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ОглавлениеChapter Two
Prehistoric Bali
THE INDONESIAN REPUBLIC, encompassing the chain of islands from Sumatra's extreme north to halfway across New Guinea (Irian Jaya), is far from ethnically homogeneous. It is a continuation of the former Netherlands Indies, which for centuries had artificially united peoples of disparate cultural and historical backgrounds. There is, however, a linguistic connection. All of the archipelago's languages (about 250 varieties distributed over 20-odd groups) belong to one large "Indonesian" language family. (The exceptions are New Guinea's Papuan languages, and one divergent family in northern East Indonesia.) Indonesian languages belong to the major family of "Austronesian" languages which also includes the various "Oceanic" languages of the Pacific. The introduction of foreign language elements and the isolation of smaller communities by the sea, or by mountains and rainforests, eventually brought about linguistic and cultural differentiation. Yet the Indonesian languages remain essentially homogeneous. To all appearances the languages, and the various peoples speaking them, especially in Western Indonesia, had a common origin. The Papuan and/or Oceanic (Melanesian) elements in the languages of the archipelago's eastern parts, probably originating from earlier populations, need not concern us here.
The population of the archipelago's western and central parts mainly consists of certain definitely interrelated elements, physical and cultural, which provided the basic unity in an apparent diversity. These ethnic elements are various types of "Malays" or "Indonesians" (the terms' various meanings can lead to confusion), each with their own historical background. Racially they are defined as "paleo-mongoloid," part of a general Mongoloid race which developed prior to more specialized forms such as the later historical Chinese. In East Indonesia this Malay element has mixed considerably with Papua-Melanesians, hence the very different ethnic types in that part of the archipelago.
THE PLEISTOCENE ERA
Indonesia's earliest prehistory may be traced back to various types of Pithecanthropus (recently renamed Homo erectus). This covers the Lower and Middle Pleistocene to the Upper Pleistocene Homo (erectus) soloensis (Solo Man), and the late Pleistocene Homo (sapiens) wadja-kensis. All these Pleistocene men—the earliest of which may go back about 350,000 years—were discovered in East Java and eastern Central Java. Palaeolithic implements dating from the Pleistocene (geologically later than the earliest skeletal remains) have been found in South Sumatra, Java, Borneo, South Celebes or Sulawesi, and Flores, but only recently in Bali.
The early invaders came from the Asian mainland, by at least two migratory routes, which followed land bridges created by the sea's extensive retreat all over the world during the glacial periods. One route led from India and China through Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia. The other came from the north (China) by Taiwan and the Philippines, branching off to Borneo (Kalimantan) and Celebes respectively. The latter branch avoided Wallace's line, which otherwise separates the Asiatic and Australian worlds. Besides human skeletal and palaeolithic remains, the Pleistocene faunas provide evidence of these migratory routes—fossilized remnants of animals which took identical migratory courses when fleeing the Eurasian glacial fronts for warmer climes, which were eventually found in maritime Southeast Asia.
Figure 7: Paleolithic implements. Pejeng Museum, Bedulu.
There are many reasons why Bali, just on the hither side of the Wallace Line and for a considerable time connected with Java, has always been part of Western Indonesia. During the early Pleistocene, however, it was not connected with the western land bridge ending in East Java. So far no skeletal remains of Pleistocene man have been discovered in the Last Paradise. For that matter, such fossils are scarce in Java too, restricted to a few sites. With regard to Bali, the absence, until recently, of palaeolithic implements was usually explained by the island's extensive covering of post-Pleistocene volcanic layers, which kept any earlier remains hidden. Only in 1961 did R. P. Soejono, Archaeological Service staff prehistorian, succeed in collecting certain monofacial pebble stones (roughly flaked on one side only) in North Bali, north of the village of Sembiran. Obviously being Palaeolithic, these stones (used for various purposes) testified to man having reached Bali during the Pleistocene.
After the glacial periods, the Palaeolithic was succeeded by an intermediate period with a character of its own, the Mesolithic (or Epi-palaeolithic). During this period, certain parts of the archipelago were peopled by new racial elements referred to as Palaeo-Melanesoid, Wed-doid, and Negrito. In the western islands they were eventually superseded by the early Indonesian Palaeo-Mongoloids, who arrived during the next stage, the Neolithic—a food-producing stage as opposed to the food-gathering Palaeolithic. They again arrived later during the Early Metal Age (the later-stage Bronze or Dongson Period).
In other words, the various waves of Indonesians, in the ethnic sense, arrived at intervals during the last two or three millennia B.C. The Mesolithic elements were not conspicuous at any time in the history of the western archipelago; in East Indonesia and New Guinea they mixed with later settlers, who brought a Neolithic of their own, as well as Papuan languages. Later, they also mixed with Malays, Europeans, and others. Together, they represent various aspects of the Indonesian cultural mosaic.
