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Craftsmanship,
Business and Devotion
Balinese
ancestors have passed on the working spirit
always stressing physical and inner harmony.
Take the example of a man occupied in farming
in Bali, having the interest of achieving
physical and spiritual balance by prayer
to Dewi Sri as a symbol of fertility. A
fisherman in executing his profession would
be ready to pray before Dewa Baruna, the
god of wind. Similar is the case with other
professionals, the fisherman has also attached
pronouncement of words inviting mysterious
spirits believed to be capable of being
materialized into reality.
In
view of the dependency to natural forces
as shown in various deeds and activities
in rituals, artistry implements have emerged
in complete rituals. Samples of these arts
are those of painting, architecture, carving
of statues, dance, music and so on.
Presently, the arts function merely as a
means of rituals in temples and royal palaces
or private house of nobles. They really
dedicate their daily activities in arts
to ritual and traditional processions in
the spirit of flexible teachings of Hindu
religion. Their daily jobs have their own
value of service or ngayah dedicated toward
achieving physical and spiritual living
perfection.
Just because of this concept of ngayah too,
artists of past time have never printed
their names on their works. They are of
greater tolerance in friendship relations,
while preferring to uphold joint existence,
committed social intercourse of mutuality
known in Balinese as personal relations
of asah, asih, asuh, paras, paros, sarpanaya,
sagilik-saguluk, salunglung, sabayantaka.
Such social relations have contributed to
the anonymity of artistic works found in
later periods, suggesting that Balinese
culture was more communal in character.
Arts in Bali originate from the pre-historical
age, divided into four periods of (1) Pre-Hindu
Time (8th Century); (2) Balinese Kings’
(8th – 13th Century); (3) Arrival of
Majapahit Migrants (8th – 15th Century);
(4) Period of Contact with Westerners and
Age of Independence (15th – 20th Century).
Take the example of work of arts of painting
and sculpturing of the Pre-Hindu Age, according
to data found in Bedulu’s Antiquity
Museum (Gianyar regency). This museum houses
tools made of stone of (Paleolithicum Age),
instruments made of bones and horn (Mezolithicum
Age), refined instruments of stone (Age
of Neolithicum), sarcophagus (Age of Megalithicum),
and various idols, bracelets, kettle-drums,
and lamps, from the Bronze and Iron Age.
Development of the art of painting and sculpturing
during the Pre-Hindu era has shown signs
of direct influence of Hindu culture flourishing
in Bali. During this era, sectarian ideas
sprouted out of sects of Siwa, Wisnu, Bairawa,
and others. Remnants of these ideas have
persisted in megalithic Pancering Jagat
Temple in Trunyan and Bairawa statue in
Pejeng.
A bronze kettledrum in “Penataran Sasih”
Temple of Desa Pejeng, is also a remainder
from Pre-Hindu times. This kettledrum is
more popular in Bali as “Bulan Pejeng”
or “Moon of Pejeng”, being the
largest bronze drum on the Earth. There
are paintings of frogs, leaves of “Semanggi”
Hirdrocotyle sibthorpiolides, complete with
a lining of rays symbolizing a call to rain.
Apart from this, the kettledrum war instrument
is probably a masterpiece ever been created
by human beings.
During the reign of Ugrasena (896 M), in
his “prasasti” inscription there
is a story of “parbhwayang”. Around
the ninth century (1045 - 4147), in some
inscriptions issued by King of Raja Anak
Wungsu, there is an _expression of “aringgit”
introduced. It signals that there was a
knowledge known by a group of experts skilled
in painting of wayang puppets. In one of
the inscriptions, there is a drawing of
wayang motive picturing God of “Batara
Siwa”.
Following are ancient scripts in the form
of “lontar” manuscript, containing
pictures featuring the story of wayang or
legend still favoured by the Balinese community.
Pictures designed in this manuscript is
a miniature of beautiful paintings, worked
out by means of a tool such as a sharp-pointed
knife on a flat “lontar” leaf
of very tiny format with measurement of
about 2 cm up to 5 cm, of length of 11 up
to 18 cm. The cleft produced by the trace
of the knife is filled with a mixture of
oil and soot.
