Kediri

Kediri is a town of Java Is, on the Brantas river, in the south-west of Surabaya, the provincial capital.

It is the chief town of the Kabupaten (department) of the same name.

History

The old kingdom of Kediri was called also Daha .

The inscriptions on copper plate are one of the sources by which have knows the history of Java. One knows that into 907 after J. - C., king Balitung extends his capacity since the center towards the east of the island, and that king Mpu Sindok definitively transfers his capital in the east. One notes then a " silence" between the last inscription of Mpu Sindok, gone back to 948, and the first of Java East, gone back to 1021, had with a king named Airlangga (reign 1016-45), wire of a prince Bali be born, Udayana.

The kingdom of Airlangga, Janggala, was consisted the back-country in the south-west of current Surabaya, in the valley of Brantas. An inscription gone back to 1041 teaches us that Airlangga saved the kingdom of a " large catastrophe" in 1016 (this event could have inspired the cycle Bali are born from Calon Arang, in which the Rangda witch throws a fate on the kingdom, that then the Barong saves).

In 1045, Airlangga abdicates to be withdrawn in a hermitage, and divides its kingdom between its two sons. One keeps the name of Janggala, the other is Kediri, which becomes the principal kingdom of the east. What one knows of kings de Kediri comes from the charters which they emit of 1059 to 1205. These kings are presented in the form of misadventures of Vishnu. They maintain the bonds with Bali.

According to the Pararaton (" Deliver rois"), poem epic writes in means Javanese, therefore in XVIe century, king Kertajaya is killed by some Ken Arok, adventurer of obscure origin which founds a new kingdom, Singasari, in the east of Kediri in 1222, and takes the name of reign of Rajasa.

Then another " follows; silence" epigraphy, to a charter, gone back to 1264, emitted by a sovereign of Singasari.

The name of Kediri reappears with the revolt into 1292 of its prince, Jayakatwang, against his suzerain, king Kertanegara de Singasari. Repression of this revolt by son-in-law of Kertanegara, Raden Wijaya, which makes sure alliance of sino-Mongolian troops which unloaded for a punitive forwarding sent by the emperor Kubilai Khan against Singasari, is marked by the plundering of Kediri by the Sino-Mongols, who gain substantial spoils. Raden Wijaya founds a new kingdom, Majapahit.

By a curious return of the things, it seems that conflicts of succession at the end it XIVe century make pass Majapahit under the control of princes de Kediri in 1478.

Kediri is taken by the troops of the Moslem kingdom of Demak in 1527.

Culture and tourism

Kings de Kediri did not leave many monuments. Their successors of Singasari and Majapahit built temples to attract each other the favors of the Buddhist clergies and hindouists.

To obtain them, kings de Kediri preferred the monastic retirements. On the other hand, their reigns produced a literature, in particular in the forms of kakawin (word which comes from kavya , a poetic kind in Sanscrit appeared in VIIe century in the courses of the India). The kakawin were poems in stanzas of four worms to the number of fixed feet. One calls kawi the language in which they were written, the old man Javanese.

One finds close to the city to Avoids in the area of Kediri, two temples of the end of XIVe century, therefore of the time of the kingdom of Majapahit.

The Temple of Surawana was built in 1390 after J.C. like memorial with Wijayarajasa, prince de Wengker. There remains only the basic platform about it. Low-reliefs represent popular scenes of accounts and poem epic Arjunawiwaha, sometimes comic even obscenes.

The temple of Tigowangi was built in the honor of prince Bhre Matahun, brother-in-law of the king Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit (reign 1350-1389). Low-reliefs tell Sudamala, i.e. the history of Uma, marries Shiva, condemned by her husband to become the terrible goddess Durga.

Another curiosity is the church of Puh Sarang , located at 6 km of Kediri. The architecture of this Catholic church combines Javanese and European elements.

See the continuation: Singasari and Majapahit

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