THE NEOLITHIC ERA
The Balinese Neolithic is part of what, from a purely technological viewpoint, has been called the "rectangular adze" culture, in reference to several varieties of polished adzes, rectangular both in outline and cross-section. In Indonesia the term "adze" applies to stone implements characterized by a position of the cutting-edge at right angles to the shaft, as opposed to the axe's bit, which runs parallel to the rod. There are also large and small gouges, grinding stones, etc. All over, grinding and polishing of stone tools is a general feature of neolithic techniques; mere edge-grinding started much earlier. A more essential aspect of neolithic culture is agricultural development, along with pottery-making.
This culture came from South China via Indochina. Its spread has been connected with the arrival of peoples—farmers and potters—who spoke Austronesian and early Indonesian languages. Later waves of related ethnic groups were not restricted to stone implements, but introduced metallurgical techniques from Bronze Age cultures in South China and northern Vietnam (Tonkin).
GILIMANUK
With respect to coastal settlements, Bali has proved more prolific in remains than other islands. Yet finds have so far been restricted to one site, near Gilimanuk in West Bali. As already stated in Chapter 1, Gilimanuk is separated from East Java only by the narrow Bali Straits. It is no wonder that, having walked the entire length of Java's east corner, some early settlers did not resist crossing the straits.
In 1961 Mr. Soejono, at that time directing the Archaeological Service's Bali Branch, learned that certain pottery fragments and neolithic adzes had been found at Cekik, south of Gilimanuk, during World War II. In the following years (1963, 1964, 1973) he directed staff members and students from three universities in successful excavations which covered 137.5 square meters to a depth of 1.75-3.25 meters, and which may be extended further southwest. The results have already proved highly important: in addition to the remains of a settlement, some 100 burials of male and female adults and children, accompanied by funeral gifts, were discovered.
The site revealed four layers in its soil structure. The third from the top contained settlement remains as well as a few burials. Most of the burials were concentrated below that level, in the upper part of the fourth layer. Finds in the habitation level were stray artifacts, "lost property," mostly fragmentary. The funeral gifts, which had been carefully placed in the graves, were in much better condition. The skeletons were usually found with the skulls roughly at the graves' southern end, facing Gilimanuk Bay. Various burial methods, within a limited number of general patterns for deposing the dead, were utilized. Skeletons were found in several positions: extended, semi-flexed, squatting, dorsal with spread knees, kneeling, prostrate. Some rested alone in the grave; others were accompanied by a second body either in identical position or facing the opposite direction. Sometimes a second body was placed atop an earlier burial. Skeletons occasionally lacked the skull (which may have been preserved separately), sometimes also shin bones, feet, or other bodily parts (to keep the dead from walking around?). In certain graves, skeletons of dogs and pigs (sacrificed to accompany the dead in the hereafter?) were found.
Earthenware vessels served as funerary goods. They were often decorated by impressing network into the clay. Yellow and red paint were used for coloring. Bronze wristlets, ankle and ear rings, axes with heart- or crescent-shaped blades, iron spearheads and a few daggers refer to an early Metal (Bronze) Age. Glass had been used for wristlets and beads, shells for armlets and simple tools (in the habitation layer). From the similarity of the funeral gifts with those in inland sarcophagi, the discoverer inferred a close contact between the peoples concerned.
The graves are "uncovered" burials (corpses interred without covers or containers). There are, however, two instances of urn burials. Here two jars stood vertically in the ground, one atop the other. The upper jar was upside-down; the lower jar contained the complete bones of a single person, collected after the corpse had wasted away (resulting in a "secondary burial"). There were no gifts or other objects. The upper jar acted as a cover. (The use of complete jars for this purpose had been known in other sites in the archipelago.) Under one of the jars was a prostrate skeleton; its legs, folded backwards, indicate an intentional killing. The combination of two bodies and the various ornaments accompanying the uncovered burials, as well as the variety of burial methods, would seem to indicate different social ranks.
The racial affinities of the persons buried might be generally described as basic (Palaeo-) Mongoloid in origin, like most Balinese, and for that matter like many other Indonesian peoples found generally in the western parts of the archipelago.
EARLY METAL AGE
Early Metal (Bronze) Age civilization spread to Indonesia through South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, probably beginning in southern China during the 8th or 7th century B.C., after West Eurasian influences had reached the Far East via Central Asia. Northern China had been well versed in bronze techniques since the beginning of the Shang dynasty, around 1500 B.C. From South China, Bronze Age culture spread to the northern provinces of modern-day Vietnam (Tonkin and Annam) where important centers arose. This culture was named "Dongson" from its type site, Dongson in northern Annam. The earliest finds in this category in Vietnam date from the 4th or 3rd century B.C.; bronze-casting techniques may, however, have been introduced there earlier.
Hence Dongsonian influences expanded to the south and eventually reached Indonesia. Bronze Age objects have been found as far east as Lake Sentani in Western New Guinea. Although the original Dongson culture died out during the first century A.D. because of Chinese political pressure, similar bronze objects may have been made elsewhere after that. Thus, for instance, various objects such as socketed celts, armlets, and kettledrums in some way or other related with Dongsonian styles in shape and decoration, have been found in Indonesia. In due course, indigenous bronze casters developed types and methods of their own. Clay and stone molds have been discovered in West Java as well as in Bali (Manuaba).
