ART
AND ARTIST
The
period of Majapahit
After
the death of Erlangga, Java went once more into decadence
as a power, and various frustrated attempts to regain
its former glory followed. During this period the hold
on Bali relaxed and the island regained its political
independence until the fourteenth century, when the
new East Javanese empire of Madjapahit finally conquered
its enemies and became supreme over the archipelago.
Bali was made a vassal of Madjapabit, A.D. 1343, after
vigorous campaigns against the famed Dalam Bedaulu,
last of the Pedieng dynasty and now classed as a mythical
demon of great power
After
Bali was conquered, the generals of Madjapabit establisbed
a new dynasty of Javanese colonial rulers in Gelgel
near Klungkung. A century later Madjapabit collapsed
under the pressure of Islam, and Javanese rule finally
gave way to a number of independent Balinese feudal
lords, the descendants of the Javanese nobility, who
were scattered all over the island. But in the period
of years between the classic Sailendras and parvenu
Madjapahit the art of Java suffered a great transformation,
which was similarly felt in Bali. Under King Rayasanagara
(Rajasanagara) , better known by his native name Havarn
Wuruk, Madjapabit became the most powerful empire of
Indonesia, but being strong nationalists, the Javanese
of Madjapahit had repudiated the esoteric classic spirit
and had 'reverted to native ideas, with the result that
their art became strongly Javanized. Having lost its
austerity and primitivism in the process, their art
became earthly and realistic, taking the character of
a sensuous folk-art, intricate and essentially decorative,
with a predominance of flaming motifs, volutes and spirals,
leaves and flowers, animals and scenes from daily life;
losing altogether its religious character.
Balinese
art of the epoch of Madjapabit and its continuation
went even further in the love of unrestrained decoration
and developed a freer and more fantastic art than that
of Java of the same time. Although resembling the style
of the ruins of Panataran in East Java, Balinese art
is not the art of Java transplanted into Bali, but a
parallel art, made even more Baroque by additional decorative
elements from China. Tropical vegetation in stone invaded
the architecture in the same way that and parasites
would engulf an abandoned monument in the hot house
atmosphere of Bali.
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INDONESIA
