IDA I DEWA AGUNG ISTRI KANYA Part 2- Female Fighters Against Dutch Colonialism In Klungkung
CONDITIONS OF THE KINGDOM OF KLUNGKUNG IN THE 19TH CENTURY
2.1. Political situation.
The Klungkung Kingdom was a kingdom among the eight kingdoms in Bali. The other kingdoms were Karangasem, Bangli, Gianyar, Klungkung, Badung, Tabanan, Jembrana, and Buleleng. The territory of the Klungkung kingdom was bordered by the territories of other kingdoms such as Karangasem (eastern part), Bangli (northern part), Gianyar (western part), and the Indonesian Ocean (southern part). Geographically, the territory of the Klungkung kingdom was divided into two, namely the mainland and the islands. The land area is approximately 600 km wide, consisting of hills as part of the Central Bali mountains. The hills are mainly located on the borders of the Gianyar, Bangli, and Karangasem kingdoms. The further south it is, the flatter it becomes and forms a lowland that stretches out next to the three rivers: Tukad Unda, Tukad Jinah, and Tukad Melangit until it reaches the southern coast of the Klungkung kingdom. in the mountainous areas are located. Dawan, Payangan, Tampaksiring, while Bajarangkan, Gelgel, Klungkung and Kusamba are located in the lowlands near the coast. The capital city of Klungkung itself is located approximately 5km from the south coast.
The Klungkung archipelago consists of islands located between the Badung Strait and the Indonesian Ocean. The islands are Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan with an area of about 222 km. With the total area of the Klungkung kingdom is 822.
The population of the Klungkung kingdom at the time of the Kusamba War (1849) is not yet clear or there are no historical sources that have successfully recorded it. However, according to the estimate of Van Bloemen Waanders who had traveled in Bali and Lombok in 1856, the population of the Klungkung kingdom was 46,000 people.
In order to implement a good and orderly government system, the kingdom’s territory was divided into smaller areas, namely kemanca, desa, and banjar. The bureaucratic structure of the kingdom was also adjusted to the division of its territory. Thus, there was a central government centered in the palace or puri, whose territory covered the territory of the Klungkung kingdom. Furthermore, there was a kemanca level government under the leadership of a punggawa or manca, a village level government under the leadership of a prebekel and the lowest was the banjar level under the leadership of Klian.
In the bureaucratic structure of the Klungkung kingdom, the hierarchical structure of the kingdom is as follows: (1) king, (2) 4 courtiers or manca, (3) prebekel, and (4) klian.
King. The king holds the highest power in the political field, meaning that the executive, legislative and judicial powers are in the hands of the king, although in reality in carrying out his power he is assisted by royal officials, as subordinate employees in carrying out his daily duties. Trade monopoly or economic power is also in the hands of the king. Likewise, social and cultural power. Socially, the king is included in the upper class of Balinese society and the triwangsa class. In the cultural field, the king supervises and maintains the implementation of religious and customary regulations in an orderly manner and any violations are prosecuted through the courts or kerta.
The King or Dewa Agung in carrying out daily government is assisted by high-ranking royal officials (bahudanda) such as: bhagawanta, judges, prosecutors sedahan Agung.
Bahudanda were the royal officials consisting of bhagawanta, the punggava or manca. The punggawa or manca lived in a house complex called a puri. The names of their puri were taken from the names of the areas where they ruled, for example Puri Gelgel, Puri Satria, Puri Kusamba, Puri Akah, and others. The punggáwa were the palace officials who controlled areas in the Klungkung kingdom. These areas are areas at the sub-district level now.
Bhagawanta in more general terms is called a royal priest, whose job is to assist the king in religious matters, especially those related to Hinduism and Buddhism. They are appointed from Shiva and Buddhist priests, using the title Ida Pedanda. Bhagawanta also functions as a royal advisor together with other royal officials. During the reign of Dewa Agung Istri Kanya, there were names of bhagawanta such as Pedanda Gde Wayan Pidada and Pedanda Gde Made Rai.
The court case also received attention from the kingdom. The court institution of the Klungkung kingdom was called Kerta, with its officers being judges, prosecutors, and clerks. The judges were tasked with deciding cases, the prosecutors as prosecutors, while the clerks made the verbal process of the case. The judges were tasked with deciding based on ancient Hindu religious books such as Purwadigama, Adigama, Agama, Siwasasana, Paswara, and so on. Therefore, the judges were appointed from the brahmana class (two priests) who generally mastered these ancient books.
Sedahan Agung is the royal treasurer, who is responsible for the financial income to the royal treasury through tax collection (tigasana) for both rice fields and dry fields. In carrying out his daily duties, Sedahan Agung is also assisted by Sedahan Tembuku and Kelian Subak.
