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Batuan (alternate: Batoeon or "Baturan") is a village in
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. It is noted for its artwork and style of painting which originated in the village in the 1930s and has since emerged into a major Balinese artistic style, known as a Batuan painting. It is a major painting center and contains a number of art galleries and cooperative art societies which have played a key role in promoting the art of Batuan. The village is also known for its performance of the ancient Gambuh dance, performed every
Full Moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
day. There are two temples on the western part of the village which are known as Pura Puseh and Pura Dasar. These temples are built in classical Balinese temple architecture style with elaborate carvings. Visitors are given vermilion
sarong A sarong or sarung () is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often has woven plaid o ...
s to wear during visit to the temples. The town is also popular for carved teak wood furnishings. The village also has a "fat Buddha statue" (called the "Fat Baby Statue") at the cross road from Sakah to Blahbatu facing east.


Geography

Batuan is located in central Bali about south of
Ubud Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. ...
and about northeast of
Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese script, Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ) is the capital of Bali and the main gateway to the island. The city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands. With the rapid growth of the tourism industry in Bali ...
contiguous to northern Sukhawathi village, another well-known art center. The land in this part of Bali is very flat. The area covered by the town excluding agricultural lands is . The town is bounded by streams flowing through chasms or gorges, which provide water supply to the town. Apart from the streams that flow through the town, there are also irrigation canals sourced from upstream dams which provide irrigation facilities to large tract of paddy fields that surround the village, which was the back bone of the sustenance economy in the past; economy is now largely dependent on tourist influx and the town is now part of “World Economy.” By 1995, the village had paved roads.Geertz (2004), pp. 17–18 The town has a number of temples hidden in the labyrinth lanes and by lanes of the town but two temples are prominent on the main road. In addition, there are now concrete paved performance pavilions in the town with high roofs where dance performances are held by many dance groups, which have got established now to cater to the tourism in the town; one such pavilion is in front of the Pura Desa Batuan temple.


History

Batuan is mentioned in historical records as far back as 1000 years. The
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n influence in the region in the village is evident from the carvings and temples. In the 17th century, Batuan and southern Bali were controlled by the royal family until a priest's curse led to their losing their control; eventually they dispersed to various parts of the country. During the period of 1947–1949, most of the Batuan people remained loyal to the
Gianyar Regency Gianyar Regency is a List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, regency (''kabupaten'') in the Indonesian province and island of Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 368.0 km2 and had a population of 469,777 at the 2010 Census, and 515,344 at t ...
and opposed nationalism.


