Balinese Art - Adrian Vickers

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here, the top scene shows the meditating Siwa in the top right corner, with his two guardians, Nandiswara and Mahakala, seated beside him (Fig. 19). Siwa is struck by the arrows fired by Smara, who stands towards the middle of the top scene, with the other gods behind him (right to left, Indra, Wrespati, Wisnu, Brahma and Yama), and their followers or dewata below them. Twalen and Merdah, the ubiquitous servants of the burning love god, are on the left. In the larger bottom scene, Siwa turns into his angry or pamurtian form, with many heads and arms, and burns Smara to ash. Such angry forms of deities or semi-divine heroes are only shown in great events, since they represent manifestations of great power.39 According to Balinese legends, Smara’s ashes blow around the world, inspiring sexual desire in humanity.

      Although rarely depicted, a remarkable painting shows the death of Smara’s wife, Ratih (Fig. 20). In the large top scene, Werespati, the divine sage, tells her of the death of Smara, and she is then shown with her servants, Nanda and Sunanda, in mourning (top right), and raking through her husband’s ashes (bottom right). In the main scene, she commits suicide by cremation, along with her servants, watched by Siwa.40

      Other stories tell of the lead-up to the great battle between the five Pandawa brothers and their hundred cousins, the Korawa. These stories usually depict episodes from other ‘Books’. They tell of the births of the Pandawa brothers, the sons of different gods that were summoned by their mother Kunti: Yudhistira (also known as Darwawangsa), son of the God of Virtue or Duty, Darma; Arjuna (Partha), son of Indra; Bima (Wrekodara), son of Bayu, the God of Wind; and their younger brothers, Nakula and Sadewa (or Sahadewa), sons of the divine twins, Aswinodewa. They have a stepbrother, Karna, the son of the Sun (Surya or Aditya), but he joins the Korawa. The Pandawa are sent into exile by the Korawa after Yudhistira loses their kingdom gambling on dice.

      Fig. 19 Kamasan, Smaradahana: The Burning of Smara, late 19th C or early 20th C, natural paint on cotton, 132 x 166 cm, tabing, Forge Collection, Australian Museum, E76373 (photo Emma Furno).

      Fig. 20 Tabanan, Smaradahana: The Suicide of Goddess Ratih, before 1900, traditional paint on wood, 146.1 x 148.2 cm, parba, National Ethnographic Museum, Leiden, 1586-34.

      Fig. 21 Kamasan, Arjunawiwaha: The Temptation of Arjuna, before 1938, paint on cloth, 167 x 129 cm, tabing, collected by Charles Sayers, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, coll. nr. 809-148.

      During their exile they gain many allies, notably King Wirata and his sons, and great sources of power. The story of Arjuna’s asceticism and marriage, Arjunawiwaha, tells how Arjuna gains a magic arrow of power from Siwa. Arjuna performs meditation in the wilderness, and the gods, under threat from a great demon, Niwatakawaca, send seven heavenly nymphs, dedari, to tempt Arjuna, so he can defeat the demon. The temptation or meditation (matapa) has long been a very popular scene for artists, especially since it allows them to depict the full range of female beauty, including humorous scenes where Arjuna’s servants succumb to the temptations of the servants of the nymphs while their master remains immune to such seductions (Fig. 21).

      A number of paintings also deal with the sequel to this story (Fig. 23). Arjuna, shown in these scenes wearing the turban of a holy man, hunts a boar after he is visited by a priest, who is actually Indra in disquise. Arjuna looses his arrow at the boar at the same time as another hunter, and they then engage in a fight over whose kill it is. Arjuna fights his opponent to a standstill, and the hunter reveals that he is actually Siwa. Siwa then gives Arjuna an arrow of great power, the pasupati weapon.

      Many painters focus on the climactic battle of the descendants of Bharata, the Bharatayuddha, the climax of the Mahabharata. The main scenes from the battle involve the deaths of the various leaders and heroes in battle.

