0:00:02 > 0:00:05BBC Four Collections - specially chosen programmes
0:00:05 > 0:00:06from the BBC archive.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09For this collection, Sir David Attenborough
0:00:09 > 0:00:12has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22MUSIC PLAYS
0:00:26 > 0:00:30These children are in deep trance.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32Their bodies are no longer under their control.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34They have been taken over
0:00:34 > 0:00:38and are inhabited by unearthly spirits.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40This is the island of Bali.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06When the Balinese are in trance,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09they perform acts that they couldn't repeat without pain
0:01:09 > 0:01:12or indeed repeat at all in a normal state,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16and the ability to communicate with the gods through trance
0:01:16 > 0:01:19lies at the heart of Balinese religion.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32PEOPLE CHATTER
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Officially, Bali is a Hindu country
0:01:35 > 0:01:37and, like all Hindus,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39the Balinese cremate their dead.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44But, being Bali, they do so with dramatic displays of great splendour.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48The corpses are brought to the cremation ground
0:01:48 > 0:01:49in this magnificent tower.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Then they are transferred to a coffin in the shape of a black bull.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56CHATTER AND PRAYING
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Because the cremation rituals are so complex,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07and demand so many offerings,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09they cost a great deal of money.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Often a man's body may have to lie in a shallow grave for years
0:02:13 > 0:02:16before his family can finally save up enough
0:02:16 > 0:02:20to provide him with the rich ceremonial that he deserves.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23A cremation, therefore, is not an occasion for grief
0:02:23 > 0:02:24but a time for gaiety,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27to celebrate the successful accomplishment
0:02:27 > 0:02:29of a man's most sacred duty.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31MUSIC PLAYS
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Now, at last, the spirits of the dead are being liberated
0:02:43 > 0:02:45from their earthly bodies
0:02:45 > 0:02:47to ascend to a higher world,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50where they will dwell until they are reincarnated
0:02:50 > 0:02:52once more as better beings.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55MUSIC PLAYS
0:03:02 > 0:03:06500 years ago, the whole of Java and Bali was Hindu.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08But during the 16th century,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Mohammedan fanatics began to invade Java.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Slowly they fought their way eastwards,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16converting some princes, driving others before them.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20When they reached the eastern tip of Java, they stopped,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24and allowed the surviving Hindu rajahs and their courts to escape
0:03:24 > 0:03:27across the narrow strait to Bali.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Here they found sanctuary
0:03:29 > 0:03:34and here there still stand statues of Ganesha, the Hindu elephant god,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38in an island that has never seen an elephant.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45The Javanese rajahs brought to Bali much else beside their religion,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49for with them into exile travelled their court musicians
0:03:49 > 0:03:50and their artists.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53As a result, Bali became the sanctuary
0:03:53 > 0:03:57for the cream, the distillation, of what was at the time
0:03:57 > 0:04:01the most sophisticated culture in the whole of Southeast Asia.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05And here it has not merely survived, it has burgeoned gloriously.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08MUSIC PLAYS
0:04:42 > 0:04:46This is the legong, perhaps the most famous of Bali's dances.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48It tells the story of a Javanese king
0:04:48 > 0:04:51who kidnaps a princess from a rival's kingdom
0:04:51 > 0:04:53and is eventually killed in battle.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56The dancer on the right portrays a court attendant,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00but it seems strange indeed that the king and his princess
0:05:00 > 0:05:04should be played by two doll-like children dancing in perfect unison
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and children, moreover, who are forbidden to dance the legong
0:05:07 > 0:05:10when they become tainted by adolescence.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13The official story may be Javanese.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17It seems possible that the dance has origins in Bali itself
0:05:17 > 0:05:19and meanings that lie much deeper
0:05:19 > 0:05:22than a relatively trivial tale of foreign chivalry.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28To search for those origins,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31you must go into the mountains of central Bali,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34where many of the island's most ancient beliefs
0:05:34 > 0:05:36and rituals still survive,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40beliefs that hark back to a time long before the arrival
