Pakuan Pajajaran

Pakuan Pajajaran (or Dayeuh Pakuan/Pakwan or Pajajaran) was the fortified capital city of Sunda kingdom. The location is roughly corresponds to modern Bogor city in West Java, Indonesia, approximately around the site of Batu Tulis. The site is revered as the spiritual home of Sundanese people as it contains much of shared identity and history of Sundanese people.

The city was settled since at least the 10th century, but not gaining major political importance until Sri Baduga Maharaja established it as the royal capital of Sunda kingdom in the 15th century. In 1513, the city was visited by its first European visitor, Tomé Pires, the Portuguese envoy. Pakuan Pajajaran was destroyed by the Sultanate of Banten in 1579.

In Sundanese language the word Pakuan derived from the term paku which means "nail", and it also could means "fern" plant. According to Carita Waruga Guru manuscript (c. 1750), the name was derived from pakujajar or rows of pakis haji or cycas plant. In Sundanese pakis haji means "king's fern" to refer to cycas plant. This theory was further supported by K.F. Holle in his book De Batoe Toelis te Buitenzorg (1869), mentioned that in Buitenzorg area there is a village called "Cipaku", and Pakuan Pajajaran refer to op rijen staande pakoe bomen (place where rows of paku trees stood).

On the other hand, G.P. Rouffaer in his book Encyclopedie van Niederlandsch Indie editie Stibbe (1919) argued that the term "Pakuan" should be derived from the word paku which means "nail". The nail represent the king as spijker der wereld (the nail of world). This is in line with ancient Sundanese tradition that regarded their king as the nail or center of their realm. The tradition to analogically refer the king as "nail" is also found in Javanese Surakarta Sunanate tradition that refer their king as Pakubuwono ("nail of the world"). Rouffaer further suggested that the term "Pajajaran" derived from the term sejajar (equal), thus Pakuan Pajajaran means "the king ('nail') of Sunda that was equal to any kings of Java."

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