Jayabaya

[2] In his old age, Jayabaya abdicated and chose a life of meditation as a Hindu recluse, seeking moksha (spiritual liberation) and embracing his role as an incarnation of Vishnu.

He retreated to the village of Menang, in the Pagu sub-district of Kediri Regency, which remains a revered pilgrimage site according to the Kejawen belief system.

In later history, both Sukarno and Suharto meditated extensively in Menang[citation needed] to seek an aura of kingly legitimacy, supernatural abilities, and Jayabaya's blessings or powers.

[citation needed] When Japan occupied the Netherlands East Indies in the early weeks of 1942, many Indonesians celebrated, seeing the Japanese army as the fulfillment of a prophecy attributed to Jayabaya.

According to Jayabaya, these "yellow dwarves" would remain for one crop cycle (interpreted as 3 1/2 years, corresponding to the duration of Japanese occupation), after which Java would be free from foreign domination.

Anthropologist Martin Ramstedt speculates that the popularity of the millenarian prophecy concerning the return of Jayabaya as a Ratu Adil contributed to General Suharto's decision to suppress kebatinan movements as part of his persecution of alleged PKI members, leading to the mass-killing of 1965–66.