Rangda

The Barong and Rangda dance is performed in temples across Bali. Barong, a lion-like creature animated by two dancers, represents order, protection, and the forces of good. Rangda enters with bulging eyes, a tongue of flame, long clawed fingernails, and wild hair. She leads the leyak, the witches. The two sides fight. Rangda’s followers turn their kris daggers against themselves in a trance state, pressing the blades into their own chests. Barong’s power prevents the blades from cutting. Neither side wins. The performance ends in stalemate.

The Calon Arang

The text behind the drama is the Calon Arang, which traces to twelfth-century Javanese sources. Calon Arang was a widow and sorceress whose daughter no one would marry because they feared her mother’s power. Enraged, Calon Arang unleashed plague upon the kingdom. The king sent a holy man, Mpu Bharada, to defeat her. In some versions, Bharada marries the daughter to appease the widow. In others, he destroys Calon Arang through superior spiritual power. Rangda descends from this character.

The Balance

Balinese Hinduism does not expect good to defeat evil. The two exist in necessary tension. The island’s spatial organization reflects this: the mountains (toward Agung volcano) represent the realm of the gods, the sea the realm of demons, and the villages sit between them. Rangda is not worshipped, but she is acknowledged, propitiated, and given her place in the order. Her mask, when not in use, is stored in the temple and treated with the same respect as the Barong. Destroying her would destroy the balance.

Sources

Bibliography. The same list is held in the article’s frontmatter for the citation tools that read it programmatically.

• Balinese performance tradition (Barong and Rangda dance-drama)
• Calon Arang text (Javanese-Balinese, c. 12th century origins)