BALI GUIDE

BALI HISTORY

Details of the early Gelgel rulers are sketchy, bu in the mid 16th century, one of Bali's most famous rulers, the legendary Batu Renggong, came to throne. Batu Renggong, also known as Dewa Agung Batu Renggong [great god], became king in 1550, and this title became hereditary through the succeeding generations of the Kingdom of Gelgel (traditional balinese), and later Klungkung, until the 20th century. Together with his court priest, Nirartha, who came as a refugee from Javanese Islam, and who is considered to be both the progenitor of all Brahmana descent groups and instigator of the caste system in Bali, Batu Renggong ruled over a land of peace and prosperity in which literary and cultural activities flourished. Balinese chronicles [Babad Bali] record that during his reign, Bali's hegemony extended westward to incorporate the eastern part of Java as far as Pasuruan, and eastward to include the adjacent island of Lombok and Sumbawa. Bali reached the pinnacle of its golden era under the reign of Dewa Agung Batu Renggong, the great god ruler. Bali's decline started when Batu Renggong's grandson, I Made Bekung, lost Blambangan, Lombok and Sumbawa. I Made Bekung's chief minister, Gusti Agung Maruti, eventually rebelled and reigned from 1650 to 1686, when he, in turn, was killed by I Made Bekung's sone, Dewa Agung Jambe, who then moved the court to Klungkung, and named his new palace the Semarapura [abode of the god of love] (bali indonesia attractions), about 3 [three] kilometres to the north of the old capital at Gelgel.

By the end of the 17th century, the central Balinese state of Gelgel had fragmented into a number of independent kingdoms. Although the Dewa Agung of Klungkung, as direct heir to the Gelgel dynasty, continued to be recognized as paramount ruler. A number of other powerful, independent kingdoms, the most important of which were Karangasem, Mengwi, Badung and Buleleng, co-existed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Rivalries and tensions between these kingdoms meant that an almost constant state of warfare existed in Bali during this period.

The first European contact with Bali is believed to have been made by a Dutch explorer, Cornelis de Houtman, who arrived in 1597, although a Portuguese ship had foundered off the Bukit Peninsula as early as 1585 (bali indonesia vacation) and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung Batu Renggong. Other Dutch traders, agents and colonial officials failed to gain a foothold in Bali at first. By 1830, Dutch officials in The Hague, Amsterdam and Batavia [now known as Jakarta], having engaged in a prolonged exchange of government and company papers formulating various policy alternatives with regards to Bal, decided to infiltrate traders, and then assert sovereignity. The N.H.M., successor to the trading interests of the long since bankrupt and defunct V.O.C., was intimately involved in these intrigues.