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Gelgelis a village (desa) in the regency (kabupaten) ofKlungkung,onBali,Indonesia.The village, near the coast four kilometers south of the regency capitalSemarapura,contains some structures of cultural interest and is known for its pottery and handwoven ceremonialsongketcloth.
The height of the village's power came during the kingdom of Gelgel, which dominated Bali from around the early 16th century to 1686.[1]There are no traces left today of the old royal palace (puri). The old ancestral shrine of the ruling dynasty, Pura Jero Agung, is still standing in the old palace area. To the east of Pura Jero Agung is another old temple, Pura Dasar, which is a lowland counterpart of the "mother temple" of Bali,Pura Besakih.The village also contains the oldestmosquein Bali, which was built byJavaneseretainers of the old kings.[2]
Early history
editThe history of Gelgel is described in detail in the traditional chronicles (babad), in particular the 18th-century workBabad Dalem.According to these texts, the conquest of Bali by theHinduJavanesekingdom ofMajapahitwas followed by the installation of a vassal dynasty inSampranganin the present-day regencyGianyar,close to the old royal centreBedulu.This installation took place in the age of the Majapahit ministerGajah Mada(d. 1364). The first Samprangan rulerSri Aji Kresna Kepakisanhad three sons. The eldest,Dalem Samprangan,succeeded his father but turned out to be a vain and incompetent ruler. His youngest brotherDalem Ketutfounded a new royal seat in Gelgel, while Samprangan's power waned. He later visited Majapahit and received powerful heirlooms (pusaka) from KingHayam Wuruk.After a while the Majapahit kingdom fell into chaos and vanished, leaving Dalem Ketut and his Balinese kingdom as the heirs of its Hindu-Javanese culture.[3]This traditional account is problematic since it includes irreconcilable chronological difficulties; the Majapahit ruler Hayam Wuruk died in 1389, while the fall of Majapahit occurred much later, in the early 16th century.
The golden age
editIt is clear from a comparison of external and indigenous sources that Gelgel was a powerful polity in Bali in the 16th century. The son of Dewa Ketut,Dalem Baturenggong,presumably reigned in the mid-16th century. He received at his court aBrahminsage calledNirarthawho had fled from chaotic conditions inJava.A fruitful patron-priest relationship was forged between the ruler and Nirartha, who engaged in extensive literary activity. In the time of Dalem Baturenggong,Lombok,WestSumbawa,andBlambangan(easternmost Java) are thought to have come under Gelgel's suzerainty. After his death, his sonDalem Bekungled a troubled reign marked by two serious rebellions by court aristocrats (traditionally dated in 1558 and 1578) and a severe military defeat against the Javanese kingdom ofPasuruan.His brother and successorDalem Seganingwas a successful king whose long reign was relatively free from internal troubles. An indigenous list of dates places his death at 1623, although some historians have placed it later. The son of Dalem Seganing,Dalem Di Made,dispatched another unsuccessful expedition against Java, which was defeated by the king ofMataram.[4]In his old age, he lost power to his foremost minister (patih),Anglurah Agung(Gusti Agung Maruti). Certain indigenous texts place his death in 1642, but historians have also proposed 1651 or c. 1665 as the correct date.[5]
DutchandPortuguesesources confirm the existence of a powerful kingdom in the 16th and 17th centuries, to which the neighbouring areas Lombok, West Sumbawa, and Balambangan stood in a tributary or loosely subordinate relation. At the side of the king (dalem) stood senior ministers belonging to the Agung and Ler families, and a hereditary line of Brahmana preceptors.[6]The Gelgel kingdom was threatened by the sea-orientedMakassarkingdom in c. 1619, which deprived it of its interests in Sumbawa and at least parts of Lombok. With Mataram fighting took place over the possession of Blambangan in 1635-1647; in the end, Gelgel gained the upper hand.[7]The Dutch appeared on the island for the first time in 1597 and entered friendly relations with the Gelgel ruler. Subsequent relations between theDutch East India Company(VOC) and the kings of Gelgel were usually good, although attempts at concrete political cooperation were mostly unsuccessful. The Portuguese inMalaccadispatched an abortive missionary expedition to the king in 1635.[8]European sources describe Bali at this time as a densely populated island with more than 300,000 people and a flourishing agricultural production. By the early 17th century it was linked to the economic networks of theSoutheast AsianArchipelago through traders from thePasisirarea on Java's north coast. These traders exchangedpepperfrom the western part of the archipelago forcottoncloth produced on Bali, which was then brought to eastern Indonesia and thePhilippines.There was no significant category of native Balinese merchants, however.[9]
