The Javanese accounts all claim the King of Tatar, after expelling Jayakatwang,
came looking for the promised princesses from Wijaya, while the Chinese
accounts are silent as to the motivation behind sending troops to Majapahit after
defeating the common enemy. Yet, both types of primary sources are in close
agreement on military matters after the return in triumph of Wijaya to Majapahit:
The Mongols send a military escort which included Shi-bi toward Majapahit,
they are ambushed and defeated by the army of Wijaya. Shi-bi fights his way
back to his ship and returns to China. Bede notes the Javanese accounts are
much longer than the Chinese, and cover more that just the battle. The
Javanese records portray an elaborate deception planned by Wiraraja more than
Wijaya to entice the Mongol escort to seek the princesses and then turn on the

unsuspecting soldiers.
The outcome in the Javanese accounts runs from the utter destruction of
the Mongols resulting in the Tartars becoming the vassal of the powerful
kingdom of Majapahit, to a different beautiful Java virgin returning with the
King of Tatar to China, to the Kertanagara army which was on the Malay
mainland returning to Majapahit with two princesses from Malayu who marry
Wijaya. As for the Chinese sources, Shi-bi brings back much gold and other
booty, but because he did not fulfill his orders and lost so many men, he was
lashed and one-third (Yuan shih) or all (Tong jian gang mu) of his possessions
were confiscated. Gaoxing, though, because he disagreed with the decisions
taken by Shi-bi, was not punished but rewarded with 50 taels of gold. For
Bede such a reward would not be likely if the campaign was a total disaster. (pp.
63-64) To reinforce his argument that the Javanese reports of total defeat and
high casualties were inflated, he notes that the Mongol army leaders in the
Chinese accounts debate not whether they should revenge their losses by
fighting another battle, but argue about whether they should send another
messenger to Majapahit. The Yuan shih states that it was lack of consensus on
how to proceed that led to the decision to abandon the war and return home.
Furthermore, there is no archaeological evidence of Javanese cities wasted by
the Mongols, only contemporaneous accounts of Mongol and Javanese armies
fighting together against the usurper Jayakatwang, and undeniable Majapahit
prosperity under Wijaya before the Mongols, after them, and most importantly,
because of and thanks to them. (pg. 65)
Part II of this book, called Stories and histories, examines each text on
the Mongol expedition to Java, whether contemporaneous or modern, and
comments on their special features and the questions each raise. Bede
discusses the Chinese histories, the early Javanese poetical histories and
historical fictions, 20
th
century Javanese texts, and western and modern
Indonesian historical perspectives. This section of the book is particularly
valuable because it brings all the varied sources together, looks at their strengths
and weaknesses, and focuses attention on little known and examined accounts.
All Yuan scholars, even post-Khubilai, will find in this commentary an example
of how indigenous stories from Asian cultures in contact with or subject to
Mongol authority should be plumbed for historical perspectives. He maintains
that it is wrong to dismiss the romantic stories as of little or no historical value,
and states that many of the differences in the historical traditions are those of
omission not contradictions. (pg. 72) However, Bedes analysis is by no
means comprehensive, as he himself admits. He is looking at most of the
sources through the prism of translated and condensed texts, as well as without a
strong background in historical analysis and models. He has opened the door
and in the future it is hoped Mongolists will be willing to seriously research the
Javanese stories he has found.
The Chinese accounts include, naturally, the main narrative of Book 210 in
the Yuan shih and biographies of the generals in the campign found in Books
131 and 162. Bade also reviews the Tong jian gang mu as translated into
French by Mailla (1777), Luo Maodengs 16
th
or 17
th
century novel Xi yang ji,

the Ming shi, Ma Huans Ying-yai sheng-lan (1433), Wang Dayuans Daoyi
zhilue (1349) and others. The major differences which separate these Chinese
sources from the Javanese accounts are: 1) Kertanagaras mistreatment
(branding) of Meng-qi is given as the reason Khubilai sent the expedition; 2) the
lack of any comment on the events in Java before or after Meng-qis return until
the arrival of the Mongol force; 3) no mention of princesses; 4) the nature and
extent of the Mongols defeat. (pg. 69) Bade believes the Javanese chroniclers
may have known of Meng-qi but did not write about him because he was
irrelevant to what concerned the Javanese sidethe invitation of Wiraraja
seeking Mongolian assistance in the civil war. The Chinese historians,
however, likely emphasized the branding incident because it mattered most to
the Mongols. Bade feels the two versions can be reconciled, but if either
version is rejected, many questions arise as to why the histories were written as
they were.
As for the lack of comments in the Yuan shi about events in Java post-
Meng-qi and pre-Mongol expedition, this is explained by the likely absence of
Chinese historians in Java during that time. As for why the Chinese do not
speak of princesses, Bade suggests the Mongols and Chinese were unaware of
the centrality of the princesses to events unfolding in Java or that the
significance of the princesses is a later elaboration in the Java accounts. He
notes that Whether or not they mattered to the Mongols, whether Khubilai
sought to marry the princesses or not, the meaning of the princesses for the
Javanese is the fate of Java. (pg. 71) As for the extent of the Mongol defeat,
does the Yuan shi downplay the result or do the later Javanese texts exaggerate it?
Since no general was executed by Khubilai, Bade concludes that the Javanese
have exaggerated the extent of Mongol losses.
When Bade looks at the varied Javanese accounts, he recognizes that their
neglect by Mongol historians stems from lack of language and availability. He
notes that Sh. Biras book on sources for the study of early Mongol history
contains no mention of any Javanese texts and even Rossabis biography of
Khubilai Khan, while including material from Javanese accounts does not cite
them directly. Pre-20
th
century manuscripts have been found only in Bali or
Lombok, yet these texts became known to most literate Indonesians in the 20
th

