Ancient Kingdoms of East Java: Rulers, Realms and Ruins

The ancient kingdoms of East Java were a chain of realms that held the Brantas valley and the land around it from the early tenth century into the fifteenth. Their rulers moved the centre of power, fought one another, split their territory and left behind temples, brick ruins and legends. Each realm had its own rulers and its own fate, and the order in which they rose makes the story easier to follow. For the wider region, see the East Java overview.

Ancient kingdoms of East Java at a glance

Five realms carry most of the story, and each one began with a break from the one before. The pattern is repeated: a ruler builds a court on the river plains, the line passes to heirs, and then a rival or a succession dispute brings it down.

• The Isyana line, which began when Mpu Sindok moved the seat of power to East Java around 929.
• Kahuripan, the realm Airlangga founded in 1019 after his return from exile.
• Janggala and Kediri, the two realms Kahuripan was divided into in the 1040s.
• Singhasari, whose forces under Ken Arok defeated Kediri at Ganter in 1222.
• Majapahit, whose first ruler, Raden Wijaya, was crowned in 1293.

Smaller realms, including Blambangan, appear mainly in the later Majapahit story as rivals and neighbours of the court.

Why the centre of power moved east

Mpu Sindok and the move of around 929

Mpu Sindok ruled the Mataram realm from Central Java. Around 929 he moved its seat of power to East Java and set up a new capital in the Brantas valley, near present-day Jombang. The exact site is given differently in different accounts, so the location is best described as the Brantas valley itself.

Historians link the move to the eruption of Mount Merapi, to an invasion from Srivijaya, or to both. The cause is still debated, but the simplest reading is that a court facing volcanic disruption in its heartland and pressure from the sea needed a new base.

The move also founded a dynasty. It is usually called the Isyana or Ishana dynasty, and Mpu Sindok was succeeded by his daughter.

The attack on the Mataram court and Airlangga’s return

Dharmawangsa’s fall

King Dharmawangsa ruled the Mataram realm in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. In 990 he sent a naval campaign against Palembang, the Srivijayan base on Sumatra, and it failed to take the city.

Srivijaya took its revenge in 1016. The palace was attacked during the wedding of Dharmawangsa’s daughter. A lesser king, Wurawari of Lwaram, revolted with Srivijayan support, the Mataram palace was destroyed, and Dharmawangsa died with most of his family. Airlangga, Dharmawangsa’s heir and nephew, was about sixteen and was one of the few who escaped.

Exile and the founding of Kahuripan

Airlangga spent several years in self-imposed exile as a hermit on Mount Vanagiri,. In 1019 he returned. He rallied officials and regents who had stayed loyal to the old dynasty, reunited the former Mataram territories, and founded the realm of Kahuripan.

Kahuripan stretched from Pasuruan in the east to Madiun in the west. Its core lay around the Brantas estuary, near modern Surabaya and Pasuruan, and its northern coast held trading centres. The rebuilding of a kingdom from the wreckage of another is the mark of Airlangga’s reign. Read the King Airlangga page for his reign in more detail.

Janggala and Kediri: one realm split in two

The division of the 1040s

Airlangga’s last years were shaped by a succession problem. Two sons had equal claims to the throne, and he divided the realm between them. The division created two states, Janggala and Kediri. Sources give the year as 1042 or 1045, so the safest statement is that the split came in the 1040s. The reasons are debated, and historians still treat the choice as something of a puzzle.

Kediri took Daha as its capital. The Janggala kingdom was the rival half, and the two competed for the inheritance. For the rulers of Kediri, read the Kediri kingdom page.

Ken Arok, Singhasari and the battle at Ganter

How Ken Arok rose from Tumapel

The rise of Ken Arok is told mostly as legend, with the Tumapel domain as its starting point. The story of how he gained power is a legend in its own right, and the Ken Arok and Ken Dedes page explores how it has been told over time.

Ganter and the end of the Kediri era

In 1222 Ken Arok’s forces from Tumapel defeated Kertajaya of Kediri in a decisive battle near the village of Ganter. The result ended the Kediri era, and Kertajaya was forced to give up his throne.

