Bangli Regency


Bangli Regency is the one and only landlocked regency of the province of Bali, Indonesia. It covers a land area of 520.80 km2, and had a population of 259,392 in 2024. It is bordered by Badung Regency to its west, Gianyar Regency to its west and south, Buleleng Regency to its west and north, Karangasem Regency to its east and Klungkung Regency to its south. The administrative centre is at the town of Bangli.
Up until 1907, Bangli was one of the nine kingdoms of Bali. The capital has a famous Hindu temple, the Kehen Temple, which dates from the 11th century. Bangli also has one village which surrounds a hill, Demulih.
Pura Dalem Galiran is 1.4 km north-west of Bangli. Pura Dalem Penunggekan, 1.3 km south of the town center,

Etymology

Legend

According to the Kehen Temple Inscription stored in the Kehen Temple, it is said that in the 11th century in Bangli Village, an epidemic called kegeringan developed which caused many residents to die. The other residents who were still alive and healthy were scared to death, so they left the village in droves to avoid the epidemic. As a result, Bangli Village became empty because no one dared to live there.
King Ida Bhatara Guru Sri Adikunti Ketana who was reigning at that time tried to overcome the epidemic. After the situation recovered, the king who reigned in the year Caka 1126, on the 10th of the Bright Half Year, Maula Market Day, Kliwon, Chandra, Wuku Klurut precisely on 10 May 1204, ordered his sons and daughters named Dhana Dewi Ketu to invite the residents to return to Bangli Village to jointly build and repair their respective houses as well as hold ceremonies/yadnya in the months of Kasa, Karo, Katiga, Kapat, Kalima, Kalima, Kanem, Kapitu, Kaulu, Kasanga, Kadasa, Yjahstha and Sadha. In addition, the king also ordered all residents to increase their descendants in the Pura Loka Serana area in Bangli Village and allowed the clearing of forests to make rice fields and water channels. For that reason, at every major ceremony, the residents in Bangli Village must perform prayers. At that time, on 10 May 1204, King Idha Bhatara Guru Sri Adikunti Katana uttered a decree, namely:
Whoever does not submit and violates orders, may that person be struck by lightning without rain or suddenly fall from a bridge without cause, blind eyes without a clamp, after death his soul is tortured by Yamabala, thrown from the sky down into the fires of hell.
Starting from the King's decrees issued on 10 May 1204, that date was determined as the birthday of Bangli City.

History

Protohistory

Manikliyu, burial and Pejeng-type drum

In Manikliyu, a burial site was excavated in 1997 and 1998 which revealed two large sarcophagi and a bronze kettle drum, representing a unique burial system thus far unknown in Indonesia.
The largest sarcophagus is well preserved; the other sarcophagus is partly broken. The bronze kettle drum is decorated with eight stars on the tympanon, and human masks on the body. It contained human bones in flexed position that belonged to a young man of Mongoloid type, between 20 and 35 years old; the broken part of his upper face shows that he was killed by the impact of a sharp tool.
The burial site also contained carnelians, beads, bronze spirals and bronze finger protectors. Some remnants broken pottery and pottery shards were also found beside the burial site and near the containers.
The drum is very similar to the Pejeng type, the latter referring to the Moon of Pejeng, largest single-cast bronze kettle drum known in the world, found in Pejeng. A. Calo suggests that such kettle drums were associated with early rice cults – and cultivation – in Bali: most of them are found near sources of irrigation water ; their shape and decoration are reminded in modern representations of female deities associated with rice and irrigation water, the latter originating in a pre-Hindu culture and later integrated into the Hindu-Balinese panel of gods. Ritual ceremonies honouring these deities are still held to this day at places where irrigation water first enters fields and at crater lakes, the highest sources.

Taman Bali and Bunutin sarcophagi

At Taman Bali and Bunutin, two villages close to each other about 5 km south of Bangli, five sarcophagi were known before 1973. Two more were signalled in 1973, one of which buried 3 m deep in a rice field with its lid lying nearly 1.5 m away and partly broken, and containing various bronze objects including a small shovel, a ring, arm and ankle-rings and a number of spirals different from any formerly found in sarcophagi in Bali. The other sarcophagus signalled in 1973 was found by the villagers in Bunutin in 1971, buried nearly 1.5 m deep; its lid is absent and no associated artefacts were found. One of the five sarcophagi known before 1973 is kept in Gedong Arca Museum in Bedulu; as of 1974, the others were still in their place of discovery.