century because the government was involved with sponsoring publication and
performances as part of promotion of Indonesian culture and history. Foreign
researchers of Indonesian history such as John Crawford, Raffles and
Groeneveldt have dismissed the old Hindu-Javanese texts as poetry or literature
not history, although Berg in the 1920s and 1930s did see these accounts as
valuable historical material. Bade discusses the controversies surrounding the
Balinese and Javanese historiographical traditions, particularly centering around
determining what is fact and what is fiction, propaganda and nationalistic uses
of the texts, and religious meaning for the writers and readers.
The early texts were written for diverse purposes and date from the year
after the Mongol campaign into the 16
th
century. They include various
inscriptions from the reigns of Kertanagara, Wijaya and later rulers, the
Desawarnana or Nagarakertagama (1365), the Pararaton (c. 1480), and Panji

Wijayakrama (Part 1 of Rangga Lawe (1543)). The Desawarnana poem was
unknown to western scholars until its discovery in 1894. It treats the
Singhasari period, the founding of the kingdom of Majapahit, and contains the
earliest Javanese reference to the Mongol army in Java. The poem calls the
Mongols by the name Tatar, the first time this name was used in the Javanese
language and was distinct from terms for China. (pp. 85-6) It does not
explain the reason for the Mongols coming to Java, but asserts the Mongols
united with Javanese to fight the good fight against the usurper prince and thus
set the spiritual world right.
The Pararaton is the earliest text which contains most of the material not
found in the Yuan shi. Later accounts such as Kidung Rangga Lawe and
Kidung Harsawijaya report the story in the Pararaton. This prose work,
originally ignored by historians as romance, is now widely regarded as history.
The Panji Wijayakrama (Rangga Lawe), used by both Raffles and Berg, is one
of the most important sources for the Singhasari-Majapahit era history. The
first part is the story of Wijaya from the events leading to the fall of Kertanagara
until Wijayas death. The second part is the story of Rangga Lawe and his
rebellion, after the departure of the Mongols. Raffles Balinese manuscript
contains several very favorable paragraphs on the Mongols.
The last older text Bade considers is the poem Kidung Harawijaya, edited
and published by Berg, which has a colophon dated 1843 and was found in Bali
in Middle Javanese language. The work is more about kingship and karma
than history and chronology, although it seems to be a version of the Rangga
Lawe. Bade turns to the 20
th
Century works from Java in both scholarly and
poetical-dramatic forms. These latter texts are interesting because they
incorporate both indigenous Javanese and Chinese sources, but still perpetuate
the earlier Javanese image of the Mongols. The first of three works analysed is
the Sundanese historical poem of 1935 and 1949 Babad Majapait, which
describes Khubilai as a friend but ends with the rout of the Mongols. The
Banjaran Singhasari in 1992 and the Banjaran Majapahit in 1993 were
produced and performed in Indonesia to commemorate the 700
th
anniversary of
the founding of the Majapahit Empire. Combining early Javanese accounts,
the Yuan shi and modern scholarship, they reflect an openly nationalist theme
designed to foster unity through pride in history. (pg. 95). These latter two
works do not mention the princesses, but instead relate the story of the branding
of Meng-qi as the reason for the Mongol expedition.
The last portion of this section of Bades book reviews the western and
modern Indonesian historiography regarding the Mongols in Java. He
mentions Rashid al-Din, Marco Polo (who does not mention the expedition), the
Journal of Friar Odoric, and the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta. He examines
historical references by Chinese specialists in Europe such as Gaubil, Mailla, de
Guignes, DOhsson, Howorth, Groenveldt, and Grousset. Bade notes the lack
of analysis in the histories of modern scholars who devoted themselves to the
Mongols including E.D. Phillips, J.J. Saunders, Weiers, Spuler, Nicolle, Benson,
Morgan, as well as Russian and Mongol historians. He reminds us that
military and naval historians of China also passed over the Mongol expedition