Culture


Art

Balinese art Balinese art is art of Hindu-Javanese origin that grew from the work of artisans of the Majapahit, Majapahit Kingdom, with their expansion to Bali in the late 14th century. From the sixteenth until the twentieth centuries, the village of Kamasan, ...
forms are primarily classified under three major categories of which Batuan Style (distinct from the Ubud Style) which originated in Batuan is one style which has absorbed the traditional art form to the present dynamic art styles; the other two Bali art styles are the Ubud style of Ubed and the Sanur style which have been further supplemented by a "Young Artists" style of 1960s of Penestanan (the artists village) origin influenced by the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
artists. In the Batuan style of painting, the emphasis is adoption of sombre colour, generally in black and white with preponderance of mystic Balinese religious ethos related to sorcery and witchcraft. They are also famous for the miniature painting with great attention paid to detailing. The artists have an eye for detail as they paint with great patience. Vegetation is drawn in a stylised format, but each leaf is painted and shaded. The patterns, even in
batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...
sarong A sarong or sarung () is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often has woven plaid o ...
s, have the minor figures drawn very carefully. Even the open space is filled with pulsating marks. Scenes emerge from the canvas and retreat into the vegetation such as a dog fight, a love affair, a group of gamblers, all shown in a corner of the canvas. Batuan village gave its name to a style of painting which evolved in the 1930s after a group of local villagers, Ida Bagus Made Togog and Ida Bagus Made Wija began experimenting with ink-washed paintings on black backgrounds. These are popular to this day. The black and white background was said to evoke the
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
. Artists in Batuan later changed to
gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...
and
acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...
s. In the early years of the Batuan genre art, Batuan artists explored subjects that concerned themselves rather than creating tourist art. While anthropologists
Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...
and
Gregory Bateson Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician, and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. His writings include '' Steps to an ...
had a special relationship with Batuan artists, they avoided influencing them and were careful in what Western pictures they were to show to the Batuans. Batuan artists depicted only a traditional world in their pictures, avoiding objects such as automobiles, until at least the late 1980s. Anthropologists also interpret that the paintings made by artists of Batuan are visual texts which represent the “Balinese Character”. Another notable feature is, unlike the Ubud style, the Batuan style also imbued daily life scenes in its depictions, deviating from the traditional. The depiction is of factual scenes but camouflaged in the form of masks. The colours used by the famous artists of Batuan were more bold than those used in Ubud paintings, with green and maroon being the dominant shades used for depicting human beings. Daily life with a complex variety of activities is depicted in great details. However, the painting canvases still adopted the three space formula with the bottom part devoted to daily human activities, with ritual activities in the middle section and with the upper section devoted to the realms of gods. The Batuan painters belonging to the Pita Maha Painters group also created aesthetically elegant paintings combining
Buddhist mythology The Buddhist traditions have created and maintained a vast body of mythological literature. The central myth of Buddhism is the life of the Buddha. This is told in relatively realistic terms in the earliest texts, and was soon elaborated into ...
with vivacious and inventive Wayan-style images. These paintings have also been described as “naïve style works –almost caricatures – that depict daily life with humour.” The village is now dominated by galleries of various artists. Of major note is ''I Wayan Bendi Gallery'', which is named after a notable contemporary artist in the style and sells expensive paintings, mostly over $200. Many paintings of the artist I Made Buli are located here. I Wayan Bendi of Batuan created the paintings as “craft for tourist painting” with himself as the central figure surrounded by tourists in various modes of life and this format has now become a flourishing art form.


Dance form

One of the popular and ancient dance forms, which is performed in Batuan and many other villages, frequently, is known as the
Gambuh ''Gambuh'' ( ban, ᬕᬫ᭄ᬩᬸᬄ) is an ancient form of Balinese dance-drama. It is accompanied by musicians in a gamelan ''gambuh'' ensemble. History ''Gambuh'' is one of the oldest surviving forms in Balinese performing arts, dating to ...
. It is a theatrical dancing art form which reportedly evolved in the 15th century which is a fusion of singing, drama and visual art forms. It is performed during the festivals of
Full Moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
day and also on occasions of marriages and other ceremonies, locally known as the ''
Odalan An Odalan is a Balinese village temple festival in Indonesia. It is an occasion when the Hindu village community comes together, invite the gods to visit them for three or more days, perform religious services together offering refreshments and ...
'', ''Manusa Yadnya'' and ''Pitra Yadnya'' (''Ngaben''). However, this dance form is stated to be on the decline. Ethnography studies indicate that tourism has become integral to the economy of Batuan, particularly since the 1930s. So much so, that in the 1970s a frog dance was devised for the tourists which became a part of Balanese social life, as such dances were performed as part of wedding receptions.


Rituals

While certain villages in Bali are known for violence during trance state, violence rituals are not performed in Batuan, nor do Batuans commonly engage in the trance state at all.


Festivals

The most popular festival that is observed in Batuan and other places in Bali is the
Galungan Galungan is a Balinese holiday celebrating the victory of ''dharma'' over ''adharma''.Eiseman (1989) p353 It marks the time when the ancestral spirits visit the Earth. The last day of the celebration is Kuningan, when they return. The date is calc ...
(meaning "When the
Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
is winning), which is a national festival that occurs over a cycle of every 210 days. It is the religious belief that Gods descend to the earth on this day. During this festival a long bamboo pole called locally as ''penjor'' is made to decorate the entrance to the family compound. The festival is observed starting with the day of arrival of gods and ends on the 10th day known as Kuningan. During this temple celebrations are held every 210 days. It is known as the Odlan festival and is held in the village when child artists also give music performances. During this festival, dancing, music and elaborate decorations and food offerings are a common feature.