Singhasari did not survive the blow. Jayakatwang killed Kertanagara, and that ended the kingdom.

Wisnuwardhana and the Singhasari line

Wisnuwardhana ruled Singhasari in the middle of the thirteenth century. Lists differ on the exact years of his reign, so it is safer to place him in that period than to fix a single span. His reign and his place in the Singhasari line are set out on the Wisnuwardhana page.

Majapahit: a new capital after the Mongol expedition

Kertanagara, Jayakatwang and the Mongol expedition

Kublai Khan sent a large expedition against Java in 1293. When the Mongol force reached the island, Raden Wijaya allied with it against Jayakatwang, who had killed Kertanagara. Once Jayakatwang had been defeated, Raden Wijaya turned on his former Mongol allies and drove the expedition out in confusion. The fuller account sits on the Mongol invasion of Java in 1293 page.

Raden Wijaya and the founding of Majapahit

Raden Wijaya was given forest land at Tarik, also written Trik, which he opened as a new settlement. The village took its name from a bitter fruit, maja, that grew in the forest. He was crowned on 10 November 1293, and the new state took the name of its capital, Majapahit.

For how the state grew after its founding, read the Majapahit Empire page.

Gajah Mada and the Palapa oath

Gajah Mada became mahapatih, the chief minister of the realm. At his installation he swore the Palapa oath, vowing that he would not rest until the archipelago was unified under Majapahit. His career and the claims made about his expansion are followed on the Gajah Mada page.

Trowulan and the water works of the Majapahit capital

Trowulan lies in Mojokerto Regency in East Java and is widely believed to be the site of the Majapahit royal capital. The ruins include brick dwellings with wells and drains, along with water-supply channels and canals. Together they show a city that depended on managing water for both daily life and ritual.

Kolam Segaran and the brick reservoir

The Kolam Segaran is a large rectangular brick pool, about 800 by 500 metres. Its function is uncertain. One proposal is that it stored water for the dense population of the city, and other suggestions include bathing and recreation.

Candi Tikus, the bathing place

The Candi Tikus was rediscovered in 1914, when the site was found overrun by rats, which gave it its name. It is usually described as a ritual bathing pool, a petirtaan used by the royal family, although some experts think it served as a water reservoir for the city instead.

Legends from the kingdom era

Javanese stories of the period are best read as legend rather than history. The Damarwulan legend is set at the Majapahit court. It centres on a conflict with Menak Jingga, reportedly the ruler of Blambangan and a vassal of Majapahit. Damarwulan defeats him, becomes a hero, and in the end marries the queen. The story is a folk tale that is thought to have been written down in the late Majapahit period.

The Blambangan kingdom is the rival realm at the centre of that story. Other realms of the era have their own pages, including the Kingdom of Wengker and Raden Ronggolawe.

Later episodes in the same province

The region had later episodes too. Untung Surapati fought the Dutch East India Company, the VOC, and later ruled Pasuruan as its regent. He died in 1706 at the fort at Bangil, after an attack by a joint force of VOC, Madurese and Mataram troops.

The Madiun Affair of 1948 belongs to the modern era. It was an uprising by the left-wing People’s Democratic Front against the Indonesian government. It began on 18 September 1948 in Madiun, and by December that year most of the front’s leaders had been detained or executed.

How to choose which realm to read about

Pick your entry point by the question you want answered. If the question is where the centre of power came from, start with the move of around 929 and the Isyana line, then read the Airlangga material. If you want the drama of succession and war, the split of Janggala and Kediri and the battle at Ganter form the strongest sequence. For how Java was shaped by Mongol pressure and a new capital, read the 1293 material and the Majapahit pages in order.

Visitors who want to see the remains should treat Trowulan as the centre of the Majapahit story. The bathing place and the reservoir both lie within the Trowulan site, so they can be seen in one visit. Many of the older kingdoms left no standing capital to see, so their stories are best approached through the temples, inscriptions and legends that survive.

Across all the realms, a useful pattern emerges. The kingdoms depended on the river valleys that fed their fields, and they depended on family lines to hold their legitimacy. When one of those supports was lost, the realm usually split, passed to a rival or was absorbed. Reading the realms in order makes that pattern easy to see.