The Newsletter | No.

65 | Autumn 2013
The Network | 43

Living Balinese
study Sanskrit as an autodidact. A couple of years later he had
already established his own personal library, now consisting of
more than 2000 lontar and typewritten copies. In 1991, Catra

heritage: Palm-leaf took over the administration of ‘Proyek Tik’ – a project dedicated
to the transliteration of texts on lontar into Romanized paper

manuscripts and
copies, which was established by Prof. Dr. Christiaan Hooykaas
in 1972 and continued until today by his pupil Dr. Hedi Hinzler.4
Catra is now a highly respected figure, consulted on matters

their caretakers of culture and religion by the local authorities, and called upon
in the capacity of jury in prestigious competitions.

Andrea Acri Catra’s strong grasp of Old Javanese represents the

continuation of a local tradition of textual practices and
hermeneutics. He is very rigorous in mentioning his manuscript
Bali, though a small island, harbours rich and diverse sources in a colophon – something he claims to have derived
cultural traditions. Despite a rapidly modernising and develop- from the colophons of manuscripts and Western philologists –
ing Indonesia, the image of Bali as a ‘culture-trove’ harbouring and advocates the old practice of engraving lontar with a knife
timeless ancestral traditions remains popular among foreign rather than using a laser stylus, as some have recently tried
and Indonesian tourists today. However, few visitors, even to do. Whereas Catra is keen on technology, and makes use
among the culture-savvy, venture into off-the-radar (and often of a computer to produce his typescripts, he hopes that the
run-down) institutions such as public libraries and cultural introduction of computer fonts for Balinese script will not
foundations, not to speak of Brahmanical houses (griya), where negatively impact the art of calligraphy.
delicate treasures are stored. These centuries-old treasures,
equally iconic as Bali’s barong masks or legong dancers, are The second character is IDM Oka. Oka spends most of his days
palm-leaf manuscripts (lontar). For over a millennium, lontar in the library of Yayasan Dwijendra, engrossed in the activity
were the medium for the transmission of knowledge both of of etching lontar. After five years of schooling, Oka started
a sacred or mundane nature; they are traditionally regarded to work as a carpenter. At the age of 55, he took an interest
as powerful, almost supernatural objects. in lontar, and especially calligraphy – which he perfected through
self-learning. Soon his fame as an exquisite calligrapher spread
These palm-leaf manuscripts and their Brahmanical scribes far and wide, and village-heads from all over Bali requested his
left a strong impression on the first European Orientalists who services. Yayasan Dwijendra then commissioned him to build
visited Bali between the late 19th and early 20th century, and its collection of manuscripts, which now numbers almost
contributed to the image of the island as a ‘living repository’ 200 lontar – most of which have been copied by Oka himself,
of Old Javanese ‘high culture’ and religion. Lontar have also who had loaned them from griya. His personal collection
been studied from the perspective of material culture, i.e., includes hundreds of manuscripts, mostly containing medical
as artefacts testifying to a refined ‘book industry’ stemming texts (usada and obat-obatan).
from a pre-industrial world.1 In anthropological circles,
lontar are still perceived as relics from a dead past, curios at Above: Oka at According to Oka, to fill both sides of a single palm-leaf takes
best, documenting an élite phenomenon that falls within Yayasan Dwijendra, about half a day. Given the difficult and painstaking nature of
the domain of the antiquarian or the philologist. Written in Denpasar. Photo this activity, which is vital to the preservation of Balinese heritage,
a language that few people can read, let alone understand, Andrea Acri, 2012. Oka hopes that the local government will introduce Balinese
a current scholarly opinion is that they neither reflect nor script and the art of calligraphy in primary schools, and also
Right: Muditadnyana
bear any value to ‘living’ Balinese society, but rather serve establish foundations in the traditional villages (desa pakraman)
at home in Tenganan,
the purpose of heirlooms (pusaka).2 to teach young Balinese how to read the Old Javanese texts.
Karangasem. Photo
Andrea Acri, 2009.
The actors of the ‘lontar-phenomenon’ – the (living) producers Our third character is Wayan Muditadnyana. Since 1974 he
and collectors of lontar – are as rare and endangered as the has produced hundreds of lontar, which are not only written
fragile palm-leaf manuscripts they deal with and, therefore, in exquisite calligraphy, but also illustrated with abundant
as important to Balinese community as other kinds of – perhaps drawings of the stories narrated in the literary texts. This genre,
more ‘marketable’ – cultural heritage. Both the ‘caretakers’ and called prasi, is especially popular among foreign tourists, who
‘consumers’ of lontar give these artefacts the role of carriers appreciate the beauty of the images, and see these artefacts
of cultural, legal, and religious values. By (re)producing the as works of art. The village of Tenganan has now become a hub
manuscripts, these actors disseminate knowledge to sections for trading these lontar, and many have started to produce
of society: via reading clubs held either at the neighbourhood illustrated prasi, although Muditadnyana’s art remains unrivalled.
and village level or within private circles; by copying and Muditadnyana displays a keen interest in Balinese literary and
