THERE are no records of what happened that day, almost 1,000 years ago, in Kediri. It is only known that in the year 1045, Airlangga abdicated the throne. The 43-year-old king had left the palace. He disappeared into the forest and became a hermit.

No one now knew what prompted him to do such a thing, as Airlangga was a beloved king. In the early 11th century, according to a stone inscription, the Kingdom of Kediri in East Java was destroye