Material: Lontar palm leaves, cotton string, wooden cover, Chinese coin
Style: Bali, Indonesia
Size: Length 38 cm, Width 14 cm, Depth 2.5 cm
Order Number: MHSABPLM3

Traditional Indonesian manuscripts are made from the leaves of the lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer). The leaves are all cut to the same size, usually between 9 to 18 inches (25 to 50 centimetres) long and 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 4 centimetres) wide.

Characters are inscribed on the leaf with a special knife. The surface of the leaf is wiped with oil mixed with burnt candlewood soot. The soot remains in the grooves. The leaves are wiped clean and the black text can then be read. Few survive more than 100 years in Bali’s tropical climate.

The leaves are bound and held together through holes cut in the leaves by string or in this case bamboo sticks and a Chinese coin called a kepeng. They are protected by an outside board of wood.

Some of the many palm leaves are damaged.

Early – mid 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

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Material: Paper
Style: Kutch, Gujarat, India
Size: Length 16 cm, Width 9.5 cm, Depth 4 cm
Order Number: MHSAIPB1

This is an old prayer book written in Sanskrit.

Early – mid 20th century.

Map of Kutch, Gujarat, India.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Indian Prayer Book appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Lontar palm leaves, cotton string, bamboo cover, Chinese coin
Style: Bali, Indonesia
Size: Height 47 cm, Width 21 cm
Order Number: MHSABPLM1

Traditional Indonesian manuscripts are made from the leaves of the lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer). The leaves are all cut to the same size, usually between 9 to 18 inches (25 to 50 centimetres) long and 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 4 centimetres) wide.

Characters are inscribed on the leaf with a special knife. The surface of the leaf is wiped with oil mixed with burnt candlewood soot. The soot remains in the grooves. The leaves are wiped clean and the black text can then be read. Few survive more than 100 years in Bali’s tropical climate.

The leaves are bound and held together through holes cut in the leaves by string and a Chinese coin called a kepeng. They are protected by an outside board of bamboo or wood.

One side has scenes from the Indian epic Ramayana in traditional Balinese wayang style and on the back are a couple of lines of text.

Rawana the demon falls in love with Rama’s wife Sita and decides to capture her. He orders the ogre Marica to change himself into a golden deer and entice Sita. The plan works and Sita, wanting the deer as a pet, pleads with Rama to capture it. Rama goes into the forest in search of the deer. He finds it and shoots with his arrow.

Before the deer dies it resumes the demon shape of Marica and imitates Rama’s voice calling for help. Sita is distraught and asks Laksmana to go and help. Before he leaves, he draws a magic circle around her for protection.

Rawana disguises himself as a beggar and seizes the chance. He asks Sita for food. When she steps out of the circle, he captures her and carries her off to his palace. Rama and Laksmana return and cannot find her. Jatayu, the giant bird, tries to rescue Sita, but Rawana catches him and cuts off his wings. As he lies dying, he tells Rama of the kidnapping.

Rama summons help from Sugriwa, the monkey, who lends him his monkey army and Hanuman, the outstanding white monkey commander. Meanwhile Sita has been resisting Rawana’s advances. Hanuman arrives at the palace, disguised as a fly, and finds Sita.

Rama sends Hangada, the red monkey, to Rawana to persuade him to return Sita and avoid bloodshed, but Rawana tries to kill him, whereupon Rama’s army appears and a huge battle ensues. Rama and Rawana direct the battle. There are massive casualties and finally Rama kills Rawana.

Rama and Sita are reunited.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Balinese Palm Leaf Manuscript 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Lontar palm leaves, cotton string, bamboo cover, Chinese coin
Style: Bali, Indonesia
Size: Height 40 cm, Width 20 cm
Order Number: MHSABPLM2

Traditional Indonesian manuscripts are made from the leaves of the lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer). The leaves are all cut to the same size, usually between 9 to 18 inches (25 to 50 centimetres) long and 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 4 centimetres) wide.

Characters are inscribed on the leaf with a special knife. The surface of the leaf is wiped with oil mixed with burnt candlewood soot. The soot remains in the grooves. The leaves are wiped clean and the black text can then be read. Few survive more than 100 years in Bali’s tropical climate.

The leaves are bound and held together through holes cut in the leaves by string and a Chinese coin called a kepeng. They are protected by an outside board of bamboo or wood.

