Memento mori, a Latin phrase that may be freely translated as “Remember that you are mortal,” “Remember you will die,” or “Remember your death”. It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality. Although Balinese culture has no such genre in their art, but the message of memento mori clearly interwoven in all kind of Balinese artistic products even further penetrates to the Balinese daily life.

Balinese philosophy borrows perfectly the gloomy Buddhist philosophy of life and inevitability of death. As Buddhist, Balinese believe all living things are suffering. Life is a suffering. We try so hard to stay alive, enrich ourselves but at the end, all will be swept away by death, an irony of life. As for inevitability of death, the basic principle of rwa bhineda explains everything. Life and death is one, one that is born will surely die. Balinese said that when they are born they bring four treasures: happiness, sadness, sickness, and death.

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Gedong Kirtya, the only palm-leaf manuscript library in Bali or maybe in the world is founded in 1928. Gedong Kirtya was opened to the public by the then Governor General of East Indies, A. C.D. de Graff on 14 September 1928. The date of the opening is engraved on a monogram or candra sangkala on the entrance door. This monogram consists of the image of a human riding on an elephant with a bow in his hand, killing his enemy with an arrow. This image is interpreted as follows: a human represents the figure 1; elephant figure 8; arrow figure 5 and the dead person figure 0. According to Caka year, Gedong Kirtya was founded in Caka 1850.

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“Balinese are truly communal people”, this claim, of course need to be supported with a fact, and here is the fact.

flickr.com/photos/cafiso/

If there is a work to be done by the Balinese, they will create a group to perform this task no matter haw simple this work. In Bali, there is an independent group for every purpose and only one purpose per group. Even when new or temporary needs for working together arise, Balinese do not normally employ one of their already existing social groupings, but instead usually establish a new one.

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It is often said by the specialists of the arts that the arts in Bali are most often created as homage to the great creator, and characterized with the feeling of high devotion towards the arts itself. A work of traditional art is able to invoke vibrations of taksu, or to spring one’s interest, because the process of creation itself is supported by a will to dedicate a good work of art, free of the feelings of ego in regard to its copyright and value.

Works of art and culture in Bali first appeared as duties, which were carried out together by groups of professionals, as an offering of their devotion in its perfection, through carrying out various religious activities, towards God. Dance and music are created as expressions of the feeling of happiness in welcoming the presence of the Gods, when performing ceremonies at the temples. Works of fine art, in the form of paintings and carvings, are always present as part of the offerings, mediating spiritual communication, and the singing of the kidung, which functions as words of homage in return for the well-being brought by the Gods.

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