Ida Cokorde Made, the brave king
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
I Gusti Ngurah Made Agung, fondly known as Cokorde Made, was only 26 years old when he was crowned as the king of Badung, and only 30 years old when he led his royal relatives and soldiers of the house of Denpasar in a charge against a rain of bullets from Dutch soldiers' rifles in the historic assault that put an end to his brief mortal life. This, on the other hand, bestowed upon him an immortal status in the Balinese people's collective memory and history.
"The fact that he was so young made his decision to stage the Puputan (battle), instead of capitulating to an evil yet powerful foreign power, more exceptional. He could have surrendered and led a comfortable life as a puppet of the Dutch, but he deliberately chose death, a noble one I might add, and we are very proud of that," said a descendant of the royal house of Denpasar Anak Agung Sagung Mas Ruscitadewi.
Ruscitadewi is not the only person, who has been awed by the personality of the last king of Badung. For years, Ida Cokorde Mantuk Ring Rana's -- the name bestowed upon him by the Badung people -- character has evoked a deep sense of respect, admiration, and melancholy among the people of Denpasar, particularly among scholars, religious leaders, and historians.
"The reason for the admiration is due to his courage. Cokorde Made was, and still is, the ideal manifestation of Balinese nobility, a warrior and a man; the kind of a person who willingly sacrificed everything he had -- power, prestige, wealth, and even his life -- for the greater and nobler principles of freedom, duty, love for the motherland, and spiritual enlightenment. Every Balinese yearns to have that kind of courage, and aspire to be like Cokorde Made," cultural observer I Ketut Sumarta said.
Born in Denpasar Palace on April 5, 1876, Cokorde Made was the son of then king of Badung I Gusti Ngurah Pemecutan. In 1902, after the death of his older brother I Gusti Gede Ngurah Denpasar, Cokorde Made was installed as the ruler of Badung, a kingdom, the territory of which was roughly equivalent to the present day Denpasar city and Badung regency.
From his early years as a royal prince, Cokorde Made was an avid reader of traditional literary works, religious manuscripts and philosophical treatises. He spent a lot of time in the palace library of Bale Saraswati in the company of a noted young poet Ida Bagus Made Sidemen, who later became Ida Pedanda Made Sidemen, arguably Bali's most enlightened Brahmin high priest in the 20th century.
Cokorde Made was also an accomplished poet in traditional Balinese lyrical verses of Geguritan and Kidung. His literary works include Geguritan Niti Raja Sesana, Geguritan Dharma Sasana, Geguritan Hredayasastra, Geguritan I Nengah Jimbaran, Geguritan Samba, Kidung Lodha, Kakawin Atlas, and Geguritan Purwa Sanghara.
"That this young king was an avid reader, who was very familiar with numerous classical literary texts, could be seen from his own works. Geguritan Dharma Sasana, for instance, which depicted the ethics a truth-seeker must possess, was composed based on Prasadaniti, Bhismaparwa, Wretasancaya, Wrastisasana, Krirtipandawa, Bangbungalan, Slokantara, Sarasamuccaya, Bargawasiksa, Nitisastra, and several other classical texts," an authority on Balinese classical literary texts Ida Bagus Gede Agastya said.
Those works, he added, also provided a glimpse into Cokorde Made's way of thinking, particularly on how a king must rule and, most importantly, on death.
In Geguritan Niti Raja Sasana Cokorde Made outlines the ethics a king must observe in leading his kingdom to prosperity and peace. On ethics on the battlefield, Cokorde Made described nine noble virtues a king should try to emulate. Those virtues involve the principle of no surrender and end with the death of the king in battle. One of those virtuous action was called Bamamaharata, in which a king bravely fights the battle and dies along with his people.
"Cokorde Made also clearly pointed out that a king, who runs from the battlefield for fear of his own life, or surrenders, had committed an atrocious and unethical deed," Agastya said.
In Geguritan Dharma Sasana, Cokorde Made states that sarining kapatian (the essence of death) was what seekers of truth and wise men actually searched for in their life. Sarining kapatian is both the beginning and the substance of everything in the world, he said.
"According to Cokorde Made those who completely comprehend spiritual teachings will possess a clear perspective, serene mind, utmost confidence, and most importantly, they will grasp the meaning of mati tan tumut pejah (deathless death)," said Agastya.
"Cokorde Made wrote tingkah manone ring awak (the Supreme Being resides within ourselves), ada matukul ring ati (constantly enlightening the heart) and mati tan tumut pejah (death is actually not death). This mati tan tumut pejah (deathless death), I believe is the cornerstone of Cokorde Made's belief system. It is impossible to comprehend his decision to stage a Puputan without taking this mati tan tumut pejah concept into consideration," said Ketut Sumarta.
For years, many foreign scholars, and, sadly, a small number of Balinese people, have misunderstood Puputan Badung either as a suicidal battle conducted in hysteria by desperate people or a pointless and useless battle strategy employed by a king, who had no respect for the sacredness of human life.
"It was not a suicide in the sense of frustrated people frantically embracing death as a way to end their misery. Instead, taking the mati tan tumut pejah concept into consideration, Puputan was about people conducting a spiritual journey; looking for life, true immortality. And this immortal life can only be attained by casting away all attachments, including the attachment to this transient mortal life," Ruscitadewi said.
Puputan Badung was proof that Cokorde Made stayed true to his literary works' ideals of a true king, of a ruler who courageously died in defending his land, of a leader deeply loved by his people, such that the people, of their own accord, willingly joined him in the battle.
It was also the fulfillment of his life-long spiritual quest for the noble death of mati tan tumut pejah.
"He knew beforehand the days of his kingdom were numbered. He was no ordinary king, he was also a poet, and a spiritual practitioner," said aged religious figure Ngurah Oka Supartha, referring to the last literary work of Cokorde Made, Geguritan Purwa Sanghara.
Known as the greatest among Cokorde Made's works, the prophetic Purwa Sanghara (literally meaning the Dawning of the Devastation) depicted the tragic and violent end of the ancient Yadawa kingdom and the people of Yadu. It also contained a section describing Sutasoma, a great prince who earnestly sacrificed his life so others might survive. Cokorde Made completed Purwa Sanghara in March, 1905.
"At that time various omens had taken place, giving the people of Badung some sort of premonition of the impending disaster. Several sections of the kingdom's main spiritual center, the Uluwatu temple, collapsed. Mount Batur, the throne of the goddess Dewi Danuh, the spiritual protector of Badung kingdom, erupted on March 1905. Many people witnessed the passing of a comet in the skies of Badung, an omen of an imminent bloodbath or the changing of the ruling power. Cokorde Made completely understood all these sipta (spiritual signs), and he composed Purwa Sanghara, at the end of a kingdom," Ngurah Oka Supartha stressed.
The end of the kingdom came about some 18 months after the completion of Purwa Sanghara. On that fateful day of Sept. 20, 1906, right at high noon, Cokorde Made, dressed in white, led the charge into hundreds of Dutch soldiers, with firearms cocked and ready to fire.
Dozens of meters from the soldiers, he threw away his two kris daggers, Jalak Kedingding and I Singapraga, performed the sacred mudra hand gestures before entering a state of samadhi right before a hail of bullets.
When the young king fell, his mortal life ended, but his immortality had just begun. He was mati tan tumut pejah.