The Bali Aga: An Ancient Balinese Community at Tenganan

The Bali Aga of Tenganan: An Ancient Balinese Community

Located in the hills just four kilometers inland from Candidasa, Tenganan is the most famous Bali Aga (original Balinese) village. While another distinct Bali Aga community exists in the village of Trunyan on the shores of Lake Batur near Kintamani, visitors are often advised that Tenganan is much easier to reach and far more welcoming to outsiders.

Culture, Beliefs, and Social Structure

The Bali Aga people have retained an ancient, pre-Majapahit Balinese culture. This heritage is evident in many distinct differences from the rest of Bali. The villagers maintain a strict adherence to ancestor worship, cosmology, and animist beliefs, alongside a rigid social organization.

Community rules dictate that villagers must live inside the village and marry endogamously from within the community. Tenganan is closed to outsiders after dark. The Balinese dialect spoken here is unique and differs substantially even from the dialect spoken in Trunyan. Today, Tenganan is a well-known cultural destination, where visitors are expected to pay an entrance fee upon entering.

Architecture and Village Layout

Tenganan remains an isolated community in almost every aspect. The village is entirely enclosed by a solid stone wall featuring four gates, each aligned with a cardinal point of the compass. Inside, all houses are built identically along both sides of natural stone pathways.

Each residence is accessed via a flight of steps leading through a simple gate into a courtyard. Arranged around the courtyard are bedrooms, a kitchen, and a longhouse that serves as a storage area. Every house also features an empty shrine where ancestor spirits are believed to reside when visiting their descendants.

The central point of the village is the 70-foot-long Bali Agung pavilion, where village elders gather to discuss community matters. Although clearly ancient, its exact age remains unknown. The major communal village temple, Pura Puseh (the Temple of Origin), lies just outside the northern wall of the village.

Traditional Crafts and Geringsing Textiles

Tenganan produces some of the finest woven basketry and a famous double-weave ikat fabric known as Geringsing. The process of making Geringsing is extraordinarily complex, and fine pieces fetch high prices on the international market, making them highly prized among collectors.

Unique Traditions: The Mekare-Kare Ritual

A local custom that has become a popular spectacle for visitors is a ritual combat involving thorned pandanus leaves. Combatants fight with the goal of drawing blood from their opponents as a form of ritual sacrifice. Known locally as Mekare-Kare (or the Pandan War), this duel takes place during major temple ceremonies in Tenganan and is followed by an elaborate feast.