Priyayi

Priyayi is a Javanese word originally denoting the descendants of the adipati or governors, the first of whom were appointed in the 17th century by the Sultan Agung of Mataram to administer the principalities he had conquered.

[2] Named para yayi ("the king’s brothers"), nobles, officials, administrators, and chiefs were integrated into a patron-client relationship with the Sultan to preside over the peripheries of the kingdom.

[5] After the arrival of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the collapse of Mataram, the Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate Yogyakarta became centers of Javanese political power since the 1755 Treaty of Giyanti.

Although Dutch political influence severely limited their autonomy throughout the colonial period, the two kingdoms continued to serve as symbols of Javanese courtly culture.

[6] In the lowland rural areas of Java, the presence of a centralized indigenous bureaucracy strengthened state control over uncultivated land and helped transform the peasantry from independent smallholders to agricultural laborers.

[8] By 1926, the Binnenlands Bestuur in the directly ruled areas of Java and Madura consisted of the following offices with territorial responsibilities, in descending order:[8] In turn, there were three pangreh praja offices with territorial responsibilities, staffed by the indigenous priyayi, in descending order:[8] Other colonial government employees considered to be of priyayi stature included tax officials, prosecutors, and officials attached to police units.

[18] Although the status of a priyayi does not have a formal presence in post-independence Indonesian law, proximity to the executive branches of the state, which it symbolizes, remained a popular mode of upward socio-political mobility from the 1950s and after.

[22] The honorific Raden is related to the Malagasy noble titles of Randriana or Andriana, both of which are derived from the word "Rahadyan" (Ra-hadi-an), meaning "Lord" or "Master" in Old Javanese.

In contrast, the abangan tend to be from village peasant backgrounds and absorb both Hindu and Muslim elements, forming a culture of animist and folk traditions.

[28] Priyayi families on the coastal center and eastern parts of the island, however, emphasize genealogical ties to the wali sanga, the nine Islamic saints of Java, and are closer to the santri in their religious practices than their hinterland counterparts.

[32] Literacy and command of multiple Javanese language registers were sources of priyayi prestige during the Dutch colonial era when the majority of Java’s population was illiterate.