0:05:40 > 0:05:42of the Hindu refugees.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50MURMURING
0:05:54 > 0:05:58This village priest is holding two wooden dolls.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01As he prays, he smokes them with incense
0:06:01 > 0:06:05in just the same way as he would smoke real dancers
0:06:05 > 0:06:08in order to send them into a trance.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12On either side of him sit two young girls,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15lavishly dressed, with whitened, impassive faces,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18girls who have been specially selected by the priest
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and the villagers for this particular ceremonial.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24SINGING AND CHANTING
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Once again, the priest prays,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39calling to the spirits to come down and visit the village.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Once more, he smokes the dolls.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06They begin to vibrate,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09just as a human being vibrates when he's on the verge of a trance.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12SINGING AND CHANTING
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Now the children hold the sticks that animate the puppets
0:07:51 > 0:07:53and the people sing to the gods,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57entreating them to come down and animate the bodies of the girls,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00just as the girls are animating the puppets.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Slowly, the children's eyes fall shut.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12Slowly, they drift into trance.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15SINGING AND CHANTING
0:08:21 > 0:08:26"Sanghyang, heavenly spirits, come down," the women implore.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28SINGING AND CHANTING
0:09:12 > 0:09:14SINGING STOPS
0:09:17 > 0:09:20And now the girls are in trance.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Now the sanghyang, the spirits, are inhabiting their bodies.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Their eyes will remain closed until the trance is over.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30They see no-one, they speak to no-one,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33except when, on a rare occasion,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37they may communicate secretly to each other in a whisper.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39LOW CHATTER
0:09:45 > 0:09:47More offerings must be made.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51The villagers now address the children as Ratu, "Your Highness",
0:09:51 > 0:09:53as befits a goddess.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58The children themselves are acquiring new characters.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00They may become petulant and arrogant
0:10:00 > 0:10:03and quite unlike their normal selves.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05LOW CHATTER
0:10:15 > 0:10:18This ritual of the sanghyang dalang, the puppet spirits,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20sanctifies the village.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22In times of pestilence, when disease threatens,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26the children may be called upon to perform every night for weeks.
0:10:26 > 0:10:27They must be children,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30for the heavenly spirits wish to inhabit pure bodies
0:10:30 > 0:10:32uncorrupted by adolescence.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34SINGING AND CHANTING
0:10:34 > 0:10:38And they must dance like puppets, impassively and in unison,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41for they're portraying the puppets of the gods,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43and so the very characteristics
0:10:43 > 0:10:46that seemed so meaningless and mystifying in the legong
0:10:46 > 0:10:48here seem perfectly logical.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53What more likely, then, that this is the origin of the legong,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and that the Javanese princes 400 years ago,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58anxious to recreate the sophisticated splendour
0:10:58 > 0:11:01of their court in Balinese exile,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04took the child trance dancers of the villages
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and used them to recreate a pantomime of their court legends?
0:11:08 > 0:11:10But the sanghyang dalang dancers,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13though they by now have been excelled in technique
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and sophistication by the legong dancers of the lowlands,
0:11:16 > 0:11:21can in their trance perform feats which no legong dancer can emulate.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24MUSIC PAUSES
0:11:32 > 0:11:34CHATTER
0:11:39 > 0:11:41MUSIC PLAYS
0:11:50 > 0:11:52With no support from the hands of the men
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and with their eyes still firmly shut,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57they continue to dance.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00MUSIC PLAYS
0:13:07 > 0:13:09MUSIC PAUSES
0:13:09 > 0:13:12And now the women chant.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16"They quickly come the nymphs," they say. "Two together they dance,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19"like lilies with pollen in the centre,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21"blown by the wind and swaying.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23"The water lily seeks the Sandat flower.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28"They fall, and as they fall, the heavenly nymphs bend over backwards."
