Beginning of Austronesian Human Civilization in Bali
Bali is an "island province" of Indonesia. It is located to the east of the island of Java and to the west of the island of Lombok. The order of human settlements started here about 2000 years before Christ. These humans belonged to the Austronesian race, who came from Southeast Asia and the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean and settled here. These people were tribal and were in the early stage of civilization, while during this period very advanced civilization and culture was flourishing in India. A very ancient currency found from the island of Bali depicts the cultivation of rice with a plow on the shoulders of a wild buffalo.
Entry of Hindu Culture in Bali Island
When the Indian Hindus first arrived in Bali and the surrounding islands, it cannot be said precisely, but it is clear that hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, there were large numbers of Hindu settlements on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Malaya and Bali etc. But she had settled. The largest concentration of Hindus was on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. Some inscriptions in the Brahmi script have been found from the island of Bali, which are more than two centuries before Christ. These articles in Brahmi script are related to Hinduism. The name of the island of Bali is also very old.
In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, Indian princes established many small and big kingdoms on the islands of the East Indies. The Hindu caste used to reside on Bali and thousands of islands spread around it. This fact is confirmed by the idols of Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, Nandi, Skanda and Mahakal received from Bali. Many Buddhists also converged on Bali and its nearby islands. Along with mythological Hinduism, Buddhism also spread in these islands. Both these religions flourished in Bali and its adjacent islands without any conflict till the 7th century AD.
An inscription of AD 914 has been found from Bali in which there is a mention of a king named Sri Kesari Varma. Around AD 989, the great-granddaughter of King Mapu Sindok of Java, Mahendradatta (virtue-beloved-dharma-wife) was married to Udayan Varmadeva (Dharmodyanvarmadeva) of Bali. Due to this marriage, the propagation of Hindu culture and Hindu religion of Java in Bali got even more expansion. Mahendradatta gave birth to a son named Erlangga around AD 1001, who became the king of Bali. In AD 1098, princess Sakalendu Kiran was born in this dynasty, who ruled the island of Bali from AD 1115 to 1119. After that Suradhip, Jayashakti, Jayapangus, Adikunti Ketan and Parameshwara were the kings. Thus this Hindu dynasty of Bali continued to rule till 1293 AD. In 1293 AD, the king of the Majapahit dynasty of Java took control of the island of Bali. There were several thousand islands in his kingdom.
Entry of Islam on the island of Bali
In the seventh century AD, there was a storm of Islam in Arabia, which started spreading all around as a tornado. Muslims first set foot on the island of Bali in the seventh century AD as Arab traders. Under his influence some people accepted Islam. By the sixteenth century, this influence increased so much that the rulers and subjects of all the islands, except Bali, accepted Islam. In the 15th century, strong gusts of the Islamic storm began to shake the Indonesian islands. Ultimately in 1478 AD the Majapahit Hindu Empire of Java collapsed and Muslim sultans seized power over most of the islands. They committed terrible atrocities on the Hindus of these islands. It was a very simple thing to force them to become Muslims, to take away their property and women and to put thousands of Hindus to death. In such a situation, elite Hindus from Java, Sumatra, Malaya and other islands started fleeing to Bali. The Hindus gathered in Bali decided to take a front from the Muslims. The Muslims made a lot of efforts but due to the organized power of the Hindus, the Hindus and Hindu religion did not decline in the island of Bali. Thousands of Buddhists living in the surrounding islands also found refuge here. When the Hindu civilization was destroyed from the Malaya Islands (now Malaysia) by Muslim invaders, the island of Bali also gave refuge to the Hindu kings and culture there.
Hindus and Buddhists left in Bali
The persecution of Muslims in the Indonesian islands continued uninterrupted for about 100 years and continued until Muslim powers were established in the rest of the islands except Bali and almost all the subjects there accepted Islam. As a result, in the East Indies islands, only the Hindu population remained on the island of Bali.
Dutch possession of the island of Bali
For the first time in AD 1597, Dutch people arrived on the island of Bali. At that time the island of Bali was ruled by a Hindu king. The Dutch started their economic activities on the island of Bali which gradually turned into political activities. In AD 1839 the Dutch people took control of the island of Bali and by AD 1840, the northern coast of the island of Bali was ruled by the Dutch people. After this they rapidly began to take control of the remaining part of the island of Bali. In AD 1906, the army of the Dutch East India Company killed about 200 people of the Hindu dynasty of Bali and along with them thousands of Hindu soldiers of Bali were also killed. In AD 1911, he annexed the island of Bali to the Dutch Empire.
During the Second World War, in AD 1942, Japan occupied the island of Bali so that it could fight well with the Allies by using the island of Bali as a base camp. Under pressure from the Japanese, the Dutch had to vacate the island of Bali, but they were successful in retaining their authority over the adjacent islands.
In August 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The people of Bali saw this as an opportunity for themselves. He formed an army of his own and attacked the Japanese army living in Bali. The Japanese had to flee the island of Bali, but at this time the happiness of independence was not written in the fate of the people of Bali.
After the fall of Japan, the Dutch returned to Bali to rebuild their lost kingdom. The people of Bali made preparations to fight the Dutch army and decided to fight till the death. Under the leadership of Colonel Ngura Rai, the people of Bali launched a big suicide attack on the Dutch people, but unfortunately for the Hindus, the victory in this war was won by the Dutch. The Bali army was completely destroyed and the island of Bali again came under Dutch control. This situation also could not last long.
In AD 1949, some Muslim agitators under the leadership of Sukarno and Hatta created a country called "Republic of United States of Indonesia" by including thousands of islands of Indonesia and included Bali island in it. The Dutch government recognized this new country. After this other countries of the world also accepted the creation of Indonesia Republic. The Dutch had to evacuate the island of Bali once again.
Killing of five lakh people
Between 1950-60, political instability once again occurred in Indonesia, due to which the army got an opportunity to intervene. The autocratic army killed about 5 lakh people in various islands of Indonesia. 80 thousand to 1 lakh people died on the island of Bali.
Volcanic eruption in Mount Agung
The military orgy was not over yet, that in AD 1963, thousands of people died on the island of Bali due to an explosion in the Agung mountain and an economic crisis arose. Thousands of Balinese people had to evacuate the island and flee to other islands.
Tourism made the basis of economic progress
In 1965-66, Suharto overthrew Sukarno's government. He made tourism the mainstay to provide economic support to the island of Bali. Since then the condition of Bali started improving. Special attention was paid to cleanliness. Efforts began to bring tourists from all over the world to the island of Bali. Millions of people from all over the world flocked to Bali to see Bali's beautiful oceanic islands, lush rice fields and the oldest Hindu temples. The people of Bali got new jobs, confidence and stability started coming in the people.
Muslim terrorists attack Bali island
It was not even a few decades since the island of Bali began the process of making its mark among tourists around the world, that in AD 2002 a Muslim terrorist killed 202 international tourists by detonating a bomb in Kuta, the main center of the island of Bali. This attack had a bad effect all over the world. Only three years later in 2005 AD, Muslim terrorists once again targeted international tourists from the island of Bali. Since then, the number of tourists coming to Bali has decreased and Bali once again fell into the pit of poverty.