storing them in public repositories; by lending them to other cultural issues and, besides calligraphy, is skilled in traditional
actors for the purpose of being (re)copied; or, as is becoming textual singing. His creations appeal to discerning collectors and
increasingly popular, by singing, reading, and discussing their tourists alike, and are useful to scholars too, as some of the prasi
contents in public contests, TV and Radio broadcasts, etc. may constitute unique copies of otherwise inaccessible lontar.
which lontar-specialists received through oral tradition and
Bali remains one of the very few places in the world where perfected through practice. The lontar-specialists have to The three characters sketched here illustrate telling examples
literary and religious heritage carried forward through a master the art of calligraphy, have a good grasp of the ortho- of how ‘tradition’ has met ‘modernity’ in Bali. Insofar as their
tradition of manuscript writing has survived alongside printing graphic rules governing the complicated Balinese script, and skills have become their means of livelihood, catering to the
and, now, digital media. As early as the 1940s, a plethora of possess (varying degrees of) knowledge of the challenging demands of local society, local and foreign academics, and
mimeographed or printed pamphlets ‘flooded’ the island. languages of the inscribed texts, namely Old Javanese (kawi), tourists, these men of letters are the living embodiments of
These publications were intended for the majority who could Sanskrit, or Balinese. a tradition that is reinventing itself, and beacons of ‘sustainable
not read the scriptures in Old Javanese and Sanskrit, but who humanities’ in a globalized world. These ‘caretakers of lontar’
wanted to learn about the principles of ‘Hinduism’ that were Although these specialists are the continuators of a centuries- carry the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts,
traditionally inscribed on lontar. Yet, lontar were never entirely long tradition, they also represent a product of modernity and therefore they themselves represent living embodiments
replaced as the medium par excellence to propagate religious as they have been exposed to contacts with modernity and of intangible heritage. Hopefully, their knowledge will not
lore. Nowadays, the activity of writing (i.e., engraving with Western ideas, including local and global academia. Tourism disappear with them.
a stylus) on lontar is usually carried out for a wide variety of has also impacted their activity. In coping with the changes
reasons, such as for personal development or self-edification, and challenges of modernization and globalisation, these Andrea Acri, Visiting Research Fellow, NSC, ISEAS
for religious or ritual purposes, as a duty to the ancestors, characters have found different strategies to survive through
to ensure the ‘survival’ of Balinese culture, as a means their art – and in so doing, made their art survive.
of livelihood, or to obtain supernatural powers. Notes
Three Balinese men of letters 1 See the surveys by Rubinstein and Hinzler: Rubinstein, R. 1996.
Between tangible and intangible heritage I now sketch three Balinese figures that embody the ‘Leaves of Palm: Balinese Lontar’, in A. Kumar and J. McGlynn (eds.)
Intangible heritage includes “oral traditions, performing specialized knowledge of lontar; they are Ida Dewa Gede Illuminations; The Writing Traditions of Indonesia, pp. 129–154.
arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and Catra from Amlapura, Ida Dewa Made Oka from Denpasar, Jakarta: The Lontar Foundation;
practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and Wayan Muditadnyana from Tenganan. All of them are past 2 Hinzler, H. 1998. ‘Balinese Manuscripts and Their Uses’
and skills to produce traditional crafts”; it has to be “traditional, the age of seventy; none of them acquired their knowledge & ‘The Preparation of Balinese Manuscripts’, in J. McGlynn (ed.)
contemporary and living at the same time”, “representative”, through a traditional teacher-apprentice model in their early Indonesian Heritage; Language and Literature, pp. 26–29. Singapore:
and “community-based”.3 Insofar as they represent material lives, but started to operate in the world of lontar following Archipelago Press.
artefacts, Balinese lontar belong, strictly speaking, to the a ‘personal call’ and much self-learning. 3 A critique of this view may be found in Acri, Andrea. 2011.
category of tangible heritage. However, the languages and ‘A new perspective for ‘‘Balinese Hinduism’’ in the light of the
texts they carry contribute to shaping the identity of the IDG Catra is known to scholars of Balinese and Old Javanese pre-modern religious discourse. A textual-historical approach’,
Balinese community, making them perfect examples of intan- literature worldwide as the ‘best source of information’ on lontar in M. Picard and R. Madinier (eds.) The Politics of Religion in
gible heritage. In short, lontar represent an interface between in Bali. Catra was exposed to traditional literature and palm-leaf Java and Bali. Syncretism, Orthodoxy, and Religious Contention,
the tangible and intangible dimensions of Balinese heritage. manuscripts by occasionally attending reading sessions with pp. 143–167. London/New York: Routledge.
senior men in the village. 30 years into his career as a school 4 Source: www.unesco.org.
The complex process of producing such fragile and refined teacher, he was finally taught to write on lontar. He then 5 See ‘Balinese Manuscripts Project’ by Hedi Hinzler,
objects requires much patience and a diverse set of skills, practised traditional dance and textual singing, and started to http://tinyurl.com/o8356xa (accessed Sept 2013).