One side has an image of the goddess Dewi Saraswati in traditional Balinese wayang style and the back is blank. Dewi Saraswati is an important Balinese goddess and consort of the creator god Brahma. She is the goddess of learning, knowledge and writing, especially for lontar manuscripts. On her day, the last day on the Balinese calendar, lontar manuscripts are ritually purified and honoured. Nobody should read or write on that day.

Saraswati has 4 arms and hands. She plays a musical instrument, holding it with one hand, and playing it with the other. She also holds a lontar manuscript and a rosary. There are 2 geese at her feet, which are her vehicle. She wears a crown with an aura around it.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Balinese Palm Leaf Manuscript 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Lontar palm leaves, cotton string, bamboo cover
Style: Bali, Indonesia
Size: Height 40.5 cm, Width 25 cm
Order Number: MHSABPLM3

Traditional Indonesian manuscripts are made from the leaves of the lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer). The leaves are all cut to the same size, usually between 9 to 18 inches (25 to 50 centimetres) long and 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 4 centimetres) wide.

Characters are inscribed on the leaf with a special knife. The surface of the leaf is wiped with oil mixed with burnt candlewood soot. The soot remains in the grooves. The leaves are wiped clean and the black text can then be read. Few survive more than 100 years in Bali’s tropical climate.

The leaves are bound and held together through holes cut in the leaves by string. They are protected by an outside board of bamboo or wood.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Balinese Palm Leaf Manuscript 3 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Secrets of Bali, Fresh Light on the Morning of the World
by Jonathan Copeland
with
Ni Wayan Murni

Published by Orchid Books

The magical isle of Bali has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions, ever since visitors from the West began to arrive in the early 20th century.

Incredibly, ancient Balinese cultural traditions remain richly intact today, in the face of, and alongside, 21st century modernity and a highly developed tourist industry. Yet few visitors ever really begin to understand the colourful pageantry that surrounds them virtually everywhere they travel on the island.

Unpretentious and easily readable in its approach and encyclopaedic in its coverage, Secrets of Bali is the key to this understanding. From Balinese life, religion, festivals and offerings, architecture, music, dance, textiles, dress, carvings and paintings, masks, manuscripts, meals and much, much more, this is the book to which the visitor can turn for the answers.

Each chapter is written both as a part of the overall narrative, and as a ‘stand alone’ reference on the topic addressed.

If you buy only one book in addition to a standard travel guide, this is the volume for you. Simply a ‘must read’ for foreign visitors, residents, and those everywhere who have fallen under the spell of ‘The Morning of the World’.

Email: murni (at) murnis.com:

Paperback: IDR 500,000

Ebook: US$7.99

Ebook: US$9.99

Ebook: £7.85

Ebook: $11.99

Jonathan Copeland

Ni Wayan Murni

• 424 pages
• 110 line drawings
• 1 map
• Glossary
• Bibliography

“In Secrets of Bali Jonathan Copeland and Ibu Murni present a wonderfully fast moving account of Bali – from the outside in and from the inside out. Secrets of Bali places Bali into the warp and weft of the rich tapestry of historical context and ever changing contemporary life. It generously offers us a feast of rare and passionate insights from a man who has so obviously fallen in love with Bali and from a woman who, in so many ways, is Bali.”

Dr Rob Goodfellow
Author, journalist and academic, Australia

“From Balinese Gods to Balinese gamelan, difficult subjects are simply explained in this beautifully written and illustrated work.”

Bill Dalton
Author of Bali Handbook, USA

“Eloquent, enthusiastic, and jargon-free.”

Dr Angela Hobart
Visiting Reader at Goldsmiths College, University of London and Honorary Research Fellow at University College London

“Fortunately for the reader, the author of Secrets of Bali is not in the slightest bit secretive. The outcome is an accessible and wide ranging guide to the island’s culture and history. The casual reader can dip into it to answer specific questions, whereas the enthusiast can read with equal pleasure from cover to cover.”

Professor Michael Hitchcock
Deputy Dean (Research and External Relations)
Faculty of Business, Arts and Humanities,
University of Chichester, England

“In Bali they say…when the durians come down, the sarongs go up.”

