History of Bali

Indian Influence

Early Balinese ruler adopted certain imported religious and administrative practice from India that enhanced their status and power. An important belief was in God –King, a divine incarnation on earth who exercised spiritual and political power through a hierarchy of priest. The realm and its people would prosper only as long as the king conducted himself in accordance with divine law. Although India provide social, theological and political models, the Balinese modified these to suit their own needs while retaining many indigenous practices. Indian deities for instance existed along side the ancestral spirits. Balinese contacts with India and with others Indian influenced kingdoms in Southeast Asia were established by in 1st century, and Buddhist dynasty was ruling Bali by 7th century.

Archeological remains from this era include inscriptions in old Balinese script on stone copper, which reveal that shrine or temples were erected for various rulers. Statues many have been carved and bronzes cast to portray royalty or other important people ornament caves, bathing places and temples cut out of rock were constructed near rivers, springs, ravines and mountaintops, strongly indicating that these place were connected with ancient religious beliefs.

Javanese Influence

In AD 989, the Buddhist Balinese king Udayana married the Hindu Javanese princess Mahendradatta creating a geographic, political, and religious union. A Hindu-Buddhist fusion that incorporated the ancient cult of ancestral worship was adopted as the state religion. During this time, Kawi or old Javanese, replaced old Balinese as the language of inscriptions and court edicts, indicating a Javanisation of Balinese royalty.
The couple’s son, Airlangga, was born in AD 991, and he later married a princess from the Javanese kingdom of Sanjaya. When his father –in- law was murdered, Airlangga waged years of warfare to defeat his rivals and enemies on Java. He finally gained control and ruled the island for the next three decades, while his younger brother Anak Wungsu, was installed as regent of Bali. Airlangga divided his realm in Java among his sons and retired to become and ascestic, but after his death in 1049, the brothers fought a long civil war against each others to gain supremacy on the island. As Bali was involved in the struggle, it became in independent kingdom for the next 235 years until the short –lived east Javanese kingdom of Singosari invaded in 1284 to retake the island. However, in 1292 Kublai Khan attacked Singosari for refusing to pay tribute to China and insulting his envoy ; thus Balinese became independent once again.
In 1343 east Javanese kingdom of Majapahit sent its general Gajah Mada to Bali. The general was sent to quell the cruel king Bedulu. According to legend, one day, the God Siwawas so offended by the king ‘s audacity, that he caused the king’s severed head to fall into a stream and be washed away. The king’s minister replaced the king’s head with that of a pig he killed. The tale follows that king Bedulu decreed that no one should ever look at his face again. When general Gajah Mada, who was staying at the royal court, look up from his meal to gaze at the king’s head, Bedulu begcame so angry that he was consumed by the fires of his own rage.
In reality, Majapahit kingdom was defeated the Balinese forces and process and proceeded to govern through a series of puppet rulers. Javanese style court along with its culture were introduced to Bali. Life changed when Majapahit broke up the old village structures. The Hindu caste system was introduced; at the apex were brahmana high priests, followed by royal satria, and wesia or merchants. Most of the population was commoner sudra or jaba (out-siders).
When the Hindu Majapahit kingdom began to crumble in 1515 with the rise of the Islamic sultanates in Java. Reluctant to succumb, the priest, nobles, and artisans of Majapahit empire chose instead to move to Bali, strengthening the Hindu culture that had taken root there. The Balinese in turn molded the Majapahit influences to their own needs, reinventing the Balinese culture. Much today’s language, music, art and literature are derived from time.

