BALI

WITH THE REPUTATION OF BEING ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND DIVERSE TOURIST SPOTS IN ASIA, BALI ANNUALLY ATTRACTS ALMOST 1.000,000 VISITORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

Geographically, Bali is situated between the islands of java and lombok. Bali is small,stretching approximately 140km from east to west,and 80km from north to south. The tallest of a string of volcanic mountains that run from the east to the west is gunung agung,which last erupted in 1963. Located just 8 south of the equator,bali boasts a tropical climate with just two seasons ( wet and dry ) a year with an average temperature of around 28c. The wide and gently sloping southern regions play host to bali's famed rice terraces,which are among some of the most spectacular in the world. In the hilly,northern coastal regions,the main produce is coffee,copra,spices,vegetables,cattle and rice. The balinese have strong spiritual roots and despite the large influx of tourist over the year,their culture is still very much alive. The main religion is agama hindu darma,which,although originally from india,is comprised of unique blend of hindu,buddish,javanese and ancient indigenous beliefs. It is very different from the hinduism practiced in india today. Naturally creative, The balinese have traditionally used their talents for religious purposes and most of the beautiful work to be seen here has been inspired by stories from the ramayana and other hindu epics. The majority of bali's 3,000,000 people live,for the most part,in tight village communities with large extended families. The largest towns are denpasar ( the capital ) and singaraja in the north. The main tourist area stretches from kuta to seminyak. Kuta became a major attraction during the tourist boom of the 70's because of its famous white-send beaches,the surf and stunning sunsets. Today,the kuta to seminyak stretch is a major tourist destination,with hundreds of hotels,bars,restaurants and shops. Those in search of a little peace and quiet tend to head for the more sedate resorts of sanur and candidasa on the east coast,or lovina in the north. Nusa dua, on the southern-most peninsula of the island,houses many five-star hotels. The central village of ubud,in the hilly region of gianyar,has also blossomed as a tourist attraction and is now considered to be the artistic and cultural centre of bali.

HISTORY

It's certain that bali has been populated since early prehistoric times,but the oldest human artefact's found are 3000-year-old stone tools and earthenware vessels from cekik. Not much is known of bali during the period when indian traders brought hinduism to the indonesia archipelago,but the earliest written records are stone inscriptions dating from around the 9th century. By the time,rice was being grown under the complex irrigation system known as subak,and there were precursors of the religious and cultural traditions that can be traced to the present day.

HINDU INFLUENCE

Hindu java began to spread its influence into bali during the reign of king airlangga,from 1019 to 1042. At the age of 16,airlangga had fled into the forest of western java when his uncle lost the throne. He gradually gained support ,won back the kingdom once ruled by his uncle and went on to become one of java's greatest kings. Airlangga's mother had moved to bali and remarried shortly after his birth,so when he gained the throne there was an immediate link between java and bali. At this time,the courtly javanese language known as kawi came into use among the royalty of bali,and the rock-cut memorials seen at gunung kawi ( mt kawi ) near tampaksiring are a clear architecture link between bali and 11th-century java. After airlangga's death,bali retained its semi-independent status until kertanegara' became king of the singasari dynasty in java two centuries later. Kertanegara conquered bali in 1284,but his power lasted only eight years until he was murdered and his kingdom collapse. With java in turmoil,bali regained its autonomy and the pejeng dynasty,centred near modern-day ubud,rose to great power. In 1343 gajah mada,the legendary chief minister of the majapahit dynasty,defeated the pejeng king dalem bedaulu and brought bali back under javanese influence. Although gajah mada brought much of the indonesian archipelago under majapahit control,bali was the furthest extent of its power. Here the`capitol` moved to gelgel,near modern-day semarapura ( once known as klungkung ), Around the late 14th century,and for the next two centuries this was the base for the `king of bali` the dewa agung. The majapahit kingdom collapsed into disputing sultanes.However,the gelgel dynasty in bali,under dalem batur enggong,extended its power east words to the neighbouring island of lombok and even crossed the strait to java. As the majapahit kingdom fell apart,many of its intelligentsia moved to bali,including the priest niratha,who is credited with introducing many of the complexities of balinese religion to the island. Artists,dancers,musicians and actors also fled to bali at this time,and the island experienced an explosion of cultural activities. The final great Exodus to bali took place in 1478.

