The Ramayana And Mahabharata Are Alive And
Well In Bali
Skill is only a rumour, until it reaches the
muscle- Balinese proverb
Bali, a sub- tropical Indonesian island in the southern
hemisphere, conjures up an air of idyllic, ancient mystique, reaching back in
time for its wellsprings.
While forming part of the Dutch East Indies, it was
fabled in the colonial world, for its beautiful bare-breasted women. There are
myriad representations of those proud breasts, expressive eyes, hand mudras, svelte bodies swaying to lute-like music.
This alluring image was progressed considerably by 19th
century European painters and artists, adventurers who landed in Javanese
Malang, or Balinese Denpasar, after the Dutch invasion of 1906.
Many stayed on, marrying their Balinese muses, immortalising
their beauty, extolling the virtues of the simple way of life.
And there was also the hit Broadway musical South
Pacific, with its Rodgers and Hammerstein composed show-tune Bali Hai –the mystical
but unreachable island on the horizon.
This Bali Hai had nothing at all to do with the
Indonesian island of Bali, but it didn’t stop it being associated; and for the
thousand restaurants, spas, and cocktail bars it spawned around the globe, all
using the name.
And then there was the famous Dutch woman, an adoptive
Balinese who learned its dance techniques, and captured the imagination of the
world. And whose varying legend spawned a host of movies and plays, over the
years since World War 1.
Mata Hari,(Eye of the Dawn), with her invented Hindu
princess back-story,
went from captivating young woman in the Netherlands, to promiscuous wife and
mother in the Dutch East Indies.
And later still, after her divorce, she became an exotic
dancer in Paris, then a courtesan turned enigmatic spy and double-agent,
between France and Germany.
She was, in the end, allegedly scapegoated and betrayed
by her friends in high places, including the heir to the Kaiser; and eventually
executed at 41, by the French.
Mata Hari’s highly publicised career as a femme fatale
and its denouement, only added poignancy to her association with the ‘Great War
to end all Wars’, and furthered curiosity about Bali.
Today, Indonesia is vibrantly independent, and the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata are alive and well in Bali.
The epics, on the shelf in India, are unabashedly read
and idealised there. They are known, reverentially regarded, but form part of
the common folklore too.
This, alongside Hindi films and serials from far away
India, and swarms of Bintang (Balinese beer) swilling Australian tourists,
from just 3 to 5 hours flight-time away.
The Balinese ability to carve fluidly in stone, wood,
bronze, and cement, and conceptualise wonderful painted and rendered shapes and
figures, is evident in the profusion of the island’s statues. They are
everywhere, at forks, bends, crossroads, roundabouts, in front of banks, malls,
and in foyers.
They are all, without exception, beautifully executed,
idolised, but not quite idols for worship, of Arjuna with his bow, tableaux of
events from the epics, ascetics, rishis, gods, demons, asuras, apsaras, devis.
And of course, Shiva, Ganesh, Garuda, Jatayu, Vishnu, Rama,
Hanuman- also Chinese and Indian Buddhas, plus a profusion of happy animals and
creatures, pigs, dogs, snakes, birds, frogs. Mythology, and good luck symbols
abound, and big trees wear chequered sarongs
and boast tiny altars.
Balinese Hinduism is called Agama Hindu Dharma,
originally from neighbouring Java and Sumatra, from where a number of the local
people also hail. It is a blend of Shivaism, Buddhism and an exuberant animism.
It incorporates nature in its ambit, ancestor worship or
Pitru Paksha, not just during the fortnight of Shradh, as in India, but daily,
throughout the year, with offerings outside every home and place of work – put out
fresh - flowers, food, drink, joss
sticks, even cigarettes.
In Bali, people are proud of declaring they are Hindu,
and 83% are, though they make up only 1.7% of the overwhelmingly Muslim
population of Indonesia.
There is a tolerance for others in the air, but no
diffidence about the broad religious beliefs.
There is beef and pork consumed on the island without any fuss.
But, the Bali practice of Hinduism is very distinct from
its Indian or even Nepalese versions. There is a sparseness and symbolism to
Balinese ritual, instead of the din and majesty of most Indian Hindu worship.
Funerals are an exception however, with as much pageantry
and noise made at the farewell, as might herald a birth or marriage here in
India.
Balinese temples have carved, gated, and walled-in
compounds, with a number of high altars at comfortable spacing, and almost
always a large roofed, but not walled-in hall space, for gatherings and throngs,
such as they are.
Balinese homes too, follow the same inside-outside villa
ambience, with their temple altars, often gilded, in an inner courtyard, clusters
of rooms, ranging up half levels, opening on to verandahs, and gardens; in all
four directions around the compound.
Entrance gates are invariably elaborate edifices,
assigning status, and also designed to keep out evil spirits. They have two or
three ascending steps to a short portico facing a wall, with exits left and
right via a couple of steps, presumably because evil spirits cannot make turns
at right angles.
And almost invariably, a large statue of a seated Ganesha,
in the garden just behind, with fountains, flowing water and Koi fish; before
the rooms sloping off behind this arrangement, again to the right and left of
the courtyard.
It is like a Balinese version of imagined patrician Roman
villas, not necessarily as grand, but not possible to sniff at either.
But, Islamic fundamentalist tendencies are fomenting in
Indonesia and Malaysia, with ISIS-like overtones. There are reports, and the
long held moderation is under increasing pressure from a radicalised
groundswell.
Knots of flag carrying, bandana- wearing motorcyclists, speed
off to rallies in Bali too, the sinister looking riot control armoured vans
trundling forward in their wake.
The tattoos on the young folk, both local and foreign,
are of bamboo stalks and leaves, betraying a yearning for minimalism perhaps.
There are no power symbols being etched.
And modish Vaping bars have begun to open up throughout
the island, with cliques of people enshrouded in pleasant nicotinised smells in
their effort to give up tobacco use.
The grand beach at
tourist hub Kuta, has surfers as always, but the nightclubs no longer have gangland pushers selling psychotropic drugs
and whores.
There is a memorial to the 202 people killed in the Bali
bombing of 2002, by Bin Laden inspired extremists Jemaah Islamiyah, opposite the since demolished nightclub it struck in
Kuta.
But, like trouble in paradise designed to keep the
scantily clad Western tourists away, there have been bombings since too, There
were a series of car bombs in 2005, both at neighbouring Jimbaran and Kuta
again, killing 20, injuring 200.
Even in 2016, Indonesian police have reportedly thwarted
a new plot connected with elements in Syria.
However, the police in Bali, never fond of being
intrusive or serious for too long, prefer escorting rallies of Lamborghini
super cars or Harley Davidson motorcycles.
As they vroom by, you can see, some of the jack boot clad,
trying to keep up, senior officers themselves, grinning on BMW police issue
motorbikes, hunching forward in concentration.
For: The Sunday Guardian
(1,198 words)
November 29th, 2016
Gautam Mukherjee
.
No comments:
Post a Comment