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Motifs and Themes
There are as many carving styles as there are carvers. Because the Balinese believe constant maintenance of their stone temples is a moral obligation, stone sculpture survives today as the only Balinese art with a religious function. Stone statuary was never intended as holy objects of worship, but rather was looked upon as pure embellishment or dwelling-places for invisible spirits invited down from heaven. Stone figures (pratimas) often portray religious personages-best described as 'pictures in stone'. One seldom sees stone representations of such deities as Vishnu, Shiva, or Sang Hyang Widhi. Demons, raksasa, giants, and evil spirits are the preferred subject matter. In the Pura Dalem (Temple of Death), the witch-queen Rangda is often enshrined, immobile and threatening, in her own niche. Numerous steadfast rules must be followed when carving the final decoration for a temple. Over the entrance must always hang the face of a coarse, leering monster (Kala or Bhoma) with wicked lolling tongue, splayed hands, tusk-like teeth, and the lower jaws missing. It prevents evil characters from slipping into the sacred grounds. Two guardian demons almost always flank the steps to the gateway or stand guard to either side (as they do at both ends of Balinese bridges) as well. Esoteric religious symbols and grotesque mythological creatures such as one-eyed birds and heads of elephants glare out from temple friezes or adorn temple corners in mass profusion. All around the base run carved borders (patra), frame panels portraying in stone scenes from Balinese literature: animal heroes from the Tantri tales, episodes from Arjuna Wiwaha in which heavenly nymphs attempt to seduce Arjuna while he's meditating, battle scenes from the Hindu epic poems, a pop-eye above upper canine teeth, magic birds, snorting devils, twisting serpents, and a host of other supernatural, fanciful creatures. Besides the profusion of carved vines, leaves, and tendrils which entwine the temple, many other symbols and mythical characters populate the confines, peering out from moss-covered walls. The padmasana (lotus seat) is a small stone pillar resting on an image of a turtle and crowned with an empty stone throne. Found in temples all over Bali, the padmasana represents the entire cosmos. Swastikas adorn walls, and the lotus, the symbolic flower of the Hindu cosmos, is seen in the most common motifs. You will also spy, if you look closely enough, erotic, pornographic scenes of earthly, sensual pleasures. The master sculptors know all the themes and variations of these stone designs by heart, or as the Balinese say, 'in the belly'. |
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