LITMIR.BIZ

      Fig. 17 I Nyoman Mandra, Kamasan, Sunda and Upasunda, 1991, natural paint on cotton, 47.5 x 141.5 cm, artist’s collection (photo Gustra).

      A significant story from the First Book that preoccupies painters is that of Garuda, the mythical eagle, and his mother Winata, who is cursed by her sister Kadru, the mother of the serpents—the thousand naga—the enemies of Garuda. He can only release her by obtaining the elixir of life. In order to do this, Garuda has to challenge the Gods of the Directions (see Figs. 2, 10 and 11). This particular scene provides Balinese painters with a way of depicting the cosmic order, much like meditation diagrams from India.

      The First Book has many other scenes explaining the relationship between the naga and the brahmana caste. In particular, the priest Jaratkaru marries Nagini, the daughter of the snake king Basuki. Jaratkaru does so on the instruction of his ancestors, who are suspended from bamboo poles in hell because Jaratkaru has no children. Both this scene and the meeting of Jaratkaru with Basuki and Nagini are featured in a large cloth³⁸ (Fig. 18). In other paintings, the story continues with the agreement that Nagini makes with Jaratkaru, that they will stay married as long as Jaratkaru is never angered by his wife. Unfortunately, one day Jaratkaru oversleeps. He is just about to miss out on his sunset worship when Nagini decides it is better to wake him, risking his anger in doing so. He immediately leaves her but tells her she will bear a child, Astika, who will save the serpents from being destroyed by King Janamejaya’s sacrifice.

      The painting itself uses its narrative as the starting point for a much more extensive rendering of Balinese cosmology. The main part of the First Book narrative is found in the top right-hand corner of the painting, although in the top left section the artist has extended the First Book’s preoccupation with Garuda and the naga by showing both, and a variety and animals and anthropomorphic figures behind them, positioned either side of an eleven-layered tower, which is the Balinese way of showing the Siwa-lingga or phallus, the manifestation of Siwa’s divinity.

      The main part of this painting is taken up with depicting the punishments of hell, which also feature in other paintings, particularly of the side story of how one of the Pandawa brothers, Bima, has to go to hell to rescue the souls of his stepparents (Bimaswarga). Strictly speaking, what is translated as ‘hell’ is closer to the Roman Catholic Purgatory, and the Balinese term swarga covers all aspects of the afterlife. Souls are understood to go through a passage that reflects the Hindu idea of karma, that is, bad actions are punished, as shown in this painting where a woman is driven across a bridge over a fire (punishment for having an abortion), other souls are chased by birds, positioned under a tree of daggers which a demon shakes down on them, devoured by wild animals (punishment for hunters), cooked over a fire like a roast suckling pig, boiled in a cauldron, have their sexual organs violated with weapons (punishment for promiscuity), and a female soul is forced to suckle a caterpillar (for not having children). The equivalent of the Western ‘heaven’ is shown at the top of the painting, where people sit in pagoda-like pavilions and have offerings made to them. Thus, heaven resembles the inside courtyard of a Balinese temple. At the bottom of the painting are shown, from right to left, a witch, people in boats at sea experiencing problems with sea animals, and a man fishing. Such scenes of ordinary life are juxtaposed with mythological scenes to demonstrate the relationship between actions in the spiritual world and those in the mundane world.

      The First Book reflects a universe where the various cosmic forces are constantly interacting. As such, it presents a view of the universal forces that were at the time after creation forming themselves into different possibilities of world order.