Singhasari, Kingdom of

A number of smaller Javanese realms follow the Medang Kingdom, the best-known of which are Kediri (mid-eleventh to early thirteenth centuries) and Singhasari (thirteenth century), with their centers on the upper reaches of the Brantas River, on the west and east of the slopes of Mount Kawi (Gunung Kawi), respectively.

On the whole, despite evidence of socioeconomic well-being and cultural sophistication, institutionally Srivijaya and Mataram remain essentially webs of clanship and patronage, chieftainships carried to their highest and most expansive level.

An aggressive system of state control arises in Singhasari, which defeats Kediri in 1222. The state moves in new ways to incorporate local lords' rights and lands under royal control and fosters the growth of mystical Hindu-Buddhist state cults devoted to the powers of the ruler, who come to be accorded divine status.

Continued population growth, political and military rivalries, and economic expansion in this region produce important changes in Javanese society.

Taken together, these changes lay the groundwork for what has often been identified as Java's—and Indonesia's—"golden age" in the fourteenth century.

In Kediri, for example, there develops a multilayered bureaucracy and a professional army.

The ruler extends control over transportation and irrigation and cultivates the arts in order to enhance his own reputation and that of the court as a brilliant and unifying cultural hub.

The Old Javanese literary tradition of the kakawin (long narrative poem) rapidly develops, moving away from the Sanskrit models of the previous era and producing many key works in the classical canon.

Kediri's military and economic influence spreads to parts of Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

The greatest and most controversial of these "divine" Singhasari kings is Kertanagara (r. 1268-92), the first Javanese ruler to be accorded the title of dewa-prabu (literally, god-king).

Largely by force or threat, Kertanagara brings most of eastern Java under his control, then carries his military campaigns overseas, notably to Srivijaya's successor, Melayu (at this time also known as Jambi), with a huge naval expedition in 1275, to Bali in 1282, and to areas in western Java, Madura, and the Malay Peninsula.

These imperial ambitions prove difficult and expensive, however: the realm is perennially troubled by dissent at court and rebellion both at home and in the subjugated territories.

Much farther afield, Kertanagara provokes the new Mongol rulers of Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368) China to attempt to check his expansion, which they consider a threat to the region, but before their fleet of allegedly a thousand ships and a hundred thousand men can land on Java, Kertanagara has been assassinated by a vengeful descendant of the Kediri kings, and in the convoluted events that follow, Kertanagara's son-in-law, Raden Wijaya, succeeds in defeating both his father-in-law's principal rival and the Mongol forces.

In 1294 Wijaya ascends the throne as Kertarajasa, ruler of the new kingdom of Majapahit.

The Mongol troops of China’s Yuan dynasty, invading Dai Viet for the third and final tine, are defeated and are forced to withdraw their troops from Dai Viet and Champa.

Kublai Khan, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, sends a large invasion fleet to Java in 1293 with twenty thousand to thirty thousand soldiers.

This is a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of its ministers.

The invasion results in the establishment of Majahapit, a vast archipelagic empire based on the island of Java (modern-day Indonesia) to around 1500.

The temples built in eastern Java during the ascendancy of the Singhasari kingdom are considered great examples of Hindu-Javanese arts; they mark the gradual transformation of Hindu architecture into Javanese forms and also reflect the increasing syncretism of Hinduism and Buddhism, which culminates in King Kertanagara's Siva-Buddha cult.

Kertanegara, the fifth ruler of Singasari and the son of the previous king, Wisnuwardhana, has effectively held power from 1254 and officially succeeded his father when the latter died in 1268.

The Singasari dynasty had come to power in Java following the overthrow of the previous Kingdom of Kediri by Ken Arok, the first Singhasari ruler in 1222.

Kertanegara is a follower of a mystical Tantric syncretism of Hinduism and Buddhism, and presented himself as the divine god-king incarnation of Siwa and Buddha.

Kertanegara celebrates many religious festivals and has commissioned sculptures and metal plaques during his reign.

Singhasari has reached the height of its power during Kertanegara's rule, which has seen the dramatic expansion of Javanese power in Maritime Southeast Asia.

He has extended Javanese involvement in the lucrative spice trade with the Moluccas.