      Bhisma is the teacher of the Pandawa brothers but commander-in-chief of their enemies, the Korawa. The Pandawa forces are unable to defeat Bhisma, for he can only die at the moment of his own choosing. No man can defeat him, but the great warrior is brought down by the arrows of Sikandi, who in the original Indian text is a hermaphrodite, in Indonesian versions a female warrior. Punctured by Sikandi’s arrows, Bhisma is laid down on a bed of arrows by Arjuna. The Pandawa and the Korawa come to him to pay their respects. Bhisma then instructs Yudhistira in the duties of a king before he dies at the time of his choosing (Fig. 22).

      Fig. 22 I Nyoman Mandra, Kamasan, The Death of Bhisma, 1990, paint with gold leaf on bark cloth, 56 x 70 cm, artist’s collection (photo Gustra).

      Fig. 23 Gianyar? Arjuna’s Temptation and Fight with Siwa Disguised as a Hunter, before 1938, paint on cotton, 77 x 193 cm, collected by Colin McPhee, courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 70.2/1124.

      Mandra’s painting of this scene shows the Korawa kneeling on the right and the Pandawa on the left, making gestures of homage with hands clasped together (sembah). Arjuna fires an arrow that creates a spring to give water to the sage, while two priests appear in the sky. Kresna stands behind Arjuna, and the eldest Pandawa, Yudhistira, kneels between them. Below him, from left to right, are the clown servants, Merdah and Twalen, with the Pandawa twins, Nakula and Sadewa (Bima is missing from the brothers). The lead Korawa, from left to right (beginning with the top row next to Bhisma), are Duryodana, Karna and Drussasana, with, in the bottom row, the two servants of the opposing side, Delem and Sangut, flanking two other Korawa. This painting shows a great moment of tragedy and spiritual meaning. Arjuna, urged on by Kresna, knows that the killing of his teacher is necessary to fulfil the fate of the Pandawa. It is an ordained moment of destiny, but no less personally felt.

      A particularly moving scene after the death of Bhisma is of the death of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, who is trapped at one stage of the battle after saving his uncle, Yudhistira (Fig. 24). The leading Korawa warriors surround Abhimanyu and shoot him with 100 arrows until he dies. For this, Arjuna vows to take revenge.

      After Abhimanyu’s death, Siwa appears to Arjuna and Kresna. In a fine nineteenth-century painting, Arjuna and Kresna kneel before Siwa (left), then go to tell their brothers that Siwa has prophesized the death of Jayadratha, the Korawa general (Fig. 25). Abhimanyu’s two wives are shown below, in sorrow at his death, but the second wife, Uttari, is pregnant, so only the first wife, Siti Sundari, commits suicide on her husband’s funeral pyre (main scene). This is reported to the Korawa (right).

      After different leaders of the Korawa army are all killed by the Pandawa, it is Salya’s turn to lead (Fig. 26). Salya is reluctant to fight the Pandawa, particularly because Nakula, one of the twins, is his favourite nephew. The Pandawa (bottom left-hand side of the painting) send Nakula off to meet with Salya. Nakula kneels and pays his respects to Yudhistira, with Bima standing behind him, and Dropadi, a servant, and Sadewa kneeling below them. Immediately behind Nakula stands Kresna, with Arjuna behind him, and the two servants, Twalen and Merdah, kneeling behind Nakula. In the next scene at the bottom, Nakula travels off with his servants. In the following scene, Nakula meets with Salya, who reveals to his nephew that he cannot be killed by weapons, but he can be killed by a book wielded by a king who rules according to the Law, Yudhistira.

      Fig. 24 Pan Seken, Kamasan, The Death of Abhimanyu, 1930s, paint and gold leaf on cloth, 80 cm x 104 cm, tabing, Forge Collection, Australian Museum, E74174 (photo Finton Mahony).

      Fig. 25 Kamasan, The Death of Siti Sundari, 19th C, paint on cloth, 71 x 216 cm, langse, Doremus Missionary donation, courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 70-1709.

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