The king's war power is a guard at Daha, generals (senapati) who lead the levy of the districts, and a fleet under a commander of the waters (senapati sarwwajala), the title the Jaring plate of 1181 shows.
The fleet matters because Kediri's wealth and claims run along the coast and out to the islands. The one war in the record is the trouble of 1194 behind the Kamulan plate. No source gives a size. The Mongol fleet and the sea expeditions to Sumatra and Bali are later (1284, 1293).
Who he is
- Title
- Senapati (generals) and the senapati sarwwajala, commander of the waters
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The title senapati sarwwajala is in the Jaring plate of 1181 (en.wikipedia says it points to a navy under Gandra). No commander of 1200 is named.
Overlord
Kertajaya
What it holds
- Command of the districts' levy and of the royal fleet; no holdings recorded
How things stand that morning
No war, muster or raid is dated for the winter of 1199 to 1200.
Where the sources disagree
- en.wikipedia says Kediri 'built a navy to control spice routes'. That is an inference from the title; we found no event of the fleet.
Evidence: A title in one plate and a war of 1194 behind another.
On the map: People and command, not land.
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.