0:13:28 > 0:13:31SINGING AND CHANTING
0:13:34 > 0:13:36MUSIC PAUSES
0:13:36 > 0:13:40LOW CHATTER
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Before the gods release the children from their trance,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55they must perform one more act.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57They must walk barefooted
0:13:57 > 0:14:01through the embers of a fire made from coconut husks.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03MUSIC PLAYS
0:15:09 > 0:15:11MUSIC PAUSES
0:15:20 > 0:15:22The main ceremony is over,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25but the goddesses have not yet departed.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27The children are still in the grip of trance.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30LOW CHATTER
0:15:34 > 0:15:36COUGHS
0:15:38 > 0:15:41CHANTING AND SINGING
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Once more the priest must pray,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51this time to bring the girls out of their trance.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53SINGING AND CHANTING
0:15:58 > 0:16:02With a flower, he sprinkles them with holy water.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05The women pray, giving thanks.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55The gods are leaving them.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58The trance is over.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Once more, they are little girls.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Once more, they have demonstrated that the gods are all around,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08invisible but in direct communication with the people.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10The priest who gives them absolution
0:17:10 > 0:17:12is officially a Hindu priest.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14But the rites over which he presides
0:17:14 > 0:17:19have probably existed in Bali since long before Hinduism arrived.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25This ancient religion of the island seems to have been an animistic one,
0:17:25 > 0:17:30a belief that all things in creation have individual spirits,
0:17:30 > 0:17:31and since this is so,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34it follows that wherever nature manifests itself
0:17:34 > 0:17:37in a specially prodigal or spectacular fashion,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40then there must be a specially holy place.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42SQUEAKS
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Monkeys are rare in Bali.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48In this forest alone do they exist in large numbers.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53In this forest, therefore, shrines have been built to celebrate them,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and to give thanks to the spirits of nature.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Here, it's an act of piety to bring food to the monkeys.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01MONKEYS COO AND SQUEAK
0:18:10 > 0:18:13In a cave on the east coast of the island, there stands a shrine
0:18:13 > 0:18:17in homage of an even more spectacular concentration
0:18:17 > 0:18:19of animal life - bats.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23They hang in millions from the roof.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27The air in the cave is fetid and unbearably stifling
0:18:27 > 0:18:30with the accumulated heat of a million bodies.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33As the guardian priestess prays,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38a steady hail of lice and droppings falls to the floor of the cave,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41where it's fed upon voraciously
0:18:41 > 0:18:44by a glistening carpet of giant cockroaches.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46INSECTS BUZZ
0:18:52 > 0:18:54On the rocks at the back lives a python,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58which feeds on the dead bats that fall from the roof.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01A hideous place, maybe, to many eyes.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02To the Balinese,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05an unquestionable demonstration of the fecundity of nature
0:19:05 > 0:19:07and therefore of its holiness.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09INSECTS BUZZ
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Since animals have spirits,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18those spirits may as well possess the bodies of a man
0:19:18 > 0:19:21as may the spirit of a goddess.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Even the spirit of the most ordinary creatures may do such a thing.
0:19:26 > 0:19:32This man is about to become possessed by the spirit of a pig.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Only in the remote mountain villages
0:19:34 > 0:19:37do these animal possessions take place.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39The people themselves can't explain
0:19:39 > 0:19:41why these strange ceremonies are held,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43yet the men of certain families
0:19:43 > 0:19:47habitually and deliberately go into trance to become pigs,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and become possessed to such a degree
0:19:50 > 0:19:53that unless they're cared for they may injure themselves.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57The process of going into trance is achieved again
0:19:57 > 0:19:59by being smoked with incense.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04These occasions are watched with pleasure by everybody in the village.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07These people are familiar with the supernatural.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10It's entertainment, sometimes even comedy.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12SINGING AND CHANTING
0:20:38 > 0:20:41SCATTERED LAUGHTER
0:20:46 > 0:20:48This is no play-acting.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53One night, a man entranced as a pig broke through the cordon of villagers
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and escaped into the surrounding rice fields.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59In the darkness of the night, no-one could catch him.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02The next morning, he was discovered in a mud wallow.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04He was ill for days afterwards,
0:21:04 > 0:21:10for in his pig incarnation he had eaten dung, as pigs will.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12SINGING AND CHATTER
0:21:21 > 0:21:24The villagers taunt and jeer at the entranced dancers.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28They jostle them just as they would jostle a pig.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29To an outsider,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31this seems no more than some extraordinary game,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33some pantomime stunt.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34It seems so, that is,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38until the moment comes to bring the men out of their trance,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41for a man possessed has superhuman strength.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43He must be captured to be exorcised,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47and he cannot be captured except in the most violent way.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50SHOUTS
0:23:42 > 0:23:44He remembers little of what happened,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47the song the women sang to him little more.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51But he knows that he's experienced something vaguely delicious
