From the late 17th century until the Dutch conquest of the early 20th century, Bali was ruled by a set of competing kingdoms. This study of the Balinese text Kidung Malat is the first work in Indonesian historical studies to analyse the main ideology of these Balinese kingdoms. The Kidung Malat exemplifies courtly ideology through its descriptions of the adventures of kings and princes from the era of the medieval kingdoms of East Java. It is one of the longest and most complex of a set of narratives called Panji stories that originated in East Java and spread throughout Southeast Asia. This book is also the first extensive historical analysis of a Panji story, combining textual analysis with the study of the gambuh dance-drama in which the Malat is performed, and comparing these forms with paintings and other manifestations of the text.