Of Palm Wine, Women and War

The Mongolian Naval Expedition to Java in the 13th Century

What would a history that put women at the centre of the rise and fall of kingdoms be like? When the armies of Khubilai arrived on Java in 1293, they found themselves in the middle of two warring states. Two historical traditions developed concerning the ensuing events: the official Chinese dynastic records in which no women are mentioned, and a number of Javanese histories and poems in which everything depends upon the actions and fates of certain women. The Chinese account has long been regarded as factual, whilst the Javanese versions have been dismissed as mere romance, their women stereotypical representations of male fantasies. But what happens if the women and the narratives about them are taken seriously rather than dismissed? Of Palm Wine, Women and War offers just such a reading.

Then Wiraraja advised Wijaya to try to enter into Jayakatwang's graces for which
he would offer his mediation. Wijaya would keep his eyes open and whenever he
considered that the time was best he would ask the king about the land of Trik;
the Madhurese would clear the land prior to his arrival. Wijaya must then take the
people of Tumapel there to his new settlement and bind the people of Daha to
him with money and good words. Wijaya went according to this plan and soon an
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