Ubud and the prevailing influence of the Royal Palace

Ubud and the prevailing influence of the Royal Palace

I Made Jagra, Contributor/Ubud

For years Ubud, "the global and multicultural" village that lies
some 30 kilometers northeast of the island's capital of Denpasar,
has been lauded as Bali's finest example of a culture-based
tourist destination.

The popular image of Ubud is of a tranquil town that has been
able to preserve its unique and rich natural and cultural
legacies. Ubud has grown into a special destination for visitors
who come to the island looking for cultural and spiritual
enlightenment rather than nightlife.

For many Ubudians and world visitors alike, tourism in Ubud is
a harmonious mixture of art, tradition, spiritual and religious
endeavors. The beginnings of cultural tourism have been strongly
linked to the influential Ubud royal families of Puri Ubud.

When the island of Bali entered its tourism boom in the early
1970s, Ubud was careful not to adopt the consumer- and
investment-oriented tourism policies mostly adopted by other
areas.

The family of Puri Ubud actively promoted Ubud to
international visitors, state leaders, writers and artists, while
at the same time working hard to prevent the village from growing
into a tourist hub by enforcing regulations that allowed no
large-scale developments and other measures.

The traditional Balinese social pattern linking rulers and
citizens was strongly adhered to by the palace, and the
relationship between the royals and commoners remains close and
harmonious.

According to Dr. Graeme MacRae, a prominent researcher of
social anthropology from Massey University in Auckland, New
Zealand, Puri Ubud has been transformed into a "new, rich and
visionary kingdom."

The palace, MacRae said at a recent discussion at the
University of Udayana, rejuvenated its properties and retained
its power through "widespread and wise" tourist-related
activities.

The Puri had also successfully rebuilt its influence not
through its use of any military, political or economic power but
by using "social, cultural and religious means of
communications," the researcher noted.

Since the early l990s, Puri Ubud has been involved in a
variety of renovation projects of religious establishments
including village temples and family shrines or pelinggih.

The palace also helped refurbish and repair numerous
ceremonial objects including barong (mythical dragon-like
figures) and gamelan instruments.

The generosity of the palace is not limited to the villages
and temples of the Ubud area. It also helps out other villages
within Gianyar regency and even several Hindu temples in East
Java.

These generous actions have played a pivotal role in retaining
and expanding the palace's realm of influence and have arguably
transformed it into the strongest royal house on the island of
Bali, while the other royal houses are struggling to survive.

It is no wonder that when Puri Ubud holds a ceremony
thousands of people from the villages of Gianyar lend a hand.

The association between the palace and the Ubud people has
been extremely close."A mutually beneficial relationship," MacRae
noted.

Patrons

"The noble families are considered the main patrons and role
models for the people of Ubud," MacRae said.

One example was the royal cremation ceremony of Princess
Tjokorda Istri Muter, the mother of Tjokorda Agung Suyasa of Puri
Ubud, held in July last year. Thousands of people made donations
amounting to billions of rupiah and free labor to make the
ceremony a success.

"We did not spend too much money on the cremation. We were
grateful to receive assistance from a good many people," said
Tjokorda Ardana Sukawati, who is widely known as Tjok Atje.

This cooperation, Mac Rae explained, is part of the typical
subject-ruler relationship in a traditional political system,
which was common across the Southeast Asian region.

"The rulers help the little people but they also feel they
have the right to use them as a workforce," he added.

Tjok Atje, however, said that the family of Puri Ubud had been
trying hard to retain this positive relationship, while denying
they wanted to preserve feudalism.

Noted historian Nyoman Wijaya said the Puri Ubud, particularly
in the l9th Century, was much respected.

During that century, the Gianyar Kingdom was defeated by the
Klungkung kingdom and the King of Gianyar was imprisoned at Puri
Satria. Tjokorda Gede Sukawati of Puri Ubud succeeded in
defeating Klungkung and released the king.

For his great accomplishment, the King of Gianyar granted
Sukawati a plot of land in Ubud and gave him the authority and
means to rule. "Sukawati was one of Bali's richest nobles of that
period," the historian said.

Sukawati and the families of Puri Ubud were considered
progressive. They were open to modern influences and
globalization (at that time)," Wijaya said.

Many of their children were later involved in the national
struggle for independence against the Dutch.

The appointment of Tjokorda Raka Sukawati as the president of
East Indonesia State (NTT) in l946 marked the growing power of
Puri Ubud in the political landscape of post-colonial
Indonesia.

"Tjokorda Raka Sukawati was also an avid patron of the arts.
He was the one who first invited foreign artists and tourists to
Ubud," Wijaya said.

Those artists -- Rudolf Bonnet and Walter Spies being the most
prominent -- played a significant role in modernizing and
promoting Balinese traditional arts.

Puri Ubud has continued to help retain and reinforce the image
of Ubud as the cultural center of the island and has proved to be
a committed guardian of its precious cultural heritage.