Landmarks

Although the village is known primarily for its artistic genre, it also contains some notable architectural landmarks and carvings. ;Pura Puseh The most notable landmark is the village temple, known as Pura Puseh, an ancient structure dated to the 11th century, embellished with intricate stone carvings. It is located in the northern part of the village, off the main road. The temple also has an inscription that testifies to the date of founding of Batuan in 1022 AD. The temple underwent restoration in 1992. It is a five-tiered gateway tower, clearly influenced by Indian religious architecture. Its icons and decorations, however, are typically Balinese in style. Notable depictions include a Bhoma head overlooking the main gateway, the god Wisnu astride a bull, great elephants on the central stairway balustrade, and Siwa standing amongst skulls. The roof of the temple is made of the fibre of chromatic black palm tree. The maintenance of the temple is done by the residents of the village. The temple is situated on the main road from Denpasar to Ubud. The entry gate to the temple appears as a split gate as if it was formed once as one gate that was split into two parts. This gate leads into a courtyard which has a garden and a galaxy of statues fixed at various locations. From the courtyard, there is another gateway spanned by an intricately carved arch with bass relief on the inset and intertwined with vines and a closed door. The entry to the sanctum is again through two gates. The sanctum is where the gods are enthroned during festival time through a special invitation to “come down into this world.” The gods invited during the festivals are venerated with deep devotion and offerings. A sign post at the temple says:Geertz (2004), pp. 19–21 ''Pr Puse Pr Desa''
''Des Adat Basua''
''Saka 944'' The first line makes mention of two temples – The Pura Puse and the Pura Desa – the second line defines the organization responsible for the temple and the last line 'saka 944' is in Indic and is equivalent to 1022 CE On the 1st and 15th of each month, the
Gambuh ''Gambuh'' ( ban, ᬕᬫ᭄ᬩᬸᬄ) is an ancient form of Balinese dance-drama. It is accompanied by musicians in a gamelan ''gambuh'' ensemble. History ''Gambuh'' is one of the oldest surviving forms in Balinese performing arts, dating to ...
, an ancient court dance performance, is staged at the temple. Owing to the success of tourism in Bali, a plot has been built next to the temple to put on a daily morning barong dance for tourists, enacting a fight between the good, a shaggy haired lion-like creature, and an evil widow-witch named Rangda. In the evenings, the dance troupe puts on a
Kecak ''Kecak'' (pronounced ("kechak"), alternate spellings: ''kechak'' and ''ketjak''), known in Indonesian as ''tari kecakilolahhe'', is a form of Balinese Hindu dance and music drama that was developed in the 1930s in Bali, Indonesia. Since its ...
dance and a fire dance. ;"Fat Buddha" statue In the northern part of the village can be found a stone Buddha statue of considerable girth which marks the Sakah road to
Blahbatuh Blahbatuh is a district in Gianyar Regency, Bali, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including ...
, pointing east. Nearby tourist attractions include the Santi Mandala and Spa, Balifunworld, and the Bali Zoo.


Notable people

* I Nyoman Kakul (1905–1985), dancer and teacher. He was one of the first to teach women martial dances such as baris in the 1950s. He was a noted performer of
topeng ''Topeng'' (from ban, ᬢᭀᬧᬾᬂ, su, ᮒᮧᮕᮨᮔᮌ, and jv, ꦠꦺꦴꦥꦺꦁ, topeng, mask) is a dramatic form of Indonesian dance in which one or more mask-wearing, ornately costumed performers interpret traditional narratives c ...
. Ida Bagau Togog, the foremost artist of Bali also hailed from Batuan.


References

;Bibliography * {{coord, 8, 35, 8.02, S, 115, 16, 32.29, E, display=title Gianyar Regency Populated places in Bali Balinese art