The Origin of the City of Surabaya
Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Province. Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta. Like other cities, there is always a story behind the origin of Surabaya.
It is said that the name Surabaya was taken from a fairy tale which is part of the legendary and famous East Javanese folklore. The story is about the fight between Sura and Baya.
The Origin of Surabaya
In Surabaya there is a logo of a shark and a crocodile which is used as a symbol of the city's identity, as quoted from the book History of the City of Surabaya, Priyo Jatmiko, (2018, 5). The monument or statue has an interesting story related to the story of the creation of Surabaya.
The origin of the name Surabaya itself began with a fairy tale of a fight between the Shark Sura and the Crocodile Baya. In the vast ocean, fights often occur between the Shark Sura and the Crocodile or Baya to compete for prey.
Sura and Baya are equally strong, clever and fierce. They are also known to be greedy. But after fighting many times, they could not determine who won and who lost.
Finally, Sura said that he was tired of fighting endlessly with Baya. Sura also offered an agreement to divide the two areas of power, namely land and water (sea).
Sura got the area in the water or sea while Baya was on land. Baya finally agreed to the idea. But one day, Sura broke the agreement he made himself. Until a fight broke out between the two.
They lunged and pounced on each other, biting and hitting each other. In an instant, the water around them turned red with blood coming out of the wounds of both animals. They continued to fight desperately without any rest at all.
In this fierce battle, Baya was bitten by Sura at the base of his tail on the right. Furthermore, his tail was forced to always bend to the left.
Meanwhile, Sura also had his tail bitten until it almost broke off, then Sura returned to the ocean. Baya was satisfied that he had been able to defend his area. The fight between the shark named Sura and Baya was very memorable in the hearts of the people of Surabaya.
Therefore, the history of the name Surabaya is always associated with this event. From this event, the symbol of the city of Surabaya was then made. namely the picture of the shark sura and the crocodile baya.
However, some also argue that the origin of Surabaya comes from the words Sura and Baya. Sura means Jaya or safe. Baya means danger, so Surabaya means "safe in the face of danger".
The origin of Surabaya is taken from the term Suro ing Boyo which means brave in facing challenges. Based on philosophy, the name Surabaya is called Sura (Suro) and Baya (Boyo) which means the struggle of life on land and at sea. (glg)
