ᬩᬮᬶᬓᬂᬢᬼ(Baliaga) ᬩᬮᬶᬓᬢᬽᬓᬃ(Bali Mula) | |
---|---|
Total population | |
63,000[ citation needed ] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
![]() Bali Eastern Bali: Bangli (2,18%) Karangasem (0,07%) Klungkung (0,01%) Gianyar (0,15%) Northern Bali: Buleleng (1,38%) Southern Bali: Denpasar (0,34%) Badung (0,03%) Central Bali: Tabanan (0,01%) Badung: Western Bali: Jembrana (0,01%) [1] | |
Languages | |
Native Balinese (Bali Aga Balinese) Also Indonesian | |
Religion | |
Majority Hinduism (99.83%) Minority Evangelical Christian (0.17%)[ citation needed ] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Balinese, Sundanese, Sasak, Javanese, Banjarese, Taiwan aboriginial people and other Austronesian people |
The Bali Aga, Baliaga, or Bali Mula are the indigenous people of Bali. Linguistically they are an Austronesian people. Bali Aga people are predominantly located in the eastern part of the island, in Bangli especially the mountains Kintamani, East Buleleng, West Buleleng and East Karangasem, but they can also be found in north-western and central regions. The term Bali Aga or Bali Pégunungan (Mountain Balinese) is regarded as an insult with an additional meaning of "the mountain people that are fools"; therefore, they prefer the term Bali Mula (lit. Original Balinese) instead. [2]
Bali Aga people who are referred to as Bali Pégunungan (Mountain Balinese) are those that are located at Trunyan village. For the Trunyan Bali Aga people, the term Bali Aga or Bali Pégunungan (Balinese: Mountain Balinese) is regarded as an insult with an additional meaning of "the mountain people that are fools"; therefore, they prefer the term Bali Mula (lit Original Balinese) instead. [3]
The original inhabitants of Bali are said to have come from Bedulu village long before the Hindu-Javanese immigration wave. Legend states that in Bedulu lived the last king of Pejeng (an old Balinese kingdom), Sri Aji Asura Bumibanten, who had supernatural powers. [4] He could cut off his head without feeling pain and put it back on again. One day, his head accidentally fell into a river and was swept away. One of his servants panicked and decided to quickly decapitate a pig and replace the king's head with the animal's head. Embarrassed, the king hid in a tall tower, denying any visitors. A small child discovered the secret and since then, the king has become known as Dalem Bedulu, or He-who-changed-head. Another explanation is that the name comes from Badahulu or "the village upstream". [5] After the Pejeng kingdom, the Majapahit Empire rose to power.
An inventory of Bali Aga villages by the Public Works Office en 1988-1989 recorded about 38 traditional villages, in seven regencies. However, a research published in 2015 found 62 Bali Aga villages spread across seven regencies. [6]
Among these seven regencies, Bangli Regency has the highest number of Bali Aga villages: 25 villages - including six in Bangli, Susut [7] and Tembuku [8] sub-districts. The Kintamani sub-district includes about 19 Bali Aga villages, disseminated at the foot of mount Batur, along lake Batur and in the valleys. [9]
The Bali Aga live in isolated areas in the mountains. Compared to the lowland Balinese, their relative isolation preserved some original Austronesian elements, apparent in Bali Aga architecture. Tourists wishing to visit certain villages must be careful due to the area's geography. While visiting, it is also important to be respectful and quietly observe the preserved way of life the Bali Aga have. [11]
In Tenganan, where tourism is more easily embraced and the people are said to be more friendly, a three-day festival called Udaba Sambah is held during June or July. Tenganan prohibits divorce and polygamy, unlike other villages. [12]
B. Hauser-Schäublin points out that the 20 copperplate inscriptions of Sembiran indicate that the villages of Sembiran and Julah, their culture and society, have seen rapid transformations between the 10th and 12th centuries; and they cannot be said to have perdured unchanged since pre-hindu times. She notes that these villages were subjected to much outside influence, close as they are to the sea and therefore to the trading route between India and China and the Spice Islands, that touched the north of Bali. [13] : 12 Pirates were a constant threat until the arrival of the Dutch, plagues such as cholera were also recurrent. Muslim immigrants left traces too. [14] Archaeological excavations near the coast between Julah, Bangkah and Sembiran show that Indian traders travelled as far as Bali since at least 2000 years ago and it can be assumed that that trade was continuous up until the 10th century, with Julas as a port and as a trading center. [15]
Recent times see drastic socio-economic changes and this ancient culture is being rapidly lost to tourism and modernization. [16] For example, until recently, foraging for wild and semi-wild plants, notably in forest areas, brought more diversity to the diet and an increase in income by selling some plants at traditional markets. [17] These edible plants are still the main source of food in rural areas but their use is increasingly neglected, and the indigenous knowledge of plant uses is being eroded - the latter proving itself to be one of the major threats to the sustainability of biological diversity. [18]
The Bali Aga are a multilingual people. The majority speak their mother tongue Balinese Bali Aga dalect, but a minority can also speak standard Balinese, due to being surrounded by Balinese speakers. Their dialect is slightly different from the common Balinese language. It dates back thousands of years and varies from village to village; the version spoken in the Tenganan village is different from the Trunyan village. Bali Aga people also speak Indonesian as a language of communication between ethnicities. They also speak English for tourists and Kawi/Old Javanese for religious rituals.
