History
From the 16th century until the beginning of this century, Klungkung
was the royal capital of Bali, earned by a certain mystique rather than
by its size and economic clout. From the 14th century to the 17th century,
the Gelgel dynasty, governed from Gelgel, four km south of present-day
Klungkung, played a major role in government and diplomacy, exerting a
pervading influence over the whole island. This was the Golden Age of Bali,
when dance, drama, music, and painting flourished.
The last Majapahit king, buckling under the
onslaught of Islam on Java, fled Java to set up court in Gelgel around
1550. The Brahmans and Ksatriyas of the court commenced to divide Bali
into a number of kingdoms, administered by relatives and generals. The
Javanese-Hindu cultural influence emanating from here laid the foundation
for Bali's unique religion and society.
The greatest of the Gelgel dynasty kings was
Batu Renggong, who called himself Dalem. After assuming the throne in 1550,
he launched a military, political, and cultural renaissance, conquering
Bali and sending roving bands of Balinese troops into large areas of East
Java and the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. Indonesia's first contact with
Europeans occurred under Dalem's reign, when three Dutch ships put in near
Kuta in 1597. Also dating from this critical era are the magnificent old
courthouse, floating pavilion, and gardens of Klungkung. During Dalem's
reign the Brahman priest Nirantha arrived on the island, assuming the position
of the court high priest and exerting a considerable influence on arts
and literature. Besakih became Bali's state temple and the abode of royal
ancestors.
In the 17th century the brilliance of the
Gelgel court began to flicker. Under the reign of Dalem di Made the dynasty
steadily lost land, power, and status. Between 1650 and 1686 a power struggle
broke out between two brothers over who was to succeed. Finally, an ambitious
general, Gusti Agung Maruti, launched an attack on Gelgel in 1686 and proclaimed
himself raja. Dating from this critical era are the magnificent old courthouse,
the "floating pavilion," and gardens which can still be seen in Klungkung.
The kings of Badung and Buleleng, refusing
to accept Maruti's sovereignty, helped the rightful Majapahit descendant
regain his throne in 1705. Five years later, for superstitious reasons,
a new capital was built in Klungkung a few kilometers to the north. Klungkung's
first king, Jambe, was the first to use the title Dewa Agung ("Great King").
The first major dynastic genealogy was compiled by this court in 1819.
The Klungkung court also created new art forms, such as arja and
the geguritan poetic form, and held elaborate state rituals to assert
its status as Bali's spiritual capital.
The Dutch military campaign against Klungkung
began in 1849. Troops landed at Padangbai and marched as far as Kusamba.
Hearing the enemy's ranks were stricken by dysentery, the virgin queen
Dewa Agung Istri Kanya launched a deadly night attack, inflicting heavy
casualties on the Dutch and fatally wounding the Dutch commander. A peace
settlement was negotiated by the wily Danish trader Mads Lange, and the
next day the Dutch troops were ordered back to their ships.
Thus the conquest of south Bali was postponed for another 60 years.
As a result of increasing conflicts in political and trade matters between
the Balinese raja and the Dutch, a full scale Dutch invasion of the south
was mounted in 1906, obliterating the royal houses of Denpasar and Tabanan.
In April 1908 Dutch warships arrived from Batavia and both Klungkung and
Gelgel were bombarded into submission. Dewa Agung Jambe and 300 of his
relatives and followers chose collective suicide (puputan) over
the colonial yoke. Clad in white and armed only with kris, the royal
retinue marched straight into Dutch rifles. Dewa Agung was shot down and
six of his wives stabbed themselves to death, falling over his body. When
the smoke cleared, 108 Balinese had died without the loss of a single Dutch
soldier. Today, across the road from the Kerta Gosa, a monument commemorates
this ghastly event.
Economy
Once one of the most prosperous and fertile districts in all of Bali,
20% of Klungkung's arable land was destroyed in the 1963 eruption of Gunung
Agung, which took 1,600 lives and drove 87,000 from their homes. Bali was
unable to absorb the homeless, and many were resettled in transmigrasi
areas of the Outer Islands. Farmers still eke out a subsistence living
growing chilies, scraggly corn, and onions on gravelly land long since
denuded of heartier vegetation.
The People
The people of Klungkung still claim a cultural and social superiority
over other Balinese. One of every three Ksatriya priests hails from Klungkung.
The area is home to the island's most strict and traditional caste rules.
Klungkung nobles may use the formal Balinese language to speak down to
everyone else. The regency's rigid class structure is evident in such societal
extremes as the Resi Bhujangga sect of Takmung, a priestly class of Vishnu
worshippers, and the desa of Anjingan, inhabited by dog eaters,
scavengers, beggars, and corpse-robbers.