Four villages are the best evidence there is of how Kediri governed: each holds a copper plate in which a king freed it from ordinary tax and labour (made it sima, 'free land') as a reward, so that its own elders judge and collect for it and it owes the king a service in return.
Hantang (Ngantang, in the Malang hills) received its plate from Jayabhaya in Saka 1057 (1135), the plate that carries the motto Panjalu Jayati, 'Kediri is victorious', after his defeat of Janggala. Jaring (Blitar country) received one from Gandra in 1181, the plate that lists the court's officers. Kamulan (Durenan, Trenggalek) received one from Kertajaya in Saka 1116 (1194), his own, for standing by him in the war.
Padelegan (Madura) has two plates, of 1117 and 1159, both for loyal service to the Kediri kings. In 1200 these four are privileged communities under their own elders.
Who he is
- Title
- Village elders (rama) of villages freed by charter (sima swatantra)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The headmen are not named in what we could read. The village names come from the plates and from en.wikipedia and fr.wikipedia.
Overlord
Kertajaya
What it holds
- Hantang (Ngantang), Jaring, Kamulan (Durenan) and Padelegan (Madura) with the tax and labour due from them, now held by the villages
- The right to judge their own people
How it was acquired
By charter: Hantang 1135 (Jayabhaya), Padelegan 1117 and 1159, Jaring 1181 (Gandra), Kamulan 1194 (Kertajaya).
How things stand that morning
Each village holds its plate and its freedom; nothing is dated for the winter. Kamulan is the youngest favour and the reward for the one known war.
Places of note
- Hantang (Ngantang): Plate of 1135.
- Jaring: Plate of 1181.
- Kamulan: Plate of 1194.
- Padelegan: Plates of 1117 and 1159.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry hantang-ngantang gives 'the village whose charter of 1135 carries the motto Panjalu Jayati'; fr.wikipedia confirms Ngantang (1135) and we give Saka 1057 and the motto from memory.
- The campaign board entry jaring-sima-village: findspot not pinned beyond the Blitar country. The campaign board dot (-8.048, 112.24) is a district fix.
Evidence: Four plates, three of them from the Kediri list on fr.wikipedia and en.wikipedia; the texts themselves did not open.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Village lands only; their real extents are unknown.
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 (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), Kediri Kingdom (read in this pass): Kertajaya 1194-1222, Ceker and Kamulan plates, animal-titled officials under Gandra, Chinese notices, end at Ganter
- Wikipedia (en), Kertajaya (read in this pass): names Srengga and Dandhang Gendis, reign c. 1194-1222, Pararaton account of the brahmin quarrel and Ganter
- 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.