Among the stray finds from Bali which found their way to collectors is a bell shaped like two bowls. Slipped over the end of a stick, such bells were used in the accompaniment of dances; the bell contained a pellet that rattled when the stick was shaken. Its decoration points to Dongsonian influences.
SARCOPHAGI
A highly elaborate prehistoric way of disposing of and respectfully caring for the dead was with the sarcophagus. Hewn out of stone, the sarcophagus consisted of a lower and upper part.
Since preparation techniques usually required metal tools, most megaliths cannot have been made before the Metal Age. Different types of megalithic monuments, such as dolmens, stone cists, stone chambers, stone vats, and stone sculptures, have been found in various places in Southeast Asia. Among them sarcophagi are the least common. In all Southeast Asia the most notable, if not only, old concentrations of sarcophagi are in Besuki (East Java) and in Bali. In a 1973 report, 53 sarcophagi are mentioned as a result of comprehensive explorations at 37 different sites in Bali. Almost all had been damaged by unauthorized diggings before archaeologists reached them. The material generally used for sarcophagi was soft tuff; only incidentally was harder rock (brecci or coral) chosen. Specimens vary in size from large (227-268 cm) to medium (150-170 cm) to small (84-134 cm). Most common are the small ones, destined for a single flexed corpse. Even smaller specimens may have been used for secondary burials of bones from previously decayed corpses (a function similar to the Gilimanuk jars). Compared with sarcophagi makers in other countries (who had exceedingly hard rock to carve), the Balinese with their soft tuff had an easy job. They used this freedom to give each body an individualized stone coffin. A complete list of the great variety of sarcophagi found in Bali—seven or eight types subdivided into numerous sub-types—almost rivals in length the mere record of individual specimens so far discovered.
Figure 8: The Petang sarcophagus. Pejeng Museum, Bedulu. Skeleton in flexed position.
Figure 9: The Taman Bali sarcophagus. Pejeng Museum, Bedulu.
Apart from their size and overall shape, Balinese sarcophagi are characterized by knobs which protrude from the long sides of the large specimens, and from the short sides of the small ones. These knobs are either rounded, disc-shaped, square, rectangular, or septilateral. Some are decorated with masks or human heads, with static, frightening, sometimes "funny" expressions, with protruding tongues. In a way, such faces fit very well with later Balinese demonic masks. One curious variety (from Taman Bali) shows the human head and the curved back of a creepy zoo-anthropomorphic figure on both the upper and lower parts of the sarcophagus. Although decorative in intention, the carved knobs apparently served some other functional purpose as well. Perhaps they bound both parts together if only for keeping the dead from disturbing the living (in accord with funeral usages all over the world). Or else they provided a hold when transporting the heavy stones with ropes or rattan strips; some of the knobs show grooves and rope marks.
Most of the sarcophagi were partially robbed of their contents before archaeological investigation. Still, some contained various objects placed with the dead for use in the hereafter, such as miniature bronze hoes or shovels. In many countries, funeral gifts are not life-size but miniature replicas or paper imitations, which are cheaper than the costly objects themselves. It is hard to determine the purpose of the miniature shovels. Considering the amount of work and skill involved, sarcophagi must have been reserved for certain prominent community members, not for common laborers actually handling agricultural tools. Perhaps the miniatures had a symbolic meaning, such as removing obstacles from one's path to the hereafter.
A sarcophagus found at Puyangan contained several bronze objects, beads, etc. Since there is no rest for the dead without cremation, the villagers who discovered the stone coffin performed an act of burning on behalf of the person buried in it—in effigy, in the absence of any bodily remains. Did they do so out of compassion, or for purposes of safety, to prevent the dead from haunting the site?
There are sarcophagi in which the dead had been laid out in full length, others in which they were placed in a squatting position. In 1960 an undisturbed sarcophagus at Cacang (Bangli) was systematically investigated. A contracted male skeleton was revealed, accompanied by his funeral gifts: arm and foot rings, cornelian beads, and bronze socketed shovels.
TERRACED MONUMENTS
In this context, mention should be made of the stepped pyramids in the neighborhood of Sanur along the coast of South Bali, illustrated in connection with one of the first excursions in the Guide (Figure 63). Similar terraced monuments have also been found in the Sembiran region in northern Bali. Just like certain other natural or man-made sanctuaries, such step pyramids may be seen as ageless survivals from a prehistoric past, which over the centuries retained their place in the Balinese conceptual framework, and have been taken care of accordingly.
KETTLEDRUMS
By far the most intriguing metal objects of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age are the so-called "kettledrums," modern Indonesian: nekara (from the Arab-Persian word naqqâra, for a special type of non-metal drum). Bali possesses one of the most important specimens, an in-its-own-way unique drum, that is still in situ in the Pura Penataran Sasih at Pejeng (Intaran), where it has been housed for many centuries.
