Gianyar regency stepping out in style

Gianyar regency stepping out in style

Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Canberra

Friends visiting eastern Bali have often asked me if Klungkung
is really the cultural and historical center of the island. This
curiosity apparently has been ignited, and then further fueled,
by the many Balinese these friends meet who voice this opinion.

It is a fact that if you hear something often enough,
especially from different people, you will begin to believe it.
Maybe this is one reason why so many good things slip past
relatively unnoticed when not enough fuss has been made about
them.

While visitors to Bali know Gianyar township because it is
often on the way to Ubud from the south or the east, they do not
necessarily notice that it is bigger than Ubud -- Ubud being
well-known as a center of art and culture on the island. And many
are unaware that the township is only the administrative center
of Gianyar Regency. The regency itself encompasses places equally
well-known to visitors, such as Tampak Siring, Payangan, Celuk,
Mas and Batubulan and of course, Ubud.

In Bali guidebooks, Gianyar is hardly ever mentioned as a
regency, and is given mostly a couple of paragraphs or a column
at most.

In this era of regional autonomy, it becomes the
responsibility of each regency to promote itself. And Gianyar, a
area endowed with physical beauty and rich in potential, is now
stepping out and introducing itself to the rest of the world.
Collaborating with Yayasan Dharma Bhakti Astra, the regency is
organizing the Gianyar Festival at the Astra Gallery in Kemang,
South Jakarta from April 26 to April 30, to coincide with its
234th anniversary.

Why however, have many visitors not come across good stories
of Gianyar like they have of neighboring Klungkung?

A Balinese acquaintance offered me an interesting, and unusual
historical explanation.

It seems, from what he said, that the Balinese are a little
ashamed of Gianyar, because, in their eyes it is a particularly
unheroic place, a black spot on a map glorious with the history
of war.

Most Balinese are proud of their culture of puputan, a code of
chivalry that required nobles to fight to the death and commit
suicide if they were defeated or their reputation tarnished.

The first modern puputan arguably took place in Mataram in
1894, when the then Lombok king, Agung Gede Ngurah Karangasem,
surrendered to the Dutch. His nephew, Anak Agung Nengah, full of
grief over his family's subjugation to a foreign power, died a
hero by bravely charging into enemy fire.

Other acts of puputan documented and later copiously
dramatized, are the defiant suicides of the kings of Buleleng,
Badung and Klungkung. In Klungkung this puputan is immortalized
by what is left from the conflict of 1908: a door, a water
pavilion and the Hall of Justice -- after the rest of the royal
palace was destroyed by the Dutch. These ruins further remind the
Balinese their of their bravery.

In contrast to this bravery, the two regencies flanking
Klungkung; Gianyar and Karangasem; chose to surrender to the
Dutch, and each of these kingdoms had earlier sought assistance
from the Dutch after having been considerably weakened by a
series of wars with the kingdoms of Badung, Bangli and Klungkung.

In a book commemorating the 233rd anniversary of Gianyar, it
is recorded that in 1900, after years of hardships brought on by
continuous wars, Ida I Dewa Gde Raka, then king of Gianyar,
requested that the kingdom be incorporated into the Dutch
administration, following the example of Karangasem, where life
had returned to its original peace and prosperity.

But while one reason the Balinese do not promote Gianyar may
be pride, more than a century after its surrender to the Dutch
the area has developed into a vibrant and prosperous regency.
Perhaps, many Balinese think it is so well-known it is not worth
mentioning. The region is burgeoning with art and crafts; Ubud
holds art festivals and literary seminars almost non-stop, while
Celuk and Mas have always been known as centers for gold and
silver jewelry. Other cottage industries dot the regency, often
now exporting successfuly to Europe and North America.

With more sophisticated and focused promotion, the regency's
products will be more accessible to a wider public.

During the five-day festival, sponsored by Femina and Dewi
magazines, along with Astra Gallery, many of these qualities will
be put on display for the public to see and savor. There will be
exhibitions displaying a range of styles of paintings from
classical to modern Balinese art, a vast array of crafts covering
houseware, glass-work, garments and lacework. Visitors and guests
will be entertained by dance performances from Skaa Smara Ratih
of Ubud. On the fourth day, an exhibition of silver jewelry by
Suarti will be a special feature.

The festival is expected to sell Gianyar as the heart of Bali,
which it hopes to be some day.