EUROPEAN CONTACT

The first europeans to set foot in bali were Dutch seafarers in 1597. Setting a tradition that prevails to the present, they fell in love with the island, and when Cornelius Houtman the ship's captain-prepared to set sail from bali, some of his crew refused to leave with him. At that time, Balinese prosperity and artistic activity, at least among the royalty, were at a peak, and the King who befriended houtman had 200 wives and a Chariot pulled by two white buffaloes, not to mention a retinue of 50 dwarfs. When the Dutch returned to Indonesia in later years, they were interested in profit, not culture, and barely gave bali a second glance.

DUTCH CONQUEST

In 1710 the capital of the gelgel Kingdom was shifted to nearby Klungkung ( now called semarapura), but local discontent was growing, lesser rulers were breaking away from Gelgel Domination and the dutch began to move in, using the old Policy of divided and Conquer. In 1846 the Dutch used balinese salvage claims over shipwrecks as the pretext to land military forces in northern bali. In1894 the dutch chose to support the sasaks of lombok in a rebellion against their balinese rajah. After some bloody battles, the balinese were defeated in Lombok, and with northern bali firmly under dutch control, southern bali was not likely to retain its independence for long. Once again, salvaging disputes gave the dutch the excuse they needed to move in. A chinese ship was wrecked off sanur in 1904 and ransacked by the balinese. The dutch demanded that the rajah of badung pay 3000 silver dollars in damages this was refused. In 1906 dutch warships appeared at sanur, Dutch forced landed and despite balinese opposition,marched the 5 km to the outskirts of denpasar. On 20 september 1906, dutch mounted a naval Bombardment of Denpasar and then commenced their final assault. the three rajahs of badung ( southern bali )realised that they were out numbered and outgunned, and that defeat was inevitable. surrender and exile, however, was the worst imaginable outcome, so they decided to take the honourable path of a suicidal puputan. A fight to the death. The dutch begged the balinese to surrender rather than make their hopeless stand. but their pleas went unheard and wave after wave of the balinese nobility marched forward to their death. In all, nearly 4000 balinese died in the puputan. Later, the dutch marched east toward tabanan, taking the rajah of tabanan prisoner, but he committed suicide rather than face the disgrace of exile. The kingdoms of Karangasem and Gianyar had already capitulated to the dutch and were allowed to retain some powers, but other Kingdoms were defeated and the rulers exiled.Finally, the rajah of Klungkung followed the lead of Badung and once more the dutch faced a puputan. With this last obstacle disposed of, all of bali was now under dutch control and became part of the dutch east indies. Dutch Rickover bali was short-lived, however, as Indonesia fell to japanese in WWII.

INDEPENDENCE

On 17 august 1945,just after WWII ended,the indonesian leader soekarno proclaimed the nation's independence,but it took four year to convince the dutch that they were not going to get their great colony back. In a virtual repeat of the puputan nearly half of century earlier,a balinese resistance group was wiped out in the battle of marga on 20 november 1946,bali's airport,ngurah rai,is named after its leader. It was not until 1949 that the dutch finally recognised indonesia's independence. The huge eruption of gunung agung in 1963 killed thousands,devastated vast areas of the island and forced many balinese to accept transmigration to other part of indonesia. Two years later, in the wake of the attempted communist coup,bali became the scene of some of the bloodies anticommunist killing in indonesia. These were perhaps inflamed by some mystical desire to purge the land of evil,but also came about because the radical agenda of land reform and abolition of the caste system was a threat to traditional balinese values. The brutality of the king killings was in shocking contrast to the stereotype of the`gentle`balinese.

MODERN BALI

The tourism boom,which started in the early 1970s,has brought many changes,and has helped pay for improvements in roads,telecommunications,education and health. Though tourist has had some market adverse environmental and social effect,bali's unique culture has proved to be remarkably resilient. Beginning in the 1990,there has been vocal public opposition to some controversial tourist development,which indicates that balinese people will play a more active role in the development of their island. Bali, like most places,has also been affected by global politics. In october 2002,two simultaneous bomb explosions in kuta-targeting an area frequented by tourist-injured or killed more than 500 people. The island's vital tourist industry was dealt a several blows. It had mostly recovered by 2005 when in october of that year more bombs went off albeit immediate sharp drop in tourist and have forced the balinese to yet again ponder their role in the world's greater geopolitics.

CULTURE

The population in bali is almost all indonesia.90% are of balinese hindu descent and could be described as ethnic balinese. The remaining residents are mostly from other parts of the century,particularly java. Balinese have traditional caste divisions that resemble the indian hindu system,although there are no `untouchables`nor is there separation of labour based on caste,except belong to the common sudra caste,which now includes mani wealthy balinese. The main significance of caste is in religious roles and rituals,and its influence on balinese language. The traditional balinese society is intensely communal,the organisation of villages,the cultivation of farmlands and even the creative arts are communal efforts.A person belongs to their family,clan,caste and to the village as a whole.The roles of the sexes are fairly well delineated,with certain tasks handled by woman and others reserved for men.For instance,the running of the household is very much the woman's task,while caring for animals is mostly a male preserve. Balinese society is held together by collective responsibility. if a women enters a temple while menstruating,for instance,it is a kind of irreverence,an insult to the god's,and their displeasure falls not just on the transgressor but on the whole community.This collective responsibility produces considerable pressure on the individual to conform to adat-the traditional values and customs that form the core of society.