0:23:51 > 0:23:54and he feels exhausted to his very soul.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Each village may specialise in a particular kind of trance.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Near the village of the pig trance there's another,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10where men are habitually possessed by the spirits of horses.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Drawn by the light of specially lit fires,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16they come careering out of the blackness of the night,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20kicking the hot ashes with their feet and whinnying.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22SINGING AND CHANTING
0:24:23 > 0:24:25SHOUTS
0:24:28 > 0:24:30SINGING AND CHANTING
0:24:34 > 0:24:37SHOUTS
0:24:37 > 0:24:39LOUD CRIES
0:24:40 > 0:24:44It's not only the spirits of animals which may possess a man.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Objects have spirits and even they may do so.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49SINGING AND CHANTING
0:24:49 > 0:24:52This man is about to become entranced
0:24:52 > 0:24:54by the spirit of the lid of a pot,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58represented by the wooden disk tied to his hand.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00CLAPPING AND CHANTING
0:25:26 > 0:25:28This is comedy,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30for the spirit of a pot lid
0:25:30 > 0:25:33will obviously wish to place itself upon any flat surface,
0:25:33 > 0:25:38and being a trance spirit, it will do so with the greatest vigour.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41CHANTING AND SINGING
0:25:47 > 0:25:50LAUGHTER
0:25:51 > 0:25:54The villagers shriek with laughter
0:25:54 > 0:25:56and yet beneath it all lies the knowledge
0:25:56 > 0:26:01that the man entranced is uncontrollable and irrational,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03that he may become violent,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06that none can tell for sure how he will behave
0:26:06 > 0:26:09and that to bring him back to normality
0:26:09 > 0:26:11will need the strength of many men.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13RAISED VOICES
0:26:42 > 0:26:44LOUD CHATTER
0:26:54 > 0:26:59The fact that all things, animate and inanimate, have spirits,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03means that every natural phenomenon must be watched, considered,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05and, where appropriate, reverenced.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Bali is a volcanic island and, as so often on the slopes of volcanoes,
0:27:10 > 0:27:14warm springs gush from the ground in miraculous fashion.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18These are the most spectacular of them, at Tampaksiring.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22The Balinese are by nature and habit fastidious people,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26who bathe several times a day, anyway, if they can.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29But they travel the whole length of their island, 100 miles or so,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32to bathe in these sacred pools.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35This place was once the battleground of the gods.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Not far away, a great demon was killed,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and to this day the water that bubbles up there
0:27:40 > 0:27:43may not be used to irrigate rice fields,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47because, if it were, the rice stems when cut would exude blood,
0:27:47 > 0:27:48they said.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53But these springs were specifically created by the great god Indra
0:27:53 > 0:27:56as a source of the elixir of immortality
0:27:56 > 0:28:01with which he was able to revive other gods wounded in that battle.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04It's important, therefore, as a site of pilgrimage,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and blessings given by these priests
0:28:06 > 0:28:09are particularly valuable and powerful.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Every day, whole communities arrive on foot or by truck,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16laden with offerings to place in front of the shrine.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18CHANTING AND CHATTER
0:28:25 > 0:28:28All important places in Bali have their own temples,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30but there are six which are particularly holy,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and this is one of them,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Luhur, which stands on the southernmost tip of the island
0:28:36 > 0:28:38overlooking the sea.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47Strangely, for an island people, the Balinese fear the sea.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50For them it is not a welcome source of food
0:28:50 > 0:28:52or a highway to other places.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Instead, it is the home of demons and monsters,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and the source of all that is most evil.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03The long empty beaches of black volcanic sand,
0:29:03 > 0:29:04shimmering in the heat,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08are the assembly grounds of witches and demons.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11There are few fish in the reefs round the island
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and therefore little inducement to the Balinese to become great seamen.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19As a result, when they go to sea, they do so tentatively
0:29:19 > 0:29:22and they take good care to protect themselves
0:29:22 > 0:29:25with the head of a friendly spirit, half fish, half elephant,
0:29:25 > 0:29:27in the bow of their canoe.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31Only thus can you hope to keep the sea monsters at bay.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37The sea gods must indeed be placated
0:29:37 > 0:29:41for evil spirits must be taken account of
0:29:41 > 0:29:42just as much as good ones.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44Among the thousands of ceremonials
0:29:44 > 0:29:47that are held every year in the island,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49there are many to make offerings to the sea.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52MUSIC AND CHANTING
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Often the guardian spirits of a village near the sea
0:30:08 > 0:30:10are brought down in procession
0:30:10 > 0:30:14to spend an evening on the frontiers of their kingdom.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16MUSIC PLAYS
0:30:24 > 0:30:26CHANTING AND CHATTER
0:30:40 > 0:30:42MUSIC PLAYS
0:30:44 > 0:30:47As the depths of the sea are the source of evil,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50so the source of all that is good lies on the heights,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53the summit of the great mountain Gunung Agung,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56which forms the heart and centre of the island,
0:30:56 > 0:31:01and yet, by a tragic paradox, Gunung Agung is a volcano.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Only a few years ago, the mountain exploded.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13Lava poured down its flanks
0:31:13 > 0:31:16in an irresistible and lethal flood.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19The people took flight before it,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23stunned and mystified that their god should have turned against them.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28In some way, it seemed, they must have unknowingly offended.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34The lava swept towards them, turning rivers to steam before their eyes.
