The Legend of Dalem Bedaulu: Bali
I have never been one for Guide books although I must admit they are handy sometimes when you have to find accommodation in a hurry. The trouble with guidebooks is that no sooner are they printed, the information available inside them is out of date. By that I mean that restorans close down and hotels and losmens cease to function as properties.
Having said that&$44, I do have a copy of Rough Guides Bali and only because I obtained it for free!. I was flipping through the pages the other day and came across the fascinating legend of Dalem Bedaulu, the notorious ruler of the Pejeng Dynasty.
The Legend of Dalem Bedaulu:
Between the 10th and 14th Centuries the sacred land between the Pakrisan and Petanu rivers was the seat of the Pejeng dynasty which ruled the region from a court located a few kilometres south of the modern Pejeng in the village of Bedulu.
The most notorious of the Pejeng rulers was also its last, Dalem Bedaulu, whose armies were the last on the island to capitulate to the invading forces of East Java’s Majapahit empire in 1343.
Legend relates how Dalem Bedaulu had enormous supernatural powers which he liked to show off to his courtiers by regularly cutting off his own head and then replacing it. The god Siwa became so incensed by this boastful behaviour that on one occasion he made Dalem Bedaulu's severed head roll away into a fast-moving river. The King-s quick thinking servant cut off the head of the nearest living thing, a pig, and placed it on the royal neck.
After this the King was so embarrassed about his pigs head that he established himself in a special high tower and passed a law forbidding anyone to look up at his face and forced everyone to speak to him from ground level, eyes down-cast.
When East Javanese Prime Minister Gajah Mada heard of this he plotted to get round the prohibition by asking, in Dalem Bedaulu's presence, to be brought drinking water from a traditional vessel with a very long spout.
To drink he was obliged to tip his head backwards and so caught a glimpse of Dalem Bedaulu's pig’s head. Dalem Bedaulu was so furious at Gajah Mada's cunning that he immediately self combusted; that was the end of the Pejeng dynasty and the start of Majapahit's complete hegemony over Bali.