Sundanese are an ethnic group of western Java in Indonesia. The Sundanese make up about 15 percent of the population of Indonesia. Only the Javanese are more numerous. Sundanese living in rural areas are mostly farmers. Those living in urban areas work in various occupations, including civil service. Sundanese played a central role in resistance to Dutch colonial rule, which lasted from the 1600’s to the mid-1900’s. The Sundanese have remained politically important since Indonesia gained independence in 1945.
Most Sundanese are Muslims. However, traces of traditional beliefs and of Hinduism appear in their daily lives and in their ceremonies and celebrations. These celebrations center on the harvest and the human life cycle. Traditional Sundanese religious belief, called Sunda Wiwitan, is a syncretism (blending) of Hinduism, Islam, and local beliefs.
According to tradition, the Sundanese Kingdom of Pajajaran competed with the rival Javanese kingdom of Majapahit. In the 1360’s, the two great kingdoms arranged a political alliance. The Sundanese king agreed to marry his daughter to the Javanese king. Upon arriving in Majapahit for the wedding, the Sundanese envoys were forced to acknowledge Majapahit’s sovereignty. The emissaries refused and were massacred in Bubat square in the Majapahit capital, near present day Mojokerto. Since then, the Sundanese have exerted a strong cultural and political identity that distinguished them from the neighboring Javanese.
The Sundanese distinguish themselves primarily through their language and through music and other performing arts. They are famous for a style of puppet performance called wayang golek. The puppets are made of wood. As in the popular Javanese shadow puppet shows, the stories are taken from the Indian epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Sundanese are also known for a musical instrument called angklung. This percussion instrument is made of two or three bamboo tubes suspended within a frame and bound with cords. The instrument, played by striking it with the hand, was traditionally important in religious ceremonies.
