Singhasari
Encyclopedia
Singhasari was a kingdom
located in east Java between 1222 and 1292. The kingdom succeeded Kingdom of Kediri as the dominant kingdom in eastern Java.
(1182-1227/1247), whose story is a popular children's tale in Central and East Java. Most of Ken Arok life story and also the early history of Singhasari was taken from Pararaton
account, which also incorporate some mythical story. Ken Arok was an orphan born of a mother named Ken Endok and an unknown father (some tales stated he was a son of god Brahma
) in Kediri kingdom’s territory.
Ken Arok rise from a servant of Tunggul Ametung, a regional ruler in Tumapel (present day Malang
) and managed to take over rulership of Java from Kediri. He was considered as the founder of Rajasa dynasty
of both the Singhasari and later Majapahit line of monarchs. Following his death, he was succeeded by his sons Anusapati
and Panji Tohjaya
.
in response to continuous Ceylon pirate raids and Chola kingdom's invasion from India which conquered Srivijaya’s Kedah
in 1025. The strongest of these Malaya kingdoms was Jambi, which captured the Srivijaya capital in 1088, then the Dharmasraya kingdom
, and the Temasek
kingdom of Singapore, and then remaining territories.
The expedition is named the Pamalayu expedition
was led by Admiral Mahesa Anabrang (a.k.a. Adwaya Brahman) to the Malaya region, and was also intended to secure the Malayan strait, the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ against potential Mongol invasion and ferocious sea pirates. These Malayan kingdoms then pledged allegiance to the king. King Kertanegara had long wished to surpass Srivijaya as a regional maritime empire, controlling sea trade routes from China to India.
The Pamalayu expedition from 1275 to 1292, from the time of Singhasari to Majapahit, is chronicled in the Javanese scroll Nagarakrtagama. Singhasari’s territory thus became Majapahit territory. In the year 1284, king Kertanegara made a hostile Pabali expedition to Bali, which integrated Bali into the Singhasari kingdom’s territory. The king also sent troops, expeditions and envoys to other nearby kingdoms such as the Sunda-Galuh kingdom, Pahang
kingdom, Balakana kingdom (Kalimantan/Borneo), and Gurun kingdom (Maluku). He also established an alliance with the king of Champa
(Vietnam).
King Kertanegara totally erased any Srivijayan influence from Java and Bali in 1290. However, the expansive campaigns exhausted most of the Kingdom’s military forces and in the future would stir a murderous plot against the unsuspecting King Kertanegara.
Indonesia is one of the few areas that thwarted invasion by the Mongol horde by repelling a Mongol force in 1293. As the center of the Malayan peninsula trade wind
s, the rising power, influence, and wealth of the Javanese Singhasari empire came to the attention of Kublai Khan
of the Mongol Yuan dynasty
based in China. Moreover, Singhasari had formed an alliance with Champa
, another powerful state in the region. Both Java (Singhasari) and Champa were worried about Mongol expansion and raids against neighboring states, such as their raid of Bagan
(Pagan) in Burma.
Kublai Khan then sent emissaries demanding submission and tribute from Java. In 1280, Kublai Khan sent the first emissary to King Kertanegara, demanding Singhasari’s submission and tribute to the great Khan. The demand was refused. The next year in 1281, the Khan sent another envoy, demanding the same, which was refused again. Eight years later, in 1289, the last envoy was sent to demand the same, and Kertanegara, refused to pay tribute.
In the audition throne room of the Singhasari court, King Kertanegara humiliated the Khan by cutting and scarring Meng Ki's face, one of the Mongols' envoys (some sources even state that the king cut the envoy's ear himself). The envoy returned to China
with the answer—the scar—of the Javan king written on his face.
Enraged by this humiliation and the disgrace committed against his envoy and his patience, in late 1292 the great Kublai Khan sent a massive 1,000 war junk
s for a punitive expedition that would arrived off the coast of Tuban
, Java in early 1293.
King Kertanegara, whose troops were now spread then and located elsewhere, did not realize that a coup was being prepared by the former Kediri royal lineage.