As opposed to most other drums (like the said naqqâra) the kettledrums are not "membranophones," producing sound with the aid of a membrane such as a piece of hide. Along with those drums, in the restricted sense, they are in the category of "percussion instruments," but otherwise there are important differences. They are of a class that typically do not need any extra gadget (membrane) to produce their sound. They are "idiophones," sounding all on their own, provided that they are being struck in one way or other. The "drum" part of their name has to be taken in a wide sense. The "kettle" part refers to their being all metal like a kettle or, for that matter, a bell, a cymbal, a gong and most of the Javanese or Balinese gamelan orchestra percussion instruments. (The orchestra as such is called gong in Bali, too.) It so happens that the peoples of Southeast Asia have a deep liking for all kinds of objects which are all-metal and preferably modeled and cast "auseinem Guss," monocast, in one piece, "solid" in that special sense of the word (which does not preclude the possibility that the object has an opening and is hollow). The external shape of a kettledrum may be comparatively simple or extremely complicated. The main thing is that it should be "in one piece" (whatever its "prototype," we may add—a matter to be discussed later). Most of the kettledrums answer that description. It is just part of their reason for existence in the view of the peoples' concerned. There is one notable exception to the rule that kettledrums had to be produced in one piece: the Balinese "Pejeng type" metal drum which essentially consists of two parts—a body and a top— that have been turned into one single, nominally solid piece of metal. This "Pejeng type" of drum is the main theme of the present section.
Figure 10: The Pejeng Moon, after Nieuwenkamp's drawing.
Figure 11: One of the Moon's heads. After Nieuwenkamp.
We shall start with a very brief general description not merely of that Pejeng type, but of any Southeast Asian kettledrum. A comparatively wide metal (bronze) cylinder, with a threefold "waisted" profile, recalling the old-fashioned "Römer" wineglass, turned upside down— not really shaped like an hour-glass, although this is the usual description. The body (mantle, case) is open at the botton and closed at the top by means of a metal plaque (tympan). Although there are notable exceptions, such as the big drum at Pejeng (a tall man's height) the size normally varies between about 36 and 126 cm or a bit more in diameter; about 40-92 cm—if not more—in height. There are also miniature versions for various purposes, either funerary or monetary. The kettledrum's walls are extremely thin in relation to their size, hardly more than a few millimeters, which is necessarily quite a problem to their casters. The tympan and the lower brim of the mantle are heavier, sometimes twice as thick (up to 6 cm). These parts for natural reasons needed more "body." A positive result was that whereas the thin walls of drums did not survive, a good number of tympans did. In the case of the Pejeng type drums our illustrations, drawn from solitary surviving tympans, are there to support this statement.
Figures 12 and 13: A head on the Manuaba printing mold.
Kettledrums, in the general sense referred to so far, have been known for a long time in an extensive territory stretching from China, Burma, Thailand and northern Vietnam far into the south and even all the way through the southern parts of Indonesia, up to the islands off Irian and to Western New Guinea itself. In agreement with a classification proposed by the Austrian ethnologist, F. Heger in 1902, four main types are usually distinguished.
Figure 14: The Bebitra tympan-cuff connection. After Soejono. To the right a similar solution. Pacung drum. After McConnell and Glover.
The first of these, "Heger I," is of special interest. Metal drums of all types over the centuries have played an important part in the musical and artistic life of the peoples concerned, but also (and even much more) in their social, religious and economic existence. Heger I is not merely a matter of academic interest to students of the Indonesian archipelago for the simple reason that a good number of Heger I types and subtypes have been found in that part of Southeast Asia. For various reasons merchants, political fugitives and other people from the countries where Heger I drums had developed, in particular northern Vietnam (Tonkin), may have been involved with the dispersion of these costly objects that represent several chronologically differentiated stages of the Vietnamese "Dongsonian" Bronze Age civilization in its heyday (4th century B.C.—first century A.D.) in mainland Southeast Asia. During and even after that period Heger I drums spread southwards. So did some of the people concerned with their making and usage. In the present connection we need not talk about other types of kettledrums—Heger II, III and IV, Yunnanese and otherwise—with one, in the cultural history of Indonesia very important exception: the "Pejeng type" drums.
Heger I drums have been discovered in many locations in the archipelago. Among them are some of the most elaborately decorated and from a technical point of view most developed specimens. These locations include certain faraway and isolated islands only to be reached after long and adventurous wanderings, and the drums were preserved under circumstances that were intriguing in their own right. They may have been imported in one way or another during the first half of the first millennium A.D., but a few specimens of much earlier Heger I drums may have reached the western parts of the archipelago long before that. The spread of Heger I drums in early Indonesia is an interesting problem in itself, which in the present context need not be detailed. So far no Heger I drums have been found in Bali. On the other hand, some of the Balinese Pejeng type tympans (the last remnants of complete drums that found their way westwards) have been traced to Central Java, or to some other place, although their ultimate origin must have been Central Bali. The total absence of Heger I in Bali seems to imply that at the time when Heger I was making its appearance in the archipelago Bali had already made its own preparations for casting metal drums, and had been succeeding quite well. It is this independent development we are directly concerned with.
