Abstract. – This article explores the background and origins of the Javanese court traditions about Nyai Rara Kidul, the goddess of the Southern Ocean. It evaluates several proposed Indian prototypes and asks whether Indian influence on the myths may not have been ex-post facto rather than primary. It considers some alternative sources for the court traditions about the Queen, who only appears in her present role in the late 16th century. Her roots, however, go further back in Southeast Asian history and include core elements of the Cambodian foundation myth, as well as possible adaptations of Chinese folk beliefs. Applying Javanese magical/literary methods for discovering the meanings of words used by Javanese court poets (kerata basa or jarwa dhosok), to both the Cambodian and Javanese myths, the article shows how the court myths as these are told in the Javanese court chronicle Babad Tanah Jawi, could be derived from the Cambodian ones. Having shown the possibility of a direct link between the two mythologies, the article then looks at the parallel relationships of secondary figures and circumstances in the mythologies and considers that this literary court construction may well have been mapped onto a pre-existing coastal sea spirit. It further looks at Chinese influences in Java, focusing especially on the goddess Mazu, and the emphasis in the Javanese myths on her association with the southern ocean. [Mataram, Cambodia, China, India, Babad Tanah Jawi, Nyai Rara Kidul, nagini, jarwa dhosok]