Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast Asiaturies. As common in Southeast Asian societies, it was difficult to draw a
clear line between war and peace since violence tended to be endemic.^66
At the same time, one may discern changes in the style of kingship
from the Gelgel period to the age of division, with consequences for
the conduct of warfare. The later chronicles, in particular the Babad
Dalem, depict the early kings as embodiments of Hindu-Javanese vir-
tue. They are cakravartin, universal rulers who keep society in place by
performing the right ritual practices, and endowed with divinity and
kasaktian (supernatural power) in their persons.^67 Personally they do
not stand out as warriors, although their kasaktian sometimes helps
defeat the enemies. Rather, they delegate military tasks to the grandees
of the kingdom.^68 While this is a propagandistic image composed in the
eighteenth century and later, the VOC documents do not gainsay the
idea of an immobile ruler before 1651. As pointed out by Jean-François
Guermonprez,^69 babad texts such as the Babad Buleleng, detailing post-
Gelgel events, depict a more active type of kingship where the personal
military prowess plays a role: the king employs violence conforming to
implicit laws which grant social harmony and prosperity in the domain.^70
Historical rajas like Anglurah Ketut Karangasem (c. 1670s), Gusti Pañji
Sakti of Buleleng (c. 1660–97), and Gusti Agung Sakti of Mengwi (c.
1690–1722) are heroic figures who lead armies in the field and fight in
person, supported by their possession of supernatural powers.^71 Dutch
sources confirm the active role of some rajas, especially in the early stages
- Charney, Southeast Asian Warfare, 17.
- It is instructive here to refer to what Oliver Wolters (1999) calls soul stuff. In
several cultures of Southeast Asia, “beliefs associated with an individual’s spiritual
quality rather than with institutional props seem to be responsible for success”. O.
W. Wolters, History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives (New York:
SEAP. Singapore: ISEAS, 1999): 95. - Warna, et al. (eds), Babad Dalem. Teks dan Terjemahan. These features are found at
various places in the chronicle. - Jean-François Guermonprez, “Rois divins et rois guerriers: Image de la royauté à
Bali”, L’ Ho m m e 25.95 (1985): 44. - More exactly, Guermonprez hypothizes a process of de-indianization and de-
sacralization of kingship in Balinese history, the main nodes of which are the fall of
the indigenous Hindu dynasty in the fourteenth century, and the split-up in minor
kingdoms in the seventeenth century. Ibid., 59. - The exploits of Anglurah Ketut Karangasem are described in Babat Lombok Banjar
Getas, translated in Hägerdal, Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects, 143–51. Gusti Pañji
Sakti and Gusti Agung Sakti are the main characters in Babad Buleleng (Worsley,