Just a last remark on the spread of Heger I drums in the archipelago. One of the reasons for their dispersion may have been the possibility that at least some of the most costly specimens may have been part of the heirlooms of the indigenous aristocracy of North Vietnam (Tonkin) who, in the first centuries A.D., in a critical period of their existence, escaped from the Chinese armies which for some time had been invading their country and by then were starting a thorough sinicization of Vietnam, north and otherwise. This led to indigenous rebellion. Local chiefs and their followers, taking away their traditional regalia—metal drums—instead of taking refuge in the highlands around Vietnam, as others did, may have turned to insular Southeast Asia, known to the maritime mainland peoples from earlier commercial connections. Heger I, nicknamed by archaeologists "the migratory type" and a few other types or subtypes were part of the international politics of Archaic Indonesia. The Pejeng drum and the minor representatives of a group of "classic" Pejeng types on the other hand, formed an essential part of "pre-Hindu Balinese" developments.
The large drum, referred to as a starting point, must have been resting for a very long time on top of a tower-like pavilion in the Pura Penataran Sasih at Pejeng, as it does now. The present pavilion is new (its predecessor was destroyed during the 1917 earthquake and had to be rebuilt some time later.), but the location is very old. The drum is lying lengthwise and only a few old people may have seen it in a different position in the early twenties. In order to show the "heads" in their correct position (the drum standing with the tympan up) the photograph in Figure 6 has been turned 90 degrees. When being struck the drum may have been hung from a tree or pole at an oblique angle. But that would have been long ago, possibly in the Hindu-Balinese period when people still vaguely knew about drums and their magical potential. The combination of a statue and a drum-shaped pedestal (in a location at Carangsari, Badung) testifies to such a connection.
The large drum is often referred to as "the Pejeng Moon," the name also used in the present chapter. The alternative name "drum with the heads" derives from its decoration and is a Western invention, first used by Nieuwenkamp. The term "Moon" derives from a local legend that for the first time appeared in print in 1705 in a posthumous work by G. E. Rumphius (Rumpf, a German by birth, 1628-1702) who for many years worked for the Dutch East India Company in the Moluccas, living in Ambon. In spite of his having lost his sight in 1670 he did not stop writing books. In his D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer, finished in 1699 but published only several years later, he showed himself a great naturalist. One of the curiosities he had been informed about, the Pejeng Moon, in his opinion might be either a man-made metal object or else a product of Nature, his preference hesitatingly going to the latter: a very large meteorite. The Moon was said to have been a wheel of the chariot that carried the moon through the nightly sky, the wheel being as bright as the heavenly body itself. One day it became detached, fell down and landed in a tree, at Pejeng. There it happened to be detected by a thief who had entered the premises and was hampered in his doings by the radiating object. He climbed into the tree and urinated on the sacred wheel, paying with his life for doing so. After that the wheel lost its shine, living on in history as the "Pejeng Moon." The name of the pura where it was reverently preserved and protected against further intrusions, Pura Penataran Sasih, still refers to the drum's legend, sasih meaning "moon." The local people from experience knew that the Moon should not be disturbed in any way. (Early visitors incautiously drawing near or even hitting the drum in the 19th century proved to be playing with their health and life.). Even the people from the Archaeological Service would not easily disturb the local people's and the drum's peace of mind without first discussing their intentions and providing some appropriate offering.
Figure 15: The Pejeng Moon's tympan pattern.
In 1906, a time when the Pejeng region was no longer a terra incognita to Bali visitors (as it had been for a long time), the painter-traveler W. O. J. Nieuwenkamp got into the pavilion and spent a couple of hours there measuring and drawing. Through his accurately drawn and scrupulously checked drawings, first published in 1908 and afterwards copied by many other students of the subject, he performed a most important pioneer work. His drawings, prepared on the spot but worked out afterwards in Holland, in their own inimitable way reached a degree' of perfection that formed the basis for all later studies of the drum and its problems.
The Pejeng Moon, viewed tympan up, reaches the exceptional height (for metal drums) of 186.5 cm. Like all distinctly "waisted" metal drums, it is divided into three horizontal parts (A, B, and C). The slightly bulging upper part of the body or mantle is 110 cm in diameter, just a bit less than the lower brim of C. The tympan, on the other hand, is much wider, diameter 160 cm. The plaque, consequently, protrudes over all sides not less than 25 cm, ending with a small turn down of a few millimeters along its circumference. Although this important feature can hardly be noticed from the outside, the upper part of the body, enlivened by a band of 11 horizontal lines, actually stands apart from the body, being a "cuff" or flange underneath and directly connected with the tympan. The combination of a plaque and a cuff (recalling the traditional professor's cap, circular variety) is a specific feature of the more "classic" type of Pejeng drum. It is not found in other classes of kettledrums, in particular not in Heger I drums, which have no protruding salients and have been modeled and cast all in one piece. Pejeng type tympans-cum-cuff and mantles were cast separately to be joined afterwards in a special way.