0:31:43 > 0:31:48In spite of all their prayers and offerings, the eruptions continued.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Many people fled.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Many others stayed in their villages,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54believing that if they had indeed offended
0:31:54 > 0:31:57and could not atone with prayers and offerings,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59then they had better accept their fate.
0:31:59 > 0:32:012,000 died.
0:32:05 > 0:32:06MUSIC PLAYS
0:32:06 > 0:32:10But the spirits that exercise the most power over the minds
0:32:10 > 0:32:13of the Balinese are neither remote nor impersonal.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15They are, on the contrary,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18creatures that the people know intimately and personally.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23Nor are they some recently imported deities from India or anywhere else.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27But they are gods whose origin lies directly in Bali.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30They come out of their special stores in the temples
0:32:30 > 0:32:33and walk the streets in procession on the occasion
0:32:33 > 0:32:35of every temple festival,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38and the most important and friendly of them all
0:32:38 > 0:32:40is a magnificent, shaggy creature,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43the guardian of the village, the Barong.
0:32:44 > 0:32:45He it is who plays
0:32:45 > 0:32:49one of the main roles in the most spectacular temple rituals.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51MUSIC PLAYS
0:33:04 > 0:33:06The Barong takes part in a great drama
0:33:06 > 0:33:08in which he does battle
0:33:08 > 0:33:11with the hideous witch Rangda, the embodiment of evil.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14But before the main protagonists emerge from the temple,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16masked dancers perform.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19These are the Barong's attendants and supporters
0:33:19 > 0:33:21and their dance is the first act in a drama
0:33:21 > 0:33:23which may last for the rest of the afternoon
0:33:23 > 0:33:26and go on late into the night.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28MUSIC PLAYS
0:34:12 > 0:34:15The Barong awaits in his specially built store,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17oblivious of these preliminaries,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21while the gamelan orchestra plays the sacred melodies.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Most of the village is here to watch,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25for this performance is at one
0:34:25 > 0:34:29and the same time an entertainment and a drama,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31a ritual and an exorcism.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47As darkness falls, the Barong begins to dance.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49MUSIC PLAYS
0:35:17 > 0:35:20The two men inside his skin animating him
0:35:20 > 0:35:24have already to some degree been taken over by his spirit.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27But it will not be unusual if one or both of them,
0:35:27 > 0:35:29before the evening's drama is over,
0:35:29 > 0:35:33falls into a deep trance and becomes possessed.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36MUSIC AND CHATTER
0:35:53 > 0:35:55SHOUTING
0:35:57 > 0:36:01The Barong's first opponent has emerged from the temple.
0:36:01 > 0:36:02Horrifying as she may appear,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05with her goggling eyes, her appalling fangs
0:36:05 > 0:36:07and her red pendulous tongue,
0:36:07 > 0:36:12she's not Rangda the witch, but Rangda's daughter, Rarung,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and she has been sent here to try and ensnare the Barong
0:36:15 > 0:36:17with a proposal of marriage.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20The white cloth she holds is an instrument of her magic.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23By waving it she casts spells.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26By placing it over her head, she becomes invisible.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28MUSIC PLAYS
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Rarung's mask was cut out of a special tree
0:37:23 > 0:37:25that grows in the graveyard.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Night after night,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30it has been hung there in the cemetery to charge it with magic.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Now it is so powerful,
0:37:32 > 0:37:36that even when it's lying in its basket, it may creak and groan
0:37:36 > 0:37:40and sometimes even rise in the air, so the people say.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44In the drama at this moment, Rarung is truly terrifying.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46MUSIC PLAYS
0:38:03 > 0:38:05SHOUTS AND CRIES
0:38:08 > 0:38:12The first skirmish with the Barong is about to begin.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14MUSIC PLAYS
0:38:34 > 0:38:36Rarung has placed her magic cloth over her head.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39She's invisible to all except the Barong,
0:38:39 > 0:38:41who, with his supernatural awareness,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43knows exactly where she is.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45MUSIC PLAYS
0:38:47 > 0:38:49SHOUTING
0:38:59 > 0:39:01SHOUTING
0:39:03 > 0:39:04Although this is a ritual,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08although all the villagers watching so intently know the plot
0:39:08 > 0:39:10and the theoretical outcome of the battle,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14this conflict is nonetheless a real one.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17In a sense, there is a haunting fear that maybe things
0:39:17 > 0:39:19will not go as they should.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Maybe this time the Barong, the guardian of the village,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25will not win, as he has always won in the past.
