Mahabharata Kamasan Painting: Bali’s Version of India’s Epic War
A Mahabharata Kamasan painting depicts scenes from the Mahabharata, the 18-book Sanskrit epic about a war between two royal families, painted in Kamasan style: flat wayang-shaped figures, natural pigments, and gold leaf, the same visual language Bali uses for its shadow puppets. It’s one of Kamasan painting’s two core source epics, the other being the […]
Bhoma Bali: The Guardian Face Carved Above Every Temple Gate
Bhoma Bali temple gates almost always carry the same fierce carved face above the lintel: bulging eyes, bared fangs, and a mouth caught mid-roar. That face has a name. Bhoma is the guardian figure Balinese carvers place above temple thresholds to stand between the sacred and the ordinary world, a role tied to a specific […]
Kelingking Beach: The T-Rex Cliff of Nusa Penida in an Original Painting
Kelingking Beach is the cliff-top viewpoint on Nusa Penida, an island off Bali’s southeast coast, known for a limestone headland whose silhouette is widely compared to a dinosaur’s head and neck, earning it the nickname T-Rex Cliff. The name Kelingking itself comes from the Indonesian word for “little finger,” a reference to the promontory’s curled […]
Baris Dance: Bali’s Solo Warrior Performance
Baris dance is Bali’s warrior dance tradition, performed either as a sacred group ritual called Baris Gede, honoring temple deities at ceremonies like Odalan, or as a solo showcase called Baris Tunggal, in which a single dancer, usually a boy, portrays a warrior’s alertness through sharp, darting eye movements called sledet. Both forms trace back […]
Makepung: The Traditional Buffalo Race of Jembrana, Bali
Makepung buffalo racing is Bali’s traditional sport from Jembrana Regency, West Bali, where pairs of water buffalo pull a small wooden cart called a cikar down a dirt track while a rider, the sais, balances on the yoke behind them. It grew out of the ordinary work of plowing rice fields, and today it runs […]
Tumpek Wayang: The Balinese Holy Day Behind Wayang and Kamasan Art
Tumpek Wayang is Bali’s holy day honoring wayang puppets, dalang, and Kamasan painters, held every 210 days to bless the tools of Balinese art.
Dewi Sri: Bali’s Rice Goddess Behind Every Rice Field Painting
Dewi Sri is Bali’s Hindu goddess of rice, fertility, and prosperity, honored through the Subak system and represented by the woven Cili effigy. Though rarely painted as a standalone figure, her presence runs through the rice field and rice harvest paintings that are among Bali’s most recognizable images.
Kain Prada: Bali’s Gold Leaf Tradition Behind Kamasan Painting
Kain prada is Bali’s traditional gold leaf textile, cloth hand-decorated with sheets or powder of real gold, historically bonded using a natural adhesive called ancur. Once reserved for royalty, temple ceremony, and sacred display, the craft was so labor-intensive that a single piece could reportedly take years to complete. The same gold-leaf finishing technique carries […]
Arjuna Wiwaha Painting: The Kamasan Epic Explained
An Arjuna Wiwaha painting depicts scenes from an eleventh century Old Javanese epic poem, composed by the court poet Mpu Kanwa during the reign of King Airlangga, that tells how the hero Arjuna wins the favor of the gods through meditation on Mount Indrakila and receives the divine Pasupati weapon from Shiva. In Kamasan painting, […]
How to Frame a Balinese Painting: Wood, Gold Leaf, or Black Timber
How do you frame a Balinese painting? It comes down to three real options: a natural or hand-carved wood frame, a gold leaf frame, or a simple black timber frame, and the right pick depends more on the room the painting is going into than on the painting itself. This guide to how to frame […]
