Kertanegara of Singhasari

Sri Maharajadiraja Sri Kertanagara Wikrama Dharmatunggadewa,

Kertanagara was the first Javanese ruler with territorial ambitions that extended beyond the island of Java. In 1284, he subjected nearby Bali to vassalage. Kertanagara managed to form an alliance with Champa, another dominant state in Southeast Asia.

Late in his reign, the Pamalayu expedition succeeded in gaining control of the Melayu Kingdom in eastern Sumatra, and possibly also gained control over the Sunda Kingdom and hegemony over the Strait of Malacca. Other areas in Madura Island and Borneo also offered their submission to Kertanagara.

In 1273 Saka or corresponds to the year 1351 CE, Gajah Mada the Mahapatih of Majapahit issued an inscription to commemorate the construction of a funerary caitya or burial temple dedicated to King Kertanagara that died in 1214 Saka (1292 CE). The temple mentioned in this inscription most possibly refer to the syncretic Shivaist-Buddhist Singhasari temple, since this inscription was discovered near this temple. It seems that Gajah Mada specifically held the late king Kertanagara in high esteem and pay special tribute even 58 years after his death, which led for historian to suggests a possible link between them. Furthermore, in 1275, the term Cakravala Mandala Dvipantara was used by him to describe the aspiration of united Southeast Asian archipelago under Singhasari and marked the beginning of his efforts to achieve it. Dvipantara is a Sanskrit word for the "islands in between", making it a synonym to Nusantara as both dvipa and nusa mean "island". Kertanagara envisioned the union of Southeast Asian maritime kingdoms and polities under Singhasari as a bulwark against the rise of the expansionist Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. It is very possible that Gajah Mada has made Kertanagara a role model and took his idea as a political inspiration to unify the archipelago.