The line between the upper and middle sections of the mantle is arched over by four handles, spread equally over its circumference. This arrangement—which differs from that in Heger I drums (2 x 2 handles bilaterally divided) is in agreement with the "four-sided symmetry" to be discussed later on, that is basic to Pejeng type drums. The four-sidedness may be extended into a group of eight: for instance, the 2 x 4 "heads" or mask-like faces that fill the open spaces between the individual handles. The philosophical basis of the 1 + 4 and 1 + 4 + 4, the digit I standing for Oneness, is reflected in both the drum as such and the star-like decoration in the middle of the tympan.
Figures 16a and 16b: One tympan quadrant analyzed.
Apart from the "heads," the lower parts of the sections (A, B, and C) display bands in a geometric pattern consisting of the double series of triangular saw-teeth framing one series of f-shaped stripes (f being a typically Pejeng type version of the "slanting ladders" of certain divergent geometric sample-books). The same pattern, vertically placed, embellishes the flat spaces underneath the "heads."
Much more striking is the overall decoration of the Moon's tympan which deserves ample discussion in its own right and in connection with three other tympans illustrated in this chapter (Figures 17-19).
Having summarily described the most obvious characteristics of the Moon we had better make a brief inventory of these features. To put it briefly: the form and structure of Pejeng type drums is determined by their being all metal, but not in-one-piece. The top, consisting of a tympan-cum-cuff combination, has been shaped and cast apart from the mantle, to be joined (visually rather than materially) after the process. The tympan more or less notably protrudes from the mantle top. There is no distinct percussion boss on the tympan. The decoration of the mantle, in part geometric with a few peculiarities (f), is marked by the introduction of "heads." That of the tympan is a four-fold repetition of a single design of knobs and loops or braids unknown in other drums (Figures 17-19 and 15 for the Moon). The decorative patterns are exclusively positive (meaning the lines always protrude from the "zero" level of the drum's walls; there may be two or more levels in their height, but always "above zero").
Figure 17: Bebitra.
Most of these features have had an effect on the techniques of modeling and casting Pejeng type drums. Most of them, conversely, had their origin in the particular circumstances of the Pejeng type drums' "prenatal history," their being derived from a special prototype (a tifa) that left its characteristic features in the appearance of its successor. The four-sided symmetry and its extension to a larger system represented by the formula 1 + 4 + 4 (in connection with the four handles, the eight (4 x 2) "heads" in the layout and decoration of the Moon), should be understood as part of a well-known Early Indonesian cosmological and philosophical concept. In Bali it is known by the name nawasanga (the two elements of this term refer to "nine"). We will meet this classification system also in Hindu Balinese religion and art, e.g. in connection with the "four-body" figures (catuhkāya and the mukhalingga).
The most essential features briefly mentioned in this list should be more explicitly discussed hereafter.
The Pejeng Moon is the largest and most important representative of the "Pejeng type," which took its name from its home site. There are several tympans, perhaps a few complete drums (if information received but never checked in any detail proves to be correct). There are a few highly interesting related finds, especially the printing mold fragments from Manuaba (that will be discussed presently). More of them exist, and certainly more will be found, which may change the situation and our views. At the moment we have to restrict ourselves to the main members of a "classic" Pejeng type. They are referred to according to the locations where they have been found—if possible. It so happens that for one of them (Leiden) the place it was found is unknown. The second (Tanurejo) was discovered in Central Java and is now in the National Museum, Jakarta. The third (Bebitra) is from a place in Bali, but was presented to the Archaeological Service and is now in the National Research Center in Jakarta. The first named tympans are obviously in the same "classic" category and may be taken as being Balinese in origin.
Figure 18: "Leiden."
The "Leiden" tympan, diameter 55 cm, is illustrated by Figures 18 and 20 B; the Tanurejo tympan from Kedu (Central Java), diameter 51.5 cm, is shown in Figures 19 and 20 C; the Bebitra tympan, from the residence of the former local prince (Puri Gianyar) in Gianyar, discovered in 1962, diameter 64.9 cm (further details will be given in their special context), is illustrated in Figures 17 and 20 A. The Manuaba mold is illustrated in Figures 12-13 and will be discussed in a paragraph of its own. General information is to be found in the present author's book, Kettledrums of Southeast Asia. A Bronze Age World and its Aftermath, 1988.
Figure 19: Tanurejo.
Figure 20: Five versions of the knob-and-loop pattern. A)Bebitra; B) "Leiden" C) Tanurejo D) The Moon E) An early moko from Alor.