In 1292, Duke Jayakatwang
, a vassal
king from the Kingdom of Daha (also known as Kediri or Gelang-gelang), prepared his army to conquer Singhasari and kill its king if possible, assisted by Arya Wiraraja, a regent from Sumenep on the island of Madura
.
The Kediri (Gelang-gelang) army attacked Singhasari simultaneously from both north and south. The king only realized the invasion from the north and sent his son-in-law, Nararya Sanggramawijaya, famously known as Raden Wijaya
, northward to vanquish the rebellion. The northern attack was put at bay, but the southern attackers successfully remained undetected until they reached and sacked the unprepared capital city of Kutaraja. Jayakatwang usurped and killed Kertanagara during the Tantra
sacred ceremony, thus bring a tragic end to the Singhasari kingdom.
Having learned the of the fall of the Singhasari capital of Kutaraja due to Kediri's treachery, Raden Wijaya
tried to defend Singhasari but failed. He and his three colleagues, Ranggalawe, Sora and Nambi, went to exile under the favor of the same regent (Bupati) Arya Wiraraja of Madura, Nambi's father, who then turned his back to Jayakatwang. With Arya Wiraraja's patronage, Raden Wijaya, pretending to submit to King Jayakatwang, won favor from the new monarch of Kediri, who granted him permission to open a new settlement north of mount Arjuna, the Tarik forest. In this wilderness, Wijaya found many bitter Maja fruits
, so it was called Majapahit (literally meaning “bitter Maja”), the future capital of the empire.
arrived on the north coast of Java (near Tuban
) and on the Brantas River mouth in order to flank what they thought was Singhasari. Raden Wijaya found the opportunity to use the unsuspecting Mongols to overthrow Jayakatwang. Raden Wijaya’s army allied with the Mongols in March of 1293 and battle ensued between Mongol forces against Daha forces in the creek bed of Kali Mas river, a distributary of Brantas River, which was followed by the battle of Mongol forces against Daha forces that attacked the Majapahit regional army led by Raden Wijaya. The Mongols then stormed Daha and Jayakatwang
finally surrendered and executed.
Once Jayakatwang had been destroyed, Raden Wijaya then turned his troops to launch a surprise attack inside and outside the Mongol army column, creating chaos and forcing his former Mongol allies to withdraw from the island of Java.
Panicked, the Mongol army was confused and found themselves surrounded by enemies. It was the last time for the monsoon
sea-wind to depart north for home. They would otherwise have had to wait for another six months on a hostile island for the next sea-wind. The panicked Mongols thus hurriedly fled the battle, withdrew to their ships and headed back to China in their war jungs. Prince Wijaya successfully drove the Mongols forces to the sea to return home on May 31, 1293.
The victor, Prince Wijaya, son-in-law of Kertanegara, the last Singhasari king, then ascended the throne as Kertajasa Jayawardhana, the first king of the great Majapahit Empire
, on November 12, 1293.
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
located in east Java between 1222 and 1292. The kingdom succeeded Kingdom of Kediri as the dominant kingdom in eastern Java.
Foundation
Singhasari (other spelling: Singosari) was founded by Ken ArokKen Arok
Ken Arok was the founder and first ruler of the Singhasari Kingdom, an ancient Hindu-Budhist kingdom in the East Java area of Indonesia. He was considered as the founder of Rajasa dynasty of both the Singhasari and Majapahit line of monarchs. He came from humble origins but subsequently rose to...
(1182-1227/1247), whose story is a popular children's tale in Central and East Java. Most of Ken Arok life story and also the early history of Singhasari was taken from Pararaton
Pararaton
The Pararaton, also known as the Book of Kings, is a manuscript in the Kawi language. The comparatively short text of 32 folio-size pages contains the history of the kings of Singhasari and Majapahit in eastern Java...
account, which also incorporate some mythical story. Ken Arok was an orphan born of a mother named Ken Endok and an unknown father (some tales stated he was a son of god Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
) in Kediri kingdom’s territory.
