Klungkung Palace - The Fall of Klungkung

The Fall of Klungkung

An incident, namely the alleged plundering of the stranded ship Sri Kumala in 1904, led to a renewed Dutch military foray in 1906. The colonial troops captured Badung after a suicidal attack on the invaders, a so-called puputan ("finishing"). Two years later, in a similar manner, an incident in nearby Gelgel triggered a punitive colonial expedition to Klungkung (see Dutch intervention in Bali (1908)). The local Balinese elite chose to make a last stand against the Dutch. Dewa Agung Jambe II, the members of his dynasty and their retainers sallied forth from the palace and engaged in a puputan. The fight, which took place on 18 April 1908, proceeded until the death of the last of the combatants, which included women and children.

After the puputan, the surviving members of the royal family were exiled, and the palace was largely razed to the ground. In 1929 the family was allowed to return, and settled in the newly built Puri Agung. Today, the history of Klungkung, and the puputan, are commemorated in a museum close to the remains of the palace. To the north of the palace a monument has been erected to the memory of the puputan incident.