to Java with little or no comment. All of the modern literature used no sources
other than those based on the Yuan shi. This is true even of Niwa
Tomosaburos book, Chugoku-Jaba koshoshi, devoted entirely to Mongol-
Javanese relations during the Yuan period.
In his discussion of modern scholarship Bade particularly analyses C.C.
Berg, who wrote extensively on the political-religious theory of Kertanagaras
spiritual warfare with Khubilai which has had considerable impact on the
study of Javanese history and literature; Louis-Charles Damais work that
solved many chronological problems associated with the Mongol invasion; and
finally, Morris Rossabis contention that the expedition to Java is related to the
generalized decline in the mental and emotional health of Khubilai. (pp. 106-
114).
Part III, which Bade has entitled Meaning and truth in histories, begins
with a quotation from Halperins Russia and the Golden Horde that states that
history which just focuses on the Mongols as destructive will not be satisfactory.
It appears that this point of view explains in large measure why Bade wrote this
book. He wanted the Mongol expedition to Java to been seen as a positive not
just universally negative phenomenon. He recognizes that the various
historical traditions have problems in reconciling the basic facts as well as
interpretations. It does matter whether the Mongols appeared to punish
Kertanagara for his crime against Meng-qi or whether to respond to Wijayas
invitation to assist the Javanese dispose of a usurper. For the Chinese sources
the expedition while regrettable has no consequence. However, for the
Javanese the Mongols appear during one of the most momentous times in their
history.
Why the Mongols were interested in Java at all is usually explained either
in economic or trade terms or as a manifestation of the concept of Mongol
desire for world domination. Bade embraces the view that When the
Mongols army came to Java it was not due to a program of imperialist
expansion nor to the need for continual war suggested by Fletcher, but the just
response of the rightful rulers against a breakaway province. We can be fairly
certain that Kertanagara did not see the matter in those terms, but we can be
equally certain that Khubilai and the Mongols did. The actual offence was an
external cause; what it meant and the particular response it called forth was
determined by the Mongols ideas and beliefs about authority, justice and the
government of the world, the same ideas which governed their movements and
actions elsewhere. (pg. 123)
Bade substantiates this opinion with analysis of the concept of Pax
Mongolica, and Chinggis Khans concepts of justice and legal philosophy to
support the Mongol mandate to rule. At times Bade wanders far afield, such as
when he writes of One in unity and universality, the soul in motion, and
Mongols making cosmos out of chaos! In the end, this author somewhat
controversially concludes that the expedition to Java was a civil war to
emphasize obedience to the Mongol higher authority, not a war of conquest,
because the fact of receiving Mongol envoys to discuss peace was always
perceived by the Khan as an automatic act of submission to Mongol authority.

(pp. 138-39, 146)
Less convincingly, he proclaims that in the Javanese accounts, the history
of the true king had to be a love story with legitimacy delivered by the
acceptance of the princessesa submission to love rather than brute power:
For the Javanese, the story of the mutual love of Wijaya and the princesses of
Tumapel explains the splendor and blessedness of the Majapahit era; it was a
reign ruled by love. (pg. 142) He brings the two traditions together with his
statement: Comparing the Javanese and Chinese traditions, we can see that
what the envoys were for the Mongols, the princesses were for the Javanese:
they embodied royal authority. (pg. 142) Thus, although there was total
misunderstanding of motives on both sides, the result of the expedition, which
was favorable to the Javanese ruler Wijaya, resulted in a complete absence of
hostility in the histories written in Java. (pg. 144)
Bade in conclusion states that he was attracted to the story of the Mongol
campaign in Java because the Chinese and Javanese histories had quite
divergent meanings. Mongols who were remembered by European, Muslim
and Chinese populations as hordes from Hell were remembered in the Javanese
accounts as friends and even saviors. Bades stimulating book is a thought-
provoking attempt to reconcile these traditions, by first bringing them to the
attention of the Mongolian Empire scholar and inviting new research and
analysis of historical literature. Such innovative concepts, if applied to other
research fields in Mongolian history, may develop in exciting directions.
The books nine appendices provide the texts of the Yuan shi, Tong jian
gang mu, Panji Wijayakrama (Rangga Lawe, Part I), Kidung Panji-
Wijayakrama (Raffles version), Kidung Harsawijaya, Pararaton, Babad
Majapait, Banjaran Singhasari, and Banjaran Majapahit. It appears that only
the last two plays were translated by Bade himself. The first seven appendices
are translated by well-known scholars and reprinted for ease of comparison.
This book has no index but its Bibliography is particularly well executed,
differentiating between primary texts in Indonesian languages, Chinese, and
other sources; studies on the Mongols in Java; and secondary and related
literature. Page 4 is a poorly reprinted map of Majapahit Sites in East Java.
There is a one-page abstract, and a detailed Table of Contents, short Preface,
Note on Transcription, and valuable three page Introduction.