Ken Arok rise from a servant of Tunggul Ametung, a regional ruler in Tumapel (present day Malang
Malang
Malang is the second largest city in East Java province, Indonesia. It has an ancient history dating back to the Mataram Kingdom. The city population at the 2010 Census was 819,708. During the period of Dutch colonization, it was a popular destination for European residents. The city is famous for...
) and managed to take over rulership of Java from Kediri. He was considered as the founder of Rajasa dynasty
Rajasa Dynasty
House of Rajasa was the ruling family of Singhasari kingdom and later Majapahit empire in 13th to 15th century eastern Java. The rulers of Singhasari and Majapahit trace their origins back to the mysterious figure of Ken Arok or Sri Ranggah Rajasa, who founded the Rajasa dynasty early in the 13th...
of both the Singhasari and later Majapahit line of monarchs. Following his death, he was succeeded by his sons Anusapati
Anusapati
Anusapati, the second king of Singhasari , was the son of Tunggul Ametung and the first husband of Ken Dedes....
and Panji Tohjaya
Panji Tohjaya
Panji Tohjaya was the third king of Singhasari. He was the son of Ken Arok and his second wife, Ken Umang. After his father was killed by his half-brother, Anusapati, he took revenge and assumed his father's throne. He only ruled for several months before his cousin, Ranggawuni, rebelled and took...
.
Expansion
In the year 1275, the ambitious king Kertanegara, the fifth ruler of Singhasari, launched a peaceful naval campaign northward towards the weak remains of the SrivijayaSrivijaya
Srivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
in response to continuous Ceylon pirate raids and Chola kingdom's invasion from India which conquered Srivijaya’s Kedah
Kedah
Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...
in 1025. The strongest of these Malaya kingdoms was Jambi, which captured the Srivijaya capital in 1088, then the Dharmasraya kingdom
Melayu Kingdom
Melayu Kingdom was a classical Southeast Asian kingdom that existed between the 7th and the 13th century of the common era. It was established around present-day Dharmasraya on Sumatera, Indonesia, approximately 300 km north of Palembang...
, and the Temasek
Temasek
Temasek was the name of an early city on the site of modern Singapore. From the 14th century, the island has also been known as Singapura, which is derived from Sanskrit and means "Lion City"...
kingdom of Singapore, and then remaining territories.
The expedition is named the Pamalayu expedition
Pamalayu expedition
The Pamalayu expedition was a military expeditionary force sent by King Kertanegara of Singhasari to conquer the Sumatran Melayu Kingdom. It was decreed in 1275, though perhaps not undertaken until later.Little is known about the results of the expedition...
was led by Admiral Mahesa Anabrang (a.k.a. Adwaya Brahman) to the Malaya region, and was also intended to secure the Malayan strait, the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ against potential Mongol invasion and ferocious sea pirates. These Malayan kingdoms then pledged allegiance to the king. King Kertanegara had long wished to surpass Srivijaya as a regional maritime empire, controlling sea trade routes from China to India.
The Pamalayu expedition from 1275 to 1292, from the time of Singhasari to Majapahit, is chronicled in the Javanese scroll Nagarakrtagama. Singhasari’s territory thus became Majapahit territory. In the year 1284, king Kertanegara made a hostile Pabali expedition to Bali, which integrated Bali into the Singhasari kingdom’s territory. The king also sent troops, expeditions and envoys to other nearby kingdoms such as the Sunda-Galuh kingdom, Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
kingdom, Balakana kingdom (Kalimantan/Borneo), and Gurun kingdom (Maluku). He also established an alliance with the king of Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
(Vietnam).
King Kertanegara totally erased any Srivijayan influence from Java and Bali in 1290. However, the expansive campaigns exhausted most of the Kingdom’s military forces and in the future would stir a murderous plot against the unsuspecting King Kertanegara.
