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Bali
At the beginning of the 19th century, Bali remained – relatively unaffected by Western influence, which has already transforming much of the Indonesian archipelago. Bali’s 16th-century Hindu civilization was immune to any serious religious commercial or political infiltration either by Muslims or Christians.
besakih temple
At first, Dutch traders, agents and colonial officials failed to gain a strong foothold in Bali. By 1930, Dutch officials in The Hague, Amsterdam and Batavia, having engaged in a prolonged exchange of government and company papers formulating various policy alternatives with regard to Bali, decided to infiltrate traders and then assert sovereignty. The N.H.M., successor to the trading interests of the long since banktrupt and defunct V.O.C., was intimately involved in these intrigues.
A time-honored Balinese concept of ship salvage eventually provided the catalyst for Dutch military intervention. In accordance with their principle of reef rights, tawan karang, honoring the sea deity Batara Baruna, the rajas accepted as a gift of the gods whatever ship came to grief on the treacherous reefs, which ringed their island. They took the ship, the cargo, the crew and the passengers as their personal property, naturally sharing with those who actually performed the act of salvage or rescue, but entertaining no doubts at all regarding the sanctity of the dead.
From the Dutch point of view, it was bad enough if the Balinese exercise their so-called reef rights upon Chinese, an Arab, a Bugis or a Javanese craft, many of which sailed under Dutch flag and expected Dutch protection. It was even more intolerable if the ship in question was Dutch owned and operated.
By the end of the 1830s, all circumstances combined to prompt the Dutch to address them quite earnestly and discuss with the Balinese rajas the delicate subjects of trade, politics, slavery and plunder. They tried to blanket these various topics with treaties of friendship and commerce, which were in fact, recognition of Dutch sovereignty and monopoly.
A famous Dutch colonial official known as a contract sluiter or contract-maker, H.J. van Huskus Koopman, was dispatched to the island to try to coax the rajas into giving the Dutch virtual sovereignty over the island. His efforts met with little success. The Dutch finally decided to resort to force. As a pretext for infusion, they used the wreck of the Dutch frigate Overijssel on the Kuta reef – and the plunder of its cargo by Balinese exercising their reef rights. The sorry saga of the Overrijssel began in July 19, 1841, on its maiden voyage from Plymouth to Surabaya, with a valuable cargo of machinery, when it hit the Kuta reef and was promptly plundered. Subsequent Dutch outrage served in part to cloak humiliation that a large and heavily armed frigate was wrecked by reason of a flagrant navigational error. The captain had mistaken the coast of Bali for Java. The Dutch were equally embarrassed that the ship was looted, despite embarrassed vigilance of the ship’s company against exactly that contingency.
As the furor over the incident increased in Holland, a Dutch mission was sent to Bali to protest continuing outrages and demand reconfirmation of earlier promises, that the Balinese would give up the practice of salvaging ships that foundered off their shores.
A new Dutch commissioner for Bali arrived with a new set of agreements scheduled to be formally ratified by the rajas and rigidly enforced by the Dutch. He landed at Buleleng to meet with its raja and council of state. It was on this occasion that the great hero of mid-19th century Bali identified himself. He was Gusti Ketut Jelantik, a dramatic, dynamic young prince, and the brother of the Rajas of Buleleng and Karangasem.
The Dutch began preparations for an expeditionary force, which assembled at Besuki, to sail to Bali on the east monsoon of 1846. Jelantik began building fortifications, raising troops, and acquiring arms, relying, as the Dutch correctly surmised, upon certain enterprising merchants in the British colony of Singapore for large shipments of weapons. Balinese-Dutch relations were rapidly moving into a new and tragic phase.
Once the Dutch set them to subdue Bali, the outcome was never in doubt. But it took three campaigns to shatter the Balinese defense and morale, campaigns in which the Dutch did not always by any means achieve either glory or victory.
As a result of the military expeditions, the Dutch began to exercise rapidly increasing control over northern Bali and to interfere more frequently and more vigorously in Balinese domestic affairs.
Buleleng became the first of the Balinese principalities to fall under Dutch administration. In 1855, the Dutch also assumed control over Jembrana. As of the 1830s, the Dutch actually began to acquire the sovereign power, which they had long claimed, at least in northern and western Bali. Half a century later, they ruled the entire island.
The Dutch policy of cultural conservationist resulted in larger part from the fact that in preparing themselves better to fulfill their functions, certain Dutch colonial officials became distinguished scholars and appreciative connoisseurs of many aspects of Balinese life. Diligent Dutch research even-refreshed the Balinese memory with regard to traditions and customs, which might otherwise have lapsed.
The Residency that sheltered Bali from missionaries and merchants also sought to shelter the island from travelers. But foreign anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnologists, artists, musicians , dancers and actors and, eventually, sociologists, economist and political scientists indistinguishable from tourists.
Tourist began in Bali in 1920s. By 1930, as many as 100 visitors months were experiencing the delights of the island. They came for a few days of romantic escapism. An assortment of artists and writers, aesthetes and expatriates even came to stay. One of the first and most famous was the German musician and painter , Walter Spies, He moved into Bali 1926 after having already spend a few years as bandmaster in the court of the Sultan of Yogyakarta. In Bali , Spies build himself a simple house on the edge of scenic ravine just outside the town of Ubud. He preceded to produce two or three painting annually that were of such radiant and revealing beauty, that he established new aesthetics which the Balinese have since made their own.
Spies was joined in the early 1930s by the German novelist, Vicki Baum, who wrote A tale of Bali (Originally written in German under a title of Liebe Und Todd Auf Bali , a story sufficiently romantic, tragic and authentic to rate as one of the classics of Balinese studies. The Mexican artist-ethnologist, Miguel Covarrubias, and his American wife, Rose, moved in nearby to produce the great study. The island Of Bali, which remains unrivaled in English as an exposition of Balinese Culture. Even Margaret Mead carried out important anthropological inquiries in Bali.
The painters, however, usually outnumbered the writers. In additional to Spies, they included Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet and the Belgian, Le Mayeur de Perpres. All these early European painters and most of their successors accepted Balinese understudies who created their own schools of painting that now throughout the island.
At least among the foreign residents, the only real cause of concern in Bali in the 1930s was the prospect of war in the Pacific, a threat that suddenly become a reality in December 1941, Japanese troops then march down the Malay Peninsula to capture Singapore key to re region, including the dangerously exposed, weakly defended Indonesian archipelago.
Japanese invasion forces made Bali an early target of their campaign in the Indies, sending in a small expeditionary force several weeks before they invaded Java. On the morning of 19 February 1942, The Japanese landed about 300 troops on Sanur Beach, and marched unopposed into Denpasar,In the next few days, they assumed control of the entire island and installed administrative offices in Denpasarand Singaraja.
One positive development of the occupation was the emergence of military and paramilitary resistance movements opposed to the Dutch presence as well as the Japanese.
One of the prominent leaders was a young military officer named Gusti Ngurah Rai, the son of a warrior caste family of Badung. He proved to be a charismatic hero and martyr for whom the occasion called- a military leader, who relied not upon tactics and logistics, but rather upon intuition and indeed at times upon mystical guidance. His golden slogan was “Merdeka atau Mati” or “Freedom or death” and he put it to the ultimate test. Ngurah Rai created the “Tentara Keamanan Rakyat” or “ the People ‘s Security Force” . In time , he merged it with most others paramilitary movements and commanded what was regarded as a Balinese people’s army.
Meanwhile major events occurred in the outside world that would have great impact on Bali. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. The Japanese high command, On 17 August 1945, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesia’s national independence. The Balinese persuaded the Japanese to will draw self-imposed seclusion on 8 October 1943, and the new Balinese officials occupied the provincial offices and residences.