Fragmentation and fall
editAccording to both indigenous and Dutch sources, internal fighting broke out in 1651 after the demise of a Gelgel ruler, and the internecine trouble continued over the next decades. The royal ministerAnglurah Agungset himself up as ruler of Gelgel from at least 1665 but encountered opposition from various corners. Finally, in 1686, Anglurah Agung fell in battle against the nobleman Batulepang. After this event, a scion of the old royal line called Dewa Agung Jambe established himself as the new upper ruler, with his seat in Klungkung (Semarapura).[10]The Klungkung kingdom would last until the 20th century. However, the new kingdom was unable to gather the elite groups on Bali like Gelgel had done. The rulers (Dewa Agung) of Klungkung continued to hold the position as paramount kings, but the island was split up into several minor kingdoms (Karangasem,Sukawati,Buleleng,Tabanan,Badung,etc.). This situation of political fragmentation continued until the Dutch colonial conquest between 1849 and 1908. With the royal seat moved, Gelgel itself was turned into a village that was administered by a side branch of the Dewa Agung dynasty. In about the 1730s the current Gelgel lord was attacked and killed by three princes of Karangasem, whose father he had murdered.[11]In 1908, during theDutch intervention in Bali,the local lord attacked a troop of Dutch colonial soldiers, which was the catalyst for the well-knownpuputanof theKlungkung Palace(18 April 1908) where the royal dynasty and their retainers performed a suicidal attack against well-armed Dutch troops.[12]
List of rulers
edit- Dalem Ketut,early 16th century?
- Dalem Baturenggong,mid 16th century
- Dalem Bekung,mentioned 1558–1578
- Dalem Seganing,d. 1623 or 1651
- Dalem Di Made,d. 1642 or 1651 or 1665
- Dewa Pacekan,d. 1650? (mentioned in some lists only)
- Dewa Cawu,d. 1673? (mentioned in some lists only)
- Anglurah Agung,before 1665–1686
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Hägerdal, Hans (1995)."Bali in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Suggestions for a Chronology of the Gelgel Period".Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde.151(1): 101–124.ISSN0006-2294.
- ^Adrian Vickers, 'Sights of Klungkung; Bali's most illustrious kingdom', in Eric Oey (ed.),Bali; Island of the Gods.Singapore: Periplus 1990, p. 168.
- ^I Wayan Warna et al. (1986),Babad Dalem; Teks dan terjemahan.Denpasar: Dinas Pendidkan dan Kebudayaan Propinsi Daerah Tingkat I Bali.
- ^H. Hägerdal (1998), 'From Batuparang to Ayudhya; Bali and the Outside World, 1636-1655',Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde154-1, p.66-7.
- ^H. Creese (1991), 'Balinese babad as historical sources; A reinterpretation of the fall of Gelgel',Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde147-2.
- ^P.A. Leupe (1855), 'Schriftelijck rapport gedaen door den predicant Justus Heurnius',Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde3, pp. 250-62.
- ^H.J. de Graaf (1958),De regering van Sultan Agung, vorst van Mataram, 1613-1645, en die van zijn voorganger Panembahan Seda-ing-Krapjak, 1601-1613.The Hague: M. Nijhoff, pp. 255-63; H.J. de Graaf (1961),De regering van Sunan Mangu-Rat I Tegal-Wangi, vorst van Mataram, 1646-1677,Vol I. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, pp. 25-7.
- ^H. Jacobs (1988),The Jesuit Makasar documents (1615-1682).Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute, p. 35; C. Wessels (1923), 'Een Portugeesche missie-poging op Bali in 1635',Studiën: Tijdschrift voor Godsdienst, Wetenschap en Letteren99, pp. 433-43.
- ^B. Schrieke (1955),Indonesian sociological studies,Vol. I. The Hague & Bandung: Van Hoeve, pp. 20-1.
- ^H.J. de Graaf (1949), 'Goesti Pandji Sakti, vorst van Boeleleng',Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde83-1.
- ^H. Hägerdal (2001),Hindu rulers, Muslim subjects; Lombok and Bali in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Bangkok: White Lotus, p. 29.
- ^M. Wiener (1995),Visible and invisible realms; Power, magic and colonial conquest in Bali.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Further reading
edit- C.C. Berg (1927),De middeljavaansche historische traditie.Santpoort: Mees.
- R. Pringle (2004),A short history of Bali; Indonesia's Hindu realm.Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
- H. Schulte Nordholt (1996),The spell of power; A history of Balinese politics 1650-1940.Leiden: KITLV Press.
- A. Vickers (1989),Bali; A paradise created.Ringwood: Penguin.