Gajah Mada

Gajah Mada was, according to Old Javanese manuscripts, poems and mythology, a powerful military leader and Mahapatih or Prime Minister of the Javanese empire of Majapahit, credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. He delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed to live ascetic until he had conquered all of the Southeast Asian archipelago of Nusantara for Majapahit. In modern Indonesia, he serves as an important national hero, a symbol of patriotism and national unity. During his reign the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, became ingrained in the culture and worldview of the Javanese through the performing arts of wayang kulit.