An important part of Bali Aga culture is the complex tie-dye technique used to make Bali's traditional geringsing double ikat. Bali's Tenganan village is the only village that still produces geringsing. [19]
In geringsing, both the cotton warp and weft threads are carefully dyed and cross-dyed before weaving; the finished pattern only emerges as the cloth is woven. According to textile expert John Guy, "the ancestry of Balinese geringsing is far from clear, although some cloths display the unmistakable influence of patola", [20] the silk double ikats produced in Gujarat during the height of the Spice Trade (16-17C). Many of these imported cloths became inspiration for later locally-made textiles, but one theory is that the Balinese-made cloths were exported to India and copied there for production to Asian markets. Many have unique Hindu motifs such as a bird's eye view of a mandala with a sacred center from which everything radiates. Others feature designs clearly inspired by patola, for example a design known as the frangipani flower (jepun). [21] The palette of geringsing is typically red, neutral, and black. Geringsing are regarded as sacred cloths, "ascribed supernatural properties, especially to assist in forms of healing, including exorcism." [21] Gering means decease and sing means no.
In Sukawana (Bangli Regency), an inscription dated to 883 AD was found on Mount Kintamani, that lists the occupation of indigo-dyeing (mangnila) and morinda-dyeing (mamangkudu) as being exempt from taxation. [22]
The production of Indigo dye has been traditionally prohibited in a few places of Eastern Indonesia. One such place is the village of Wunga at Cape Sasar in northern East Sumba, seen as the mythical place of origin of the Sumbanese and therefore the place where the dead are lead back by their ancestors. In Wunga, cloths were mud-dyed by steeping them first in a hot bath of tannin-rich barks and leaves, followed by immersion in stagnant mud rich in ferrous salts. [23] Indigo represents a form of reincarnation, whereas the black mud "represents the putrefying stage of the deceased as he pursues his journey to the land of the dead". [24]
The village of Tenganan Pegringsingan (Karangasem Regency) holds a more extreme position on the matter: indigo is considered impure and is entirely forbidden. The first dyeing stage with indigo is thus subcontracted to the neighbouring village of Bugbug. [25]
Balinese is an Austronesian language spoken on the Indonesian island of Bali, as well as Northern Nusa Penida, Western Lombok, Southern Sumatra, and Sulawesi. Most Balinese speakers also use Indonesian. The 2000 national census recorded 3.3 million people speakers of Balinese, however the Bali Cultural Agency estimated in 2011 that the number of people still using the Balinese language in their daily lives is under 1 million. The language has been classified as "not endangered" by Glottolog.
Mount Agung is an active volcano in Bali, Indonesia, southeast of Mount Batur volcano, also in Bali. It is the highest point on Bali, and dominates the surrounding area, influencing the climate, especially rainfall patterns. From a distance, the mountain appears to be perfectly conical. From the peak of the mountain, it is possible to see the peak of Mount Rinjani on the nearby island of Lombok, to the east, although both mountains are frequently covered in clouds. Agung is a stratovolcano, with a large and deep crater. Its most recent eruptions occurred from 2017–2019.
Bangli Regency is the one and only landlocked regency (kabupaten) of Bali, Indonesia.
Buleleng, officially Buleleng Regency, is a regency of Bali Province, Indonesia. It stretches along the north side of the island of Bali from the Bali Strait in the west almost to the eastern end of the island. It has an area of 1,365.88 km2 and a population of 624,125 at the 2010 census and 791,910 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as of mid-2022 was 825,141. Its regency seat is in the town of Singaraja.
Balinese dance is an ancient dance tradition that is part of the religious and artistic expression among the Balinese people of Bali island, Indonesia. Balinese dance is dynamic, angular, and intensely expressive. Balinese dancers express the stories of dance-drama through bodily gestures including gestures of fingers, hands, head, and eyes.
The History of Bali covers a period from the Paleolithic to the present, and is characterized by migrations of people and cultures from other parts of Asia. In the 16th century, the history of Bali started to be marked by Western influence with the arrival of Europeans, to become, after a long and difficult colonial period under the Dutch, an example of the preservation of traditional cultures and a key tourist destination.
Tejakula is a village (desa) and a district (kecamatan) in Buleleng regency, northern Bali, Indonesia. It stands on the north-eastern coast of the island. Tejakula is majority inhabited by the Bali Aga people native people of the island of Bali.
