Singhasari

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This article is part of the History of Indonesia series

Pre-colonial Indonesia (before 1602)
Srivijaya (3rd century–1400)
Sailendra (8th Century – 832)
Kingdom of Mataram (752–1045)
Kediri (1045–1221)
The Coming of Islam (1200–1600)
Singhasari (1222–1292)
Majapahit Empire (1293–1500)
Sultanate of Demak (1475–1518)
Mataram Sultanate (1500s to 1700s)
Dutch East Indies (1602–1945)
Anglo-Dutch Java War (1810–1811)
Padri War (1821–1837)
Java War (1825–1830)
Aceh War (1873–1904)
National Revival (1899–1942)
World War II battles (1941–1942)
Japanese Occupation (1942–1945)
Independence (1945–1965)
Declaration of Independence (1945)
National Revolution (1945–1950)
Asian-African Conference (1955)
Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation (1962–1965)
New Order (1965–1998)
Overthrow of Sukarno (1965–1966)
Act of Free Choice (1969)
Reformasi (1998–present)
Revolution of 1998 (1996–1998)
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake (2004–present)
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Singhasari was a kingdom located in east Java between the 1222 and the 1292.

1 Formation
2 The Fall of Singhasari
3 The Rulers of Singhasari
4 External links

[edit] Formation

Singhasari was founded by Ken Arok, whose story is a popular children's tale in Central and East Java. Ken Anrok was an orphan who grew up in Kediri and a cunning thief. His reputation was such that Kertajaya of Kediri ordered the ruler of Tumapel, Tunggul Ametung to arrest him.

Tunggul Ametung had a beautiful wife, Ken Dedes whom he took by force. Ken Arok happened upon her by chance, and had a premonition that he had to have her as his wife at all costs. To accomplish this, Ken Arok went to a famous swordsmith Mpu Gandring and asked him to make a sacred Keris to use for this mission. The process of making a sacred sword involved performing rituals and took longer than Ken Arok had the patience for. In his anger he took the unfinished sword from Mpu Gandring and killed him with it. With his last breath, Mpu Gandring cursed Ken Angrok and the next 7 generations of his descendants to death by the same sword.

Ken Arok managed to kill Tunggul Ametung and blamed another petty thief for the murder. He presented himself as a jagoan, a champion of the people, took Ken Dedes as his wife and made himself ruler of Tumapel. At this time Ken Dedes was pregnant with Tunggul Ametung's child.

The ambition of Ken Arok did not stop in Tumapel. In 1222, at the battle of Ganter he defeated Kertajaya of Kediri and founded the new kingdom of Singhasari. Kediri became a fief under the kingdom of Singhasari.

Ken Arok was the first king of Singhasari, and true to the curse was killed by his son in law, Anusapati, using the keris of Mpu Gandring. Anusapati was killed in turn with the same Keris. He was killed by Panji Tohjaya, son of Ken Arok and his concubine Ken Umang.

[edit] The Fall of Singhasari

In Kertanegara's reign, an embassy from the Mongol Khan, Kubilai Khan came to Singhasari and demanded submission. Kertanegara took the order as an insult and slashed the envoys' faces before allowing them to return to Beijing. In preparation for the invasion threat from the powerful Emperor of Yuan Dynasty, Kertanegara sent a huge portion of his army to conquer Malay Peninsula to stop the Chinese Invasion from land. This expedition was called the Pamelayu expedition. In the mean time, Jayakatwang, one of his vassal, Lord of Kediri, a fief of Singhasari, rebelled and killed Kertanegara with a surprise attack during a Holy Festival.

When the Mongol fleet arrived, Kertanegara's son in law and supreme commander, himself a descendant of Ken Anrok, Raden Wijaya, manipulated them into fighting the usurper Jayakatwang. The Mongols didn't realize that they destroyed a different kingdom. Before they realized what had happened, Wijaya attacked his former allies when they were feasting in victory, thus drove them from Java. Wijaya founded the new kingdom of Majapahit.