The great Shiva temple, inaugurated on 12 November 856 (the Shivagrha inscription, en.wikipedia), likely begun by Rakai Pikatan, finished under Lokapala and expanded by Balitung.
The page says the temples were abandoned near the middle of the tenth century for reasons nobody knows (the Merapi eruption of 1006 or a power struggle) and collapsed in a great earthquake in the sixteenth century. Round it stand the Buddhist foundations of Sewu, Plaosan, Kalasan, Sari, Lumbung and Bubrah, within an hour's walk (board and en.wikipedia), and Ratu Boko on the ridge to the south (Ratu Boko). The campaign board notes that Buddhist and Hindu building here is contemporary and sometimes shares patrons, so the two are not rival parties.
In 1200 nothing is dated: the group may be a ruin, a pilgrimage or a field with stone in it.
Who holds it
- Title
- Keepers of the Prambanan group, if any
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No keeper or patron is named after the ninth century.
Overlord
none known; the Kediri king claims the plain by title only
What it holds
- The Shiva temple and its courts
- The Buddhist foundations of the plain (Sewu, Plaosan, Kalasan, Sari, Lumbung, Bubrah)
- Whatever estate they once had is not known
How it was acquired
Built under the ninth-century kings of old Mataram (en.wikipedia).
Allies and rivals
Buddhist and Hindu foundations stand side by side and share patrons (board).
How things stand that morning
Standing. Use is not shown by any source.
Places of note
- Prambanan (Shiva temple): 7 deg 45 S, 110 deg 29.5 E (en.wikipedia).
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry prambanan-loro-jonggrang gives 'about 856'; en.wikipedia gives the inauguration as 12 November 856 and does not mention the 778 Saka form.
Evidence: The building and its date are certain; nothing documents it for the twelfth century.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A disc round the group.
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), Prambanan (read in this pass): Shivagrha inscription, inauguration 12 November 856; abandoned near the middle of the 10th century for unclear reasons; collapsed in a 16th-century earthquake; Sewu, Plaosan, Kalasan, Sari, Lumbung, Bubrah, Ratu Boko; coordinates 7.752 S 110.492 E
- 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)
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.