The Javanese kings found temples, hermitages and monasteries and free their lands by plate: a free grant (sima) gives a village's dues to a god, a priest or a sanctuary.
The Kediri court keeps two chief judges for the religious foundations, the dharmadhyaksa of the Shaiva (kasaiwan) and the Buddhist (kasogatan) priesthoods, who judge their people and oversee the free lands (Dharmadhyaksa). The classes of foundation in the charters (recalled, not checked against the Kamulan and Palah plates) include the dharma, a temple with its estate; the patapan and mandala, hermitages; and the wihara, a Buddhist monastery. The only named foundation of Kertajaya's time is Palah.
The Kamulan plate of 1194 frees a village for loyalty to the king, which is a secular grant; the Palah plate of 1197 is the religious one.
Who holds it
- Title
- The two chief judges (dharmadhyaksa) of the Shaiva and Buddhist priesthoods and the heads of the foundations
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No judge or abbot is named in a source we read (see Dharmadhyaksa).
Overlord
the king of Kediri, who founds them and frees their land by plate
What it holds
- Free villages and the dues of temples and hermitages
- The right of the two judges to try the foundations' people
How it was acquired
By plate, king by king.
Allies and rivals
The king and the great officers (Great offices); no quarrel is named.
How things stand that morning
Standing system; the Palah foundation of 1197 is its latest named act.
Wealth
Free land and royal gifts; no figures.
Places of note
- The court at Daha: Where the two judges sit with the king.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The system is known from the Old Javanese charters, recalled; the plates of this reign did not open.
On the map: Institution without a mapped estate; the free villages are not located.
Primary sources for Kediri
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Old Javanese Charters (the Brandes and Krom corpus), including the Kediri inscriptions of Kamesvara and Srngga, Various (the Kediri kings and their officers), edited by J. L. A. Brandes and N. J. Krom (inscriptions of the 8th to 15th centuries; edited 1913). Kediri (Panjalu) in 1200 is known from a few royal charters on stone and copper, which this corpus first printed: the records of Kamesvara (about 1182 to 1194) and of Srngga, that is Kertajaya (from about 1194 to 1222), among them the Kamulan charter of 1194 and the Palah (Panataran) record of 1197, with the king's titles, his seal, the officials of the court and the villages freed from tax.
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
- Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online
- The Description of the Country, called the Nagarakretagama, Mpu Prapanca (1365 at the Majapahit court). A Majapahit court poem of 1365 listed here only for its retrospect. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia (en), Kediri Kingdom (read in this pass): Kertajaya 1194-1222, Ceker and Kamulan plates, animal-titled officials under Gandra, Chinese notices, end at Ganter
- Wikipedia (fr), Royaume de Kediri (read in this pass): list of plates Ngantang 1135, Talan 1136, Padelegan II 1159, Kahyunan 1161, Angin 1171, Jaring 1181, Ceker, Galunggung 1194, Kamulan 1194, Palah 1197, Wates Kulon 1205; quotes Zhou Qufei's ranking of Java
- General knowledge of Old Javanese and Old Balinese epigraphy and the archaeology of Java, recalled and not re-read in this pass (Boechari, Poerbatjaraka, Soekmono, Bernet Kempers)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.