After Dewa Agung Jambe’s governance
rule, the kingdom centre moved to Semarapura.
There were Dewa Agung Jambe and his whole
entourage, studying in depth the Hindu religion,
arts, literature, and philosophy. Dalem
Klungkung currently showed great interest,
rendered blessing protection and performed
developing efforts to artists of Kamasan
Village. These performances by the ruler
have showed his role as elders close to
Kamasan artists. Visually, there are two
sorts of paintings distinguished from each
other firstly that called by Balinese “ider-ider”,
while the second being “langse”
or curtain.
The first paintings are made of cloth usually
30-cm wide and with a maximum length of
600 cm. These paintings are usually hung
under the roof of houses or temple buildings
during a religious ritual.
The second paintings are hung under the
temple or house roof during rituals.
In present development of Bali’s tourism,
cultural arts in Bali have grown dynamically
not merely in painting, architecture, and
literature, but also in ways of thinking
and living among Balinese community members
in daily events. Nevertheless, the Balinese
have never just simply imitated those coming
from overseas, but they have been selective
and adaptive in accommodating foreign influences
in concert with local values and customs.
In this way, a new cultural assimilation
has come to the fore between Western and
Balinese culture. According to Wood (1984)
and Picard (1993),
in an exposition made by Pitana (2000),
tourism was capable of rendering a specific
dynamic development of Balinese culture
of its own, preceded by conscience on internal
differentiation of ever changing culture
absorbing tourism influence.
A more realistic approach is to look on
tourism as a carrier of “foreign influence,
integrated into local culture in a process
known as “touristification”.
Balinese culture instilled with the spirit
of Hindu religion is highly complicated
and dynamic in character as shown in an
analogy forwarded by James Boon, a U.S.
anthropologist (1997), when he wrote the
following: “Balinese culture is a romance
of ideas and action”. This has been
due to various differentiation and accumulation
of variables of respective tradition and
culture, in line with the Balinese concept
of “desa, kala, patra”, referring
to place, time, and condition.
In Balinese cultural history, it has come
to the fore a syncretism process among various
cultural elements during thousands of years
through cultural intercourse between Balinese
people and the international world such
as China, Egypt, Japan, India, and Europe.
Nevertheless, in absorbing foreign cultural
elements, history has shown, the Balinese
community have indirectly accommodated foreign
cultural elements intact. What has happened
is such a way of screening and modification
in conform to Balinese culture. Such happening
has resulted in screened element absorption,
which seemingly has been originally Balinese.
Bali has been conscious of the term of “artist”
following the influence of the western world.
Artists independently have often signed
their names on their own works evidently,
with an aim of publicity among community
members. Nevertheless, previously, ahead
of the influx of Western influence, the
term of “artist” conformed to
the word “tukang” (craftsman)
in Bali professionally meaning artisan skilled
in decoration with ornaments, known also
locally as “sangging”, while artisan
skilled in building development is locally
named “tukang bangunan” or “undagi”
(building developer). The term of “tukang”
has been applied to other professions such
as “tukang igel” (dancer) synonymous
with “pragina”. These professions
originally were an inheritance going down
from ancestors among certain people. Before
being engaged in the profession, one should
observe a religious ritual procession of
cleansing. Without existence of the term
of “artists”, Balinese people
have really integrated themselves in performing
artist activities. It is not strange if
M. Covarrubias characterised all Balinese
as artists.
Wherever you go in Bali, you see many artistic
commodities on sale. Such a view is common
in tourist resorts such as Sukawati’s
art market in Gianyar Regency, with possible
bargaining in purchase.
Even in Badung regency and Denpasar City
buyers easily find a handicraft home industry
to supply the market with commodities. Here
businessmen have emerged not as descendants
of their ancestors skilled in handicraft
productions, but new to the business due
to braveness and financial capital for that
purpose. Balinese have started to make use
of the tourism market in making a living.
Ketut Sumadi
Lecture at “STAH Negeri Denpasar”
(Denpasar College of Hindu Studies)
He is chairperson of the “Sari Kahyangan
Indonesia” Foundation.
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