RELIGION

The balinese are nominally hindus,but balinese hinduism is half a world away from that of india.When the majapahit evacuated to bali they took with them their religion and its rituals,as well as their art,literature,music and culture.The balinese already had strong religious beliefs and an active cultural live,and they new influence were simply overlaid on existing practices\hence the peculiar balinese interpretation of hinduism. The balinese worship the same gods as the hindus of india-the trinity of brahmana,shiva and vishnu-but they also have a supreme god,sanghyang widi often worshipped,though villagers may pray to him when they have settled new land and are about to build a new village.Other hindu gods such as ganesh,shiva's elephant-headed son,may occasionally appear,but a great many purely balinese gods,spirits and entities have for more relevance in everyday life. The balinese believe that spirits are everywhere,an indication that animism is the basis of much of their religion. Good spirits dwell in the mountains and bring prosperity to the people,while giants and demons lurk beneath the sea,and bad spirits haunt the woods and desolate beaches. The people live between these two opposite and their rituals strive to maintain this middle ground. Offerings are carefully put out every morning to pay homage to the good spirits and nonchalantly placed on the ground to placate the bad ones. You can't get away from religion in bali-there are temples in every village,shrines in every field and offerings made at every corner.

TEMPLES

The word for temple is pura,which is a sankrit word meaning `a space surrounded by a wall`as in so much of balinese religion. The temples,though nominally hindu,owe much to the pre-majapahit era. Their kaja,kelod or kangin (alignment towards the mountains,the sea or the sunrise ) is in deference to spirits that are more animist than hindu. Almost every village has at least three temples.the most important is the pura puseh (temple of origin ) which is dedicated to the village founders and is at the kaja end of the village. in the middle of the village is the pura desa for the spirits that protect the village community in its day-to-day life. At the kelod end of the village is the pura dalem ( temple of the dead ), the graveyard is also here and the temple will often include representations of durga,the terrible incarnation of shiva's wife. Families worship their ancestors in family temples,clans in clan temples and the whole village in the pura puseh. Certain temples in bali are of such importance that they are deemed to be owened by the whole island rather than by individual villages.These include pura besakih ( p 332 ) on the slopes of gunung agung,in the most revered place in bali,often called `the mother temple`. The simple shrines or thrones you see-for example,in rice field or next to sacred old trees-are not real temples,as they are not walled.You'll find these shrines in all sorts of places,often overlooking intersections or dangerous curves in the road to protect road users. For much of the year balinese temples are deserted ,but on holy days the deities and ancestral spirits descend from heaven to visit their devotees,and the temples come alive with days of frenetic activity and nights of drama and dance.Temple festivals come at least once every balinese year ( 210 days). Because most village have at least three temples,you're assured of at least five or six annual festivals in every village. The full moon periods,around the end of september to the beginning of october,or early to mid-april,are often times of important festivals.Galungan-Kuningan is a 10-day festival when lots of activity takes place at family and community temples all over the island.

ARTS

The balinese had no word for `art` and `artist` because, Traditionally,Art has never been regarded as something to be treasured for its own sake. Prior to the tourism boom,Art was just part of everyday life, and what was produced went into temples,palaces or festivals.Although respected,The painter or carver was not considered a member of some special elite,the artist work was not signed and there were no galleries or craft shops. It's a different story today,With thousands of art outlets tucked into every possible crevice. Although much balinese art is churned out quickly as cheap souvenirs,buried beneath the reproductions of reproductions there's still much beautiful work to be found. Even the simplest activities are carried out with care,precision and artistic flair.Just glance at those little offerings trays thrown down on the ground for the demons every morning-each one a throwaway work of art. Look at the temple offerings,the artistically stacked pyramids of fruit or other beautifully decorated foods.Look for penjor,Long decorated bamboo poles at doorways during festivals,The woven decorative palm-leaf strips called lamak,stylised female figures known as cili and the intricately carved coconut-shell wall-hangings. TRaditionally most visitors to the island have found the greatest concentration of the arts in and around ubud.

(taken from WAYN.COM Forum by Skinny Bob)