Abdul Majid Hasan / Maharaja Karna | |
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2nd Sultan of Brunei | |
Reign | 1402 - 1408 CE |
Predecessor | Muhammad Shah |
Successor | Ahmad of Brunei |
Died | 1408 Nanjing, China |
Burial | Tomb of the King of Boni, Nanjing, China |
Religion | Hindu |
Abdul Majid Hasan (1380–1408 CE), also known as Maharaja Karna, allegedly was the second Sultan of Brunei. He may have ascended the Brunei throne in 1402.
He was never mentioned in Salasilah Raja-Raja Brunei. A ruler from Boni named Ma-na-jih-chia-na is recorded in the Ming historical record. He sent a mission to China in 1406. The Brunei History Centre suggests that this was the Brunei sultan Abdul Majid Hasan, but there is so far no evidence for this assumption.
In 1408, he went to China and died in Nanjing at the age of 28, leaving a 4-year-old prince named Xiawang (遐旺). He was buried in Nanjing. His tomb is now a tourist attraction.
The earliest historical record of the Sultans of Brunei is not clearly known due to the poor early documentation of Brunei's history. Many elder members of the House of Bolkiah claim that their ancestors were the BaHassan and BaAlawi Saadah from Tarim and Hadhramawt in Yemen. In addition there has been an effort to Islamise the history, with the "official history" not matching up with verifiable foreign sources. The Batu Tarsilah, the genealogical record of the kings of Brunei, was not started until 1807 CE. Therefore, much of the intepretation on history relied on earlier Chinese sources and legends. It seems that the early Sultanate of Brunei was dependent on Chinese support, and perhaps early Sultans were of Chinese origin. Furthermore the earliest Sultans may have been practising the Hindu or Buddhist religions, with early names indicating this origin. From the fact that Abdul Majid Hassan died in 1408 at the age of 28, we can surmise he was born in 1380.