Oceania · The Islamic sultanates
Balinese Kingdom
1383/1519–1686
After the Majapahit conquest of 1343, a vassal dynasty — the Kresna Kepakisan line — was installed on Bali, first at Samprangan. According to the 18th-century chronicle Babad Dalem, the founder Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan had three sons; the eldest ruled ineptly at Samprangan, so the youngest, Dalem Ketut (Ktut Ngulesir), founded a new royal seat at Gelgel around 1383 (r. to c. 1460), inaugurating Bali's classical kingdom.
- Existed
- 1383/1519–1686
- Shown on the map
- 1519–1686
- Peak area
- 22k km²
- Region
- Oceania
Overview
After the Majapahit conquest of 1343, a vassal dynasty — the Kresna Kepakisan line — was installed on Bali, first at Samprangan. According to the 18th-century chronicle Babad Dalem, the founder Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan had three sons; the eldest ruled ineptly at Samprangan, so the youngest, Dalem Ketut (Ktut Ngulesir), founded a new royal seat at Gelgel around 1383 (r. to c. 1460), inaugurating Bali's classical kingdom.
History
The golden age came under Dalem Baturenggong (Waturenggong) in the mid-16th century, who patronized the Javanese Brahmin sage Nirartha (Danghyang Dwijendra), a refugee from Islamizing Java whose literary and religious works decisively shaped Balinese Hinduism. (His Wikipedia entry's claim of a 90-year reign, c. 1459/1460–1550, is drawn from legendary chronicle chronology and should be treated cautiously.) At its apogee, Gelgel's suzerainty extended over Lombok, western Sumbawa, and Blambangan in East Java, making it a Balinese "mini-empire." After the fall of Majapahit, Majapahit nobles, priests, and artisans took refuge on Bali, which R.C. Majumdar called "the last stronghold of Indo-Javanese culture and civilisation."
Decline and legacy
Later rulers included Dalem Bekung, Dalem Seganing, and Dalem Di Made (c. 1623–1642). Internal conflict — the revolt of the chief minister Gusti Agung Maruti from 1651 — broke up Gelgel. Loyalists restored Di Made's line, and around 1686 a new royal seat was founded at Klungkung, about 4 km north of Gelgel, by Ida I Dewa Agung Jambe, who dropped the title "Dalem" in favor of Dewa Agung. Klungkung could not reunify the island, which fragmented into nine competing kingdoms (see profile 18).
Common questions
- What was the Balinese Kingdom?
- After the Majapahit conquest of 1343, a vassal dynasty — the Kresna Kepakisan line — was installed on Bali, first at Samprangan. According to the 18th-century chronicle Babad Dalem, the founder Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan had three sons; the eldest ruled ineptly at Samprangan, so the youngest, Dalem Ketut (Ktut Ngulesir), founded a new royal seat at Gelgel around 1383 (r. to c. 1460), inaugurating Bali's classical kingdom.
- When did the Balinese Kingdom exist?
- The Balinese Kingdom existed 1383/1519–1686. On this map it is drawn 1519–1686.
- How large was the Balinese Kingdom?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Balinese Kingdom covered about 22,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- Who ruled the Balinese Kingdom?
- The golden age came under Dalem Baturenggong (Waturenggong) in the mid-16th century, who patronized the Javanese Brahmin sage Nirartha (Danghyang Dwijendra), a refugee from Islamizing Java whose literary and religious works decisively shaped Balinese Hinduism. (His Wikipedia entry's claim of a 90-year reign, c. 1459/1460–1550, is drawn from legendary chronicle chronology and should be treated cautiously.)
- How did the Balinese Kingdom end?
- Later rulers included Dalem Bekung, Dalem Seganing, and Dalem Di Made (c. 1623–1642). Internal conflict — the revolt of the chief minister Gusti Agung Maruti from 1651 — broke up Gelgel.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity and its key rulers as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and UN sources, Pacific news organisations, and the scholarship of Ricklefs, Andaya, Coedès, Carey, Sri Margana and Smith & Smith. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Bali Kingdom en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Kingdom
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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