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.