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Karangasem •
CANDI DASA •
TENGANAN • The sacred geringsing cloths •
AMLAPURA AREA • Refreshing pools at Tirtagangga • Traditional villages near Amlapura • Spectacular back road to Besakih •
BESAKIH • Cosmic rites of purification
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Culturally, Karangasem is in fact a very conservative area. Here, for example, the use of the various Balinese speech levels is more strictly adhered to and a number of archaic ritual, dance and musical forms have been maintained right up until the present day. 'I lie eastern and northern parts of the regency are quite arid, and overall this is a less densely populated area than southern Bali. In fact, it has many affinities with the drier and more rugged islands of eastern Indonesia more so than any other part of the island. For several centuries after the decline of the great Javanese empire of Majapahit, the king of Klungkung just to the west of here was, at least in name, the paramount ruler of Bali. The other Balinese rulers became more and more independent over time, and by the 17th century, Karangasem was able to successfully oppose Klungkung. It subsequently emerged, during the 18th and 19th centuries, as the most powerful kingdom on Bali. Its rulers were particularly influential in northern Bali (Buleleng) and Lombok, and frequently allied themselves with other Balinese rajas in times of war and intrigue. During the 17th century, Karangasem forces already occupied much of the neighboring island of Lombok, fighting there against Macassarese from Sumbawa and eventually colonizing the western rice-growing areas of the island, with the result that today there are large numbers of Balinese living there who regard Karangasem as their homeland. After the middle of the last century, the tables turned and Karangasem became a vassal of the king of Lombok himself a Balinese prince from Karangasem. After Buleleng and Jembrana, which fell into Dutch hands in the middle of the last century, this was the next Balinese kingdom to be conquered by the Dutch when they invaded and "freed" the indigenous Sasak population of Lombok from Balinese rule in 1894. Altogether Karangasem encompasses an area of 861 sq km, and according to the 1987 census the population numbers around 350,000 souls, meaning that the average population density is about 400 per sq km. Most of the populace, however, lives in central and southern Karangasem, especially around the capital of Amlapura, and population densities here are much higher than the average. Many areas of Karangasem suffered great devastation as a result of the eruption of Mt Agung in 1963. Traces of this eruption can still be seen today, particularly in the Kubu and Tianyar areas on the northeastern coast. Already very dry, the northeast became all the more so after the eruption. A government project to encourage the planting of jeruk (a citrus species) here was not much of a success, but nowadays grapes are very much in vogue, as is cacao. South and southeast of Mt Agung lay the traditional rice-growing areas, with their spectacular terraced and irrigated rice fields. Higher up coffee, cloves and other cash crops are grown on steep mountain slopes. The coastal areas of Ujung and Seraya to the south, and Amed, Kubu and Tianyar to the north are the site of traditional fishery and salt-panning communities. CANDI
DASA Following the main road from 10ungkung, you cross the border into Karangasem shortly after the village of Kusamba and the well known temple of Goa Lawah. The road continues eastward through coconut groves for several kms before reaching a turn-off. To the right is a road leading to Padangbai, a major harbor for ships to Lombok and points east, as well as for smaller boats to Nusa Penida. It is worth the 2 km detour to see the picturesque, semi-circular hills surrounding a sparkling blue bay. The village itself has several small hotels and restaurants. A famous temple, Pura Silayukti, where the Buddhist sage Mpu Kuturan is said to have lived in the 11th century, is also located here. The temple's anniversary is on Wednesday-Tliwon of the week Pahang (consult a Balinese calendar) Back on the main road, one arrives at the village of Manggis a few kins to the east. There is a lovely path from here leading up to nearby Putung in the hills overlooking the coast. The path runs through woods and gardens and reaches Putung after a distance of some 5 kms, where one has a splendid view across the sea to the nearby islands. Another possible side trip is from Manggis east along a small road through the isolated villages of Ngis and Selumbung. The road finally rejoins the main road in Sengkidu shortly before Candi Dasa. It is also possible to continue from Ngis on to Tenganan. Candi
