Dalem Bekung

Last updated

Dalem Bekung, also known as Pamayun, was a king of Bali who is traditionally dated in the second half of the 16th century. He belonged to a dynasty of kings who were descended from Majapahit on Java, and reigned from their palace (puri) in Gelgel.

Contents

Intrigues and rebellions

The main source for his reign is the Babad Dalem, a chronicle from the 18th century. [1] He was the son of the successful king Dalem Baturenggong, and came to the throne when still a minor. His uncle Dewa Anggungan wished to usurp kingship, and was supported by the nobleman Batan Jeruk who took Dalem Bekung and his brother Seganing into custody. He was immediately opposed by the majority of the grandees of the kingdom and the two infant princes were rescued. Batan Jeruk fled and was killed by loyalist soldiers. His kinsmen later founded the Karangasem kingdom in East Bali.

Dewa Anggungan was spared but lost his caste status as Ksatria. The Batan Jeruk rebellion is dated in 1556 or 1558 in Balinese texts. When old enough to reign in his own name, Dalem Bekung proved to be an inactive and cowardly ruler, which led to a loss of royal prestige and discipline among the grandees. He left the affairs of state to his chief minister Nginte. In this period the famous Brahmin sage Nirartha, who had entertained a profound impact on the religious elite culture on Bali, died.

A conflict between the noblemen Kiyayi Pande and Gusti Talabah escalated into a full-scale rebellion where Kiyayi Pande mounted a desperate attack on the troops of the king. In the end he was defeated and killed with utmost effort, an event dated in 1578 by various texts. After this event Dalem Bekung had to leave the Gelgel palace. Late versions of the Babad Dalem assert that his brother Dalem Seganing took over as king in his stead at this point. [2]

Defeat by the Javanese

Towards the end of Dalem Bekung's life, a military expedition was organized to support the East Javanese kingdom of Blambangan against Pasuruan, a port and kingdom on the north coast of Java. The expedition, which was led by the nobleman Jelantik, sailed to Panarukan in East Java, and marched into the land of Pasuruan. However, it met with a shattering defeat and Jelantik was killed. Some time after this calamity, Dalem Bekung died. His name is in fact a nickname, meaning 'the childless'. His brother Dalem Seganing either took the throne or continued to reign. [3]

When the first Dutch expedition, under Cornelis de Houtman, visited Bali in 1597, they met a king who might have been either Dalem Bekung or Dalem Seganing. The king was described as a heavily built, stout man of about 40–50 years. The Dutchmen provided lively accounts of the royal splendours they saw on Bali, which accord rather well with the descriptions in the later Balinese chronicles. [4] At the time of their visit, a large Balinese expedition was prepared in order to assist the still Hindu kingdom of Blambangan against the Muslim Pasuruan. A later Dutch account indicates that the expedition was fruitless, since Blambangan fell to Pasuruan in c. 1597. It has been argued that this must be the Jelantik expedition mentioned in the Babad Dalem. Another hypothesis places Dalem Bekung's reign much later, in the 1630s. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Dang Hyang Nirartha Indonesian Shaivite missionary

Danghyang Nirartha, also known as Pedanda Shakti Wawu Rauh, was a Shaivite religious figure in Bali and a Hindu traveler during the 16th century. He was the founder of the Shaivite priesthood in Bali.

Klungkung Palace

The Klungkung Palace, officially Puri Agung Semarapura, is a historical building complex situated in Semarapura, the capital of the Klungkung Regency (kabupaten) on Bali, Indonesia. The palace (puri) was erected at the end of the 17th century, but largely destroyed during the Dutch colonial conquest in 1908. Today the basic remains of the palace are the court of justice, the Kertha Gosa Pavilion, and the main gate that bears the date Saka 1622. Within the old palace compound is also a floating pavilion, the Bale Kembang. The descendants of the rajas that once ruled Klungkung today live in Puri Agung, a residence to the west of the old palace, which was built after 1929.

