PANDAWA BEACH
Pandawa Beach (or Pandava Beach) is located at Badung - South Kuta tourist region and one of the many beaches in Bali. In the past, this beach is well known to be one of the regions secret beaches because of the location behind a mountainous area that secluded its location to the unknown. Pandawa beach is surrounded by two cliffs with one of them, carved into the cliff face the statues of the Pandavas and the Kunti goddess. The six statues from top to bottom are Kunti, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva.
The beach is well known as a tourist attraction and its water sport use but it is also known as a seaweed algaculture farm. It has a shallow long beach face that is suitable for farming seaweed by the locals. Water sports are also a favorite pass time for tourist at the beach. Surfing is not ideal at the beach although many other sports are known to be favored like beach volley, jet skiing, and paragliding from Timbis cliff to the beach.
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OGOH OGOH STATUE "KALA RAU & DEWI RATIH"
NAME IS 'KALA RAU & DEWI RATIH"
Dewi Ratih, also known as Sang Hyang Ratih or Sang Hyang Semara Ratih, is a Hindu lunar goddess worshipped in Java and Bali. She is well known for her beauty and grace, thus she was also known as the Goddess of Beauty. Her myth is linked to lunar eclipses.
Lunar eclipses
Due to Dewi Ratih rejecting him, Kala Rau the giant planned to attack Vishnuloka. When Kala Rau reached heaven on the form of Kuwera, a leading rakshasa who served the Gods, Ratih warned Vishnu that Kuwera was actually Kala Rau. Vishnu beheaded Kala Rau without knowing he had consumed the tirta amerta, a drink of gods that could make him immortal.
Because only his throat touched the tirta amerta, Kala Rau survived with his floating head. When the Moon came, Kala Rau would chase the goddess, and swallow Dewi Ratih in whole. But because he does not have his body, Dewi Ratih would soon emerge from his neck. In Bali and Java, this story is believed to be the origin of lunar eclipses.[1]
Ceremony
In Bali, a ceremony is held every purnama, or full moon, to celebrate the beauty of the Moon. This ceremony also honours Chandra, another lunar god.
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BALI ISLAND 8K
Bali (/ˈbɑːli/; Balinese: ᬩᬮᬶ) 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 offshore islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan to the southeast. The provincial capital, Denpasar,[9] is the most populous city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second-largest, after Makassar, in Eastern Indonesia. The upland town of Ubud in Greater Denpasar is considered Bali's cultural centre. The province is Indonesia's main tourist destination, with a significant rise in tourism since the 1980s.[10] Tourism-related business makes up 80% of its economy.[11]
Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in Indonesia, with 86.9% of the population adhering to Balinese Hinduism.[3] It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali. Other international events that have been held in Bali include Miss World 2013, the 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group and the 2022 G20 summit. In March 2017, TripAdvisor named Bali as the world's top destination in its Traveller's Choice award, which it also earned in January 2021.[12][13]
Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species, especially fish and turtles.[14] In this area alone, over 500 reef-building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about seven times as many as in the entire Caribbean.[15] Bali is the home of the Subak irrigation system, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[16] It is also home to a unified confederation of kingdoms composed of 10 traditional royal Balinese houses, each house ruling a specific geographic area. The confederation is the successor of the Bali Kingdom. The royal houses are not recognised by the government of Indonesia; however, they originated before Dutch colonisation.[17]
Ancient
Subak irrigation system
Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from the island of Taiwan to Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia.[18][19] Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Oceania.[19] Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.[20][21]
In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, the Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Vaishnava, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya. Each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead.[22]
Inscriptions from 896 and 911 do not mention a king, until 914, when Sri Kesarivarma is mentioned. They also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Shaivism were practised simultaneously. Mpu Sindok's great-granddaughter, Mahendradatta (Gunapriyadharmapatni), married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa (Dharmodayanavarmadeva) around 989, giving birth to Airlangga around 1001. This marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Princess Sakalendukirana appeared in 1098. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150. Jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204.[23]: 129, 144, 168, 180
Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning Walidwipa. It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation. Some religious and cultural traditions still practised today can be traced to this period.
The Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The uncle of Hayam Wuruk is mentioned in the charters of 1384–86. Mass Javanese immigration to Bali occurred in the next century when the Majapahit Empire fell in 1520.[23]: 234, 240 Bali's government then became an independent collection of Hindu kingdoms which led to a Balinese national identity and major enhancements in culture, arts, and economy. The nation with various kingdoms became independent for up to 386 years until 1906 when the Dutch subjugated and repulsed the natives for economic control and took it over.[24]
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OGOH OGOH STATUE BALI CULTURE FESTIVAL
Ogoh-ogoh are statues built for the Ngrupuk parade, which takes place on the eve of Nyepi day in Bali, Indonesia. Ogoh-ogoh normally take the form of mythological beings, mostly demons. As with many creative endeavours based on Balinese Hinduism, the creation of Ogoh-ogoh represents spiritual aims inspired by Hindu philosophy.[1][2]
The main purpose of the making of Ogoh-ogoh is the purification of the natural environment of any spiritual pollutants emitted from the activities of living beings (especially humans). The forms of Ogoh-ogoh represent the Bhuta-Kala (Bhuta: eternal energy, Kala: eternal time), according to Hindu teachings. The imperceptible potentials of nature cannot be thoroughly explored by anyone. Philosophically, civilized men are required to manage the natural resources without damaging the environment itself.
Aside from being the symbol of Bhuta-Kala, Ogoh-ogoh is considered a symbol of modes of nature that form the malicious characters of living beings. Each village usually builds one Ogoh-ogoh mainly built by each village's Seka Truna Truni (Balinese village's youth organization), but often some smaller ogoh-ogoh also built by groups of children around the village. Some artists also usually build one. After being paraded on a convoy around the town, finally it is burnt to ashes in a cemetery as a symbol of self-purification.
An Ogoh-ogoh is normally standing on a pad built of timber planks and bamboos. The pad is designed to sustain the Ogoh-ogoh while it is being lifted and carried around the village or the town square. There are normally eight or more men carrying the Ogoh-ogoh on their shoulders. This procession is accompanied by orchestral music performed by the youth. The use of flares is also a main part of the parade.
During the procession, the Ogoh-ogoh is rotated counter-clockwise three times. This act is done at every T-junction and crossroad of the village. Rotating the effigies during the cremational parade and the eve of Nyepi represents the contact of the bodies with the spirits. It is intended to bewilder the evil spirits so that they go away and cease harming human beings.
The event culminates with the burning of the Ogoh-Ogoh as a symbol of purification, ready for the new year.
The Ogoh-ogoh is a very recent addition to the Nyepi ceremonies, first appearing in Denpasar in the early 1980s. At that time, they were carefully monitored for any criticism of the Suharto regime.
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