Conflict with the Mongol
Trade wind
The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere near the Earth's equator...
s, the rising power, influence, and wealth of the Javanese Singhasari empire came to the attention of Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
of the Mongol Yuan dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
based in China. Moreover, Singhasari had formed an alliance with Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
, another powerful state in the region. Both Java (Singhasari) and Champa were worried about Mongol expansion and raids against neighboring states, such as their raid of Bagan
Bagan
Bagan , formerly Pagan, is an ancient city in the Mandalay Region of Burma. Formally titled Arimaddanapura or Arimaddana and also known as Tambadipa or Tassadessa , it was the capital of several ancient kingdoms in Burma...
(Pagan) in Burma.
Kublai Khan then sent emissaries demanding submission and tribute from Java. In 1280, Kublai Khan sent the first emissary to King Kertanegara, demanding Singhasari’s submission and tribute to the great Khan. The demand was refused. The next year in 1281, the Khan sent another envoy, demanding the same, which was refused again. Eight years later, in 1289, the last envoy was sent to demand the same, and Kertanegara, refused to pay tribute.
In the audition throne room of the Singhasari court, King Kertanegara humiliated the Khan by cutting and scarring Meng Ki's face, one of the Mongols' envoys (some sources even state that the king cut the envoy's ear himself). The envoy returned to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
with the answer—the scar—of the Javan king written on his face.
Enraged by this humiliation and the disgrace committed against his envoy and his patience, in late 1292 the great Kublai Khan sent a massive 1,000 war junk
Junk (ship)
A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...
s for a punitive expedition that would arrived off the coast of Tuban
Tuban
Tuban is a town located on the north coast of Java, in Tuban Regency, approximately 100 km west of Surabaya, the capital of East Java. Tuban is surrounded by Lamongan in the east, Bojonegoro in the south and Rembang, Central Java in the west....
, Java in early 1293.
King Kertanegara, whose troops were now spread then and located elsewhere, did not realize that a coup was being prepared by the former Kediri royal lineage.
Fall of Singhasari
Jayakatwang
Jayakatwang was the king of short lived second Kingdom of Kediri of Java, after his overthrow of Kertanegara, the last king Singhasari. He was eventually defeated by Raden Wijaya, Kertanegara's son-in-law using Mongol troop that was invading Java...
, a vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
king from the Kingdom of Daha (also known as Kediri or Gelang-gelang), prepared his army to conquer Singhasari and kill its king if possible, assisted by Arya Wiraraja, a regent from Sumenep on the island of Madura
Madura
Madura is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately 4,250 km². Madura is administered as part of the East Java province. It is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura.-History:...
.
The Kediri (Gelang-gelang) army attacked Singhasari simultaneously from both north and south. The king only realized the invasion from the north and sent his son-in-law, Nararya Sanggramawijaya, famously known as Raden Wijaya
Raden Wijaya
Raden Wijaya was a Javanese King, the founder and the first monarch of Majapahit empire. The history of his founding of Majapahit was written in several records, including Pararaton and Negarakertagama...
, northward to vanquish the rebellion. The northern attack was put at bay, but the southern attackers successfully remained undetected until they reached and sacked the unprepared capital city of Kutaraja. Jayakatwang usurped and killed Kertanagara during the Tantra
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
sacred ceremony, thus bring a tragic end to the Singhasari kingdom.
Having learned the of the fall of the Singhasari capital of Kutaraja due to Kediri's treachery, Raden Wijaya
Raden Wijaya
Raden Wijaya was a Javanese King, the founder and the first monarch of Majapahit empire. The history of his founding of Majapahit was written in several records, including Pararaton and Negarakertagama...
tried to defend Singhasari but failed. He and his three colleagues, Ranggalawe, Sora and Nambi, went to exile under the favor of the same regent (Bupati) Arya Wiraraja of Madura, Nambi's father, who then turned his back to Jayakatwang. With Arya Wiraraja's patronage, Raden Wijaya, pretending to submit to King Jayakatwang, won favor from the new monarch of Kediri, who granted him permission to open a new settlement north of mount Arjuna, the Tarik forest. In this wilderness, Wijaya found many bitter Maja fruits
Bael
Bael Bael (Aegle marmelos) Bael (Aegle marmelos) (Bengal quince, stone apple, Sanskrit : विल्व, Malayalam: കൂവളം, Bengali: বেল, Hindi: बेल (Sirphal), Marathi: बेल or कवीठ (Kaveeth), , Sindhi: ڪاٺ گدرو , Sinhalese: beli, Tamil: வில்வம் is a species of tree native to India...
