Karangasem, On the Wallace Line

“Gringsing” Weaving from Karangasem

A village in Karangasem Regency, Tenganan, offers idiosyncratic uniqueness. According to history, this region was a reward from the King of Bedaulu (the name Bedaulu presently came to be a village name in Gianyar Regency). In the fourteenth century, life of this village was eminently established. The men were well known for their capacity in making tuak (palm beer), while their women in weaving (gringsing cloth). They believe that this woven cloth can be used as shield against negative power.

To complete a piece of fine quality gringsing cloth takes 5 years, while that of second quality needs 1/2 to one year. Gringsing cloth now commences to be being chased by collectors from all over the world. Aside from presenting unique motif and colour, this cloth takes advantage a complicated technique to weave it.
Such intricate technique is called ‘double ikat’ and it can only be found at Tenganan. Afterwards, this cloth came to be a typical feature of geringsing cloth of Tenganan so it then changed the village’s name into Tenganan Pegringsingan.

Gringsing Cloth
Except for functioning as a warding off misfortune, it is also used on the occasion of religious activities (manusa and dewa yajna). By ‘double ikat’ technique, this cloth is then accessorized with various kind of floral, faunal and wayang motif. ‘Double ikat’ technique is that the two groups of thread, namely pakan and lungsi, are fastened to make motif design, then, dyed into natural colours such as black, blue and red.
Formerly, dyeing process of gringsing cloth was made an issue of employing human blood. This issue must be originated from word gringsing that implies the meaning ‘not painful’. Gringsing is derived from the Balinese roots gring and sing. Gring means painful and sing meaning not. So, those that wear gringsing cloth will be safe from several diseases and this cloth later becomes a cloth used for warding off misfortune.

Materials and Making Process
Most ingredients of gringsing cloth are imported from outside Tenganan village. Thread is made of keeling cotton plant and it can absorb colours easily. Cotton of this kind is widely cultivated at Tauka Village, Seraya (Karangasem) and Nusa Penida (Klungkung).
Dye of the cloth is made of natural ingredients and mostly obtained from outside Tenganan as well, like from Bugbug Village, Nusa Penida and Lombok. There are four colours of gringsing cloth, namely white; milky white or light yellow; black and red.
White is the original colour of cotton, which is covered in order not penetrated by colour during the process of dyeing. Milky white or light yellow is made of ingredients like candlenut oil mixed with water and ash. These are basic colours of gringsing cloth. Black is made from taum leaves mixed with wall lime, pisang kayu (kind of banana), jackfruit and kind of tengeh tree obtained from Lombok. In the meantime, red is made of sunti root bark mixed with skin of kiyip tree, both acquired at Nusa Dua. Sunti tree is frequently mentioned as tibah (Morinda citrifolia) and kayu kiyip equals to Kepundung.

Tools Used
At a glance, tools used in the process of weaving gringsing are not far different from that used in the process of weaving other fabrics. In short, these tools are classified into three such as spinning wheel, dyeing and weaving tool.
Spinning wheel that is used to spin the cotton into thread such as pemipisan (to separate the fibrous substance from its seed; penyetetan (to cleanse and loose the cotton, so thickness of thread will be the same); jantra (for ngantih or spin the cotton into thread) and pengelikisan (for making tukelan or thread roll).
This process of dye is always related to mystical belief. It means that tools used in the dyeing process for gringsing will not be intermingled, so it is made sacred. Two important tools in this process are earthenware jug and large water jar. Earthenware is used to soak the thread with the previous natural dye, while the large water jar is used to seal the earthenware that has been filled up with thread and at the same time also used for container where pressing and shaking the soaked thread on certain times. Further, the third tools make use of cagcag for the process of weaving the gringsing cloth.

Kinds, Motive and Function
Kinds of gringsing clothes can be divided into two large groups, namely based on its size and colour. Those that based on size comprise petangdasa (extra large), wayang (medium), patlikur (smaller than wayang); sabuk, anteng and cawet are the smallest.
Meanwhile, kinds of gringsing that classified in terms of its colour are black and red gringsing.
Most motifs of gringsing take floral and faunal designs and totally, there are 22 motifs such as wayang kebo, wayang putri, patlikur, lubeng, cecempakan, teteledan, talidandan, cemplong, sitan pegat, dindingai, dingding sigading, sanan empeg, gegonggangan, pepare, enjekan siap, pitri dedari and so forth.
In terms of its function, it is commonly used for customary cloth. Other functions are for ritual and healing needs.
As a healing means, it has attracted many outsiders to come to Tenganan looking for its banyun gringsing (its washing water). It used for both human and cattle (pig and cow) that are sick on account of black magic power.
Finally, gringsing cloth is frequently associated with belief. There is a belief pertaining to one that has three brothers. If one’s elder and younger brother die so the survivor is called sanan empeg. To avoid following death, the survivor should have gringsing cloth of sanan empeg motif. (BTN/Rama/Para)