He had also put down rebellions in Java by Cayaraja in 1270 and Mahisa in 1280.

Kertanegara is the first Javanese ruler with territorial ambitions that extended beyond the island of Java.

In 1284, he had subjected nearby Bali to vassalage.

Kertanagara has managed to form an alliance with Champa, another dominant state in Southeast Asia.

Late in his reign, the Pamalayu expedition succeeds in gaining control of the Melayu Kingdom in eastern Sumatra, and possibly also gains control over the Sunda kingdom and hegemony over the Strait of Malacca.

Other areas in Madura and Borneo also offer their submission to Kertanegara.

After the Singhasari kingdom had driven Srivijaya out of Java altogether, the rising power of Singhasari comes to the attention of Kublai Khan in China and he sends emissaries demanding tribute in 1289.

Kertanegara takes grave offense to the request and arrests the envoys.

He brands their faces, cuts their ears and sends them back to China with disfigured faces.

Kertanegara, knowing that the Mongol ruler will send a military expedition to punish him, tries to solidify his power.

Around 1291, the Singasari ruler launches the Pamalayu expedition to Sumatra, in order to conquer the Malay kingdom of Jambi in the south, one of successor states to Srivijaya.

Jambi is one of the first Indonesian polities where Islam had established its presence, and it already entertains cordial relationships with Yuan China.

Kublai Khan has ordered that a strong punitive naval expedition be launched against the remote equatorial islands in order to punish Kertanegara.

He sends a massive expedition of one thousand ships to Java.

Meanwhile, Kertanegara has dominated all of Java, but before the Mongol fleet arrives, a dramatic political change occurs.

Jayakatwang, prince of Kediri and one of Singhasari's most powerful vassals, rebels against his overlord.

Jayakatwang, with the bulk of the Javanese army in campaign overseas and Singhasari's defense weakened, seizes his chance and mounts a coup against Kertanegara.

He launches a diversionary attack to northern Java, where his troops draw the remaining Singhasari troops left on the island.

With Singhasari defenseless, he attacks the capital city.

Kertanegara is killed, along with many courtiers in his palace in Singhasari in May or June 1292, apparently while drunk on palm wine in a religious Tantric Buddhist ceremony.

Jayakatwang then declares himself ruler of Java and king of the restored Kediri.

Among the few surviving relatives of Kertanegara is his son-in-law, Raden Wijaya, who flees to Madura,where he is sheltered by its regent, Arya Wiraraja.

Following pleas from Wiraraja, Jayakatwang forgives Wijaya, who in return submits himself to Jayakatwang.

Jayakatwang gives Wijaya land in the Tarik forest in the Brantas delta, where he builds a village that will later be called Majapahit.

The Khan has sent a massive one-thousand-ship ship expedition that arrives off the coast of Java in 1293.

Raden Wijaya, Kertanegara's son in law and supreme commander, himself a descendant of the kingdom’s founder Ken Anrok, after a brief exile in the favor of the Regent (Bupati) Arya Wiraraja of Madura, allies himself with the Mongols against Jayakatwang and, once Jayakatwang is destroyed and the invaders are feasting in victory, turns and forces his Mongol allies to withdraw from the isle after he launches a surprise attack.

The huge Mongol Army has to withdraw in confusion as they are in hostile land and it is the last opportunity for the monsoon that will allow them to depart for home, otherwise, they would have had to wait for another six months anchored off hostile territory.

Wijaya, or Vijaya, now establishes a state in eastern Java (to be known eventually as the Majapahit Empire), which is to become one of the greatest empires to arise from within the area covered by the modern territory of Indonesia.

The exact date used as the birth of the Majapahit kingdom is the day of his coronation, the fifteenth of Kartika month in the year 1215 using the Javanese çaka calendar, which equates to November 10, 1293.

During his coronation he is given the formal name Kertarajasa Jayawardhana.

King Kertarajasa takes all four daughters of Kertanegara as his wives, his first wife and prime queen consort Tribhuwaneswari, and her sisters; Prajnaparamita, Narendraduhita, and Gayatri Rajapatni the youngest.

He also takes a Sumatran Malay Dharmasraya princess named Dara Petak as his wife.