The Dutch eventually drove out the Japanese once and for all. But they also arrested Balinese officials and attempted to re-establish a Dutch civil administration on the pattern of pre-war days. Ngurah Rai devised the grand strategy of the “Long March to Gunung Agung” He rallied all available men in west and south Bali to concentrate them In east Bali with safe sanctuary on the slopes of the sacred mountain, hoping to lure Dutch forces into areas vulnerable to guerrilla attacks. The strategy proved both heroic and tragic. The Dutch forces surrounded the encampment of Ngurah Rai and his men. Initially, they escaped annihilation only by climbing up and over the volcanic peak and across formidable mountain terrain to Tabanan. But in Tabanan on 16 November 1946, The Dutch again surrounded them. Called upon to surrender and negotiate, Ngurah Rai asked his men to joint him in a suicide attach upon the heavily armed Dutch. It proved to be yet another puputan. Ngurah Rai and 93 of his men were killed. The site of the “ Margarana Incident as it is know, is now a national heroes” cemetery.
With Ngurah’s defeat, the Balinese military resistance had been effectively broken. But in the ensuing years, continued attacks against the Dutch in neighboring Java finally led the Haque to concede Indonesian independence in 1949. Bali then become part of the Republic, of United States of Indonesia on 29 December 1949 and later a province in the republic of Indonesia.
Under the leadership of its first president, Sukarno, the Indonesia archipelago underwent the inevitable growing points that accompanied the transition from colony to nationhood, In Bali , the transition proved particularly difficult in part by reason of historic Balinese-Javanese antagonisms. Even though Sukarno was part Balinese, he ruled the vast new nation from Jakarta, the long time capital city of Java under its Dutch name Batavia.
In 1965, an attempted takeover of the Indonesian government in Jakarta by the communist insurgents resulted in the murder of six top army leaders. Hundreds of thousands of Indonesian died in the reprisals and fighting following the unsuccessful coup attempt. Bali was the scene of some of the worst violence. As many as 100.000 people , not all belonging to communist political parties, may have been killed as members of the island’s political parties turned upon each other.
Bali bounced back from the tragic decade of the 1960s.Under the New Order Government led by President Suharto. Bali has enjoyed years of comparative peace and tranquility. Tourists began flocking to the island in great numbers in the 1970s.bringing a measure of prosperity to many of its artists and craftsmen whose work become prized souvenirs. The Balinese even managed to stage a successful Eka Dasa Rudra (To be held) once in a hundred years) an the latest ceremony was in 1979.
There has been improvement and expansion of educational facilities and health services somewhat. However the island has become overpopulated. And there appears little room for expansion of agriculture, production of livestock or industry.
The new Bali is one of 30 provinces of the Republic of Indonesia. A unique province that has preserved and enhanced the ancient Hindu Culture. Despite widespread dissemination though the schools of the national outlook, the islanders still feel themselves as much Balinese as Indonesian. Today, Bali is divided into eight kabupaten, or districts that correspond geographically to the traditional rajadom. Each has its elected bupati , or district head, assembly and branches of civil and military provincial offices.
Ancient adat still regulates the life of ordinary villager in his contact with family and neighbors and also with village elders, temple priests and the new agents of the centralized governments-schoolteacher, medical personnel, agricultural agents and others.
The central of town is the Pasar Badung (and Den-pasar actually means “north of market”) a four-storey market building, where one can find fruits and vegetables galore, clothing, spices, baskets, ritual paraphernalia, stainless, and bamboo cooking utensils and many more.
At the Kumbasari Shooping Center, Just west of the canal, are major movie theater and kiosks full of handicrafts one can find great buys. Many of the major banks are on Jalan Gajah Mada. But for change your money use moneychangers , as they are quicker and better rates.
One of the two centers of culture is Puputan Square, a large open square commemorating a battle between the rajas of the Badung Regency and the Dutch militia in 1906. On the east side stands the Museum Bali, with its striking architecture and Pura Jagatnatha, a state temple where young people go to worship every full and new moon.
A permanent exhibition of modern Balinese painting and wood carving may be seen at the Werdi Budaya Art center at Abiankapas (Jalan Bayusuta on the east side of the town.)
Just up the street on Jalan Nusa Indah lies STSI (Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia). Since 1967 the college students have been studying traditional dance, music, and puppetry and choreographing both classical and contemporary performing art forms.
For the serious students of Balinese culture, a visit to the Pusat Dokumentasi (Documentation-Center) is a must. The center is located on Jalan Hayam Wuruk No. 154, the road out of Denpasar to Sanur.
By the 1950s, the first cluster of bungalows was built as a small hotel. Sanur continued to attract international elite and today is a prominent luxury resort area. The Hotel Bali Beach, a Sukarno era project, was opened in 1966. While the Bali Beach Hotel, built with Japanese war reparation money expanded into a new wing and bungalows, more than 30 other hotels opened their doors along the beach. Recently the Bali Beach Hotel caught fire, and after being renovated and expanded, the name was changed to Grand Bali Beach Hotel. Now more hotels ranging from small to big international standards are flourishing in the area.
Kuta is one of the best places for surfing, especially for the beginners. The waves are perfect for the bodysurfing as well. Aside from its image as the surf and sun capital of Bali, Kuta is now a resort area filled with pubs and bars catering mainly to the Australian drinking set, replete with ‘pub crawls’. International cuisine is available at all sorts of restaurants. Made’s Warung on the road down to the beach is ‘the’ place to be seen as well as to people watch. It was one of the first eating establishments when Kuta was still a sleepy haven for budget travelers in the early 1970s.
As far as the Bali tragedy 12 October 2002 is concerned, the blast which severely destructed Sari Night Club and Paddy’s Club has not changed the daily life and even the enchantment of this Island of gods. The only change we found was the decline in hotel occupancy rate which went down to below 20% by November 2002. However, now the situation is gradually back to normal as both the national and local government have put in place prudent policies and security measures taken are as follows.
Improved security in airports, seaport and terminals. All hotels particularly big ones are provided with metal detectors and better security check, improved security in public places. These measures can be seen as the number of police who secure the public places and tourist destinations has increased to 5000 personals or almost doubled the number it had before the tragedy. The national government has even established some programs as to speed up the recovery process. The programs are divided into 4 stages, namely. Rescue, Rehabilitation, Normalization and Expansion. Such programs are also aimed at recovering National tourism development after a long standing economic crises.
If you are interested in architecture, then it’s worth a visit to see the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel, which has incorporated traditional Balinese architecture in its design structure. A number of water sports are available here as well, including spectacular parasailing. At Tanjung Benoa, a harbor found at the northernmost tip of the Nusa Dua complex, you can usually rent a hotel room at a fraction of the cost of neighboring accommodations. However luxury hotels are now also available.
Gianyar has made its mark on the map in such a way that no visitors to Bali leave without partaking in its beauty in some way. From the fabulous views in Sayan to the bronze drum of Pejeng. From the Barong dance in Batubulan to the ikats of Gianyar city, from the masks of Mas to the paintings in Penestanan, Gianyar has much to offer.
You can walk to Ubud via the backroads. At the banyan tree in Pliatan, cross the street and follow the path until it dead-ends. Then turn right and you’ll end up at the Pura Dalem (Death Temple). On Saturday nights, the Gunung Sari Gamelan performs a star-studded show of traditional Balinese music and dance. Turn left to go into the center of town. The main puri (court of palace) of Ubud lies in the northeast corner of the main crossroads, facing the modern two-story market building and the more traditional village meeting hall where ‘B’ films from all over the world are shown on Saturday night.
One of the many unique things about Ubud is the establishment of the Bina Wisata or local Tourism Bureau. The creed of Bina Wisata is the preservation of Ubud’s natural and cultural beauty. Therefore instead of simply encouraging tourism on a grand scale, they are striving to unify the tourists’ and coals’ wishes. Visitors are asked to respect the local ceremonies, wear traditional clothing when appropriate and in general, learn more about the Ubud populace.
One short walk is to the Monkey Forest. At the main crossroads take the southern road all the way until you get to the woods.
Once in the forest, hold onto your belongings – the monkeys are fast and love to run off with cameras, glasses, purses, and food !
Down by the Campuhan River (the place where three rivers meet – a sacred site) is a small temple built by Mpu Narada. A bamboo spout pours out pure mountain spring water and many Balinese come here to bathe in the evening.
Going out of Pliatan, continue past the statue of the dancer. The first stop is Goa Gajah, (The Elephant Caves).
