Type Country & Political Subdivision
Usage Indonesian, Sundanese, Javanese
Scripts ᮘᮔ᮪ᮒᮨᮔ᮪(Sundanese) ꦨꦤ꧀ꦠꦼꦤ꧀(Javanese)
Meaning & History
Meaning uncertain. It may be derived from the Sundanese and Bantenese phrase katiban inten meaning "struck down by diamonds", which was used to describe the spead of Islam in the region in the 15th century. Alternately, it may come from Sundanese ban inten possibly meaning "ring of diamonds", referring to a legend in which a local king was presented with a glowing stone by the deity Batara Guru. Otherwise, it may be from Indonesian bantahan meaning "rebuttal, objection", a reference to the Bantenese people's resistance to Dutch colonial rule. This is the name of an Indonesian province in western Java as well as a sultanate that ruled from 1527 to 1813.