such as Chinese craftsmen working for Balinese princes, or Chinese having settled as shopkeepers, may have influenced certain usages. Often, however, we are very much in doubt. Yet inspirations received from Indic sources both directly and via ancient Java have had enormous influence. The Balinese themselves have been well aware of this, although up until the last sixty years they did not have—any more than did experts in Indonesian cultural history—access to the contents of inscriptions, the elucidation of archaeological remains, etc. Their ideas on historical happenings were consequently vague; the general code word for anything that occurred in a distant past was "Majapahit," the East Javanese kingdom that spread its political influence all over the archipelago. In 1343 it conquered Bali, later providing this last resort of Hinduism with its "Wong Majapahit," its ruling and intellectual upper classes. We should not, however, translate too strictly this Majapahit fixation into exact historical facts. "Majapahit" actually stands for the "Primordial Time" of mythic terminology. Even Mount Meru, the Gunung Agung, was brought to Bali (see Chapter 1) during the days of Majapahit. Batara Maospahit (Majapahit, Maspahit), the Lord of Majapahit, is still worshipped in shrines containing a carved wooden deer's head, reminiscent of the pre-Hindu stage. A nondescript culture hero, he represents the Balinese civilized way of life in general.
The Wong Majapahit, though connected with the Majapahit "Pilgrim Fathers" who entered after the 16th-century decline of the empire, were neatly arranged within the system of the triwangsa, the three privileged castes: Brahmans, from which the priests (pedandas) came, Ksatriyas (the princes and their relatives, acting governors, and the like), and Wesyas, the upper middle classes. In recent times these three main castes constituted perhaps 10 percent of the total population, the remainder being Sudras, the lower classes. Generally the Wong Majaphit are also distinguished from the so-called Bali-aga, "original Balinese." "Proper Peasants" in their own eyes, the Bali-aga were disdainfully regarded by those who came later as boorish mountain folk who spoke archaic dialects and cared neither for priest nor holy water nor cremation, exposing their dead in the open air instead. They are sometimes thought to be "non-Javanized Hindu-Balinese," "pre-Majapahit" in other words. The influence of Hinduism, both of Majapahit and pre-Majapahit, was much less marked in the island's isolated regions. Even prehistoric communities were far from homogeneous. It is hard to say exactly where the Bali-aga fit in, and for the time being we will not even try. Yet we cannot dismiss them as "not belonging" to Hindu-Balinese society. In certain villages attributed to the Bali-aga, inscriptions dealing with their particular organizations have been discovered; the Bali-aga must therefore have been a part of the general Hindu-Bali pattern.
Prehistory, the preliterate part of any people's past, ended for Bali with its earliest contacts with more advanced distant neighbors India and China, the leading powers in Far Eastern trade during the first centuries A.D. Both were attracted to Indonesia for its riches of gold, spices and sandalwood. The earliest evidence that relations between India and the archipelago had surpassed mere incidental commercial contacts derives from West Java and East Borneo (Kalimantan).Inscriptions in a South Indian (Early) Pallava script dating from first half of the 5th century A.D. testify that there were Indianized (Hinduized) kingdoms in those regions.
Bali, situated neither on a direct route between India and China nor necessarily on the way to the Spice Islands, enters the picture later. There is a short notice in a Buddhist text (Mañjusī Mūlakalpa, some time before A.D. 920) to the effect that a country called Bali was among those peopled by barbarians. The land referred to may or may not have been our Island of the Gods. This also holds true for other references, to a P'o-li (Pólì), mentioned in Chinese records from the 5th-6th centuries, which has been identified with Bali. A better interpretation, however, may be a locality in North Sumatra known as (Dalam-) Puri or Lambri (the Lāmurī of Arabian sources). At any rate, the information given in this instance does not amount to much. A country called Dwa-pa-tan, situated somewhere east of Central Java (not necessarily Bali) mentioned in connection with the Chinese Tang dynasty (A.D. 647), was characterized by "characters are written on leaves, the dead burned on a pile, adorned with gold, and with gold in their mouth, with all kinds of scents," which indeed recalls what we know of Bali, even in a much later period. Indic influences at that time had been spreading in the archipelago's western part. Direct evidence concerning Bali, however, is available only from the end of the 9th century, with the earliest copper plate inscriptions. The first known specimens (A.D. 882-914) refer to certain religious events such as the erection of a hermitage at Sukawana (on Mount Penulisan) and foundation of a temple for Bhatāra Da Tonta in the village of Trunyan bordering lake Batur. Both sites have remained famous up to present times; Bhatāra Da Tonta is still talked about even today.
Figure 24: Sanur. Inscribed pillar. Ht. 177 cm.
BALINESE EPIGRAPHY
Balinese inscriptions are dated according to the Śaka Era (sometimes exact to the day). This era, founded in A.D. 78, was used in certain districts of India and spread to Southeast Asia (Java and Bali). There are certain discrepancies between the beginning and duration of Indian and Western years. Unless exact details are given, Śaka dates in the present volume have usually been converted to the Christian Era by adding 78 years.
These earliest dated inscriptions (A.D. 896-911) do not mention any king's name, yet the Singhāmandava they mention as the place of issue was presumably a king's residence. The first royal name in any inscription is found in the Sanur stone pillar inscription of A.D. 914, issued between January 29 and February 27 according to the modern calendar. The name and title are Adhipatih (the king) Śrī Kesarī Varmma. The name of the palace (here pura, a term later reserved for temples, a royal compound then being a puri) is also given—Singhadvāla.
After the first anonymous edicts, another series of Singhāmandava Residence inscriptions (914-933) contains the name of Sang Ratu (the king) Śri Ugrasena (spelled variously). After a lapse of about 20 years, his successors are:
Sang Ratu Śrī Aji (the king) Tabanendra and his spouse Subhadrikā (three inscriptions in 955);
Sang Ratu Śrī Candrabhayasingha (960, the Manukaya inscription, to be discussed in connection with the foundation of the Tirtha Empul watering place);
Sang Ratu Śrī Janasādhu (975); and
Śrī Mahārāja Śrī Vijaya Mahādevī (984).
Except for those named, all rulers since 955 bear the family name of Varm(ma)deva; the Varmma of the Sanur pillar should also perhaps be supplemented in this way. This would make Śrī Kesarī a member of the same dynasty, even the first known in the sequence. Ugrasena, however, did not use it. Kesarī's pura, called Singhādvala (resembling the Singhāmandava of the other inscriptions) also suggests some connection.
All the inscriptions so far mentioned are in Old Balinese. The A.D. 914 Sanur pillar text is partly in Old Balinese, partly in Sanskrit. Moreover, two different types of characters have been used—Old Balinese and Pre- or Early Nāgarī. The latter, which is normally restricted to Sanskrit (especially in Buddhist contexts), is here adapted to the Balinese part; the Balinese script covers a mixture of Sanskrit and Balinese. We shall revert to this curiously composed inscription when discussing the Sanur pillar in its proper context in the Guide section.
Figure 25: Pejeng. Clay stūpas. (Pejeng Museum)
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