In front of the cave is a statue of Hariti, a Buddhist demoness cum goddess. She used to devour children and then changed her ways to those of a good Buddhist and became the Protrectress of Children. This statue dates back to A.D. 1000. The Balinese have adapted her into their own ‘Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe’ or Men Brayut – a poow woman, who along with her husband Pan Brayut, had so many children she just didn’t know what to do.
As Ganesha (the elephant-headed deity) is the son of Siwa and lingga are generally attribute to Siwa-worship, we might conclude that Goa Gajah is a Siwaite temple. But the sleeping niches and Buddhist ruins just outside the cave-suggest otherwise. The sculpted face of the cave wears large earplugs and therefore is a woman many interpret her as a rangda type witch figure which could be linked to Tantric Buddhism or Bhairavite Siwaism.
There are many other places in Central Bali which are of interest: Batubulan, which is famous for the daily performances of the Barong Dance. If you’re traveling on your own and are interested in masks, then a side trip to Singapadu is a must.
Celuks synonymous with silver and goldsmithing. Interestingly enough, it has the second highest per capita income of any village on the island. Be sure not to miss the shops on the road just north and parallel to main road, as many fine jewelers dwell here off-the-beaten track.
Across from the Wos River lies the village of Sukawati. Once the seat of – powerful kingdom and the place where many of the Pliatan and ubud aristocracy trace their roots, Sukawati now sports a modern art market along with some of the best dalangs (puppeteers) on the island.
Batuan is most famous for its dense painting style, also the site of some exquisite temple carving and superb dancers.
Mas is best known to the outside world for its intricate woodcarvings and masks. Ida Bagus Tilem, the son of the late Ida Bagus Nyana, runs the Tilem Art Gallery on the main road, a fine place to view some of the highest quality woodcarvings (with some of the highest prices). Many of Ida Bagus Nyana’s innovative pieces are on display.
Traveling north from Mas and just before the T-junction with a statue of a female dancers is Tjokot and Sons – a home workshop of ‘primitive’ wood carvings. Desak Putu, the proprietress, also offers chicken, Tempe (soybean cake) and vegetable dishes. This is probably the best eatery for local food in the entire regency.
Continuing east, you will come to Banjar Kalah in Pliatan – a hamlet filled with artists.
A community of painters works in Dewa Nyoman Batuan’s workshop just west on the asphalt road at the bend in the road. Dewa Nyoman began experimenting with paintings mandalas in the early 1970s and his paintings have a unique touch.
Other places of interest among others is Yeh Pulu, where you can see a relief depicting scenes from daily life. Aside from a statue of Ganesha, there are no depictions of purely religious themes.
On the way to Pejeng, stop at the Archeological Museums first, which is on your right. The director, I Made Tantra, speaks English and can give you a tour of the ancients artifacts here. At the crossroads between Pejeng and Yeh Pulu is the village of Bedulu, once a center of the early Hindu dynasties. In the 11th century, when the rulers of Majapahit were attempting to unify the entire archipelago, all but one king in Bali had agreed to submit to this outside power. Dalem Bedulu was reputed to be a man of supernatural strength – a magic so strong no one could defeat him.
Based on more historical evidence the king of Bedulu died of sadness, after Gajah Mada’s troops killed his beloved son. The Pejeng dynasty finally fell in 1343 to Majapahit forces.
A complex of rock-hewn candi (temple) and monk cells overlooks the Pakrisan River in this valley near Tampaksiring. Legend has it that Kebo Iwa, the powerful prime minister for the King of Bedulu, and a man that has a reputation as a magically-endowed, fear inspiring giant, carved out all the monuments with his fingernails.
In Bali, the development of royal funeral cults began circa the 11th century. Kings, queens and their consorts were deified after their death. There are 10 candis in all – the main group of five on the east of the river, a group of four west of the river, and one by itself at the southern end of the valley.
The sacred of Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring is revered by all Balinese. They say the earth to create a spring of amerta, the elixir of were poisoned by evil king, Mayadanawa. Be that as it may, the bathing place was build under the rule of Sri Candrabhaya Singha Warmadewa in the 10th century.
The water is believed to have magical curative powers. Every year people journey from allover Bali to purify them shelves in the clear pools. After leaving a small offering of thanks to the deity of the spring, men and women go to opposite sides to bathe.
South of Tirta Empul, on a line that joint it with Gunung Kawi, is the Pura Mengening, most propoably the commemorative temple of King Udayana.
The Pura Puseh Gaduh of the market village Blahbatuh is associated with Kebo Iwa, the legendary giant from Bedulu, honored in temple all over Bali, and here is no exception. Enshired in a small pavilion is a massive stone head over a meter high, said to be a portrait of Kebo Iwa.
Gajah Mada, the great minister of the Majapahit kingdom, realizes he could never conquer Bali while Kebo Iwa lived, So he enticed him to Jawa with the promise of a beautiful princes as a wife and had him killed, thereby leaving Bali open to his conquest.
Atop a small hill off the main road north of Blahbatuh is the temple of Pura Bukit Dharma. Found here is the famous 2.2m high statue of the Goddness of Durga in the act of killing a bull possessed by a deman under her feet. This statue is commonly thought to be Queen Gunapriya Dharma Patni (The wife of King Udayana), as some people believed that she is buried in the nearby village of Buruan.
Once a power kingdom, Gianyar is now a sleepy overgrown village. The specialty of this area is the ikat weaving the Balinese use in traditional wear.
Gianyar’s open-air café –market, one block west of puri specializes Balinese delight : Babi Guling or roast suckling pig.
Mounth Batur is 1717m high and cooler than the beach and foothill areas. The crater itself is 1 km in diameter and 183 m deep. Although it looks dormant ‘this is still an active volcano although the last eruptions were in 1974 and nothing major has occurred since 1926.
In Penelokan ribbons of block lava ripple down the valley from the misty peak of mount Batur. Penelokan literally means “ the place to look”, where the world changes color. It is a good place to make a lunch stop.
The mountain areas are known as the home of the Bali Aga Villages-places relatively untouched by modern concepts of Hinduism. Where ancestral rites take precedence. Here the arts are not as developed and ceremonies tend to be simpler. In the Batur area, Trunyan, across the lake is perhaps the most well known. The village is named after a taru menyan (Fragrant tree), which grows in the cemetery outside the village. There is no cremation here and this is where the dead are left for vultures to feast on. According to Trunyanese , the bodies do not decompose normally and there is no odor of rotting flesh, due to the fact that they are placed under this sacred tree.
The Truyanese have been isolated for centuries from mainstream Balinese and are quite reticent about sharing their culture.
To get to Trunyan, take a boat from Kidisan or Toya Bungkah or walk around the lake. Trunyan is also one of the villages in Bali where begging is condoned. As son as you step off boat, you will be bombarded by villagers asking for money.
Inscriptions from 10th century indicate that high mountain district of Kintamani-which takes it’s name from ancient, wind-blown town at 1,300m was one of the earliest kingdoms in Bali. Every third morning, according to the Balinese calendar, the main street becomes a gay bazaar for all the sur villages. There are several losmen for an overnight stay while exploring the area.
As the seat of the Dewa Agung, nominally, the highest of the old Balinese raja’s Klungkung holds a special place in the island’s history and culture. As artistic centers, palaces of Klungkung’s raja’s and noblemen patronized and developed the style of music, drama, and fine arts that flourished today.
For history buffs, a site trip to Gelgel, which is former capital is recommended, In the 15th-16th centuries. The Dewa Agung of Gelgel held immense power. However, in the 17th century, with the decline of his power, he lost both battles as well as allegiances.
Twice a day fishermen set out for Nusa Penida with cargoes of peanuts, fruit and rice, for that dry island is only sparsely cultivated. The sailors of Kusamba boast that treir large prahu can carry up to one and a half tons a cargo.
A trip to Nusa Penida is for the traveler who can appreciate out-of the way places without comforts. Originally a penal colony for the Klungkung Kingdom, Nusa Penida remains a dry and austere place. To the Balinese, Nusa Penida is an island of mystery and magic. The legendary sorcerer, Jero Gede Mecaling, is from here and sends his invisible henchmen to Bali to claim victims. The natives. Of this island are considered to be quite experts in black magic and there fore are treated with great kindness by the Balinese.