Dutch Intrusion

At beginning of the 19th century, the Dutch were looking for ways to gain a foothold on Bali. Ash deposits from Tambora’s eruption created soil so fertile that Balinese able to export food to Singapore. But the Dutch were suspicious of Balinese dealings with the newly established British colony of Singapore. By the end of 1830, the Dutch were openly discussing trade, politics, plundering and slavery with the king –veiled by deceitful treaties of friendship and commerce that would ultimately lead to Dutch sovereignty on the island. The Dutch want to end the practice of plundering shipwrecks, which the Balinese regarded as gifts from the deity of the sea. The ship, cargo and everyone on board automatically become the property of the king who ruled the territory where the incident occurred.
Thus, when a Dutch frigate went aground off Kuta in 1841, the Balinese naturally plundered it. The Dutch tried to get Balinese to sign a treaty putting a stop to this but were rebuffed.
In 1846, the Dutch launch a punitive expedition against Buleleng in the north, but the Balinese put up strong resistance. A second expedition was sent in 1848, and Balinese again fought off the Dutch attack. During the third expedition in 1849, backed by heavily armed soldiers, the Dutch attacked the fortification at Jagaraja. Backed into corner, the Balinese decided the only honorable course of action was end it all in self-sacrifice. This was when the Dutch first witnessed a puputan, ritual suiced that traditionally signaled the end of kingdom.
Led by the king of Buleleng, nobles marched into gunfire, and or poison. Thousand of Balinese men and women died.
Although the Dutch now regarded them-self as holding sovereignty on the island, they did not interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom of south and east Bali. However when Buleleng tried to rebel in 1853, the Dutch took more direct control.

Chinese Influence in Bali

A 6th century Chinese trade journal refer to an island call P’o-li (Poleng). The description seems to be of a large place than just Bali and may have included east Java. In AD 670, Chinese pilgrim-scholar on his way to India wrote about visiting a Buddhist country called Bali.

Although Chinese impact on Bali is not well documented in historical annals and is not obvious to the first –time visitor, Bali has distinct Chinese connection. During 11th century, a Balinese king married a Chinese princess of the Kang clan and converted to her to Buddhist. The couple named their kingdom Bali Kang or Balingkang. The Hindu gods supposedly made her childless, so she died of sorrow and became Batari Mandul, The Barren goodness. Batari Mandul’s stone image is enshrined at the temple of Pura Puncak Penulisan. The long-haired Kintamani dogs from here are said to be descended from her pet Chinese chows.
Princess Kang is worshipped by Balinese and Chinese as Ida Ayu Subandar, the devine Harbour Queen . She is the deity of trade as well as the patron goodness of merchants. Pura Besakih and Pura Ulun Danu Batur temples both have large shrines in her honors.
Barong, of which there are various kinds, is Balinese dance form usually performed by two men. The female figure in the pair of barong landing (tall protective spirits) wears a white mask with Chinese-like facial features –an image indentified by many as princess Kang. These masked mythological creatures animated by two dancers are also found in china and many other parts of Asia. In Bali more over, the Chinese-style lion called barong sae is just like traditional Chinese lion dancers in that it dances to sounds gongs, drums and cymbals during certain auspicious times of the year in front of houses, businesses and temples.

Balinese architecture also points to distinct Chinese style. Both Balinese and Chinese homes and temples are surrounded by walls, which are sometimes inlaid with Chinese porcelain plates or ceramic lattice tiles. Just inside the gate, an aling-aling(privacy wall) is constructed to prevent demon’s, who can only move straight, from entering. In both China and Bali, separate buildings with upward curving roof corners are arranged around an open central courtyard. A few Balinese textile patterns and woodcarving motifs are shared with the Chinese such as karang cina

(Chinese foliage) and karang sae (Chinese lion foliage).
Beyond the Chinese Buddhist temples in every major town, one need not look very far to find other vestiges of Chinese influence. Chinese copper alloy coins with centre holes are used in offerings and are strung together to create ritual objects. They are also used as sacred images of the Hindu deities of prosperity and fertility as well as for shrine hangings and effigies.
The Chinese romance of the butterfly lover was adapted long ago into Balinese as sampik-Engtai and used for dance dramas. Also, the Baris Cina is a Balinese warrior dance in which men dressed in Chinese attire perform martial arts with swords.