Tejakula's Wayang Wong

On the map, Tejakula is an isolated dot midway on the dry coastal road from Singaraja in the north of Bali to Karangasem regency in the east of the island.

A few aficionados of Balinese culture will tell you that it is home to Bali's most famous wayang wong: a classical dance featuring Rama and the monkey kings of the Ramayana epic.

Yet one of the most interesting events Bali has staged recently took place there last Saturday. A theatrical performance called Persamuan Samudra Giri (Encounter of Sea and Earth) brought together itinerant artists from Java, a theater group from Denpasar and local village artists.

It took place at the Taman Seni Cili Mas, a park that houses a combination of beach bungalows and a cultural center. It was set up by Nyoman Tusan, Bali's first modernist painter, who dreamed of bringing combining the creativity of Balinese tradition with that of contemporary art.

The itinerant artists were invited by the Tejakukus Foundation of Tejakula, and the Dharma Nature Time, a Bali-based art association.

The event was particularly interesting in the way it revealed the existence of a virtually unknown layer of Indonesian cultural life, in this case, that of the itinerant artists.

The highly spiritual dance drama, wayang wong Tejakula, has its roots in a migrant community. Alpha Savitri explores this history, and the mystical tales that surround it. Kintamani is 98 kilometers from Denpasar. But so beautiful is the landscape you traverse on traveling there, the kilometers pass quickly by - especially once one enters the cool, refreshing ambience of the highland Gunung Batur area. It is the silhouette of this mountain which. forms the back drop to the village of Tejakula - a fertile, village located on the side of a hill. on the north coast of Bali. Tejakula welcomes visitors with an stounding temple. Homes and shops line the main road into town. Unlike most Balinese villages, the houses here arc tiny, and most of them do not follow traditions of Balinese domestic design.

This is unusual, for in most Balinese villages, local architectural traditions continue to be strictly upheld. Such traditions stipulate that a domestic compound must contain a family shrine (pemerajan), a master bed room where the family heirlooms are stored (bale daja), a family bedroom (bale dauh), a room for family ceremonies (bale dangin) and a rice store (jineng). But in Tejakula, only large landowners can affront such luxuries. The history of this village is one of immigration, not only by Balinese migrants from other area, but by Chinese and Persian migrants as well. Indeed ' Tejakula. was once a trading port that outstripped Benoa in Denpasar and Padangbai in Karangasem in size and fame. Based on archaeological data, it is estimated that the area has been populated since prehistoric time. Nyoman Tusan, a painter and cultural commentator and a native of Tejakula, asserts that the area has had trading links with the outside world since the first century. Many foreign artifacts, such as ceramic pots have been found in the area, suggesting that Tejakula functioned as an important crossroad where traders from all over the world came together. The original inhabitants of Tejakula were the Balinese aborigines, the Bah Mula.

This means that the people of Tejakula are not descended from the Javanese who invaded Bali when the kingdom of Majapahit began to fall in the 15th century, as are most area, the Bali

Aga people dominated the local population until the end of the 16th century. It is believed that Balinese from Blahbatuh, Karangasem and even Bangli migrated to this area in large numbers durig the 17th century. Tejakula was favored, it seems, for its volcanic, fertile earth which acommodated cultivation of rice and oranges alike, although it is difficult to know for certain why such migration took place. There is a legend, well known among Tejakula locals, concerning this period of migration. As the legend goes, a miracle took place in the village of Kulandih, in east Tejakula. A bright light with a yellowish glow began shining from this village, and could be seen from all over Bah and beyond the light is said to have struck shadows as far as China. Many believed the light to be a sign of the village's prosperity.As a result, it drew throngs of migrants; to it, including those from China, who subsequently settled there. Nowadays, one of the village's temples, Pura Sekar, as well as the regular shrine (pelinggih), contains shrines reserved for the area's Persian and Chineseinhabitants. At Pura Sekar, therefore, there arc three pelinggih: the Arab Ratu Gede Sedabat, the Chinese Ratu. Gede Subandar and the Balinese Ratu Ayu Jong Daluh. The migrants and the original Bah Mula locals of Tejakula coexist here in peace.

Even before the migrants came and settled in the area, the original Bali Mula inhabitants greed that a condition of becoming a resident of Tejakula should be the willingness to live according to certain Bali Mula 'democratic' ideals. The Bah Mula, that is, reject the social hierarchies that
characterizes main stream Balinese society in order to enter their Community, nobles must be prepared to renounce their nobility and live like jaba (literally 'outsiders', refers to the majority of Balinese who do not belong to the 'trinity of castes' brahmana, ksatria or wesya). Those who agree to these conditions would be given land. Those who didn't agree were not allowed to live in Tejakula. That is why in this village no one uses the title Anak Agung (the title for ksatria), even if they are descended from the puri (the house of ksatria). Further, it is also why 'refined', or high Balinese (bahasa halus) is not used to communicate with these people from the puri, as is the case in the rest of Bali. Cultural influences from Bangli, Karangasem and Buleleng and the force of 'democratization' in this area caused local art to flourish, for it provided the context in which local artists were encouraged to develop their ideas. But not only did such democratization contribute to the proliferation of local art forms, it also freed the artistic realm to pursue multi-faceted and contestatory interpretations of performance modes.