Both the Heger I type and the essentially different Pejeng version of metal drum acquired their form and structure by the translation of earlier musical instruments of natural substances—wood, fibres or earthenware) into metal. This material metamorphosis is just one more instance of the wide-spread phenomenon in early metal ages among various peoples. Not unnaturally, therefore, the transformation that led to the kettledrums of Southeast Asia was similar to a degree in both cases referred to, Heger I and Pejeng. Similar, but far from identical. To start with, the non-metal prototypes translated into metal were different. The characteristic make and profile of Heger I drums suggest a combination of, say, a cushion-shaped one-sided membranophone drum resting on a wooden standard of sorts to enhance the effect of the drumming: an aggregate, to put it differently, that before being turned into metal had already undergone one or more earlier changes. The prototype of a comparatively slender, distinctly waisted Pejeng type drum, on the other hand, to all appearances was an equally one-sided membranophone, "hourglass-shaped" hand-drum of a type that is still known in the islands of eastern Indonesia and formerly was used in Java along with gongs and other metal instruments. The type is called tifa referring to a wooden hand drum, elegantly handled by girls when dancing to their own accompaniment. The drum is pressed to their body by the left arm, the membrane (a piece of cowhide) being tapped with both right and left hands. It is a light, manageable drum to be consciously chosen for the prototype for a much larger and heavier metal drum, the Pejeng type drum. The outcome clearly shows several traits that were characteristic of its tifa predecessor. Moreover, instead of being merely musical and sound instruments the Pejeng type drums entered a much wider field of social and religious activities, in what was as yet a "Pre-Hindu Balinese" atmosphere. The form and structure, decoration and technique connected with the Pejeng drums was highly influenced by their prenatal background, and by the tifa itself.
The tifa, open on one end, was closed by the membrane, that was fixed by means of a system of strings, rings and knobs which made it possible to tune and adjust it to the needs of the player. Both the piece of hide and the strings had to be fastened about a hand's width down from the top of the drum's mantle. There may be a connection between the band of concentric circles filling the outside of the cuff and the fastening of the hide. Yet there is a much more suggestive possibility. The four-fold repetition of the decorative pattern on the tympans, consisting of knobs, braids and loops—seemingly a random product of artistic imagination—may well reflect the strings, rings and knots of the tuning gadget that played an important part of the tifa's musical ambience. A good deal later it was still used in some of the early mokos from Alor in a vaguely remembered decorative tradition.
Figure 21: An early moko from Alor. (See also figure 20 E.)
The fragments of a stone printing mold for impressing the design of a Pejeng type drum onto the wax layer prepared for the drum's casting, briefly mentioned previously, were discovered in 1932 at Manuaba in the district of Gianyar.
In the discovery and interpretation of the fragments (three, at first; later a fourth would be added by R. P. Soejono which enabled him to reconstruct part of the mold's outlines), Walter Spies and K. C. Crucq (Archaeological Service) played a pioneer part. The local people regarded the stones as curiously shaped pieces of rock which deserved being venerated as such. When in 1951 Mr. Krijgsman and I visited the pura desa where they were kept we had to study them from a little distance.
The total height of the mantle projected from the Manuaba mold could be calculated by Soejono to be 107.5 cm, which we should increase for the drum itself by perhaps 10 cm. The height of a cuff, 118 cm is far less than the Moon's height, not "extra large" in kettledrum terminology, but "tall" anyhow. The three horizontal sections (A, B and C) were estimated to be 98, 83 and 100 cm in diameter, respectively.
As to what conclusions should be drawn from this mold, it should be remembered that it was a printing mold not a mold for casting, which is quite a different thing. The soft paras stone never would have stood the heat of fluid metal. It should also be understood that for the modeling of an outstanding drum like the Moon much more advanced techniques and molds must have been used than this simple Manuaba outfit. What can be said, incomplete though it naturally is, refers to the Manuaba performance; to similar cases in the same category with all reserve, to the Moon no details whatever, and even less to the great Heger I drums that followed very different techniques to answer very different requirements.
Figure 22: Another early moko from Alor.
The Manuaba mold must have been meant to be used several times in succession. The printing in itself brought no risks. Once the wax model had been built up and the decoration was to start, the mold parts that covered only one single quadrant of the all-over pattern had to be imprinted four times each. The wax plaque meant for the tympan (to be cast in combination with the cuff, apart from the mantle) likewise had to be imprinted four times in a four-fold repetition of the same design. In view of the many twistings and windings involved with the knob-and-braid pattern, the modellers may have preferred to have their designs incised in a piece of wood to be imprinted four times in succession (the Moon's tympan clearly shows the resulting seams).
When comparing a geometric design taken from a completed drum (Figure 11) with a similar one taken from the Manuaba mold (Figure 13) it is obvious that in the latter instance the f is shown reversed. Since in a Pejeng type drum all designs should stand out from the surface background (zero level), the designs on the mold had to be negative. The Moon's tympan displays a very complex pattern enlivened and clarified by means of a variety of "levels", in part hardly visible or tangible, in part with clearly seen lines and protruding knobs. The differences in height are, comparatively speaking, considerable, but they are always positive, above zero, and the mold to produce them had to be their exact reflection, negative. The grooves in the mold (wood or earthenware) must have been provisionally filled with wax before they were brought into contact with the all over wax layer.
The procedure followed by the former metal-workers at Manuaba may have been like this: first a clay core (for practical reasons, hollow) was shaped (in due course removed after the casting, to free the inside of the drum's body). This core or inner mold was covered with a comparatively thin layer of wax which ultimately had to be the exact prototype of the mantle's walls. The layer had to cover all sides of the mantle except for the top (tympan plus cuff) that was to be cast separately. The wax had to be prepared to be fluid during the smearing but to harden after being exposed to the air. The wax model had to be measured and tested for smoothness, thickness, etc. The best way to do this would have been using a standard printing mold which also could impress the decorative designs, by converting them from negative into positive. Apart from these designs certain three-dimensional parts (the handles) could be modeled separately by hand, in wax, to be fastened to the over-all wax cover. In the case of Heger I type drums that had to be modeled and cast to be all in one piece, this method had to be followed; in that of Pejeng type drums probably other tricks could be performed.
