Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast Asiadom may be more apparent than real since Islam was strongly localized at
this stage and Muslim kingship contained much that was indigenous or
Indic-derived. Nevertheless, the few contemporary sources suggest that
religion was a real distinguishing factor, such as the Portuguese account
of 1635 that the Balinese stood ready to receive foreign adversaries with
lances smeared with pig’s fat.^26
The phenomenon of Bali managing not only to hold its own but also
to expand can be seen at several levels. The “iron-bound coast” spoken
of by Raffles no doubt served as a deterrent for invaders. The aggression
by the Javanese Mataram Kingdom in 1639–47 and intermittent hostility
with the seaborne Makassar Kingdom of Sulawesi after 1618, showed that
the enemy fleets were unable to gain a foothold on Bali itself although the
Balinese were clearly at a tactical disadvantage. Demographic structure
and economic basis constitute another factor: European sources from
1597, 1633 and 1635 affirm that Bali was extremely densely populated
for this era with more than 300,000 people on an area of 5,780 square
kilometres. That would mean a much higher population density than
that of contemporary India or China.^27 The sources point it out as an
intense rice society with some connection to inter-island trade.^28
An amount of political cohesion was also visible. Although archival
and later indigenous data mention a number of rebellions against royal
power, the Indic kingship was apparently able to maintain authority over
the island as a whole. There is no evidence of permanent divisions of the
island before 1650.^29 That is not to say that it was an administratively
coherent realm, of course. Like other pre-modern Southeast Asian states
it was a galactic polity where the vassals and dependencies were largely
autonomous.
A fourth factor would be religious-ritual ideology that provided an
efficient tool for fighting Muslim outsiders. This should not be exag-
- C. Wessels, “Een Portugeesche Missie-poging op Bali in 1635”, 438–39.
- Lintgensz, “Bali 1597”, 211; Wessels, “Een Portugeesche Missie-poging op Bali in
1635”, 438. The figures make sense in view of later population data. Lieberman
(Strange Parallels, 764) estimates the Southeast Asian average around 1600 at 5.5
people per square kilometer, to be compared with China (37) and South Asia
(32). - Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, 1.20–21.
- Hans Hägerdal, “From Batuparang to Ayudhya; Bali and the Outside World,
1636–1656”, Bijdragen tot de Taal–, Land- en Volkenkunde 154.1 (1998): 55–93.