The officials at the regional level are punggawa or manca who oversee areas at the kemancanca or mancanegara level. They are generally appointed from members of the royal family to ensure loyalty. Punggawa oversee several prebekel and the prebekel themselves are appointed by punggawa.
The lowest official in the structure of the kingdom government is the klian klian banjar. In general, the position of klian is held by someone based on an election at the time of the banjar meeting, who then asks for approval from the officials and the king to be appointed to the position.
In relation to other kingdoms in Bali, the king or Dewa Agung in Klungkung implemented a dual policy. First, Dewa Agung in Klungkung carried out expansion against other kingdoms in Bali. In 1800 Dewa Agung Klungkung attacked Bangli, while in 1805, the king of Bangli managed to break away from Dewa Agung Klungkung. In 1820 the kingdom of Gianyar fought against a combination of its five neighboring kingdoms, namely Klungkung, Bangli, Badung, and Mengwi. This plot changed when there was a threat from an external force that wanted to seize its sovereignty. Dewa Agung Klungkung collaborated with other kings in Bali in the form of agreements or paswara-paswara. In 829 an agreement was made with the kings of Gianyar, Badung and Tabanan, the contents of which contained a sense of loyalty to each other and shared joys and sorrows. The following agreement (in 1837) was between the Great God of Klungkung and the kings of Gianyar, Bangli, Payangan, Badung, and Mengwi, the contents of which were a sense of loyalty, for life and death as long as life is conceived. This sense of loyalty was proven later when in 1839 Huskus Koopman, who was appointed by the Dutch East Indies government, said that the Klungkung kingdom recognized the sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies Government over the land of Klungkung. The king or the Great God of Klungkung was willing to sign this contract because the Dutch promised to provide assistance to the kingdoms: Klungkung, Karangasem, and Buleleng in a war against the Mataram Lombok kingdom, which in 1840 had controlled the island of Lombok as an independent kingdom, free from the power of the Great God of Klungkung in Karangasem.
The next agreement, namely regarding the elimination of tawan karang, was signed in a contract or agreement dated May 24, 1843. From these two agreements, it is clear that Dewa Agung Klungkung was placed under the sovereignty of the Dutch Government, although its nature was still on paper. These two agreements were then used as a reason or pretext by the Dutch East Indies government to attack Klungkung in the Kusamba War (1849), because Dewa Agung Klungkung was accused of violating the agreement, namely helping Buleleng in the Buleleng War (1846) and the Jagaraga War (1848).
2.2. Economic Conditions.
The villages in the Klungkung kingdom are influenced by the monsoon winds, causing alternating rainy and dry seasons. Around October-April, the West monsoon winds cause quite heavy rain. However, during the dry season, the Klungkung kingdom still gets rain. The average rainfall is 1866 m3 with 80-87 rainy days in one year.
Rain mainly falls in the lowlands next to the river (Tukad) Unda so that it allows the population to farm. This is not the case in the areas of the Klungkung kingdom, namely the islands located around the Badung Strait, such as Nusa Penida, Lembongan, and Ceningan where rainfall is very rare. The dry season is too long and the soil contains lime which is very unfavorable for agriculture.
The Klungkung Kingdom has an agricultural economic base. Subak as a traditional agricultural water user organization plays a very important role. Subak is an organization that manages irrigation so that water can flow regularly to the people’s rice fields, both during the rainy season and during the dry season. The rice fields in the Klungkung Kingdom regularly receive water from subaks spread around the rivers: Tukad Bubuh, Tukad Jenah, and Tukad Unda. Tukad Unda is the widest river in the Klungkung Kingdom and there are three dams, namely the Bajing dam, the Cau dam and the Sampalan dam. Two agricultural areas that have important meaning in the Klungkung Kingdom are the subaks in Dawan, east of Tukad Unda and the subaks in Banjarangkan, west of Tukad Unda. In addition, there are also extensive rice fields around the Gelgel area, south of the Klungkung royal city.
Agricultural products include rice, corn, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. Rice can only be harvested twice a year, while corn, soybeans, and sweet potatoes are planted once a year as intercrops. This is for fertile areas such as Dawan and Bajangkang, while for island areas such as Nusa Penida and its surroundings, because the soil conditions are coral islands, they can only produce gaga rice once a year. Some coastal residents make a living by catching fish around the Badung Strait, while others make salt traditionally, namely with the help of sunlight. Salt production is found along the coast of Kusamba, Jungut Batu, Kutampi, and Batununggul in Nusa Penida. In addition to agricultural products, there are also metal crafts such as gold, copper and iron crafts. From these materials are produced: keris, hoes, sickles, plowshares, and bells. These items are mainly produced in the villages of Budaga Kusamba and Klungkung, while gongs are made in the village of Tihingan.
