BALI GUIDE

BALI HISTORY

Before Walaprabhu, apparently all Balinese kings were descendants of Warmadewa. Those who came after Walaprabhu seemed to have belonged to a different dynasty. Their names and titles suggest a close connection with the rulers of East Java. The last king of this dynasty was Paduka Bhatara Parameswara Sri Hyang Ning Hyang Adidewalancana. During Adidewalancana's reign, in 1282, Bali was attacked and subjugated by the king of Singasari, Kertanegara. The inscriptions of Basangara (1296) and Sikawana (1300) refer to a non-royal official called Raja Patih Makakasir Kbo Parud. Kbo Parud was not believed or recognized as a royal name, so it is possible that this individual was appointed by the Javanese king of Singasari to administer Bali as their representative. Kertanegara, the ruler of Singasari Kingdom, until the turn of the century, saw Bali under its own rule under the hands of King Bedaulu of Pejeng, East of Ubud. 1343 A.D. is an important date in Bali's history. It was then that the whole island was conquered by East Java under the mighty Hindu Majapahit Kingdom. This resulted in massive changes in Balinese society, including the introduction of the caste system.

From at least the 11th century, Bali had been incorporated into cultural, social and intermittently, also the political world of Java. According to Balinese historical traditions (balinese culture), Bali was conquered in 1334 by Javanese expeditionary forces sent by the famous Majapahit Prime Minister, Gajahmada. A Javanese noble, Kresna Kapakisan, was sent to rule over the newly subdued island with the help of a number of other Javanese nobles. The first capital was established at Samprangan. On the death of Kresna Kapakisan, his son and successor, Dalem Samprangan, proved to be an ineffectual leader. He was soon deposed by his younger brother, Dalem Ketut Ngulesir, who moved the capital to Gelgel. The Balinese court was modelled on the of Majapahit in Java, and the Balinise came to see their own political and cultural world directly linked to that of pre-Islamic Java. The majority of present day Balinese noble families trace their origins back to these founding ancestors from Majapahit Java. Balinese, who did not embrace the changes fled to the isolated and remote mountainous and hills areas (bali indonesia travel). Their descendants are known today as Bali Aga or Bali Mula, that means the "original Balinese". They still live separately in villages like Tenganan, near Dasa Temple, and Trunyan, on the shores of Batur Lake; and maintain their ancient laws and traditional ways. When Majapahit Kingdom in East Java fell in 1515, the many small Islamic Kingdoms in the island [Java] merged into the Islamic Mataram Empire. Majapahit's most dedicated Hindu priests, craftsmen, soldiers, nobles and artists fled east to Bali and flooded the island with Javanese cultures and Hindu practices. Considering the huge influence and power of Islam at the time, it is worth wondering why and how Bali can still remained strongly Hindu and Huddhist.