The road to continuing east from Kusamba runs parallel to lovely seascapes with a full view of Nusa Penida. One passed closed to Gua Lawah, The bat Cave, the walls of which vibrate with thousands of bats-their bodies packed so closed together, that the upper surface of cave resembles undulating mud.
According to mythology when the deities made mountains for their thrones, they set the highest peak in the east, a place of honor the Balinese. In every temple in Bali a shrine is dedicated to the spirit of Mount Agung. The tapering form of cremation towers, meru and even high temple offering bear the shape of a mountain, mirroring the people’s reverence for their holy volcano. Here on the slopes of Gunung Agung lies the mother Temple, Pura Besakih. A cluster of temples, Pura Besakih is thepinnacle of the sacred of the sacred to the Balinese.
Within the Besakih complex, the paramount sanctuary is the Pura Panataran Agung with its lofty merus on a high back of terraces. Steps ascend in a long perspective to the austere split gate (Candi bentar. Inside the main courtyard stands three aspects of God : Siwa, God as creator, Pramasiwa, God without form, Sadasiwa, God as half male and half female. Many interpret this trinity to be Visnu, Brahma and Siwa.
Besakih can be reached from both the south and east . Usually visitors come though Klungkung continuing north. A nice trip is to go this northern route and continue east though Selat.
Going back to the east, one comes to a perfectly shaped bay cradled in the hills. The harbor of Padang Bai is main port of transit to the neighboring island of Lombok.
Named after the delectable mangosteen fruit, Manggis is primarily a fishing village. Some of the best prahus are made here. Down the road, Balina now boasts affine high-class hotels coupled with lower budget losmen and a host of marine sports are available.
Going further, east ,one come to the turn-off for Tenganan, The Bali Aga village.
There is some evidence that the people of Tenganan originally the village of Bedahulu. The legend of how they acquire their land dates from the 14th century. The mighty king Dalem Bedahulu lost his favorite horse and send the villagers of his kingdom in all directions in seach of it. The men of Tenganan traveled east and found the corpse of the horse. When the king offered to reward them, they requested the land where the horse found, i.e ,all the area in which the carcass of dead horse could be smelled. The king send an official with a keen sense of smell to partition the land.
For days, the chief of Tenganan led the official though the hills, yet still the air was pungent with the odor of dead horse. At last, the tired official decided this was enough, land and departed. After he had left, the Bali Aga chief pulled from his clothing a smelly remnant of the horse’s flesh.
Just pas Tenganan is Candi Dasa, not a village at all, but a resort, which has seen drastic development in the past five years. Most of the accommodations here are at the low end of the scale, although there area a few upscale hotels and more are being built.
For serious students of culture, a visit to ibu Gedong’s Gandhian Asham is suggested. Started in the 1970’s as a self-sufficient community based on the Gandhian principles, the ashram was the only structure along this isolated beech.
Just east of Candi Dasa lies the village of Bugbug, more like a Bali Aga village in structure, here once every two years, on the full moon of the fouth month (October) the “war of the Gods” (perang Dewa) takes place on top of Gumang Hill.
The city houses a historical library, the Gedong Kirtya (No.22 Jalan Veteran), which is the store house of a total of some 3,000 Balinese manuscripts. Lontar books – leaves of the lontar palm cut in strips and preserved between two pieces of precious wood - contain literature, mythology, historical chronicles and religious treaties.
South of Singaraja is Gitgit, a splendid waterfall and a good place to just kick back and get away from it all.
East of Singaraja are some of the Finest examples of northern Balinese temples. Instead of the small shrines and meru towers of southern temples, a single pedestal, built on a terraced stone base, furnishes the inner courtyard.
Pura Beji in Sangsit is a subak (rice irrigation association) temple dedicated to Dewi Sri as Ratu Manik Galih, the Goddess of Rice. Built in 15th century, this temple sports many nagas, symbols of earth and fertility.
Jagaraga is a village famous for a bloody battle, which took place between the Balinese and the Dutch in 1849. However, its main attraction today is its Pura Dalem, where Siwa in his manifestation as dissolver preside. Continuing south, one comes to Sawan, a village with a gong casting industry, a talented group of bamboo gamelan angklung orchestra and a unique local market atnight.
Back on the main road is Pura Maduwe Karang, a temple dedicated to dryland (as opposed to wet irrigation) agriculture. It was built in 1890 and has many fertility themes, including erotic portrayals of love.
As subak temples are for the veneration of the creative urge in nature that ensures harvests on irrigated rice fields, this temple is the site of the ceremonies conducted to guarantee a blessing for plants grown on un irrigated land: fruits, coconut, maize and coffee.
After a day in the hot sun, head down to the cool springs at Air Sanih, 17 km east of Singaraja. For a small fee, you can cool off in this natural spring-fed swimming pool and sip cold drinks at the poolside. Now, simple accommodations and a restaurant are also available here.
Six km west of Singaraja is a 8-km stretch of black sand beach comprising the villages of Anturan, Tukad Mungga, Kalibukbuk, Kaliasem and Temukus, collectively called Lovina Beach. The term Lovina refers to love’ and was given by the last king of Buleleng in the 1960s. Caressed by gentle waves, Lovina is a good area to snorkel and dolphin watch.
One of the more interesting features of this area is the Brahma Arama Wihara, a Buddhist ashram founded in 1958 in the village of Banjar. To get there, go 3 km west of Temukus to Dencarik, where you can get an ojek (motorcycle ‘taxi’) up the hill. High up on a hill, it breathes in a remarkable view. Classes in Buddhist meditation are available only twice a year- April and September – but visitors are allowed to come year round, as long as they are dressed properly and observe the ashram rules of removing one’s shoes upon entering the premises, and speaking and walking quietly.
The most important temple in this area is Pura Sada, an ancestral sanctuary honoring the deified spirit of Ratu Sakti Jayengrat whose identity remains uncertain. The temple, the original foundation of which may be as old as the 12th century, was rebuilt by one of the early kings of Mengwi, perhaps in the 16th century.
The oldest of the Mengwi state shrines, predating Pura Taman Ayun, Pura Sada, was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1917 and restored by the Archaeology Service in 1950. There are two versions of what the temples’ 54 stone seats represent. One is that they are the wives and concubines of the king, an other is that they are the retainer servants of three royal leaders.
As high as 1,308 m above sea level lies Bedugul, a small town but also the name given to this mountain lake resort area, which local have used for weekend retreats for decades.
In jungle terrain lies the serene lake of Bratan, veiled with mist. It fills the ancient crater of Mount Bratan at Candi Kuning.
Returning south to the town of Tabanan, turn right at Pacung and stop at the town of Penebel. This mountain village has a pura puseh with a lingga-yoni (an ancient fertility symbol of a phallus-vagina) representing Siwa and his consort Uma. There is also a new hotel here, the Taman Sari.
Together with Badung and Gianyar, the district of Tabanan forms the island’s most prosperous region – the rice belt of the southern plains.
Tabanan became a separate and powerful kingdom during the shake-up of political domains in the 17th century. It has long been the home of famous gamelan orchestras and dancers, among them the great male dancer Mario (I Ketut Maria).
Although a small sanctuary, Tanah Lot is linked to a series of sea temples on Bali’s south coast: Pura Sakenan, Pura Ulu Watu, Pura Rambut Siwi and Pura Petitenget. These temples are related to the principal mountain sanctuaries.
Besakih at Gunung Agung. Pura Batur at Batur and Pura Luhur at Batukaru.
The most western regency of Bali, Jembrana is a rugged strip of land on the southwest coast of Bali. Legend has it that in Java a great priest banished his un rely son o the western coast of Bali.
Drawing his finger across the land, he (literally) cut his son off. Geological records show that Java and Bali were once connected at Bali’s south western tip. Tourism is almost unheard of here, and the development is slow, offering a more rustic experience to adventurers.