Dasa town Toward the end of the 1970s the first bungalows appeared by the beach here. From 1982 onwards a building frenzy set in, and is still continuing so that new hotels, shops and restaurants seem to open almost weekly. As a result, Candidasa is now encroaching on the l3uitan area to the west - site of several luxurious bungalow-hotels, which specialize in snorkeling and diving trips. Candidasa today is a bustling seaside resort with the full range of hotels, home stays, disco-bars, moneychangers, shops and restaurants. How long the development will continue is an open question, as the beach is eroding quickly and the once-spectacular view across the sacred lagoon to the beach is now blocked by two-story bungalows. Dance and music performances for visitors are being developed, but these do not seem to be of high quality. The main attraction of the area is as a base from which to visit the neighboring village of Tenganan, some 5 kms away. Swimming is only more or less possible at high tide. Despite these disadvantages, Candidasa enjoys cool breezes and is a good resting point for trips to the east and north. Bugbug
and environs Bugbug and the surrounding villages are quite old-fashioned. Apart from the official village head, there is a council of elders responsible for all religious affairs. The elders are not elected, but enter the council on the basis of seniority. Another atypical feature of these villages is communal land tenure, and the presence of associations for unmarried boys and girls which have to fulfill duties in the context of village rituals. Two rituals are especially important. The first takes place around the full moon of the first Balinese month (between mid-June and Mid-July). This ritual worship of the village gods is carried out in the central temple (Pura desa), and lasts for several days. Most spectacular are the dances by unmarried boys (abuang taruna) clad in costumes of White and gold-threaded cloth, with headdresses and keris, the traditional weapon. After the dance there follows the so-called daratan in which older men in trance carrying keris approach the main shrine of the temple, to the accompaniment of special music. Three orchestras play simultaneously: the sacred selunding (iron met allophones), the gong desa with drums and cymbals, and a gambang ensemble which has bamboo xylophones and bronze met allophones. During the same full moon period there are similar rituals in other nearby villages like Asak and Perasi. Perasi lies just northeast of Bugbug on the main road, and from its eastern end there is a nice walk through the hills to the beach. Swimming here is hazardous, since the beach is not protected by a reef. A second major ritual occurs in Bugbug every two years on the full moon of the fourth month (around October). Four villages (Bugbug, Jasi, Bebandem and Ngis) participate in a ritual "war of the gods," which is in fact the enactment of an old legend: The god of Bugbug had three daughters and one son. One of the daughters was to marry the god of Bebandem. But she eloped with the god of Jasi. To appease the former, the god of Bugbug gave his second daughter and son to him, and the third daughter was married off to the god of Ngis. The war is to resolve the dispute, and the ritual battle takes place near the temple on top of Gumang TENGANAN Time is reckoned differently in Tenganan Pegringsingan. Here, each new day begins with 21 deep, throbbing drumbeats and lasts until the same pulsating tones are struck the next morning. Tourists arrive when the sun is at its zenith and the valley is glowing with light. They leave towards evening, when the all-important religious ceremonies commence. A month in Tenganan lasts exactly 30 days. Modifications to the calendar are needed to adjust to the lunar-solar year; altogether 15 days are added every three years. The ancient, ritualistic Bali Aga ("original Balinese") society of Tenganan has now opened up and become accessible to non Tengananese - especially since its festivals have been publicized, and since the village itself has become known as a result of its proximity to the new beach resort at Candidasa one are the days when it was isolated and difficult of access. It is said that all footprints of visitors to Tenganan were once literally wiped out once they left. Now the village faces new and different problems. It needs more parking space for the cars, minibuses and limousines tourism brings, and the art shops which distort the community's divine plan now have to be placed outside the village gates. Microcosm
of the universe The village is laid out in a large rectangle measuring some 500 m by 250 m, encircled by natural boundaries and walls. Three pub corridors rise in terrace-like fashion, running along a north-south axis from the sea toward the sacred volcano Gunung Agung. There are six lengthwise rows of compounds; the pairs located in the center and to the west are striking because of their closed house fronts, which resemble palm-leaf covered longhouses The buildings and areas for public use are situated on the central axes of the central western streets. There are a number of walled temple areas, longhouses, smaller pavilions rice granaries and shrines here, all of which suggest a strong communal life with pronounced ritual ties. This is where the 300 inhabitants of Tenganan Pegringsingan live. In the eastern compounds of the banjar pande live those who have been banished from the village, together with those whose customs are more like the majority of Hindu Javanized Balinese. Labor in the surrounding gardens and communal rice fields behind the hills is performed by them, or by tenant farmers from neighboring villages who receive half of the crop yield. With approximately 1000 hectares of arable land belonging to it, Tenganan is one of the richest land-owning communities in all of Bali. Divine