Thus, in a Tejakula rendition of the dance drama gambuh, a brahmana. or a ksatria may well be caste as a serf or even a servant and, conversely, a jaba actor may well be caste in the role of a king if indeed their performance skills thus allowed. This contrasts the mainstream mode of performance, in which it is extremely rare for actors of tri wangsa (three castes) descent to take on lowly roles in a traditional dance-drama. Tejakula is well known for its performance arts - gong kebyar and arja as well as wayang wong. But it is also renowned for its architecture, and in this a number of stone carvings in the village temple and some of the buildings around the town are notable. It

Is also famous for its prominence in the world of shadow pup petering. Nowadays, there are only three puppeteers (dalang) remain active in Tejakula, but several years ago the village was home to as many as eight active dalang an astounding figure given that most village only have at the most two active dalang. Indeed, a number of artistic forms have flourished in this area. But Tejakula is best known for its wayang wong. For most residents of Bali, mention of Tejakula immediately conjures an image of the wayang wong

Wayang wong is one of several Balinese performance art forms which melds dance, drama and music. Unlike the wayang kulit (shadow puppet), in which leather puppets are manipulated by a dalang behind a screen, wayang wong is performed by actors on a stage. in Bali, there are two kinds of wayang wong wayang wong parwa which adapts stories from the Mahabharata for the stage, and wayang wong Ramayana, which takes stories from the Ramayana.

In wayang wong parwa, all actors, except for the clowns, do not wear masks. In wayang wong Ramayana, all the actors are masked. Wayang wong Ramayana is generally known just as wayang wong, hereas the wayang wong parwa is usually referred to as parwa. According to the Rector of the Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Arts Institute, Prof. Dr Made Bandem, the Balinese wayang wong enveloped out of masked performances which existed in Bali prior to the arrival
of Hinduism when masks were used as a tool with which to communicate with the ancestors. The masks used to communicate with the ancestors could only be shown in public on certain days, or at religious rituals. In former times, the dancers would adorn themselves with bark and their dance was a way of thanking the ancestors for protecting thern from plague. Wayang wong is believed to have emerged around the time of the Waturenggong regime, between 1460-1550. The language used in wayang wong is Balinese or Kawi (a form of old Javanese) noble characters use Kawi and the clowns use Balinese. The Balinese have been acquainted with the Ramayana,the Indian epic which is the source of the wayang wong stories, for centuries. But the version of the Ramayana with which the Balinese are most intimate is the Kekawin Ramayana which came to the island via Java. "Although Balinese have access to other, more authentically Indian versions, the Kekawin Ramayana is the version most Balinese identify with the epic", asserted Bandem.

The Old Javanese version of Kekawin Ramayana is a free translation and adaptation of a Sanskrit poem from India, the Rawana Vadha by Bhatti, written in the 6th century The text was translated into Balinese and recorded on lontar palms, several hundred years ago. Parts of the poem are frequently translated and recited at important religious rituals on Bali, for the text is thought to contain some salient moral messages. Coincidentally, perhaps, the wayang wong has served as a medium for the preservation of the Ramayana, for today it remains as the only dance-drama form which performs the Ramayana, which tells of the war between Rahwana's giant troops, and Rama's army of monkeys. Rahwana kidnaps Sita, Rama's wife and takes her to his kingdom, Alengka. But in the end Rahwana is overcome by Rama, assisted by his army of monkeys; and their king, Hanoman.

There are 72 sacred masks in the Tejakula troupe. The three main characters' masks Wibisana, Rama and Laksamana were donated by the king of Bangli sometime this at Batur temple. Apparently, eager to test Hanoman's magical powers, the king built a two meter high hurdle and ordered Hanoman to jump, it. Extraordinarily, Hanoman succeeded in the task. The king was so impressed that he donated the three masks to the troupe. The troupe's other masks date back to the 18th century, and remain in pristine condition. This is believed to be due to both the excellent quality of the wood from which they are made and the fact that the masks regularly undergo ritual cleansing, and have so for centuries. Special rituals accompany the use of the masks at every performance. In the morning, the performers pray in the temple to ask God to protect them while they arc performing. The masks are taken out, offerings are spread around, and the performers are ritually cleansed. The masks are sprinkled with water, and distributed to the performers. Then the performers hang the masks from an orange tree. At first glance, the masks