, so it was called Majapahit (literally meaning “bitter Maja”), the future capital of the empire.
The beginning of Majapahit empire
Early 1293, the Mongol naval forcesMongol invasion of Java
In 1293, Kublai Khan, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, sent a large invasion fleet to Java with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers...
arrived on the north coast of Java (near Tuban
Tuban
Tuban is a town located on the north coast of Java, in Tuban Regency, approximately 100 km west of Surabaya, the capital of East Java. Tuban is surrounded by Lamongan in the east, Bojonegoro in the south and Rembang, Central Java in the west....
) and on the Brantas River mouth in order to flank what they thought was Singhasari. Raden Wijaya found the opportunity to use the unsuspecting Mongols to overthrow Jayakatwang. Raden Wijaya’s army allied with the Mongols in March of 1293 and battle ensued between Mongol forces against Daha forces in the creek bed of Kali Mas river, a distributary of Brantas River, which was followed by the battle of Mongol forces against Daha forces that attacked the Majapahit regional army led by Raden Wijaya. The Mongols then stormed Daha and Jayakatwang
Jayakatwang
Jayakatwang was the king of short lived second Kingdom of Kediri of Java, after his overthrow of Kertanegara, the last king Singhasari. He was eventually defeated by Raden Wijaya, Kertanegara's son-in-law using Mongol troop that was invading Java...
finally surrendered and executed.
Once Jayakatwang had been destroyed, Raden Wijaya then turned his troops to launch a surprise attack inside and outside the Mongol army column, creating chaos and forcing his former Mongol allies to withdraw from the island of Java.
Panicked, the Mongol army was confused and found themselves surrounded by enemies. It was the last time for the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
sea-wind to depart north for home. They would otherwise have had to wait for another six months on a hostile island for the next sea-wind. The panicked Mongols thus hurriedly fled the battle, withdrew to their ships and headed back to China in their war jungs. Prince Wijaya successfully drove the Mongols forces to the sea to return home on May 31, 1293.
The victor, Prince Wijaya, son-in-law of Kertanegara, the last Singhasari king, then ascended the throne as Kertajasa Jayawardhana, the first king of the great Majapahit Empire
Majapahit Empire
Majapahit was a vast archipelagic empire based on the island of Java from 1293 to around 1500. Majapahit reached its peak of glory during the era of Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked by conquest which extended through Southeast Asia. His achievement is also credited to his prime...
, on November 12, 1293.
Rulers of Singhasari
- Ken ArokKen ArokKen Arok was the founder and first ruler of the Singhasari Kingdom, an ancient Hindu-Budhist kingdom in the East Java area of Indonesia. He was considered as the founder of Rajasa dynasty of both the Singhasari and Majapahit line of monarchs. He came from humble origins but subsequently rose to...
1222 - 1227 - AnusapatiAnusapatiAnusapati, the second king of Singhasari , was the son of Tunggul Ametung and the first husband of Ken Dedes....
1227 - 1248 - Panji TohjayaPanji TohjayaPanji Tohjaya was the third king of Singhasari. He was the son of Ken Arok and his second wife, Ken Umang. After his father was killed by his half-brother, Anusapati, he took revenge and assumed his father's throne. He only ruled for several months before his cousin, Ranggawuni, rebelled and took...
1248 - Wisnuwardhana 1248 - 1268
- Kertanegara 1268 - 1292
Further reading
- Saidihardjo, Dr. M. Pd., A.M, Sardiman, Drs., Sejarah untuk SMP, Tiga Serangkai, Solo, 1987, 4th reprint edition in 1990
External links
- The Origins of Rajasa Dynasty
- Beginnings to 1500: The Old Kingdoms and the Coming of Islam, a timeline of Indonesian history until 1500 AD