Misplaced Pages

Part of a series on the
History of Indonesia
Timeline
Prehistory Paleolithic Java Man 1,000,000 BP Flores Man 94,000–12,000 BP Neolithic Toba catastrophe 75,000 BP Buni culture 400 BCE–500 CE
Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms Kutai Kingdom 350–1605 Tarumanagara Kingdom 400s–500s Kantoli Kingdom 400s–500s Kalingga Kingdom 500s–600s Melayu Kingdom 600s–1347 Srivijaya Empire 600s–1025 Shailendra Dynasty 600s–900s Mataram Kingdom 716–1016 Bali Kingdom 914–1908 Sunda Kingdom 932–1579 Kahuripan Kingdom 1019–1045 Kediri Kingdom 1045–1221 Dharmasraya Kingdom 1183–1347 Pannai Kingdom 1000s–1300s Singhasari Empire 1222–1292 Majapahit Empire 1293–1527
Islamic sultanates Spread of Islam 800–1600 Peureulak Sultanate 840–1292 Aru Kingdom 1225–1613 Ternate Sultanate 1257–1914 Samudera Pasai Sultanate 1267–1521 Pagaruyung Kingdom 1347–1833 Bruneian Empire 1368–1888 Malacca Sultanate 1400–1511 Sultanate of Sulu 1405–1851 Sultanate of Cirebon 1445–1677 Demak Sultanate 1475–1554 Aceh Sultanate 1496–1903 Sultanate of Ternate 1486–1914 Sultanate of Bacan 1515–1946 Sultanate of Tidore 1500s–1967 Sultanate of Jailolo 1496–1903 Banten Sultanate 1526–present Banjar Sultanate 1526–1863 Kalinyamat Sultanate 1527–1599 Mataram Sultanate 1586–1755 Johor Sultanate 1528s–1877 Kingdom of Kaimana 1600s–1926 Jambi Sultanate 1604s–1904 Palembang Sultanate 1659–1823 Siak Sultanate 1725–1946 Surakarta Sunanate 1745–present Yogyakarta Sultanate 1755–present Deli Sultanate 1814–1946 Riau-Lingga Sultanate 1824–1911
Christian kingdoms Kingdom of Larantuka 1515–1904 Kingdom of Siau 1510–1956 Kingdom of Bolaang Mongondow 1670–1950
Chinese Kongsi federations Heshun Confederation 1776–1854 Lanfang Republic 1777–1884 Santiaogou Republic 1777–1853
European colonization Portuguese Insulindia 1512–1850 Spanish East Indies 1521–1677 Dutch East India Company rule 1602–1799 British Bencoolen 1685–1824 French and British interregnum 1806–1816 Dutch East Indies 1800–1942 1945–1949
Emergence of Indonesia National Awakening 1908–1942 Japanese occupation 1942–1945 National Revolution 1945–1949 United States of Indonesia 1949–1950
Republic of Indonesia Liberal democracy 1950–1959 Guided Democracy 1959–1966 Transition 1966–1967 New Order 1967–1998 Reform era 1998–present
Regions Jakarta Bali Bogor Bandung
By topic Agriculture Archaeology Currency Economy Education Javanese historical texts Religion Buddhism Christianity Hinduism Islam Judaism Mass media Military Sport Women
Indonesia portal
v t e

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.

The text is a blend of myth, legend and history, and traces the history of Balinese kingship back to the Javanese roots in the age of the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit empire (1293-c. 1527). The forces of Gajah Mada, the chief minister (patih) of Majapahit, invade Bali and subjugate the island (an event dated in 1343 in the Javanese poem Nagarakrtagama). A Javanese nobleman called Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan, the grandson of a Brahmin, is installed as the vassal ruler of Bali, with his residence in Samprangan in the Gianyar regency. In the next generation the seat of the raja is moved to Gelgel in the Klungkung regency, where a strong kingdom takes shape. The collapse of Majapahit on Java later on leaves Gelgel as the heir of the classical Javanese civilization. The account follows the fortunes of the Gelgel kingdom until its fall, historically dated in 1686.

A continuation of the Babad Dalem, sometimes called Babad Ksatria, follows the history of Klungkung, the successor kingdom of Gelgel. It was authored in the second half of the 19th century, with a later version including a brief account of the fall of Klungkung in 1908.

The great value of the Babad Dalem as a source of Balinese cultural values and perceptions of kingship is generally recognized by the scholars. Its value as a source of past events on Bali is controversial. The older versions contain few calendrical dates, and the babad genre seems more concerned with origins than with the exact chronology of events. Comparisons with external (in particular Dutch and Javanese) historical materials suggest that important aspects of the history of Gelgel have been left out or altered in the Babad Dalem.

References

1. Adrian Vickers, 'Balinese texts and historiography', History and Theory 29 1990, pp. 158-78.
2. Margaret J. Wiener, Visible and Invisible Realms; Power, Magic, and Colonial Conquest in Bali. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 97-102.
3. Mpu Prapañca, Desawarnana (Nagarakrtagama), Leiden: KITLV Press, p. 59.
4. I Wayan Warna et al. (tr.), Babad Dalem; Teks dan Terjemahan. Denpasar: Dinas Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Propinsi Daerah Tingkat I Bali.
5. Helen Creese, 'Sri Surawirya, Dewa Agung of Klungkung (c. 1722-1736); The historical context for dating the kakawin Parthayana', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 147 1991, pp. 402-19.
6. Helen Creese, 'Balinese babad as historical sources; A reinterpretation of the fall of Gelgel', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 147 1991, pp. 236-60; Hans Hägerdal, 'Bali in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Suggestions for a Chronology of the Gelgel Period', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 151 1995, pp. 101-24.

Further reading

• C.C. Berg (1927), De middeljavaansche historische traditië. Santpoort: Mees.

• History of Bali