Fig. 22 I Nyoman Mandra, Kamasan, The Death of Bhisma, 1990, paint with gold leaf on bark cloth, 56 x 70 cm, artist’s collection (photo Gustra).
Fig. 23 Gianyar? Arjuna’s Temptation and Fight with Siwa Disguised as a Hunter, before 1938, paint on cotton, 77 x 193 cm, collected by Colin McPhee, courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 70.2/1124.
Mandra’s painting of this scene shows the Korawa kneeling on the right and the Pandawa on the left, making gestures of homage with hands clasped together (sembah). Arjuna fires an arrow that creates a spring to give water to the sage, while two priests appear in the sky. Kresna stands behind Arjuna, and the eldest Pandawa, Yudhistira, kneels between them. Below him, from left to right, are the clown servants, Merdah and Twalen, with the Pandawa twins, Nakula and Sadewa (Bima is missing from the brothers). The lead Korawa, from left to right (beginning with the top row next to Bhisma), are Duryodana, Karna and Drussasana, with, in the bottom row, the two servants of the opposing side, Delem and Sangut, flanking two other Korawa. This painting shows a great moment of tragedy and spiritual meaning. Arjuna, urged on by Kresna, knows that the killing of his teacher is necessary to fulfil the fate of the Pandawa. It is an ordained moment of destiny, but no less personally felt.
A particularly moving scene after the death of Bhisma is of the death of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, who is trapped at one stage of the battle after saving his uncle, Yudhistira (Fig. 24). The leading Korawa warriors surround Abhimanyu and shoot him with 100 arrows until he dies. For this, Arjuna vows to take revenge.
After Abhimanyu’s death, Siwa appears to Arjuna and Kresna. In a fine nineteenth-century painting, Arjuna and Kresna kneel before Siwa (left), then go to tell their brothers that Siwa has prophesized the death of Jayadratha, the Korawa general (Fig. 25). Abhimanyu’s two wives are shown below, in sorrow at his death, but the second wife, Uttari, is pregnant, so only the first wife, Siti Sundari, commits suicide on her husband’s funeral pyre (main scene). This is reported to the Korawa (right).
After different leaders of the Korawa army are all killed by the Pandawa, it is Salya’s turn to lead (Fig. 26). Salya is reluctant to fight the Pandawa, particularly because Nakula, one of the twins, is his favourite nephew. The Pandawa (bottom left-hand side of the painting) send Nakula off to meet with Salya. Nakula kneels and pays his respects to Yudhistira, with Bima standing behind him, and Dropadi, a servant, and Sadewa kneeling below them. Immediately behind Nakula stands Kresna, with Arjuna behind him, and the two servants, Twalen and Merdah, kneeling behind Nakula. In the next scene at the bottom, Nakula travels off with his servants. In the following scene, Nakula meets with Salya, who reveals to his nephew that he cannot be killed by weapons, but he can be killed by a book wielded by a king who rules according to the Law, Yudhistira.
Fig. 24 Pan Seken, Kamasan, The Death of Abhimanyu, 1930s, paint and gold leaf on cloth, 80 cm x 104 cm, tabing, Forge Collection, Australian Museum, E74174 (photo Finton Mahony).
Fig. 25 Kamasan, The Death of Siti Sundari, 19th C, paint on cloth, 71 x 216 cm, langse, Doremus Missionary donation, courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 70-1709.
Fig. 26 Mangku Mura, Kamasan, The Death of Salya, 1981, paint on cloth, 90 x 211.5 cm, langse, private collection (photo Gustra).
In the bottom right-hand corner of the painting, Salya’s wife Satyawati, knowing that her husband is doomed, wraps them both in a single sarong when they go to bed. Salya, however, cuts away the sarong in the morning so that he can go to battle.
The battle scene occupies the top part of the painting, with the Korawa forces against the Pandawa armies. Nakula, Sadewa, Arjuna and Kresna make meditative gestures, with their hands crossed, to turn Yudhistira’s book into a weapon. Bima fights with his club, slaying the demons that have been unleashed by the arrows of Salya, while Yudhistira, mounted on an elephant, shoots his book into the chest of Salya, shown on the right, who is mounted on a lion. Duryodana and the remaining Korawa leader, Sakuni, flee from Bima. In the continuation of the story, not shown in this painting, Bima kills Sakuni and Satyawati commits suicide on her husband’s funeral pyre on the battlefield. Like the suicide of Siti Sundari, this scene is one of the great tragic moments in Kamasan art.
In the final book of the Mahabharata, the Swargarohana Parwa, all the Pandawa and Korawa families have been killed in the great war. This book describes the ascent to heaven of the eldest Pandawa brother, Yudhistira, following a dog, actually his father, the god Darma, in disguise. In heaven, Yudhistira, on the left-hand side, meets the god Indra (Fig. 27).
Ramayana
The other great Hindu epic, the story of King Rama’s quest to regain his wife Sita, is one of the great themes of Balinese arts.41 Balinese are very interested in Hanoman, the monkey general who leads Rama’s forces into battle against the demon-king Rawana, and exhibits great bravery and power. Hanoman is the son of two gods, Siwa, with whom he shares a white body, and Bayu, the God of Wind. Because he is Bayu’s son, Hanoman is considered in Balinese religion to be similar to Bima in power and standing, and like Bima he is able to challenge the gods and intervene in the cosmos.
As with the Mahabharata, the Ramayana contains many stories that tell of the ancestors of the protagonists, of their births and adventures before the events of the main story. In Balinese painting, these include depictions of the story of the dynasty of Raghu, Rama’s ancestor, whose incarnations are described in the Sumanasantaka, and the Arjunawijaya, or story of Arjunasahasrabahu (not to be confused with Arjuna), a king who battles and ultimately imprisons the demon-king Rawana (Fig. 29).
Fig. 27 I Nyoman Mandra, Kamasan, Yudhistira, 1993, paint and gold leaf on cotton, 71.5 x 48.5 cm, Gunarsa Museum, USA (photo Gustra).
Fig. 28 Mangku Mura, Kamasan, Sutasoma’s Sacrifice to the Naga (detail), 1973, paint on cloth, 67 x 87 cm, Forge Collection, Australian Museum, E74182 (photo Finton Mahony).
A different depiction of sacrifice is presented in paintings of the Sutasoma story. Originally derived from Indian stories of the previous lives of the Buddha, in Bali it has been incorporated into the tales of the priestly figures who precede the main Ramayana.42 Sutasoma is an incarnation of the Buddha, known as Bhatara, God, Boda (or Jina) in Bali, but he is also a relative of Rawana. Sutasoma is not the usual fighting hero, but instead offers peace in the face of his enemies. As he wanders through the forest he meets two beings fighting, an elephant-headed man, Gajahwaktra, and a serpent. He ends their quarrel and makes both his followers. Further on he encounters a tigress who is so hungry she is about to eat her cub. To prevent this great sin, Sutasoma offers himself as her food, but he is brought back to life by the god Sakra. At the climax of the story, Sutasoma confronts the world-threatening cannibal king Purusada, who has been taken over by Rudra, the destructive form of Siwa. Rudra attempts to destroy Sutasoma by turning into a giant dragon and eating him, but Sutasoma’s power is such that he can passively resist this assault, thus releasing Purusada from Rudra’s power.
The main scene of the dragon or giant naga attempting to
