Kedatuan or ancient spelling Kadatuan (Javanese spelling:
Kedaton) were historical semi-independent city-states or principalities
throughout ancient Maritime Southeast Asia in present-day Indonesia, Malaysia,
and parts of the Philippines. In a modern Malay and Indonesian sense, they could
be described as kingdoms or polities.
The term Kadatuan in Old Malay means "the realm of
Datu" or "the residence of Datu". Constructed from old Malay
stem word Datu with circumfix ke- -an to denote place. It derived from Datu or
Datuk, an ancient Austronesian title and position for regional leader or elder
that is used throughout Maritime Southeast Asia. It was
mentioned in several inscriptions such as 7th century Srivijayan Old Malay
Telaga Batu inscription and 14th century Sundanese Astana Gede inscription. In
wider sense it could refer to the whole principality, on smaller sense however,
it could refer to palace where Datu resides.
Kedatuan is known and widely spread in the Malay speaking
region, including the east coast of Sumatra, the Minangkabau lands, the Malay
peninsula, the Borneo coast and the Filipino archipelago. In
Javanese, the term Ratu is used instead of Datu, thus in Java Karaton, Keraton
or Kraton is used instead of Kedaton to describe the residence of regional
leader. The term is also known in Java as Kedaton, the meaning however, has
shifted to architectural term to refer to the inner compound of the living
quarter inside keraton (palace) complex
Smaller Kedatuan were often become subordinate to more powerful
neighboring Kedatuan, which in turn were subordinate to the central king
(Maharaja), as described by the Southeast Asian political model on Mandala. The
more powerful Kedatuan, sometimes grew to become powerful kingdoms, and
occasionally tried to liberate themselves from their suzerain and sometimes
enjoyed times of independence, and in turn might subjugate neighboring
Kedatuan.Kedatuan, large and small often shifted allegiance,
or paid tribute to more than one powerful neighbor.
Some Kedatuan, such as Srivijaya, rose to become empires. It
is suggested that during its early formation, Srivijaya was a collection or
some kind of federation consisting of several kadatuans (local principalities),
all swearing allegiance to the central ruling Kadatuan ruled by Srivijayan
Maharaja
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