The Babad chronicle consists of 1,150 pages, and 43
cantos with a total number of 17,265 verse lines. The first third part details the history of central and east Java, starting with the
Majapahit empire in East Java through to the
Mataram Sultanate kingdom of
Panembahan Sénapati (reigned, 1575–1601) and
Sultan Agung of Mataram (reigned, 1613–1646). It ends with the split of Mataram in the 1755
Treaty of Giyanti, brokered by the Dutch.
Pakubuwono III continued to reign over the Mataram successor state of the
Surakarta Sunanate, while his uncle prince Sultan Mangkubumi (reigned, 1749–1792) obtained the rule over the newly established
Yogyakarta Sultanate as
Hamengkubuwono I. The remainder of the text concerns the biography of Diponegoro, from his birth in 1785 up to his motivation to compose this chronicle in exile, in Manado in 1830. His youth was spent at the estate at Tegalreja near Yogyakarta of his grandmother, where he mixed with local farmers and was educated as a devout Muslim by the local
ulamas. During his religious pilgrimage to the south coast of Java around 1805, he met with Java's spirit guardians. The Babad describes the humiliation of the Yogyakarta court during the governorships of the Dutch Marshal
Herman Willem Daendels (reigned 1808–1811) and the British
Thomas Stamford Raffles (British interregnum) (1811–1816) with plunderings by both in 1810-1812. The rules of the sultans
Hamengkubuwono IV (1814–1822), and his infant successor,
Hamengkubuwono V (1822–1826 / 1828–1855) were not able to counter the negative impact of Dutch encroaching colonial policies. Diponegoro had visions of the Javanese
Ratu Adil (King of Justice) and the fifteenth and sixteenth century
wali (saints, apostles) who had introduced Islam in Java. The
casus belli for outbreak of the
Java War on 20 July 1820, was the demarcation of an undesired public highway through the prince’s estate in Tegareja by Dutch-appointed officials. The Babad provides a detailed account of the five-year struggle of Diponegoro's followers against the colonial Dutch troops and their Javanese allies. The chronicle ends with a report of the prince’s treacherous arrest by the Dutch general
Hendrik Merkus de Kock at the
Magelang peace conference on 28 March 1830, and Diponegoro's subsequent journey in captivity to Batavia (Jakarta) and then to exile in Manado. The Dutch resident there, D.F.W. Pietermaat, is said to promise to forward a request by Diponegoro to the Dutch King
Willem I for a
hajj pilgrimage to
Mecca, in return for a full report by Diponegoro on his Java War. File:Portret van Diponegoro, Adrianus Johannes Bik, 1830.jpg|Adrianus Johannes Bik:
Dipo Negoro Hoofd der Muitelingen op Java (Dipo Negoro, Leader of the Rebels on Java), drawing, Batavia, 1830. RP-T-00-467-73,
Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam. File:Royal seal of Prince Diponegoro.jpg|Royal seal of Prince Diponegoro, here styled as Sultan Abdul Hamid Erucakra, octagon in red wax. Letter to Dutch
Yogyakarta resident J.F.W. van Nes, 1830 or earlier. File:Prince Dipanegara instructing his followers, Babad Dipa Nagara, p. 162-163, Indonesia 1866 (cropped, p. 163).jpg|Prince Dipanegara instructs his followers for their pilgrimage, Buku Kedhung Kebo. Babad Dipa Nagara, p. 162-163, Indonesia 1866. Manuscript Leiden D Or. 13. File:Prince Dipanegara fights with Dutch soldiers. Babad Dipa Nagara, p. 272-273, Indonesia, 1866.jpg|Prince Dipanegara's troops fight with Dutch soldiers. Buku Kedhung Kebo. Babad Dipa Nagara, p. 272-273, Indonesia, 1866. File:Aanval van de colonne Le Bron de Vexela op Dipo Negoro nabij Gawok.jpg|
Battle of Gawok (15 October 1826) between Diponegoro's forces and the Dutch colonial army in Gawok, west of
Surakarta (1900 drawing). ==Quotes from the
Babad Diponegoro==