Gelgel is a village (desa) in the regency (kabupaten) of Klungkung, on Bali, Indonesia. The village, near the coast four kilometers south of the regency capital Semarapura, contains a number of structures of cultural interest, and is known for its pottery and handwoven ceremonial songket cloth. The height of the village's power came during the kingdom of Gelgel, which dominated Bali from around the early 16th century to 1686. There are no traces left today of the old royal palace (puri). The old ancestral shrine of the ruling dynasti, 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 oldest mosque in Bali, which was built by Javanese retainers of the old kings.

Dewa Agung

Dewa Agung or Deva Agung was the title of the kings of Klungkung, the foremost in rank among the nine kingdoms of Bali, Indonesia. It was also borne by other high-ranking members of the dynasty. The term Dewa means "god" and was also a general title for members of the Ksatria caste. Agung translates as "high" or "great". Literally, the title therefore means Great God.

History of Bali

The History of Bali covers a period from the Paleolithic to the present, and is characterized by migrations of people and cultures from other parts of Asia. In the 16th century, the history of Bali started to be marked by Western influence with the arrival of Europeans, to become, after a long and difficult colonial period under the Dutch, an example of the preservation of traditional cultures and a key tourist destination.

Babad Dalem

Babad Dalem is a historical account from Bali, Indonesia, which exists in a large number of versions of varying length. The title may be translated as "Chronicle of Kings", although the Balinese babad genre does not quite accord to Western-style chronicles. There are dated manuscripts from the early 19th century onwards, and the original version was very likely written in the course of the 18th century. The author was probably a Brahmin tied to the Klungkung Palace, the most prestigious of the nine pre-colonial royal seats of Bali.

Dalem was a title for the kings of Bali who resided in Samprangan and Gelgel and were descended from the founder-raja Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan. These kings ruled the island, or at least substantial parts thereof, from maybe the 14th century to the second half of the 17th century. The title literally means "inside", and alludes to his ritual-symbolic role inside the palace (puri). The title is first found in a Dutch report from 1619, which says that the Radia Dalam was the paramount ruler of 33 lesser Balinese lords. The title is used in the chronicle Babad Dalem from the 18th century, which recounts the history of the kings of Bali up the end of the 17th century. After the fall of the Gelgel kingdom in 1686, a daughter kingdom was established in nearby Klungkung. However, the rulers of the Klungkung Palace were usually known by another title, Dewa Agung. In the literature, Dewa Agung is sometimes, although anachronistically, used also for the pre-1686 kings of Bali.

Dalem Baturenggong

Dalem Baturenggong, also called Waturenggong or Enggong, was a King (Dalem) of Bali who is believed to have reigned in the mid 16th century. He is in particular associated with the golden age of the Balinese kingdom of Gelgel, with political expansion and cultural and religious renovation. In Balinese historiography he represented an epic vision of kingship that served as a model for later rulers on the island.

Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan

Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan was a king of Bali who governed the island under the suzerainty of the Javanese Majapahit Empire. He is supposed to have ruled in the mid-14th century, and to be the ancestor of the later kings of Bali. His historicity is, however, not clearly documented.

Dalem Samprangan

Dalem Samprangan was a king of Bali who governed under the suzerainty of the Javanese Majapahit Empire, and belonged to a dynasty of immigrants from Java. The exact dating of his reign is unclear; the sources point at either the second half of the 14th century or the early 16th century.

Dalem Ketut

Dalem Ketut was a king (Dalem) of Bali who ruled at an uncertain time during the age of the Javanese Majapahit Empire. While first a vassal ruler under the Majapahit kings, he later emerged as the king of a separate island realm. He was also known under the names Sri Smara Kepakisan or Tegal Besung. Dewa Tegal Besung is the earliest deified ruler who is honoured at the Pura Padharman Dalem Gelgel, the most important shrine at the central Balinese temple Pura Besakih.

Dalem Seganing

Dalem Seganing was a king of Bali who reigned in the first half of the 17th century, his exact dating being still uncertain. He belonged to a dynasty which originated from Majapahit on Java, and ruled from the palace (puri) of Gelgel.

