Kediri's glory in letters is earlier than the king of 1200.
Mpu Sedah began, and Mpu Panuluh finished, the Bharatayuddha under Jayabhaya in 1157 (the chronogram is read as Saka 1079; fr.wikipedia gives 1157, while en.wikipedia's Kediri page says 1135). Panuluh also wrote the Hariwangsa and the Ghatotkacasraya. Mpu Dharmaja wrote the Smaradahana under a King Kameswara: the usual list sets that under Kameswara I (about 1115 to 1130), while fr.wikipedia attaches it to the Kameswara of the Ceker plate (1182 or 1185); either way it is before Kertajaya, and which Kameswara is not pinned here.
Mpu Monaguna (Sumanasantaka) and Mpu Triguna (Kresnayana) belong to the same age. No kakawin is dated to Kertajaya, and no poet is known to be at his court in 1200; that is the honest gap. The Pararaton is not poetry of the court.
Who he is
- Title
- Court poets (mpu) and priests of the Kediri kings
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No poet is dated to Kertajaya's reign. The works are dated by their patron kings.
Overlord
Kertajaya
What it holds
- Patronage at court; the hermitages (mandala) the poets belonged to
How things stand that morning
Nothing dated. The poems are the cultural capital of the court; the poets of 1157 are probably dead.
Where the sources disagree
- en.wikipedia lists Mpu Tanakung's Wrtasancaya among the Kediri works; it is generally set later (recalled, not rechecked).
- Which Kameswara patronised Dharmaja: we could not settle it. The assignment asked to check; the two readings are given above.
Evidence: The works survive; their patron kings are argued for some.
On the map: People, 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
- Wikipedia (en), Jayabaya (read in this pass): reign about 1135 to 1159, Bharatayuddha patron (page does not give the Hantang plate)
- 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.