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This
month we present part one of a special on the history of the people of
Bali and how this unique island came to be.
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| The Balinese people are the descendants
of a prehistoric race who migrated through Asia to the Indonesian archipelago. |
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Ancient Indian Ship
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| The first recorded inflow of changes
were due to Indian traders and travellers who brought with them Hindu learning
and religion. The rulers of primitive, animist Bali found these teachings
suited them |
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| and their people perfectly, with
the concept of the God-King, who exercised a divine law and spiritual leadership,
and created a glorious palace in which the arts were fostered, fitting
perfectly over the existing systems of monarchy. |
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| The most persuasive influence of
Hinduism came from nearby Java, when Airlangga, the son of a Balinese king,
became part of the court of a Javanese emperor, who he was later to succeed,
inaugurating a period of very close political and cultural contacts which
lasted for centuries. |
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| With the fall of the Madjapahit kingdom
to Islamic influences, many thousands of Hindu priests, nobles, soldiers,
artists and artisans fled from Java to Bali to escape their Muslim. Conquerors. |
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The
Majapahit Empire
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| The Majapahit Empire was based in
eastern Java and ruled much of the southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra,
and Bali from about 1293 to around 1500. Its greatest ruler was Hayam Wuruk,
whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked the empire's peak. The Majapahit was
the last of the great Hindu empires of the Malay archipelago. The founder
of the Majapahit Empire, Kertarajasa, was the son-in-law of the ruler of
the Singhasari kingdom, also based in Java. After Singhasari drove Srivijaya
out of Java altogether in 1290, the rising power of Singhasari came to
the attention of Kublai Khan in China and he sent emissaries demanding
tribute. Kertanagara, ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, refused to pay tribute
and the Khan sent a punitive expedition which arrived off the coast of
Java in 1293. Gajah Mada, an ambitious Majapahit prime minister and regent
from |
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