Jembrana, or Negara as it is often called (after its capital city) has many things to offer, most of them for nature lovers. The Bali Barat National Park takes up most of this regency and was once the home of Bali’s tigers.
besakih temple
At first, Dutch traders, agents and colonial officials failed to gain a strong foothold in Bali. By 1930, Dutch officials in The Hague, Amsterdam and Batavia, having engaged in a prolonged exchange of government and company papers formulating various policy alternatives with regard to Bali, decided to infiltrate traders and then assert sovereignty. The N.H.M., successor to the trading interests of the long since banktrupt and defunct V.O.C., was intimately involved in these intrigues.
A time-honored Balinese concept of ship salvage eventually provided the catalyst for Dutch military intervention. In accordance with their principle of reef rights, tawan karang, honoring the sea deity Batara Baruna, the rajas accepted as a gift of the gods whatever ship came to grief on the treacherous reefs, which ringed their island. They took the ship, the cargo, the crew and the passengers as their personal property, naturally sharing with those who actually performed the act of salvage or rescue, but entertaining no doubts at all regarding the sanctity of the dead.
From the Dutch point of view, it was bad enough if the Balinese exercise their so-called reef rights upon Chinese, an Arab, a Bugis or a Javanese craft, many of which sailed under Dutch flag and expected Dutch protection. It was even more intolerable if the ship in question was Dutch owned and operated.
By the end of the 1830s, all circumstances combined to prompt the Dutch to address them quite earnestly and discuss with the Balinese rajas the delicate subjects of trade, politics, slavery and plunder. They tried to blanket these various topics with treaties of friendship and commerce, which were in fact, recognition of Dutch sovereignty and monopoly.
A famous Dutch colonial official known as a contract sluiter or contract-maker, H.J. van Huskus Koopman, was dispatched to the island to try to coax the rajas into giving the Dutch virtual sovereignty over the island. His efforts met with little success. The Dutch finally decided to resort to force. As a pretext for infusion, they used the wreck of the Dutch frigate Overijssel on the Kuta reef – and the plunder of its cargo by Balinese exercising their reef rights. The sorry saga of the Overrijssel began in July 19, 1841, on its maiden voyage from Plymouth to Surabaya, with a valuable cargo of machinery, when it hit the Kuta reef and was promptly plundered. Subsequent Dutch outrage served in part to cloak humiliation that a large and heavily armed frigate was wrecked by reason of a flagrant navigational error. The captain had mistaken the coast of Bali for Java. The Dutch were equally embarrassed that the ship was looted, despite embarrassed vigilance of the ship’s company against exactly that contingency.
As the furor over the incident increased in Holland, a Dutch mission was sent to Bali to protest continuing outrages and demand reconfirmation of earlier promises, that the Balinese would give up the practice of salvaging ships that foundered off their shores.
A new Dutch commissioner for Bali arrived with a new set of agreements scheduled to be formally ratified by the rajas and rigidly enforced by the Dutch. He landed at Buleleng to meet with its raja and council of state. It was on this occasion that the great hero of mid-19th century Bali identified himself. He was Gusti Ketut Jelantik, a dramatic, dynamic young prince, and the brother of the Rajas of Buleleng and Karangasem.
The Dutch began preparations for an expeditionary force, which assembled at Besuki, to sail to Bali on the east monsoon of 1846. Jelantik began building fortifications, raising troops, and acquiring arms, relying, as the Dutch correctly surmised, upon certain enterprising merchants in the British colony of Singapore for large shipments of weapons. Balinese-Dutch relations were rapidly moving into a new and tragic phase.
Once the Dutch set them to subdue Bali, the outcome was never in doubt. But it took three campaigns to shatter the Balinese defense and morale, campaigns in which the Dutch did not always by any means achieve either glory or victory.
As a result of the military expeditions, the Dutch began to exercise rapidly increasing control over northern Bali and to interfere more frequently and more vigorously in Balinese domestic affairs.
Buleleng became the first of the Balinese principalities to fall under Dutch administration. In 1855, the Dutch also assumed control over Jembrana. As of the 1830s, the Dutch actually began to acquire the sovereign power, which they had long claimed, at least in northern and western Bali. Half a century later, they ruled the entire island.
- BALI IN THE 20TH CENTURY
The Dutch policy of cultural conservationist resulted in larger part from the fact that in preparing themselves better to fulfill their functions, certain Dutch colonial officials became distinguished scholars and appreciative connoisseurs of many aspects of Balinese life. Diligent Dutch research even-refreshed the Balinese memory with regard to traditions and customs, which might otherwise have lapsed.
The Residency that sheltered Bali from missionaries and merchants also sought to shelter the island from travelers. But foreign anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnologists, artists, musicians , dancers and actors and, eventually, sociologists, economist and political scientists indistinguishable from tourists.
Tourist began in Bali in 1920s. By 1930, as many as 100 visitors months were experiencing the delights of the island. They came for a few days of romantic escapism. An assortment of artists and writers, aesthetes and expatriates even came to stay. One of the first and most famous was the German musician and painter , Walter Spies, He moved into Bali 1926 after having already spend a few years as bandmaster in the court of the Sultan of Yogyakarta. In Bali , Spies build himself a simple house on the edge of scenic ravine just outside the town of Ubud. He preceded to produce two or three painting annually that were of such radiant and revealing beauty, that he established new aesthetics which the Balinese have since made their own.
Spies was joined in the early 1930s by the German novelist, Vicki Baum, who wrote A tale of Bali (Originally written in German under a title of Liebe Und Todd Auf Bali , a story sufficiently romantic, tragic and authentic to rate as one of the classics of Balinese studies. The Mexican artist-ethnologist, Miguel Covarrubias, and his American wife, Rose, moved in nearby to produce the great study. The island Of Bali, which remains unrivaled in English as an exposition of Balinese Culture. Even Margaret Mead carried out important anthropological inquiries in Bali.
The painters, however, usually outnumbered the writers. In additional to Spies, they included Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet and the Belgian, Le Mayeur de Perpres. All these early European painters and most of their successors accepted Balinese understudies who created their own schools of painting that now throughout the island.
At least among the foreign residents, the only real cause of concern in Bali in the 1930s was the prospect of war in the Pacific, a threat that suddenly become a reality in December 1941, Japanese troops then march down the Malay Peninsula to capture Singapore key to re region, including the dangerously exposed, weakly defended Indonesian archipelago.
Japanese invasion forces made Bali an early target of their campaign in the Indies, sending in a small expeditionary force several weeks before they invaded Java. On the morning of 19 February 1942, The Japanese landed about 300 troops on Sanur Beach, and marched unopposed into Denpasar,In the next few days, they assumed control of the entire island and installed administrative offices in Denpasarand Singaraja.
One positive development of the occupation was the emergence of military and paramilitary resistance movements opposed to the Dutch presence as well as the Japanese.
One of the prominent leaders was a young military officer named Gusti Ngurah Rai, the son of a warrior caste family of Badung. He proved to be a charismatic hero and martyr for whom the occasion called- a military leader, who relied not upon tactics and logistics, but rather upon intuition and indeed at times upon mystical guidance. His golden slogan was “Merdeka atau Mati” or “Freedom or death” and he put it to the ultimate test. Ngurah Rai created the “Tentara Keamanan Rakyat” or “ the People ‘s Security Force” . In time , he merged it with most others paramilitary movements and commanded what was regarded as a Balinese people’s army.
Meanwhile major events occurred in the outside world that would have great impact on Bali. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. The Japanese high command, On 17 August 1945, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesia’s national independence. The Balinese persuaded the Japanese to will draw self-imposed seclusion on 8 October 1943, and the new Balinese officials occupied the provincial offices and residences.
The Dutch eventually drove out the Japanese once and for all. But they also arrested Balinese officials and attempted to re-establish a Dutch civil administration on the pattern of pre-war days. Ngurah Rai devised the grand strategy of the “Long March to Gunung Agung” He rallied all available men in west and south Bali to concentrate them In east Bali with safe sanctuary on the slopes of the sacred mountain, hoping to lure Dutch forces into areas vulnerable to guerrilla attacks. The strategy proved both heroic and tragic. The Dutch forces surrounded the encampment of Ngurah Rai and his men. Initially, they escaped annihilation only by climbing up and over the volcanic peak and across formidable mountain terrain to Tabanan. But in Tabanan on 16 November 1946, The Dutch again surrounded them. Called upon to surrender and negotiate, Ngurah Rai asked his men to joint him in a suicide attach upon the heavily armed Dutch. It proved to be yet another puputan. Ngurah Rai and 93 of his men were killed. The site of the “ Margarana Incident as it is know, is now a national heroes” cemetery.