Establishment of the Bangli Kingdom

The story of the establishment of the Bangli Kingdom can be traced from the palm leaves in the Puri Agung Bangli and the King Purana Batur. It is said that the Bangli Kingdom was founded by I Dewa Gede Den Bencingah in the 15th century or around 1600 AD.
Initially, this kingdom was founded after the fall of the Majapahit Kingdom which had an impact on the Gelgel Kingdom. Dewa Agung Ketut, the ruler of Bali and Lombok divided his territory into vassal kingdoms.
Bangli became one of the vassal kingdoms under the direct government center of Gelgel Kingdom with the appointment of I Gusti Wija Pulada as Anglurah in Bali in 1453.
Then, in 1686 Bangli separated from Gelgel Kingdom and became a sovereign kingdom along with the rebellion of I Gusti Agung Maruti in Gelgel. Puri Bangli was founded as the center of the Bangli kingdom city by I Dewa Gde Bencingah around 1576 AD.
I Dewa Gde Bencingah was the eldest son of the king of the Bhresika Kingdom, I Dewa Gede Anom Oka with his consort Dewa Ayu Mas Dalem. Initially, the Bangli area was the Jarak Bang forest area.
I Dewa Gede Anom Oka ordered his son to build a palace/city in the Jarak Bang forest which would later be named Bangli.
The area covered the west of the Sungai Melangit and gathered people from the northwest, east, north, to the mountainous areas. In addition, I Dewa Gede Anom Oka also ordered to establish a sthana for the gods and Betara Toya Mas Arum. Currently, the sthana in question is known as Pura Penataran Agung Bangli.
In accordance with his father's order, I Dewa Gede Den Bencingah began to organize the Jarang Bang forest together with his followers. He then built a palace named Puri Rum, which was also used as the center of government. This area continued to be developed, until it became Bangli as it is known today.
In the early 1800s AD, the Dutch began to enter Bali and had a major impact on the existence of kingdoms in Bali. Intervention from the Dutch disrupted the governments in Bali so that several kingdoms began to face their decline.

The Fall of the Bangli Kingdom

On 26 April 1848, the King of Bangli at that time submitted a request to General Michiels to expand his power to the areas of Buleleng Kingdom, Karangasem, Mengwi, and Gianyar. The request was not immediately granted by the Dutch.
On 25 June 2849, I Dewa Gede Tangkeban was crowned King of Bangli and given power by the Dutch to rule Bangli and Buleleng. 5 years later, precisely on 15 February 1854, the king returned the Buleleng region to the Dutch on the grounds that the King of Bangli could concentrate more on securing his kingdom from attacks by the King of Gianyar and Karangasem.
The division between the kingdoms in Bali was inseparable from the intervention of the Dutch East Indies Government at that time. There were many rebellions against the Dutch such as Puputan Badung in 1906 and Puputan Klungkung in 1909.
Shortly after, the Bangli Kingdom declared its submission to the Dutch, until finally the entire region in Bali was controlled by the Dutch East Indies Government.
The list of kings in the Bangli Kingdom is as follows:
  • Dewa Gede Tangkeban I
  • God Rahi
  • Dewa Gede Tangkeban II
  • Dewa Gede Tangkeban III
  • Dewa Gede Oka
  • Dewa Gede Ngurah
  • Dewa Gede Cokorda
  • Dewa Gede Rai
  • Dewa Gede Taman
  • Dewa Putu Bukian
  • Anak Agung Ketut Ngurah
Bangli joined the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia in 1950.

Government and politics

Parliament

Administrative districts

The Regency is divided into four districts, listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2024. The most northern district – Kintamani, which is the primary highland region for the cultivation of arabica coffee – occupies over 70% of the regency's area and has 43% of its population. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district, and its postal codes.
Kode
Wilayah		Name of
District
Area
in
km2		Pop'n
2010
Census		Pop'n
2020
Census		Pop'n
mid 2024
Estimate		Admin
centre		No.
of
villages		Post
code
51.06.01SusutSusut980661
51.06.02BangliBangli980611
– 80614
51.06.03TembukuTembuku680671
51.06.04KintamaniKintamani4880652
Totals''''72