As a next step the entire wax prototype had to be enclosed in a clay crust or outer mold. Plugs to maintain the correct distance between the core and the outer mold during the casting, holes for letting fluid wax, gases, superfluous metal, etc. escape, had to be fixed. The crust was slightly heated, not more than needed for the fluid wax to escape (to be used again for the next drum). The molten metal could be poured into the extremely narrow spaces between the inner and outer molds, now used for the casting. The quality of the metal (bronze) had to be carefully considered to guarantee a smooth flow and in due course a satisfactory sound. Beforehand the bell-metal had been mixed and allowed to derive oxygen from the air, needed for some of the ores to function at all. The composition of alloys played an important role. There should be a comparatively high percentage of lead or tin in addition to copper to make it spread quickly through the narrow open spaces over such a very large area during the casting. One of the Pejeng type tympans, the one from Bebitra, contained the following ingredients: Copper 75.5%, Lead .09%, Tin 14.51%. But local circumstances played a part; different parts of a drum sometimes needed different alloys, and eventually the declining standards of commercial casters corrupted their products.
The lost wax procedure was eminently suited to the production of the more complex types of kettledrums, both in the Heger I class (using three-dimensional excrescences like frogs, handles and various grades of relief decorations at the same time) and in the Pejeng type category. Clay was cheap and everywhere available, the wax (a costly material at any time) could be removed and put aside for the next casting. And more particularly in the case of all-in-one-piece production: the material used was versatile and apt to accept any kind of unexpected forms. A complete Heger I drum as well as the mantle and the tympan-cum-cuff of the Pejeng type, each of them modeled and cast separately by using the lost wax method, could be delivered all in one piece.
But in the case of the Pejeng type drums there was the problem of how to fix that metal cap to the separate body and to make it into a workable unit if only by preventing that top getting detached. This practical aspect, indeed, must have been more urgent in the case of Pejeng metalworkers than in that of the Heger I casters who first of all cherished the ideal of visual and material "oneness": all-metal, all-in-one, there being no compromise in such matters.
The Pejeng metalworkers, consequently, could more easily permit themselves to use methods that in the eyes of their Heger type colleagues would have been unacceptable. As it happened, on account of the earlier relations with the one-sided membranophone tifa being part of the Pejeng type's prenatal history, they followed a procedure that at first sight seems a not very practical one, but suited the tifa connection better than anything else. Or so it seems. Instead of simply connecting the tympan-cum-cuff combination with the top of the separate body by telescoping the latter into the former (a method commonly used visually and materially in classical Indonesian stone architecture, demonstrated in Prambanan and other famous monuments), the Pejeng casters prepared a groove with a depth of (in the case of the Bebitra tympan) 1 cm in the slightly thickened lower part of the cuff, that corresponded with a raised border on the top of the underlying mantle. This arrangement, first noticed in the Bebitra instance, was later confirmed for the Pejeng Moon as well. This dowelled contraption that was to prevent the shifting of the cap required most scrupulous preparation and checking. The groove may have been cut in after the casting of the top (a risky business that could not easily be cured) or else the top of the mantle was cast first, including the ridge. After that the wax model of the cuff-cum-tympan was impressed unto its metal counterpart to make the two parts fit accurately. This latter method or some slightly different alternative would seem preferable. A later generation (represented by the Pacung drum fragments from northern Bali) used a different version of the same dowelled junction (Figure 14 right) that may have been easier to prepare.
The most striking element in the Pejeng Moon's silhouette is the wide protruding rim of the tympan, not less than 25 cm on all sides. This extreme salient is one of the main differences that separate the Moon from the Heger I family of metal drums, where such excrescences, and even smaller ones topping the bulging upper part of the mantle, are unknown. On the other hand, both Heger II and III (which do not appear in the present volume), lacking the bulging tendencies in their mantles, have a modest salient. The tympans illustrated in this chapter display distinct but still modest salients: 8 cm (vs. 64.9), 6 cm (vs. 55 cm) and 3.5 cm (vs. 51.5). Occasionally the protruding part makes a turn straight down over a few millimeters. The creator of the Moon went a considerable step further. He must have thought that a tall but comparatively heavy-set drum like this needed a suitable lining that ultimately hinted in the direction of the horizon and the wider skyline. He consequently elected this artistic final touch.
The "heads" (a striking element that made Nieuwenkamp and others speak of "the drum with the heads") have conspicuous round, staring eyes, pointed noses (damaged), and earlobes distended by disk-shaped ornaments. Similar heads, albeit highly simplified, are found on the Manuaba mold, and on certain apparently old mokos (to be discussed later). The other examples of the "classic" Pejeng type probably had similar decorations, but without further information we cannot be sure. There may be a connection between the heads and the decoration of musical 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.
