maintained until 1812. Culture Despite being an Islamic Sultanate, Mataram had never adopted Islamic culture, systems and institutions thoroughly. Its political system was more like a syncretism of earlier Javanese Hindu civilisation merged with Islamic elements. The major formation took place during Sultan Agung's reign as he adapted Islam to the Hindu-Javanese tradition and introduced a new calendar in 1633 based on Islamic and Javanese practice. The arts during Sultan Agung's reign were a mixture of Islamic and Hindu-Javanese elements. The mainstream belief system was the Kejawen tradition, while the Islamic beliefs was held by a handful of kiyai or ulama religious elite clustering around Kauman area near court's mosque. The Javanese court ceremonies, culture and rituals of Mataram still bears Hindu-Buddhist elements. Javanese cultural elements, such as gamelan, batik, kris, wayang kulit and Javanese dance were formulated, codified and took its present form during this period, and inherited by its successors, the courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, and the princedom of Mangkunegaran and Pakualaman. Islam is presented in Java adaptively to the original Javanese culture. This cultural adaptation was acceptable to the Javanese community, so the indigenousization of Islam was considered successful because Islam developed rapidly in Java naturally and through the cultural process of the Javanese community itself. Javanese kingship Javanese kingship varies from Western kingship, which is essentially based on the idea of legitimacy from the people (Democracy), or from God (divine authority), or both. The Javanese language does not include words with these meanings. The concept of the Javanese kingdom is a mandala, or a centre of the world, in the sense of both a central location and a central being, focused on the person of the king (variously called Sri Bupati, Sri Narendra, Sang Aji, Prabu). The king is regarded as a semi-divine being, a union of divine and human aspects (binathara, the passive form of "bathara", god). Javanese kingship is a matter of royal-divine presence, not a specific territory or population. People may come and go without interrupting the identity of a kingdom which lies in the succession of semi-divine kings. Power, including royal power is not qualitatively different from the power of dukuns or shamans, but it is much stronger. Javanese kingship is not based on the legitimacy of a single individual, since anyone can contest power by tapa or asceticism, and many did contest the kings of Mataram. List of Susuhunan of