There are also female craftsmen who specialize in making ceramic items from clay (pottery). This group specifically makes items from clay or pottery for ceremonial purposes and items for daily needs such as pots. The center for making these pottery items is in the villages of Tojan and Kemuning.
Other products are palm wine (tuak), a type of liquor taken from the sugar palm or coconut tree and then processed traditionally. The villagers of Dawan use palm wine as an ingredient to make palm sugar and the results, in addition to their own needs, are also exported through the port of Kusamba. In Dawan there are also cattle farms, in addition to being used to pull plows, they are also exported in the form of jerky. To export goods outside the kingdom, the Klungkung kingdom has a port, namely Kusamba. The goods exported from the port of Kusamba are: coconut, coconut oil, leather, jerky, coffee, salt, rice, rice, salted fish, shrimp paste.
All goods entering and leaving the port were supervised by Subandar Kusamba and every trader who entered and left had to have a letter of panugraha, a permit from the king or Dewa Agung accompanied by a royal stamp. If any of the traders did not have a letter of panugraha, then the trader could be confiscated along with all his merchandise. This meant that Dewa Agung in Klungkung monopolized all trade.
2.3. Socio-Cultural Conditions
The socio-cultural life in the Klungkung Kingdom was greatly influenced by Hinduism. Hindu teachings that greatly influenced the social behavior of society include: Panca Srada, Dasa Paramartha, Panca Yadnya, and others. These teachings are reflected in the literary work of Dewa Agung Istri Kanya, namely Pralambang Bhasa Wewatekan.
The social system of the Klungkung kingdom is not much different from the social system of Balinese society in general, namely divided into four groups based on descent and called catur wangsa, namely Brahmana, Ksatria, Wesia, and Sudra. The first three groups are called Tri Wangsa, which is the upper class, while the others are called jaba (lower class). The relationship between Tri Wangsa and jaba is patron: klaien (subordinate to the lord), where the lord has a higher position than the subordinative in all aspects of life, be it politics, economy, social, and culture.
The apparent relationship between the groups in the Klungkung kingdom forms a structure and by observing this relationship, the role played by each dynasty group can be seen. There is a tendency for each dynasty group to maintain the traditional role they have had before, resulting in very difficult vertical social mobility.
The Brahmin and Kshatriya classes who occupy the top position of the social pyramid, also dominate the political field at the political level at the kingdom level, gaining high social status in addition to their power in the political field. Here the political relationship between social status and the four wangsa is clearly visible. The social status that a person has is parallel to the high and low of their wangsa class. Naturally, the three wangsa classes, namely Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Wesia, have a higher status than the Jaba class, most of whom live in rural areas.
There are two criteria to determine a person’s status in the Klungkung kingdom. First, is descent, namely the closeness of a person’s kinship with the socio-religious elite; and second, the closeness of a person’s kinship with the political elite at the kingdom level. A magical religious atmosphere reigns. The life of society at that time had a great influence on the status of the elite because the socio-political elite and the religious elite were not seen as having powers beyond human power. A king is often considered an incarnation of the God Vishnu. This illustrates how high the status is and how great the power is.
The magical religious atmosphere also gives a high status to the brahmana class. They master the teachings of religion and this role is a traditional role that is accepted from generation to generation. Among them, there are those who are crowned as pedanda, namely a priest who is especially crowned to validate good priestly ceremonies at the kingdom level such as the coronation of a king or the Great God or religious traditional ceremonies in temples.
The pedanda in the eyes of other groups are the siwa-guru, while the group outside the brahmana group is the sisya. Here the knowledge of the brahmana group in the religious field places them in a higher status even because they are the only group considered to have the most mastery of religious teachings and therefore have the greatest power in this field. The relationship between the siwa-guru and sisya is a relationship of dependency, where the sipa-guru provides protection in the spiritual field, while the sisya provides devotion or loyalty to the pedanda.
This kind of relationship is not only between siwa-guru and sisya, but also between the king and the people so that in the agreements made between Dewa Agung Klungkung and other kings in Bali there are terms gustidan kaula. Gusti functions to protect the community both politically, economically, socially, and culturally while the people (kaula) serve the kingdom in the form of labor, body and soul; and others.
By paying attention to the description above, it is clear that each person’s opportunity to obtain high status is actually blocked by the boundaries of descent and dynasty so that the social status that a person has tends to be maintained.
The very high status of the Brahmin and Kshatriya classes gave them the right to hold power in all areas of life. In this case, the person of the king or the Great God as the holder of the highest royal power had a very large influence. This influence is also clearly visible in the legal field, as described in the Paswara Asta-negara. According to Adi Agama, the king or the Great God decides the trial, such as giving the death penalty.
Thus it can be concluded that the Ksatria Dalem, as well as the Brahmins who held leadership positions in the Klungkung kingdom, had a very high status based on hereditary inheritance rights, or based on their dynasty within the triwangsa.