origins The concept of territorial and bodily purity and integrity plays an exceedingly important role in the village culture. It is reflected not only in many important rituals (purifications and exorcisms), but also in the idea that only if a person is healthy, physically as well as mentally, may he or she take part in rituals. No one with a disability and no outsider can be admitted to the adat organizations of the village. As a result of this divinely ordained scheme, the original layout and social organization of the village may not be changed. Houses, compounds, gardens, village council and youth groups are to be left as the gods have created them. Should anything be changed or taken away, the curse of the gods would fall upon the village and its people would perish. Anyone guilty of not respecting the inherited order is banned from participating in village rites, and thus from sharing in communal property. In the gravest of cases, they are even banished from the village altogether. The desa adat is itself regarded as divine and almighty as far as the traditional social order is concerned. Exclusive
membership Newly-weds takes their place at the lowest end of a hierarchical seating in the huge bale agung - the forum and sacred meeting pavilion of the village council. With the entrance of a new couple, the parents retire and everyone moves up a step, receiving new ritual responsibilities. The layout of the 50-meterlong hall is eminently suited to the numerous rites that bring together the gods, ancestors and villagers. Here, members of the krama desa meet, dressed in ritual clothing, for communal meals with deities and ancestors, whom they worship with prayers, offerings, dances and music. In many cases, youths will take part in the performance of these rituals, either because the girls have been formally invited by the married women to dance before the bale agung, or because the village council requires one of the sacred iron gamelan orchestras (selunding) maintained by the boys' organizations to be struck. For such a society to work, a long initiation period is needed, allowing its members to prepare for their complex ritual duties and activities within the village council. When children enter a youth club, between the ages of 6 and 8, they go through a "school of life" in which the behavior required for participation in the krama desa is learned, and where the manual skills and esoteric formulas n ed for rituals can be practiced. The three boys' associations of the village are named after the location of their as assembly houses, located on three consecutive terraces along the western street. There are also three girls' clubs, with a strict and formal relationship concerning mutual help exchange of gifts, offerings, meals and entire rituals existing between them. A girl must be at least 7 years of age to join a sekaha daha or girls club, whose meetings are held in the compounds of retired village elders. Some years ago, the girls would still bring their looms to the meeting houses so they could practice weaving. In the 11t month of the Tenganan year, they had to bring yarn and beast along to their clubhouses to un 10 dergo instruction in the exceedingly complex art of double ikat. Unfortunately, this custom so vital to the preservation of the local textile craft has been abandoned for several years. The
sacred geringsing cloths Festival
of the swings The ceremonies that take place then are reminiscent of old Vedic swinging rites performed during the mahavrata winter solstice celebration, which focuses on Indra. The swinging unites sun and earth, and together with textile techniques and recent genetic research, suggests that Tenganan may be connected with immigration from east or southeast India during Vedic times. In a legendary account, the people of Tenganan are said to have arrived here while searching for the favorite horse of the king of Bedahulu. Although it was dead when found, the king showed his gratitude by promising to give the searchers all land in the area where the horse's decomposed body could be smelt. So a representative of the court, accompanied by the village head, walked around the huge area which today forms Tenganan, finding that in a fact the horses flesh could still be smelled for quite a distance. After the court officer had departed, the cunning village chief pulled a piece of bad smelling horsemeat from under his waistband. The remnants of the horse are believed to be scattered around the village as megalithic monuments. There are other indications, too, that the people of Tenganan have not always lived here. A copper inscription dated A.D. 1040 speaks of a relationship between the powerful governor from Java, a certain Buddhist reformer Mpu Kuturan in Silayukti (near Padangbai), and a nearby village named "Tranganan" that was then on the coast at Candidasa and later moved to the interior. Proof that the villagers of Tenganan moved from the seaside to their present location is provided in the design and placement of the original altars (sanggah kamulan) in the house compounds. In other parts of Bali this altar is always built in the corner facing east and toward the mountains. In Tenganan it is placed towards the sea. When a member of the community of Tenganan dies, his or her body is not cremated. Once the sun is past the zenith, the corpse is carried from the compound to the cemetery. At the grave the body is' undressed, then it is returned to Mother Earth (Pertiwi), head seaward and face down. AMLAPURA