With Ngurah’s defeat, the Balinese military resistance had been effectively broken. But in the ensuing years, continued attacks against the Dutch in neighboring Java finally led the Haque to concede Indonesian independence in 1949. Bali then become part of the Republic, of United States of Indonesia on 29 December 1949 and later a province in the republic of Indonesia.
Under the leadership of its first president, Sukarno, the Indonesia archipelago underwent the inevitable growing points that accompanied the transition from colony to nationhood, In Bali , the transition proved particularly difficult in part by reason of historic Balinese-Javanese antagonisms. Even though Sukarno was part Balinese, he ruled the vast new nation from Jakarta, the long time capital city of Java under its Dutch name Batavia.
In 1965, an attempted takeover of the Indonesian government in Jakarta by the communist insurgents resulted in the murder of six top army leaders. Hundreds of thousands of Indonesian died in the reprisals and fighting following the unsuccessful coup attempt. Bali was the scene of some of the worst violence. As many as 100.000 people , not all belonging to communist political parties, may have been killed as members of the island’s political parties turned upon each other.
Bali bounced back from the tragic decade of the 1960s.Under the New Order Government led by President Suharto. Bali has enjoyed years of comparative peace and tranquility. Tourists began flocking to the island in great numbers in the 1970s.bringing a measure of prosperity to many of its artists and craftsmen whose work become prized souvenirs. The Balinese even managed to stage a successful Eka Dasa Rudra (To be held) once in a hundred years) an the latest ceremony was in 1979.
There has been improvement and expansion of educational facilities and health services somewhat. However the island has become overpopulated. And there appears little room for expansion of agriculture, production of livestock or industry.
The new Bali is one of 30 provinces of the Republic of Indonesia. A unique province that has preserved and enhanced the ancient Hindu Culture. Despite widespread dissemination though the schools of the national outlook, the islanders still feel themselves as much Balinese as Indonesian. Today, Bali is divided into eight kabupaten, or districts that correspond geographically to the traditional rajadom. Each has its elected bupati , or district head, assembly and branches of civil and military provincial offices.
Ancient adat still regulates the life of ordinary villager in his contact with family and neighbors and also with village elders, temple priests and the new agents of the centralized governments-schoolteacher, medical personnel, agricultural agents and others.
- DENPASAR
The central of town is the Pasar Badung (and Den-pasar actually means “north of market”) a four-storey market building, where one can find fruits and vegetables galore, clothing, spices, baskets, ritual paraphernalia, stainless, and bamboo cooking utensils and many more.
At the Kumbasari Shooping Center, Just west of the canal, are major movie theater and kiosks full of handicrafts one can find great buys. Many of the major banks are on Jalan Gajah Mada. But for change your money use moneychangers , as they are quicker and better rates.
One of the two centers of culture is Puputan Square, a large open square commemorating a battle between the rajas of the Badung Regency and the Dutch militia in 1906. On the east side stands the Museum Bali, with its striking architecture and Pura Jagatnatha, a state temple where young people go to worship every full and new moon.
A permanent exhibition of modern Balinese painting and wood carving may be seen at the Werdi Budaya Art center at Abiankapas (Jalan Bayusuta on the east side of the town.)
Just up the street on Jalan Nusa Indah lies STSI (Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia). Since 1967 the college students have been studying traditional dance, music, and puppetry and choreographing both classical and contemporary performing art forms.
For the serious students of Balinese culture, a visit to the Pusat Dokumentasi (Documentation-Center) is a must. The center is located on Jalan Hayam Wuruk No. 154, the road out of Denpasar to Sanur.
- SANUR
By the 1950s, the first cluster of bungalows was built as a small hotel. Sanur continued to attract international elite and today is a prominent luxury resort area. The Hotel Bali Beach, a Sukarno era project, was opened in 1966. While the Bali Beach Hotel, built with Japanese war reparation money expanded into a new wing and bungalows, more than 30 other hotels opened their doors along the beach. Recently the Bali Beach Hotel caught fire, and after being renovated and expanded, the name was changed to Grand Bali Beach Hotel. Now more hotels ranging from small to big international standards are flourishing in the area.
- KUTA
Kuta is one of the best places for surfing, especially for the beginners. The waves are perfect for the bodysurfing as well. Aside from its image as the surf and sun capital of Bali, Kuta is now a resort area filled with pubs and bars catering mainly to the Australian drinking set, replete with ‘pub crawls’. International cuisine is available at all sorts of restaurants. Made’s Warung on the road down to the beach is ‘the’ place to be seen as well as to people watch. It was one of the first eating establishments when Kuta was still a sleepy haven for budget travelers in the early 1970s.
As far as the Bali tragedy 12 October 2002 is concerned, the blast which severely destructed Sari Night Club and Paddy’s Club has not changed the daily life and even the enchantment of this Island of gods. The only change we found was the decline in hotel occupancy rate which went down to below 20% by November 2002. However, now the situation is gradually back to normal as both the national and local government have put in place prudent policies and security measures taken are as follows.
Improved security in airports, seaport and terminals. All hotels particularly big ones are provided with metal detectors and better security check, improved security in public places. These measures can be seen as the number of police who secure the public places and tourist destinations has increased to 5000 personals or almost doubled the number it had before the tragedy. The national government has even established some programs as to speed up the recovery process. The programs are divided into 4 stages, namely. Rescue, Rehabilitation, Normalization and Expansion. Such programs are also aimed at recovering National tourism development after a long standing economic crises.
- NUSA DUA
If you are interested in architecture, then it’s worth a visit to see the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel, which has incorporated traditional Balinese architecture in its design structure. A number of water sports are available here as well, including spectacular parasailing. At Tanjung Benoa, a harbor found at the northernmost tip of the Nusa Dua complex, you can usually rent a hotel room at a fraction of the cost of neighboring accommodations. However luxury hotels are now also available.
- CENTRAL BALI
Gianyar has made its mark on the map in such a way that no visitors to Bali leave without partaking in its beauty in some way. From the fabulous views in Sayan to the bronze drum of Pejeng. From the Barong dance in Batubulan to the ikats of Gianyar city, from the masks of Mas to the paintings in Penestanan, Gianyar has much to offer.
You can walk to Ubud via the backroads. At the banyan tree in Pliatan, cross the street and follow the path until it dead-ends. Then turn right and you’ll end up at the Pura Dalem (Death Temple). On Saturday nights, the Gunung Sari Gamelan performs a star-studded show of traditional Balinese music and dance. Turn left to go into the center of town. The main puri (court of palace) of Ubud lies in the northeast corner of the main crossroads, facing the modern two-story market building and the more traditional village meeting hall where ‘B’ films from all over the world are shown on Saturday night.
One of the many unique things about Ubud is the establishment of the Bina Wisata or local Tourism Bureau. The creed of Bina Wisata is the preservation of Ubud’s natural and cultural beauty. Therefore instead of simply encouraging tourism on a grand scale, they are striving to unify the tourists’ and coals’ wishes. Visitors are asked to respect the local ceremonies, wear traditional clothing when appropriate and in general, learn more about the Ubud populace.
One short walk is to the Monkey Forest. At the main crossroads take the southern road all the way until you get to the woods.
Once in the forest, hold onto your belongings – the monkeys are fast and love to run off with cameras, glasses, purses, and food !
Down by the Campuhan River (the place where three rivers meet – a sacred site) is a small temple built by Mpu Narada. A bamboo spout pours out pure mountain spring water and many Balinese come here to bathe in the evening.
Going out of Pliatan, continue past the statue of the dancer. The first stop is Goa Gajah, (The Elephant Caves).
