Name - ᬲᬁᬖᬭᬚ᭄ᬬ ᬩᬮᬶ (Balinese) / ڤرسکوتوان بالي (Malay)

Capital - Semarapura

Head of state - Dewa Agung Jambe III

Head of government - Mantri Kapertama --------

Legislature -

Judiciary -

Form of government - Federal monarchy under a semi-democratic ministerial confidential constitution

Area - 5,780 km^2

Largest city - Badung [Denpasar]

Time zone -

Currency - Balinese rupiah

Language - Balinese, Malay

Population - 5,048,000

Density - 873.36/km^2

Anthem -

Motto -

The Maharashtrian-Balinese Alliance was perhaps an inevitability of history. Both the Federation of Maharashtra and Bali are monarchies in which Hinduism is the state religion, with histories in which colonialism's impact was felt, but not to the same extent as neighbouring states. With Maharashtra often viewing itself as the natural leader of the Hindu religion and Bali being the only Hindu-majority country east of Manipur, the links were inevitable.

These links first emerged in the late nineteenth century. In Maharashtra, the Hindu reform movement rose in this period, as it did in the rest of India, aiming to "rationalize" and "modernize" the religion. But the indirect nature of British colonialism in Maharashtra, as well as Hinduism having a strong position as the state religion, meant that comparatively it never had to recover its position; thus, it was able to go on the "offensive" in a manner that the reform movement elsewhere did not. Following the Great India Famine of 1876-78 and the Restoration of the Chhatrapati and advent of constitutional government it inspired in the 1880s, Hindu reform societies were able to achieve positions of great influence in the Maharashtrian state. Most notably, Hindu missionaries made their way to Assam and Manipur in order to oppose Christian missionary activities - and they came to hear of a Hindu-majority island in the Malay world under constant threat from the Dutch.

Bali in the nineteenth century was in practice broken into numerous states with differing relations with one another despite the nominal headship of the Dewa Agung at Klungklung. At the same time, though relations changed in nature and were at times even positive, there were regular Dutch raids on the island. As the Dutch aimed at strengthening its grasp over the Malay archipelago, in 1893 it conquered the vast majority of neighbouring Lombok, which had paid a tribute to various Balinese kings. Bali was under threat; in this period, numerous kings signed treaties with the French giving them naval basing rights in return for arms. Maharashtrian missionaries made their way in this period to the island where, though they found its culture too "permissive", they deeply desired the maintenance of Balinese independence. Maharashtra, too, was a model for the Balinese kings. With Dutch invasion a constant threat and likely only avoided by it being held up in the bloody and failed attempts to conquer Aceh, a focus of these missionaries was the strengthening of the Balinese state, as well as the reform of the Hinduism practiced in the state. This was an act which caused conflict, as some missionaries sought to "reform" Balinese Hinduism by Indianizing it.

This caused cultural cross-pollination. In Bali, numerous kings bestowed themselves titles inspired by Marathi epithets, and a simplified form of the Maharashtrian turban became common headwear. Numerous kings sought to centralize their power on what they viewed as the Maharashtrian model. At the same time, in Maharashtra Bali came to be viewed as an exoticized "other", ironically at the same time as Maharashtrian soldiers were romanticized in much the same manner in Britain. Today, this cultural relationship has changed much, particularly with the presence of Balinese migrant workers in Maharashtra, but its presence remains strong.

The political projects in Bali inspired by Maharashtra achieved fruition when, after a Dutch incursion halted by French vessels in 1917 caused a great scare, an official loose confederation was established, with the Dewa Agung's traditional role as its ruler confirmed. In this period, Bali rapidly began to establish stronger links with the French and their presence in the Philippines, in preference to those with Maharashtra, although France was never strong enough to vassalize it as it did the Philippines.

The links were only re-established following the Hindustani War of Independence from 1937-39 and Maharashtra's unilateral revocation of its alliance with the British. With France withdrawn in Southeast Asia due to the Croatian War tying it up, Maharashtra came to fill this void in the 1940s as protection against the Dutch; though the collapse of the Dutch empire following its failure to stop the Tamilian invasion of Ceylon made this less necessary, fears of irredentist plans from neighbouring and culturally similar Java made Balinese authorities less willing to part with some sort of patronage. During the Manado War (1959-1962), this alliance turned into Maharashtrian troops positioned in Bali, due to fears Maluku's invasion of Manado would turn into a general conflagration. It also made the alliance more neocolonial - a criticism which has only grown as Bali's population explosion and Maharashtra crossing the demographic transition has led to a large diaspora of Balinese migrant workers in Maharashtra, with them often being victims of racism.

But despite it, the Maharashtrian-Balinese alliance remains a strong one.