Anglurah Agung (died 31 October 1686), also known as Gusti Agung Di Made or Gusti Agung Maruti, was a king of Gelgel, the paramount kingdom on

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, who ruled at a time when the political unity of the island began to break down. This process led to the permanent division of Bali into several minor kingdoms by the late 17th century.

Background and rise

Anglurah Agung belonged to a hereditary line of chief ministers in the Balinese kingdom, the Agung family, which claimed descent from the ancient kings of Kediri on

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

. He was the son of Gusti Agung Kalanganyar, and was adopted as an infant by his uncle Gusti Agung Kedung, whom he succeeded as minister. He is also known by the names Gusti Agung Di Made or Gusti Agung Maruti. He governed in the age of the Gelgel king

Dalem Di Made Dalem Di Made was a king of Bali who may have reigned in the period 1623–1642. He belonged to a dynasty that claimed descent from the Majapahit Empire of Java, and kept residence in Gelgel, close to Bali's south coast. Reign Dalem Di Made w ...

. Certain Balinese texts indicate that he was involved in

warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

in 1645; this island was a bone of contention between Bali and the

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

kingdom of

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sula ...

. After the death of a Balinese king in 1651, internal wars flared up on Bali. Eventually Anglurah Agung usurped power in Gelgel, and is documented as ruler from 1665. According to Balinese sources he took command at a point when the old king had lost his grip on state affairs and was deserted by his grandees; "Kyayi (Anglurah) Agung's statemanship had captured the hearts of many people with his sweet voice and fine words". He briefly entertained contacts with the

Dutch East Indies Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...

(Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) in 1665–1667. Balinese

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

holds a negative view of Anglurah Agung and portrays him as a power-hungry

usurper A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...

Death in battle

It seems that he was unable to maintain authority over entire Bali, since other small kingdoms arose at the time, foremost among them

Buleleng Buleleng ( ban, ᬓᬩᬸᬧᬢᬾᬦ᭄ᬩᬸᬮᭂᬮᭂᬂ, Kabupatén Buléléng) is a regency (''kabupaten'') of Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 1,365.88 km2 and population of 624,125 at the 2010 census and 791,910 at the 2020 cens ...

. In the 1680s a number of aristocrats loyal to the old

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

of Gelgel, including

Gusti Panji Sakti Gusti Panji Sakti was King of the Kingdom of Buleleng, in northern Bali, Indonesia, from around 1660 to 1700. He is commemorated as an heroic ancestral figure who expanded the power of Buleleng to Blambangan on East Java East Java ( id, Jawa T ...

of Buleleng and Gusti Jambe Pule of

Badung Badung is a regency of Bali, Indonesia. Its regency seat is in the upland town of Mangupura. It covers districts to the west of the provincial capital of Denpasar, and it has a land area of 418.52 km2. The regency had a population of 548 ...

, attacked the rule of Anglurah Agung. According to Balinese as well as Dutch sources, his end came in 1686, when he fought a

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in Gelgel against the nobleman Batu Lepang. In the heat of the battle, both combatants fell. After his death, the scion of the old Gelgel line, Dewa Agung Jambe I (r. 1686-c. 1722), was established as Balinese paramount king in

Klungkung Klungkung Regency is the smallest regency (''kabupaten'') on Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 315 km2 and had a population at the 2010 Census of 170,543 which increased to 206,925 at the Census of 2020. The administrative centre for the reg ...

, north of Gelgel. However, the new Klungkung kingdom proved unable to wield power over Bali in the way that its predecessor in Gelgel had done. Bali therefore remained split in a number of princedoms ( Karangasem,

, etc.). One of these new dynasties, that of

Mengwi Mengwi is a district (''kecamatan'') in the Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia and also covers Bali's heaviest tourist regions, situated to the north of Kuta District and North Kuta District (including Seminyak Seminyak is a mixed tourist resi ...

, claimed descent from Anglurah Agung.H. Creese, 'Balinese Babad as Historical Sources; A Reinterpretation of the Fall of Gelgel', ''Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' 147 1991; H. Schulte Nordholt, ''The Spell of Power; A History of Balinese Politics 1650-1940''. Leiden: KITLV Press 1996, pp. 19-22.

Background and rise

Death in battle

See also

References

Further reading