Bali Aga

The Bali Aga, Baliaga, or Bali Mula are the indigenous

Bali Aga people
people of Bali, Liguintically they are an Austronesian people,
predominantly located in the eastern part of the island, in ᬩᬮᬶ ᬓᬂ ᬢᬼ (Baliaga)
Bangli, Buleleng and Karangasem. They can also be found in ᬩᬮᬶ ᬓᬢᬽᬓᬃ (Bali Mula)
north-western and central regions. Bali Aga people who are
referred to as Bali Pergunungan (Mountain Balinese) are those
that are located at Trunyan village. For the Trunyan Bali Aga
people, the term Bali Aga (Mountain Balinese) is regarded as
an insult with an additional meaning of "the mountain people
that are fools"; therefore, they prefer the term Bali Mula (lit
Original Balinese) instead.[2]

Origin
The original inhabitants of Bali are said to have come from
Bedulu village long before the Hindu-Javanese immigration
wave. The legend is, there lived the last king of the Pejeng (an
old Balinese kingdom), Sri Aji Asura Bumibanten, who had
supernatural powers.[3] He could cut off his head without
feeling pain and put it back on again. One day, though, his head A Bali Aga man.
accidentally fell into a river and was swept away. One of his Total population
servants panicked and decided to quickly decapitate a pig and 63,000[1]
replace the king's head with the animal's head. Embarrassed,
Regions with significant
the king hid in a tall tower, denying any visitors. A small child
populations
discovered the secret and since then, the king has become
known as Dalem Bedulu, or He-who-changed-head. Another Indonesia (Bangli, Buleleng and
explanation is that the name comes from Badahulu or "the Karangasem Regency)
village upstream".[4] After the Pejeng kingdom, the Majapahit Languages
Empire rose to power. Native:
Baliagaese
Culture Also:
Balinese (Bali Aga dialect)
The Bali Aga live in isolated areas in the mountains. Compared
Indonesian, Kawi (Rituals)
to the lowland Balinese, their relative isolation preserved some
of the original Austronesian elements, apparent in the Bali Aga Religion
architecture. Tourists wishing to visit certain villages must be Hinduism
careful due to the area's geography. While visiting, it is also Related ethnic groups
important to be respectful and quietly observe the preserved Balinese, Sasak people, Javanese,
way of life the Bali Aga have.[5] Madurese, Banjar people and other
Austronesian people
In Tenganan, where tourism is more easily embraced and the
people are said to be more friendly, a three-day festival called
Udaba Sambah is held during June or July. Tenganan prohibits divorce and polygamy, unlike other
villages.[6]

Language
Bali Aga is a Multilingual people majority of them speak Their
mother tongue (Bali Aga languages or Baliagaese), But
minority also can speak standard Balinese because they are
surrounded by the Balinese speakers, the dialect is slightly
different from common Balinese language. It dates back
a graveyard of skulls Trunyan Village
thousands of years and varies from village to village; the
version spoken in the Tenganan village is different from the
Trunyan village. Bali Aga people also speak Language As a language of communication between
ethnicities, They Also Fluent to speaks English for Tourists and Kawi/Old Javanese is for religious rituals.

Craftwork
An important part of Bali Aga culture is the complex tie-dye technique used to make Bali's traditional
geringsing double ikat. Bali's Tenganan village is the only village that today still produces geringsing.[7]

In geringsing, both the cotton warp and weft threads are carefully dyed and cross-dyed before weaving; the
finished pattern only emerges as the cloth is woven. According to textile expert John Guy, "the ancestry of
Balinese geringsing is far from clear, although some cloths display the unmistakable influence of patola",[8]
the silk double ikats produced in Gujarat during the height of the Spice Trade (16-17C). Many of these
imported cloths became inspiration for later locally-made textiles, but one theory is that the Balinese-made
cloths were exported to India and copied there for production to Asian markets. Many have unique Hindu
motifs such as a bird's eye view of a mandala with a sacred center from which everything radiates. Others
feature designs clearly inspired by patola, for example a design known as the frangipani flower (jepun).[9]
The palette of geringsing is typically red, neutral, and black. Geringsing are regarded as sacred cloths,
"ascribed supernatural properties, especially to assist in forms of healing, including exorcism."[10] Gering
means decease and sing means no.

See also
Indonesia portal

Ancestor worship
Animism
Balinese people
Hinduism in Indonesia
Pandanus

References
1. "Highland Bali Baliaga in Indonesia" (https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/20285/ID).
joshuaproject.net. Joshua Project.
2. James Danandjaja (1989). Kebudayaan petani desa Trunyan di Bali: lukisan analitis yang
menghubungkan praktek pengasuhan anak orang Trunyan dengan latar belakang
 etnografisnya. Penerbit Universitas Indonesia. p. 1. ISBN 97-945-6034-0.
3. Mischa Loose (2012). Bali, Lombok. DuMont Reiseverlag. ISBN 978-37-701-6713-5.
4. "Bedulu village" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090108065915/http://www.balivision.com/Art
icle_Resources/bedulu.asp). Archived from the original (http://www.balivision.com/Article_R
esources/bedulu.asp) on 2009-01-08.
5. Sigit Wahyu (3 January 2015). Ni Luh Made Pertiwi F (ed.). "Menjaga "Geopark" Kaldera
Danau Batur" (http://travel.kompas.com/read/2015/01/03/190800627/Menjaga.Geopark.Kald
era.Danau.Batur). Kompas. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
6. "Different cultural insights in Bali's Tenganan village" (http://www.thejakartapost.com/travel/2
016/11/10/different-cultural-insights-in-balis-tenganan-village.html). The Jakarta Post. 10
November 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
7. Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Adam Skolnick & Marian Carroll (2009), Bali & Lombok, Lonely Planet,
p. 67, ISBN 978-174-2203-13-3
8. Guy, John, Indian Textiles in the East, Thames & Hudson, 2009, p. 13
9. Guy, p. 96.
10. Guy, p. 96.

External links
http://www.bali-indonesia.com/culture/bali-aga.html
http://www.indo.com/featured_article/bali_aga.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20080622035053/http://blog.baliwww.com/guides/280/
Candidasa travel guide from Wikivoyage

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