In front of the cave is a statue of Hariti, a Buddhist demoness cum goddess. She used to devour children and then changed her ways to those of a good Buddhist and became the Protrectress of Children. This statue dates back to A.D. 1000. The Balinese have adapted her into their own ‘Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe’ or Men Brayut – a poow woman, who along with her husband Pan Brayut, had so many children she just didn’t know what to do.
As Ganesha (the elephant-headed deity) is the son of Siwa and lingga are generally attribute to Siwa-worship, we might conclude that Goa Gajah is a Siwaite temple. But the sleeping niches and Buddhist ruins just outside the cave-suggest otherwise. The sculpted face of the cave wears large earplugs and therefore is a woman many interpret her as a rangda type witch figure which could be linked to Tantric Buddhism or Bhairavite Siwaism.
There are many other places in Central Bali which are of interest: Batubulan, which is famous for the daily performances of the Barong Dance. If you’re traveling on your own and are interested in masks, then a side trip to Singapadu is a must.
Celuks synonymous with silver and goldsmithing. Interestingly enough, it has the second highest per capita income of any village on the island. Be sure not to miss the shops on the road just north and parallel to main road, as many fine jewelers dwell here off-the-beaten track.
Across from the Wos River lies the village of Sukawati. Once the seat of – powerful kingdom and the place where many of the Pliatan and ubud aristocracy trace their roots, Sukawati now sports a modern art market along with some of the best dalangs (puppeteers) on the island.
Batuan is most famous for its dense painting style, also the site of some exquisite temple carving and superb dancers.
Mas is best known to the outside world for its intricate woodcarvings and masks. Ida Bagus Tilem, the son of the late Ida Bagus Nyana, runs the Tilem Art Gallery on the main road, a fine place to view some of the highest quality woodcarvings (with some of the highest prices). Many of Ida Bagus Nyana’s innovative pieces are on display.
Traveling north from Mas and just before the T-junction with a statue of a female dancers is Tjokot and Sons – a home workshop of ‘primitive’ wood carvings. Desak Putu, the proprietress, also offers chicken, Tempe (soybean cake) and vegetable dishes. This is probably the best eatery for local food in the entire regency.
Continuing east, you will come to Banjar Kalah in Pliatan – a hamlet filled with artists.
A community of painters works in Dewa Nyoman Batuan’s workshop just west on the asphalt road at the bend in the road. Dewa Nyoman began experimenting with paintings mandalas in the early 1970s and his paintings have a unique touch.
Other places of interest among others is Yeh Pulu, where you can see a relief depicting scenes from daily life. Aside from a statue of Ganesha, there are no depictions of purely religious themes.
On the way to Pejeng, stop at the Archeological Museums first, which is on your right. The director, I Made Tantra, speaks English and can give you a tour of the ancients artifacts here. At the crossroads between Pejeng and Yeh Pulu is the village of Bedulu, once a center of the early Hindu dynasties. In the 11th century, when the rulers of Majapahit were attempting to unify the entire archipelago, all but one king in Bali had agreed to submit to this outside power. Dalem Bedulu was reputed to be a man of supernatural strength – a magic so strong no one could defeat him.
Based on more historical evidence the king of Bedulu died of sadness, after Gajah Mada’s troops killed his beloved son. The Pejeng dynasty finally fell in 1343 to Majapahit forces.
A complex of rock-hewn candi (temple) and monk cells overlooks the Pakrisan River in this valley near Tampaksiring. Legend has it that Kebo Iwa, the powerful prime minister for the King of Bedulu, and a man that has a reputation as a magically-endowed, fear inspiring giant, carved out all the monuments with his fingernails.
In Bali, the development of royal funeral cults began circa the 11th century. Kings, queens and their consorts were deified after their death. There are 10 candis in all – the main group of five on the east of the river, a group of four west of the river, and one by itself at the southern end of the valley.
The sacred of Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring is revered by all Balinese. They say the earth to create a spring of amerta, the elixir of were poisoned by evil king, Mayadanawa. Be that as it may, the bathing place was build under the rule of Sri Candrabhaya Singha Warmadewa in the 10th century.
The water is believed to have magical curative powers. Every year people journey from allover Bali to purify them shelves in the clear pools. After leaving a small offering of thanks to the deity of the spring, men and women go to opposite sides to bathe.
South of Tirta Empul, on a line that joint it with Gunung Kawi, is the Pura Mengening, most propoably the commemorative temple of King Udayana.
The Pura Puseh Gaduh of the market village Blahbatuh is associated with Kebo Iwa, the legendary giant from Bedulu, honored in temple all over Bali, and here is no exception. Enshired in a small pavilion is a massive stone head over a meter high, said to be a portrait of Kebo Iwa.
Gajah Mada, the great minister of the Majapahit kingdom, realizes he could never conquer Bali while Kebo Iwa lived, So he enticed him to Jawa with the promise of a beautiful princes as a wife and had him killed, thereby leaving Bali open to his conquest.
Atop a small hill off the main road north of Blahbatuh is the temple of Pura Bukit Dharma. Found here is the famous 2.2m high statue of the Goddness of Durga in the act of killing a bull possessed by a deman under her feet. This statue is commonly thought to be Queen Gunapriya Dharma Patni (The wife of King Udayana), as some people believed that she is buried in the nearby village of Buruan.
Once a power kingdom, Gianyar is now a sleepy overgrown village. The specialty of this area is the ikat weaving the Balinese use in traditional wear.
Gianyar’s open-air café –market, one block west of puri specializes Balinese delight : Babi Guling or roast suckling pig.
Mounth Batur is 1717m high and cooler than the beach and foothill areas. The crater itself is 1 km in diameter and 183 m deep. Although it looks dormant ‘this is still an active volcano although the last eruptions were in 1974 and nothing major has occurred since 1926.
In Penelokan ribbons of block lava ripple down the valley from the misty peak of mount Batur. Penelokan literally means “ the place to look”, where the world changes color. It is a good place to make a lunch stop.
The mountain areas are known as the home of the Bali Aga Villages-places relatively untouched by modern concepts of Hinduism. Where ancestral rites take precedence. Here the arts are not as developed and ceremonies tend to be simpler. In the Batur area, Trunyan, across the lake is perhaps the most well known. The village is named after a taru menyan (Fragrant tree), which grows in the cemetery outside the village. There is no cremation here and this is where the dead are left for vultures to feast on. According to Trunyanese , the bodies do not decompose normally and there is no odor of rotting flesh, due to the fact that they are placed under this sacred tree.
The Truyanese have been isolated for centuries from mainstream Balinese and are quite reticent about sharing their culture.
To get to Trunyan, take a boat from Kidisan or Toya Bungkah or walk around the lake. Trunyan is also one of the villages in Bali where begging is condoned. As son as you step off boat, you will be bombarded by villagers asking for money.
Inscriptions from 10th century indicate that high mountain district of Kintamani-which takes it’s name from ancient, wind-blown town at 1,300m was one of the earliest kingdoms in Bali. Every third morning, according to the Balinese calendar, the main street becomes a gay bazaar for all the sur villages. There are several losmen for an overnight stay while exploring the area.
As the seat of the Dewa Agung, nominally, the highest of the old Balinese raja’s Klungkung holds a special place in the island’s history and culture. As artistic centers, palaces of Klungkung’s raja’s and noblemen patronized and developed the style of music, drama, and fine arts that flourished today.
For history buffs, a site trip to Gelgel, which is former capital is recommended, In the 15th-16th centuries. The Dewa Agung of Gelgel held immense power. However, in the 17th century, with the decline of his power, he lost both battles as well as allegiances.
Twice a day fishermen set out for Nusa Penida with cargoes of peanuts, fruit and rice, for that dry island is only sparsely cultivated. The sailors of Kusamba boast that treir large prahu can carry up to one and a half tons a cargo.
A trip to Nusa Penida is for the traveler who can appreciate out-of the way places without comforts. Originally a penal colony for the Klungkung Kingdom, Nusa Penida remains a dry and austere place. To the Balinese, Nusa Penida is an island of mystery and magic. The legendary sorcerer, Jero Gede Mecaling, is from here and sends his invisible henchmen to Bali to claim victims. The natives. Of this island are considered to be quite experts in black magic and there fore are treated with great kindness by the Balinese.