Dalem Di Made 17th-century King of Bali

Dalem Di Made was a king of Bali who may have reigned in the period 1623–1642. He belonged to a dynasty that claimed descent from the Majapahit Empire of Java, and kept residence in Gelgel, close to Bali's south coast.

Anglurah Agung, also known as Gusti Agung Di Made or Gusti Agung Maruti, was a king of Gelgel, the paramount kingdom on Bali, who ruled at a time when the political unity of the island began to break down. This process led to the permanent division of Bali into several minor kingdoms by the late 17th century.

Dewa Pacekan was a prince on the Island of Bali, who possibly ruled the island kingdom for a short time, in 1642–1650. He belonged to a dynasty stemming from the Majapahit Empire of Java, which had its palace (puri) in Gelgel, near Bali's south coast. According to Balinese historiography he was the second son of king Dalem Di Made, who may have died in 1642. In Dutch sources from the 1630s, he appears to be mentioned as 'Patiekan' or 'Paadjakan', son of the current ruler. In the religious text Rajapurana Besakih, he is listed as the last deified ancestor of the Gelgel dynasty. He may therefore have succeeded Dalem Di Made, although later Balinese historical texts do not actually mention him as ruler in his own right. One text mentions that he directed his troops against the army of the Javanese Muslim Mataram kingdom in 1646. This confrontation is also described in Dutch and Javanese sources. His death is placed by Balinese texts in 1650. Dutch sources relate that the Dutch East Indies Company sent an embassy to Bali in 1651, but found on arrival that the unnamed king had recently died, and that chaotic internecine wars raged on the island.

Dewa Cawu was a prince on the Island of Bali, who possibly reigned as king for a short while in the 1650s. He belonged to a dynasty that claimed descent from the Hindu-Javanese Majapahit Empire, and kept its palace (puri) in Gelgel near Bali's south coast.

The Blambangan Kingdom was the last Javanese Hindu kingdom that flourished between the 13th and 18th centuries, based in the eastern corner of Java. The capital was at Banyuwangi. It had a long history of its own, developing contemporaneously with the largest Hindu kingdom in Java, Majapahit (1293–1527). At the time of the collapse of Majapahit in the late fifteenth century, Blambangan stood on its own as the one solitary Hindu state left in Java, controlling the larger part of Java’s Oosthoek.

Bali Kingdom

The Kingdom of Bali was a series of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms that once ruled some parts of the volcanic island of Bali, in Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. With a history of native Balinese kingship spanning from the early 10th to early 20th centuries, Balinese kingdoms demonstrated sophisticated Balinese court culture where native elements of spirit and ancestral reverence combined with Hindu influences – adopted from India through ancient Java intermediary – flourished, enriched and shaped the Balinese culture.

Pura Dasar Buana Gelgel Balinese temple in Indonesia

Pura Dasar Buana is a Balinese Hindu temple or pura located in Gelgel, Bali, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Semarapura. Pura Dasar Buana is one of the Pura Dang Kahyangan Jagat, a temple which was built to honor a holy teacher of Hindu teaching. Pura Dasar Buana honored Mpu Ghana, a Brahmin who arrived to Bali from Javanese Majapahit to teach Hinduism in the island.

References

  1. I Wayan Warna et al. (tr.), Babad Dalem. Teks dan Terjemahan. Denpasar: Dinas Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Daerah Tingkat I Bali 1986.
  2. I B. Rai Putra, Babad Dalem. Denpasar: Upada Sastra 1991, p. 59.
  3. C.C. Berg, De middeljavaansche historische traditië. Santpoort: Mees 1927, pp. 144-54.
  4. W.A. Hanna, Bali Chronicles. Singapore: Periplus 2004, pp. 32-7.
  5. H. Creese, 'Balinese Babad as Historical Sources', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 147 1991.
Preceded by King of Bali
fl. 1558-1578
Succeeded by