It seems difficult to reconcile the soft-mannered, peace-loving
Balinese we know with the intrigue and violence of their turbulent
past. For a thousand years the history of the island is a series
of wars and heroic episodes that reached a dramatic climax only
thirty years ago when the Balinese made a desperate but futile
last stand against a modem army.
Bali was under the rule of Javanese kings from the earliest
days of Hindu Java, but we first bear of Balinese dynasties
in the tenth century of our era. In 991 A.D. a child was born
of a Balinese king and a Javanese princess. He was named Erlangga
and was sent to Java to marry a princess and to become a local
chief in the kingdom of his father-in-law. Dharmawangsa, the
ruler, was murdered suddenly and Erlangga took charge, saving
the kingdom from total collapse and bringing it into even greater
glory. Erlangga ruled during thirty difficult years, creating
a strong bond between Java and his native Bali, which was then
governed by Erlangga's brother in his name. Then, as befits
a model hero of Hindu ideas, Erlangga suddenly renounced the
kingdom be bad made great and died a hermit under the guidance
of his religious teacher, Mpu' Bharadah. Erlangga's kingdom
was nearly destroyed by a plague supposedly brought by the dreadful
witch Rangda, queen of evil spirits, who was, according to historians,
Erlangga's own mother. Out of the mythical struggle between
the magic of the witch and that of the great king, arose the
legend Calon Arang that made Erlangga the most famous figure
of Balinese mythical history.
In later years Bali became independent of Java, but was again
subjugated in 1284 by the army of Kertanagara, the king of Singasari
(of the Tumapel dynasty) . Singasari was destroyed eight years
later by the new dynasty of Madjapahit, and Bali again became
free, only to be reconquered in 1343 by General Gadja Mada for
King Radjasanagara, under whom the entire Archipelago became
a vassal of Madjapahit. During the next hundred years the power
of the empire was undermined by civil wars and revolts in the
colonies,. and soon the great empire went into decline. The
Balinese revolted against Madjapahit time and again, but the
uprisings were put down in memorable battles, after which military
figures like Arya Damar and Gadjah Mada became rulers of Bali
and to them the present Balinese aristocracy traces its origin.
Gadja Mada was sent to Bali to subjugate the king of the Balinese
Pedjeng dynasty, Dalem Bedaulu', who was supposed to have bad
the head of a pig. He was the owner of the famous horse of Tenganan.
Bedaul' was a semi-demoniac charu
acter of supernatural origin who refused to recognize Madjapahit
supremacy. He was defeated by Gadjah Mada, and Bali once more
came under Javanese rule. The expeditions of Gadjah Mada were
the last military displays of the empire. In the meantime Mohammedan
missionaries were becoming influential in Java and were converting
princes who proclaimed themselves sultans of their districts,
repudiating their allegiance to Madjapahit. Soon peaceful propaganda
turned into armed force; Mohammedan fanatics made war on Madjapahit,
which finally collapsed after it was weakened by internal trouble.
Stutterheim is of the opinion that the empires destruction came
gradually somewhere about the' year 1520.
