Singhasari

Singhasari was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in eastern Java that flourished between 1222 and 1292. It was founded by Ken Arok, a local ruler whose career is recorded in the Pararaton and other Javanese chronicles, after he overthrew the kingdom of Kediri. The new state took its name from the Singosari district near Malang, and its court was known as Kutaraja. Under King Kertanegara, who reigned in the second half of the thirteenth century, Singhasari expanded beyond Java, sending expeditions to Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula and challenging Srivijaya's maritime dominance. Kertanegara also refused to submit to the Mongol Yuan emperor, a defiance that prompted a Yuan naval expedition to Java in 1292-1293. Before the Mongols arrived, however, Kertanegara was killed by Jayakatwang, a ruler of Kediri. His son-in-law Raden Wijaya then allied with the Yuan forces to defeat Jayakatwang and founded the Majapahit kingdom, which inherited Singhasari's position as the leading power of Java. The temples and statues of the Singosari period, including the famous Prajnaparamita image, are among the finest works of classical Javanese art.