AREA The
palaces of Karangasem The ruling family of Karangasem traces its ancestry back to the 14th century Hindu Javanese Empire of Majapahit, claiming to be direct descendants of a certain Batan Jeruk who was Prime Minister of Bali during the 16th century. There is also a tale concerning the dynasty's divine origin. A woman who lived near the palace was once overheard talking to a stranger in her house. When asked who it was, she replied that it was the god of Mt Agung. After some time, the woman became pregnant and not long afterwards a miraculous fire descended from the mountain to the woman's house. She soon gave birth to a son atop a hill to the east of the town this son, the "god of the eastern hill," is said to be the founder of the royal Karangasem line. Karangasem conquered Lombok in the 17th century and in turn became a vassal of the neighboring island in the middle of 19th century. As a result, there are today several Sasak settlements in and around Amlapura, and these have had a significant influence on the culture of the area. Family and trading relations with Lombok still exit until the present day, and intermarriages are common. When Lombok was occupied by the Dutch in 1894, Karangasem was transfered to Dutch control as well. Nevertheless, the ruler of Karangasem was kept on as "governor" of the region, and his status a, confirmed in 1938 when the Balinese kingdoms were granted partial self-rule. After independence in 1945, these princely realms vanished and were replaced by the present-day, kabupaten or regencies. Until 1979, however the regent or bupati of Karangasem was a prince of the royal house, and was still considered "raja" by most people in the area. Even today, members of the royal family participate in rituals held in the nearby villages. Ujung
and Mt Seraya Ujung, 8 km to the south of Amlapura, is a small fishing village with distinct Islamic arid Hindu-Balinese quarters. The lavish palace complex here - a vast pool bordered by small pavilions with a massive stained glass and stucco bungalow in the center was completely destroyed by the eruption of Mt Agung and subsequent earthquakes. Little else but a few sculptures and portals remain, though there are plans afoot to restore the palace to its original condition as it tourist attractions. Just before Ujung there is road to the left leading toward Bukit Kangin ("eastern hill") where there is a panoramic view of the area and a temple dedicated to the founder of the royal dynasty. On the full moon of the fifth month (usually in November) several villages with close ties to the ruling dynasty participate in a festival at this temple. From the beach at Ujung, a new road climbs up to the village of Seraya, perched on the southern flanks of Mt Seraya Bali's easternmost peak (1175 in). This is one of the most and areas in Bali, and the road here hugs the hills high above the coast, offering splendid panoramas of the surrounding terrain and across the sea to distant Lombok. From Seraya, the road continues around the mountain and descends gradually on the northern side to the fishing and salt-making village of Amed. Though a distance of only about 30 km, the entire drive take several hours as the road is quite steep and winding. From Amed one can return to Amlapura or continue along the northern coastal route through the villages of Kubu and Tianyar toward Singaraja. The north coastal region suffered greatly from the eruption of Mt Agung, and was transformed into an arid wasteland with dramatic, black lava flows reaching right down to the sea. Until well into the 1980s the road was not very serviceable, but it is now in very good condition and offers beautiful views of the rugged northern slopes of Mt Agung. There is also excellent diving in the coastal reefs off Tianyar, where the sunken wreck of a WW 11 ship provides a home for a host of colorful marine life. Refreshing
pools at Tirtagangga One can stay overnight inside the pool complex itself, known officially as Tirta Ayu ("lovely waters"), where a son of the last king of Karangasem operates a small home stay. Another exciting possibility is to stay in a small lodging on a nearby hill with a view over the famous Tirtagangga rice terraces. Trekking
around Tirtagangga |
The
beautiful eastern regency of Karangasem is truly something special distinguishing
itself in so many ways from the rest of the island. Physically it is dominated
by the towering presence of Mt Agung (3142 m), the island's most sacred
and highest volcano, whose dramatic foothills and lava flows provide some
of the most spectacular landscapes found anywhere in Bali. High up on
Mt Agung's southern flanks perches the great "Mother Temple"
of Besakih, while to the south and east lie a number of more or less isolated
villages that have played a key role in Balinese history.