0:39:25 > 0:39:26Maybe this time
0:39:26 > 0:39:29the health and the wellbeing of the village
0:39:29 > 0:39:30is in real jeopardy.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33SHOUTS
0:39:35 > 0:39:36There is a momentary pause,
0:39:36 > 0:39:38a lowering of tension in the play,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42that has already been going on for an hour or so.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46And then suddenly the drama tautens,
0:39:46 > 0:39:50for out of the temple for the first time comes Rangda.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52SHOUTING
0:39:56 > 0:39:58Rangda, the haunter of graveyards,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01the personification of evil and malevolence.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04Her shoulders are hung with dead men's entrails.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Flames spring from her tongue, and her fingers
0:40:07 > 0:40:08are armed with immense claws.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Rarung reports to her mother.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14The Barong has spurned her. She must be revenged.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16If the drama continues as it usually does,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Rangda will do battle with the Barong.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20She will appear to get the upper hand,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23and men in the audience will fall into trance
0:40:23 > 0:40:26and rush to the Barong's defence, waving swords.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Rangda will then bewitch them
0:40:28 > 0:40:30and make them turn their swords upon themselves,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33but the Barong will miraculously prevent the swords
0:40:33 > 0:40:36from doing any harm to her supporters.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37That is what should happen,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40but things do not always turn out as expected.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42SHOUTING
0:40:45 > 0:40:47The drama has been too powerful.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50Even before battle has been seriously joined,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53men in the crowd are falling into trance and rushing to attack Rangda.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57They must be restrained before they injure themselves.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01And now Rangda herself goes into trance.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03MUSIC PLAYS
0:41:06 > 0:41:09SHOUTS
0:41:25 > 0:41:28MUSIC AND SHOUTING
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Rangda is no longer in control of herself.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35She must be carried forcibly back to the temple
0:41:35 > 0:41:37to be brought out of her trance by a priest.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39RAISED VOICES
0:41:50 > 0:41:54It seems that the play has come to an early and unexpected end
0:41:54 > 0:41:57without any of the usual demonstrations
0:41:57 > 0:41:59with swords and self-stabbings.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01The Barong visits each of the entranced villagers,
0:42:01 > 0:42:05giving her benison to bring them out of trance.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07But all is by no means over yet.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10LAUGHTER AND CHATTER
0:42:34 > 0:42:37These swords are unquestionably sharp.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40If a man is not deeply entranced,
0:42:40 > 0:42:42he may well injure himself severely.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46If he is impure, he will be in great danger.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48If he had touched a corpse within the last seven days,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51the swords would certainly pierce his flesh.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53RAISED VOICES
0:43:09 > 0:43:12Once they have endeavoured to stab themselves
0:43:12 > 0:43:14to demonstrate their devotion to the Barong,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18they must be disarmed by the priests and their helpers.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20But that must be done swiftly and powerfully,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22for none can tell how they will react.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25CHATTER
0:44:04 > 0:44:05To be brought out of trance,
0:44:05 > 0:44:07the men must now be sprinkled with holy water.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10But when it appears, one of the most powerfully entranced men,
0:44:10 > 0:44:15in his passion, seizes the jar to drink it.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Some are released from trance by wiping their faces
0:45:19 > 0:45:24with the shock of human hair that hangs beneath the Barong's chin,
0:45:24 > 0:45:29but final exorcism will not happen except inside the temple itself.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44SINGING AND CHANTING
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Within the courtyard of the temple,
0:45:49 > 0:45:54the village priest prays and makes offerings before the shrines.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56In front of him stands the Barong,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59and attendants holding on their heads the baskets
0:45:59 > 0:46:03which now contain the magic masks of Rarong and Rangda.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06Many men are still entranced and moaning.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Before all can be brought back to this world,
0:46:09 > 0:46:11the sacrifice of a chick must be made.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13LOW CHATTER
0:46:15 > 0:46:17CHANTING AND SINGING
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Once more, the Barong receives the homage of his supporters.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27Once more, evil has been routed, good has triumphed,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30and the village has been saved.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34Once more, the gods have demonstrated the continuity between the natural
0:47:34 > 0:47:36and the supernatural,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38by coming down to Earth,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42and for a short time inhabiting the bodies of men.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44MUSIC PLAYS