BALI

Starting with the 10th century, roughly in the year 914 AD, the name Walidwipa gradually transformed into Bali Dwipa, the Sanskrit meaning for Bali Island. On older maps, the name is spelt as Vale, Baly, Bally etc. The medieval age of Bali was part of two Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms such as Kediri and the great Majapahit. For four centuries, between the 11th and 15th, while the rest of East Indies was being Islamicized, Bali remained a Hindu-Buddhist stronghold. In fact, Bali remained undisturbed even by the Dutch till the 1800s even when they were colonising the remaining islands. It was the late 1870s when Bali actually came under the Dutch East Indies. 

Post Second World War, a temporary State of East Indonesia was formed that consisted of all the Indonesian islands starting from Bali to the Moluccas (1946-1950). It reunited with the Republic of Indonesia (majorly Sumatra) and other Indonesian federal states to form the United States of Indonesia (except Portuguese Timor and Western New Guinea that joined in 1962). On 17th August 1950, USI was replaced by the Republic of Indonesia, of which Bali became a province. 

During the colonial rule, Bali had one unique way of resisting the Dutch aggression by performing mass suicide, known as puputan. Such kind of activities took place in 1906, 1908 and 1946. 

Today's Bali consists of districts that were once independent kingdoms - Buleleng, Karangasem, Mengwi, Klungkung, Badung, Bangli etc. These kingdoms appeared in Dutch records in the 17th-18th centuries. Interestingly, the Dutch weren't the first Europeans to arrive at Bali. It was the Portuguese who appeared at the island in 1585 - the times when they had championed establishing trade centres in India. It's interesting to know that it took 3 centuries for the Dutch to establish their control over the island, even though they arrived in 1597. Bali was also subjugated under the Japanese regime during the Second World War, between 1942 to 1945. 

Bali has a series of Hindu temples existing even today. It's interesting as Indonesia has just 2% of the Hindu population whereas Bali has 87% of Hindus living. A fully-fledged Hindu province in a Muslim majority country, Bali boasts about its Hindu heritage through its temples and practices continued even today. A deity, Sang Jyang Widhi, that's considered as a single entity that can manifest multiple gods, is worshipped largely. It is also honoured by the Trimurti - Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva - the ones that Indian Hindus worship at large. Even the epic Ramayana has a slightly different version in Bali, known as Kakawin Ramayana, wherein a character Semar is present (as a servant of Lord Rama and Sugriva), whose role is to throw a comic timing to ease out the tension in the narrative. Interestingly, Semar is also present in Mahabharata, performing the same role. Even the names of Hindu temples in Bali are extremely odd to Indian names. Pura Lempuyang, Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, Pura Tanah Lot, Pura Tirta Empul, Pura Luhur Uluwatu, Pura Goa Lawah etc. are some of the many names of Hindu temples in Bali. 

Here's a present-day map of Bali, Indonesia.