Lontar (Palm Leaf) - Bali Old Book
Palm leaf plays an important role in the day life of Balinese
people. Before the invention of writing a book, the Balinese used
palm leaf as a medium to write a message. So if you need to get
the information pertaining the religion and Balinese tradition,
you must read more palm-leaf manuscripts. For instance, should
you want to know about herbal medicine, you must read the lontar
usada. Most of the time, such palm leaf is utilized for writing
awig-awig (legislation of customary village).
The tradition of lontar writing has been preserved because
Balinese communities in the Desa Adat traditional village have
to have a written awig-awig regulation to preserve peace and order
in the village. The Law is promoted and inaugurated in a Pasupati
Awig-Awig ritual, attended by all members of the Desa Adat and
local officials, from regent to village chiefs and public figures.
The Awig Awig village law appears during the ceremony placed
on a jempana bearing, beautifully decorated, during the mass parade
conducted by the baleganjur musical troupe. In this way, the village
law is brought to public eyes. The Balinese tend to be more submissive
to this rural regulation in comparison to the law applied by the
higher authority of the Republic Indonesia. This is because the
rule of awig-awig in punishing villagers is not only physical
and material, termed in Balinese as sekala punishment, but also
magical or niskala in the form of ritual and spiritual suffering
as dictated by the law of Karma Phala.
Also read Bali Traditional Village and Spiritual Cleansing
In the line with the development of tourism in Bali, there
has lately been a new-zest for writing of variety of stories complete
with picture of their character panted on lontar leaves in the
form of souvenir for tourist. One can dint lontar scripts showing
tale of Ramayana, Mahabrata and Tantri Kamandaka on sale in art
markets, art shops and at tourist attractions.
Lontar manuscripts can be kept for two centuries on condition
that they are treated and stored well. Old scripts are copied
so that knowledge is not lost and can be passed down to further
generation. The Bali people have managed to preserve this ancestral
custom by writing
and reading as well as singing on lontar leaf.
