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Pararaton
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Also known as The Monarchs, Story of Ken Angrok

thumb|Modern early 20th century printed edition of the Pararaton The Pararaton (Book of Kings), also known as the Katuturanira Ken Angrok (Story of Ken Angrok), is a 16th-century Javanese historical chronicle written in Kawi (Old Javanese). The comparatively short text of 32 folio-size pages (1126 lines) contains the history of the kings of Singhasari and Majapahit in eastern Java.

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Title
  • Prelude
  • Analysis of the manuscript
  • Notes
  • References
  • Further reading

thumb|Modern early 20th century printed edition of the Pararaton The Pararaton (Book of Kings), also known as the Katuturanira Ken Angrok (Story of Ken Angrok), is a 16th-century Javanese historical chronicle written in Kawi (Old Javanese). The comparatively short text of 32 folio-size pages (1126 lines) contains the history of the kings of Singhasari and Majapahit in eastern Java.

The Pararaton opens with a formal incarnation of the founder of the Singhasari kingdom (1222–1292), Ken Arok (or Ken Angrok). Almost half of the manuscript is the story of Ken Arok's career before he acceded to the throne in 1222. This part is mythical. There then follows several shorter narrative fragments in chronological order. Many of the events recorded here are dated. Towards the end, the pieces of history become shorter and shorter and are mixed with genealogical information concerning the members of the royal family of the Majapahit empire.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pararaton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.