The road to continuing east from Kusamba runs parallel to lovely seascapes with a full view of Nusa Penida. One passed closed to Gua Lawah, The bat Cave, the walls of which vibrate with thousands of bats-their bodies packed so closed together, that the upper surface of cave resembles undulating mud.
According to mythology when the deities made mountains for their thrones, they set the highest peak in the east, a place of honor the Balinese. In every temple in Bali a shrine is dedicated to the spirit of Mount Agung. The tapering form of cremation towers, meru and even high temple offering bear the shape of a mountain, mirroring the people’s reverence for their holy volcano. Here on the slopes of Gunung Agung lies the mother Temple, Pura Besakih. A cluster of temples, Pura Besakih is thepinnacle of the sacred of the sacred to the Balinese.
Within the Besakih complex, the paramount sanctuary is the Pura Panataran Agung with its lofty merus on a high back of terraces. Steps ascend in a long perspective to the austere split gate (Candi bentar. Inside the main courtyard stands three aspects of God : Siwa, God as creator, Pramasiwa, God without form, Sadasiwa, God as half male and half female. Many interpret this trinity to be Visnu, Brahma and Siwa.
Besakih can be reached from both the south and east . Usually visitors come though Klungkung continuing north. A nice trip is to go this northern route and continue east though Selat.
Going back to the east, one comes to a perfectly shaped bay cradled in the hills. The harbor of Padang Bai is main port of transit to the neighboring island of Lombok.
Named after the delectable mangosteen fruit, Manggis is primarily a fishing village. Some of the best prahus are made here. Down the road, Balina now boasts affine high-class hotels coupled with lower budget losmen and a host of marine sports are available.
Going further, east ,one come to the turn-off for Tenganan, The Bali Aga village.
There is some evidence that the people of Tenganan originally the village of Bedahulu. The legend of how they acquire their land dates from the 14th century. The mighty king Dalem Bedahulu lost his favorite horse and send the villagers of his kingdom in all directions in seach of it. The men of Tenganan traveled east and found the corpse of the horse. When the king offered to reward them, they requested the land where the horse found, i.e ,all the area in which the carcass of dead horse could be smelled. The king send an official with a keen sense of smell to partition the land.
For days, the chief of Tenganan led the official though the hills, yet still the air was pungent with the odor of dead horse. At last, the tired official decided this was enough, land and departed. After he had left, the Bali Aga chief pulled from his clothing a smelly remnant of the horse’s flesh.
Just pas Tenganan is Candi Dasa, not a village at all, but a resort, which has seen drastic development in the past five years. Most of the accommodations here are at the low end of the scale, although there area a few upscale hotels and more are being built.
For serious students of culture, a visit to ibu Gedong’s Gandhian Asham is suggested. Started in the 1970’s as a self-sufficient community based on the Gandhian principles, the ashram was the only structure along this isolated beech.
Just east of Candi Dasa lies the village of Bugbug, more like a Bali Aga village in structure, here once every two years, on the full moon of the fouth month (October) the “war of the Gods” (perang Dewa) takes place on top of Gumang Hill.
- SIDE-TRIPS TO THE NORTH
The city houses a historical library, the Gedong Kirtya (No.22 Jalan Veteran), which is the store house of a total of some 3,000 Balinese manuscripts. Lontar books – leaves of the lontar palm cut in strips and preserved between two pieces of precious wood - contain literature, mythology, historical chronicles and religious treaties.
South of Singaraja is Gitgit, a splendid waterfall and a good place to just kick back and get away from it all.
East of Singaraja are some of the Finest examples of northern Balinese temples. Instead of the small shrines and meru towers of southern temples, a single pedestal, built on a terraced stone base, furnishes the inner courtyard.
Pura Beji in Sangsit is a subak (rice irrigation association) temple dedicated to Dewi Sri as Ratu Manik Galih, the Goddess of Rice. Built in 15th century, this temple sports many nagas, symbols of earth and fertility.
Jagaraga is a village famous for a bloody battle, which took place between the Balinese and the Dutch in 1849. However, its main attraction today is its Pura Dalem, where Siwa in his manifestation as dissolver preside. Continuing south, one comes to Sawan, a village with a gong casting industry, a talented group of bamboo gamelan angklung orchestra and a unique local market atnight.
Back on the main road is Pura Maduwe Karang, a temple dedicated to dryland (as opposed to wet irrigation) agriculture. It was built in 1890 and has many fertility themes, including erotic portrayals of love.
As subak temples are for the veneration of the creative urge in nature that ensures harvests on irrigated rice fields, this temple is the site of the ceremonies conducted to guarantee a blessing for plants grown on un irrigated land: fruits, coconut, maize and coffee.
After a day in the hot sun, head down to the cool springs at Air Sanih, 17 km east of Singaraja. For a small fee, you can cool off in this natural spring-fed swimming pool and sip cold drinks at the poolside. Now, simple accommodations and a restaurant are also available here.
Six km west of Singaraja is a 8-km stretch of black sand beach comprising the villages of Anturan, Tukad Mungga, Kalibukbuk, Kaliasem and Temukus, collectively called Lovina Beach. The term Lovina refers to love’ and was given by the last king of Buleleng in the 1960s. Caressed by gentle waves, Lovina is a good area to snorkel and dolphin watch.
One of the more interesting features of this area is the Brahma Arama Wihara, a Buddhist ashram founded in 1958 in the village of Banjar. To get there, go 3 km west of Temukus to Dencarik, where you can get an ojek (motorcycle ‘taxi’) up the hill. High up on a hill, it breathes in a remarkable view. Classes in Buddhist meditation are available only twice a year- April and September – but visitors are allowed to come year round, as long as they are dressed properly and observe the ashram rules of removing one’s shoes upon entering the premises, and speaking and walking quietly.
- WESTERN REGIONS OF BALI
The most important temple in this area is Pura Sada, an ancestral sanctuary honoring the deified spirit of Ratu Sakti Jayengrat whose identity remains uncertain. The temple, the original foundation of which may be as old as the 12th century, was rebuilt by one of the early kings of Mengwi, perhaps in the 16th century.
The oldest of the Mengwi state shrines, predating Pura Taman Ayun, Pura Sada, was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1917 and restored by the Archaeology Service in 1950. There are two versions of what the temples’ 54 stone seats represent. One is that they are the wives and concubines of the king, an other is that they are the retainer servants of three royal leaders.
As high as 1,308 m above sea level lies Bedugul, a small town but also the name given to this mountain lake resort area, which local have used for weekend retreats for decades.
In jungle terrain lies the serene lake of Bratan, veiled with mist. It fills the ancient crater of Mount Bratan at Candi Kuning.
Returning south to the town of Tabanan, turn right at Pacung and stop at the town of Penebel. This mountain village has a pura puseh with a lingga-yoni (an ancient fertility symbol of a phallus-vagina) representing Siwa and his consort Uma. There is also a new hotel here, the Taman Sari.
Together with Badung and Gianyar, the district of Tabanan forms the island’s most prosperous region – the rice belt of the southern plains.
Tabanan became a separate and powerful kingdom during the shake-up of political domains in the 17th century. It has long been the home of famous gamelan orchestras and dancers, among them the great male dancer Mario (I Ketut Maria).
Although a small sanctuary, Tanah Lot is linked to a series of sea temples on Bali’s south coast: Pura Sakenan, Pura Ulu Watu, Pura Rambut Siwi and Pura Petitenget. These temples are related to the principal mountain sanctuaries.
Besakih at Gunung Agung. Pura Batur at Batur and Pura Luhur at Batukaru.
The most western regency of Bali, Jembrana is a rugged strip of land on the southwest coast of Bali. Legend has it that in Java a great priest banished his un rely son o the western coast of Bali.
Drawing his finger across the land, he (literally) cut his son off. Geological records show that Java and Bali were once connected at Bali’s south western tip. Tourism is almost unheard of here, and the development is slow, offering a more rustic experience to adventurers.
Jembrana, or Negara as it is often called (after its capital city) has many things to offer, most of them for nature lovers. The Bali Barat National Park takes up most of this regency and was once the home of Bali’s tigers.