Conservative Balinese, fond of
the classic literature in the fine old language, like to watch
archaic dramas with long dialogues in Kawi and with a great deal
of singing. There are various styles of classic plays, each with
its own technique, and with special stories and costumes. For
instance, episodes from the Ramayana are played only in wayang
wong style (perhaps a development from the shadow-plays) in which
masked actors in elaborate costumes enact the struggle between
Rama and Rawana, while the rowdy monkeys play tricks on each other
and the clowns Twalen and Delam provide hilarious comedy. The
music of the wayang wong is, like that for the shadow-plays, mellow
and delicate, played by the same genders augmented by drums and
gongs to provide dramatic accents. The human wayang is not, however,
as popular today as the shadow wayang and is rarely played.
The romantic and heroit adventures of Pandji, the native Ardjuna,
the dashing young prince of the Malat stories, are played in the
gambuh, the ancestor of the Balinese opera. The gambuh is played
by middle aged actors who represent kings and prime ministers,
singing and chanting long Kawi recitatives to the accompaniment
of great bamboo flutes or a two stringed violin, and drums and
cymbals. The style of singing gambuh is curiously dissonant and
archaic, with great contrasts of deep voices mingled with high
falsettos, whines, and loud cries that grow into a jumbled chorus
at the exciting moments of the play. There are other classic plays,
more or less in the style of the gambuh, but with their own stories,
such as the tantri, tjupak, and so forth.
A great favourite is the famous Ardiuna Wiwaha, one of the Kawi
classics, a masterpiece of romantic poetry, but when played in
the baris pendet, it becomes a mixture of love story and roughouse.
The favourite episode of the Balinese is the one in which Ardjuna,
in deep meditation on a mountain top, seeks to obtain a divine
weapon with which to vanquish the demon Deyta Wata Kewatja, who
has insulted the gods by demanding that the most beautiful dedari,
the nymph Supraba., be given to him in marriage. The long penance
of Ardjuna worries the gods, who decide to send the most beautiful
dedari to bring him out of his abstraction so that be may help
them to make war against the demon. The nymphs find him in a deep
trance and all immediately fall in love with him. They display
their charms and employ every artifice to attract his attention,
but they cannot break his penance.
In the play the main baris dancer sits with closed eyes and bands
clasped in an attitude of prayer while his patih and Kertalah
make poor attempts at meditation. Two beautiful girls appear;
they are Supraba and Tilotama, the nymphs, who dance in front
of him, embracing and kassing Ardjunia, who remains unmoved, while
the clowns appear indignant at his indifference. The dedari go
away broken-bearted, when suddenly a bloodcurdling roar is beard
off-stage. The clowns are paralysed with fear. A monster with
the head of a wild pig leaps into the arena.
He is Mang Mang Murka, the patih of Detya Wata Kewatia. Ardjuna
shows signs of coming to life as the clowns run madly about trying
to find a place to hide and getting caught unexpectedly in the
path of the monster. Ardjuna wakes, takes his magic bow, and kills
the hog with a symbolical arrow given him by the gods.
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