Kintamani is a district (kecamatan), and a village within that district, on the western edge of the larger caldera wall of the Mount Batur caldera in Bali, Indonesia. It is on the same north–south road as Penelokan and has been used as a stopping place to view the Mount Batur region. Kintamani is also known for Pura Tuluk Biyu's 1,000-year-old "Rites of Peace" stone tablets and the Kintamani dog breed. It is situated next to Mount Batur. Kintamani many inhabited by native Balinese people, Bali Aga.
A Pura is a Balinese Hindu temple and the place of worship for adherents of Balinese Hinduism in Indonesia. Puras are built following rules, style, guidance, and rituals found in Balinese architecture. Most puras are found on the island of Bali, where Hinduism is the predominant religion; however many puras exist in other parts of Indonesia where significant numbers of Balinese people reside. Mother Temple of Besakih is the most important, largest, and holiest temple in Bali. Many Puras have been built in Bali, leading it to be titled "the Island of a Thousand Puras".
Tenganan Pegringsingan or Pageringsingan is a village in the regency of Karangasem in East Bali, Indonesia. It is known for the gringsing or geringsing, double ikat textiles woven in only 3 places in the world; and for its gamelan selunding or Gambelan selonding music played on iron metallophones.
Karangasem Regency is a regency (kabupaten) of the island and province of Bali, Indonesia. It covers the east part of Bali, has an area of 839.54 km2 and had a population of 396,487 at the 2010 Census which rose to 492,402 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 511,300. Its regency seat is the town of Amlapura. Karangasem was devastated when Mount Agung erupted in 1963, killing 1,900 people. Karangasem was a kingdom before Bali was conquered by the Dutch.
Balinese textiles are reflective of the historical traditions of Bali, Indonesia. Bali has been historically linked to the major courts of Java before the 10th century; and following the defeat of the Majapahit kingdom, many of the Javanese aristocracy fled to Bali and the traditions were continued. Bali therefore may be seen as a repository not only of its own arts but those of Java in the pre-Islamic 15th century. Any attempt to definitively describe Balinese textiles and their use is doomed to be incomplete. The use of textile is a living tradition and so is in constant change. It will also vary from one district to another. For the most part old cloth are not venerated for their age. New is much better. In the tropics cloth rapidly deteriorates and so virtue is generated by replacing them.
Geringsing is a Tenun textile created by the double ikat method in the Bali Aga village of Tenganan Pegeringsingan in Bali. The demanding technique is only practiced in parts of India, Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia it is confined to the village of Tenganan.
The Kingdomship of Bali was a series of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms that once ruled some parts of the volcanic island of Bali, in Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. With a history of native Balinese kingship spanning from the early 10th to early 20th centuries, Balinese kingdoms demonstrated sophisticated Balinese court culture where native elements of spirit and ancestral reverence combined with Hindu influences—adopted from India through ancient Java intermediary—flourished, enriched and shaped Balinese culture.
Bali Aga architecture refers to the architecture of the Bali Aga people, the mountain people of Bali, Indonesia. Compared to the lowland Balinese people, the relative isolation of the Bali Aga people means that they have been less influenced by Hindu-Buddhist traditions. This separate history can be seen in the vernacular architecture of the Bali Aga, which shows more similarity with the Austronesian tradition shared with many Indonesian people across the archipelago.
Trunyan or Terunyan is a Balinese village (banjar) located on the eastern shore of Lake Batur, a caldera lake in Bangli Regency, central Bali, Indonesia. The village is one of the most notable homes of the Bali Aga people, the others being the villages of Tenganan and Sambiran. Trunyan is notable for its peculiar treatment of dead bodies, in which they are placed openly on the ground, simply covered with cloth and bamboo canopies, and left to decompose. The influence of a nearby tree is said to remove the putrid smell of the corpses.
Sang Ratu Sri Janasadhu Warmadewa was a king of the Warmadewa dynasty, who ruled Bali around the end of the 10th century CE. Based on various inscriptions, he was the fifth king of the dynasty. King Janasadhu's name has been found in only one inscription, namely the Sembiran inscription, which was dated to 897 Saka.
The Balinese copperplate inscription or Sembiran inscription is a collection of ten copper plate inscriptions, which were found in the village of Sembiran, Tejakula district, Buleleng Regency, on the northern part of Bali island. All inscription plates have a date, which is between 922 and 1181 CE, so they include more than 200 years. Sembiran AI is dated 844 saka, Sembiran B is dated 873 saka, Sembiran A II is dated 897 saka, Sembiran A III is dated 938 saka, Sembiran A IV is dated 987 saka, and Sembiran C is dated 1103 saka. Some of the oldest inscriptions are written in Old Balinese, while some of the later ones are written in Old Javanese.
Sang Ratu Sri Ugrasena was a Balinese king who is thought to have ruled between 837-864 Saka, or 915-942 CE. The capital of his kingdom was Singhamandawa. The king issued several inscriptions regarding various activities of his people, including giving royal endowment, tax regulation, religious ceremonies, and construction of public lodges and places of worship for pilgrims. His reign was approximately the same period as King Sindok's of the Isyana dynasty in East Java.