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instruments generally (in particular of wooden split drums where heads refer to the official owners or guardians of a specific drum). There may also be a hint of the world of ancestors and spirits. Their "mood," however, seems to differ from that of the heads that adorn and protect some of the sarcophagi.

      Kettledrums of the Heger type, in particular the early ones, have a characteristic focus in the center of their tympan: a star-shaped figure enclosing a prominent percussion boss to be struck during the playing. It must have been a very old symbolic pattern that is also found in very different prehistoric remnants. Pejeng type drums in their own way display a star-shaped focus of sorts, but there is no percussion bulb to be seen. Their prototype, the membranophone tifa, had no use for it and there was no obvious reason to introduce it. The Pejeng Moon, however, amply compensates for whatever loss this may have meant by displaying a most interesting decorative spectacle.

      In his drawing of the Moon's tympan, Nieuwenkamp restricted himself to little more than one quadrant, corresponding with one quarter of the overall decoration. He did so because the four quarters were identical. Yet, it is interesting to see how the original designer managed to make the four parts into a whole. Therefore, four copies of Nieuwenkamp's drawing have been put together in our Figure 15.

      In the Moon the elusive (8-pointed) star appears to have exploded and resolved into eight small but distinctly protruding knobs, arranged in a circle at some distance from the center. A bit further away there are 16 more, now miniscule, nodules circularly arranged within a wide decorative belt filled with wavy lines, farther from the center. Or rather, there are in each quadrant three actual knobs, and one, at most rudimentary one. Further there are four more knobs, slightly larger again, in the axes of the total pattern, just off the imaginary second circle. These are connected with their immediate neighbors by braids—one leading to a real knob, distinctly heavier than the other, which is a mere dummy contacting the rudimentary knob. The origin of this characteristic design (which recalls all kinds of frogged coats and objects, and would seem to be a universally accepted solution for tying up two or more loose parts) may have been a real combination of braids, rings and strings that played an essential part in the prenatal history of the Pejeng drum.

      The knob-and-loop (or braid) pattern that by means of a constant elimination of the supporting waves and curls that fill the wide zone of the Moon's tympan ultimately can be detected in this astonishing maze of lines (Figures 15-16) is not an incidental optical illusion, like the faces and shapes all of us erroneously detect in a piece of wallpaper. The interplay of nodules, loops and braids that are at the base of the wide-zone curls and meanders definitely must have corresponded with their designers intention. The other classic Pejeng tympans illustrated in Figures 17-19 (samples taken from what must be a much wider stock) clearly present the same knob-and-loop pattern slightly changed by the individual artists following the popular tradition. The main lines have been sketched in Figure 10, just in order to further comparisons. But far better that we look at the patterns themselves, where the open spaces have been filled with the real braids and knobs, in the sketch reduced to bodiless threads. A tympan like that from Tanurejo (Figure 19, 20 C) for instance, directly reflects the original gadget of braids and the like. It is very similar to the Leiden tympan (Figure 18, 20 B) and yet it is different in details: the loops are turned in the same way—the rounded ones to the right, the pointed ones to the left. The thread-like extension radiating from the latter makes an elegant turn ending at an otherwise isolated knob. There is one extra spiral on either side of the rounded loop. Even in the comparatively simple tympans of this "medium-sized" type, both "smallish" (diameter 30-40 cm) and "largish" (diameter 40-65 cm) there are all kinds of clever touches to be observed. Several metalworkers obviously tried their hands within the limits of a distinctively decorative tradition. In the layout of the Moon, the knobs and loops were comparatively reduced in size, but with the aid of visual and tangible means their function in the full-sized pattern of the wide zone was cogently brought to greater distinction.

      The casters of the "medium-sized" drums succeeded in filling the open spaces on their tympans simply by gracefully arranging their naturalistic braids along the knobs. The designer of the Moon's plaque introduced a complicated, but strictly systematic and clearly structured tissue of curves, using a complete scale of distinctive levels: one carefully modeled and protruding, the other withdrawing into the background, hardly visible but still completely there, conveying a feeling of overall cohesion. A similar cohesive effect resulted from certain elements being in a direct line with the central "star." Needless to say, the connecting lines (ribbons rather) were luxuriously duplicated, triplicated and quadruplicated if necessary. The result was a marvel of composition and technique.

      Once the smallish drums had entered the scene it appears that a new generation of commercially interested metalworkers, traders and entrepreneurs discovered a market for this type of objects, which starting as musical instruments had already had a long history as status symbols and standards of value. It was not the first time that metal drums were turned into merchandise, nor would it be the last. Along with the early Pejeng style mokos (made of bronze) in due course there also appeared astonishing quantities of "additional mokos" usually with no more than a vague resonance of their Balinese ancestry. The mokos from Alor and neighboring localities form an interesting subject in their own right, but need not be discussed here. Early mokos from a transitory period, or attempts to produce Pejeng-like drums traced to various places in northern Bali and East Java, have recently been studied under a different focus. There is, for instance, the Pacung drum reconstructed from a great number of fragments, calculated height 86 cm, diameter 53 cm). The fragments were discovered around 1980 in a recently dug well at Pacung, Buleleng, North Bali. The Alorese mokos came from metalworkers in East Java and a few other places. Even at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, mokos were still being made in Gresik (East Java).

      Figure 23: Statue of Durgā. Pura Kedarman, Kutri. Ht. 2.20 m.

      Chapter Three

      Hindu Bali—Historically

      FOR SEVERAL REASONS already mentioned, Bali is actually part of Western Indonesia, and not just one of the Lesser Sunda Islands which it heads by mere location. The most apparent explanation is the impact of Hinduism on the patterning of the Balinese way of life and its spiritual background. In Bali, as in all Indonesia, the term "Hindu" is used in a more general sense than in India, where Hinduism and Hindu mainly refer to the Śivaist and Vishnuist religions and their adherents. In "Hindu-Javanese" or "Hindu-Indonesian" as synonyms of the "Indo-Javanese" occasionally used in this book, the "Hindu" element refers to any influence or inspiration generally derived from India. In the domain of religion it also includes Buddhism. In this general sense "Indic" (i.e. India-originated) might be a better word, and we should not avoid it. In Bali "Hinduism" and "Hindu Bali" (Hinduistic Bali) refer to the complex phenomenon of "Balinese religion," and to an entire way of life. It has a Śivaitic as well as a Buddhist aspect, but there are reminiscenses of earlier Indonesian ideas and usages as well.

      There is much general resemblance between ancient Javanese and Balinese cultural history, and much difference as well. Any Indo-Javanese historical period has its own character, distinct from preceding and following periods; the same holds true for Bali. As a people, the Balinese engaged everything with which they came into contact, carefully choosing what they wanted and rejecting what they did not want after trying it out, thus creating a civilization of their own. They apparently did this repeatedly; besides the western connections there were also relations with the north and with neolithic Japan, as well as more modern artistic elements, decorative motifs, and theatrical personages (such as the barong

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