Julia Suryakusuma
Author of Sex, Power and Nation

“Secrets of Bali is the best book about the island written and published since 1990 …”

Roy Thompson
The Bali Times, 18-24 June 2010

“This book will definitely go with me on my next trip to Bali.”

Michael Clugston
South China Morning Post, 22 August 2010

“This 412-page book tries to summarize every aspect of Bali. Starting from the creation of the universe from a Hindu approach (the major religion in Bali), Balinese architecture, rituals, and the arts and up to the paradigm shift among the modern Balinese. All are explained in the 60 chapters.”

Ni Luh Dian Purniawati
Bali & Beyond, January 2011

“I feel that Secrets of Bali will join the ranks of the definitive and authoritative volumes of reference books for lovers of Bali everywhere.”

Andrew Charles
Tropical Life, September – December 2011

“One of the most readable books about Bali, its people and its traditions.”

Lonely Planet Guide to Bali & Lombok, 2015

Secrets of Bali

 

Secrets of Bali: Fresh Light on the Morning of the World is one of the best and most delightful (and intellectually stimulating) books ever written about the magical island of Bali.

 

Jonathan Copeland and Ni Wayan Murni take you eight secret, seductive degrees south of the equator for a cultural feast of explanation and information, Bali-Hindu enchantment, and art-filled wonder. The reader is taken into a mystical world of gods and goddesses, exotic Balinese village cuisine, opulent religious ceremonies, the ancient wayang kulit shadow puppet theater, and extravagant, lava stone temple architecture.

 

As you read this important contribution to the permanent literature on Bali, you can hear the gamelan orchestra play, taste pemangku-dispensed sacred holy water, watch transfixed at a fire-born trance dance, and revel in the beauty of Bali’s continual cycle of intricate rice field rituals.

 

The smiling faces of the devout Balinese shine through on every single page–as does the incredible depth of social and historical research on the legendary island of the gods. Jonathan and Ni Wayan Murni are situated near the village of Ubud (obad means medicine) – the creative and spiritual epicenter of Bali. Surrounded by emerald rice fields, artisans, painters, Balinese dance troupes, sculptors, sacred healers and balian, yoga studios, spas, and royal palaces, they were ideally positioned to create this eye-opening, literary masterpiece (and resource) about their beloved island of Bali.

 

Congratulations!

 

Dr. Vivienne Kruger, author of Balinese Food: The Traditional Cuisine and Food Culture of Bali

 

A well-written Introduction to Balinese History and Culture

 

I picked up this book before a recent trip to Bali, and highly recommend it for anyone – layperson or seasoned Baliophile alike – who wants a basic understanding of the island’s history and culture. I had been to Bali before and this book was an excellent way to get reacquainted.

 

I read it at home, and then again – chapter by chapter – with my 18-year old daughter while we were on the island. After my daughter learned to make traditional Balinese offerings, for example, we read the chapter about offerings. The book really helped bring the island alive with meaning.

Secrets of Bali covers a vast amount of territory in a tone that is lucid, appreciative and witty, and is illustrated with delicate pen-and-ink drawings. The text begins with Bali’s past, from what little is known about Bali’s prehistory, then working its way through the early kingdoms, Dutch colonialism, Indonesian independence and on to the present day.

From there, we are introduced to the various elements of Balinese culture: Balinese Hindusim, core beliefs, rituals, food, social customs, art, architecture – each topic expanded and explained in clear and elegant prose. To attain this much knowledge of Bali would take years of research and experience, and together author Jonathan Copeland – with the help of Bali native Ibu Murni – have just that.

Once back home I was able to somewhat soothe my longing for Bali by cooking up some of Ibu Murni’s traditional recipes that are included in the book. I made the Bali-Style Village Chicken the other night, and it was divine.

Literary Lush

 

Fresh and Delightful

 

More Reviews

Book review by William Dalton, Bali Advertiser

Another Book review by William Dalton, Bali Advertiser

Book review by Professor Michael Hitchcock, ASEASUK News

Book review by Andrew Charles, Tropical Life Magazine

Book review by Hello Bali Magazine

Book review by Michael Clugston, The South China Morning Post

Book review by Ni Luh Dian Purniawati,  Bali & Beyond]

Book review by Roy Thompson, The Bali Times

Book review by Rob Goodfellow, The Jakarta Post

Bali as a ‘living mystery school’

The post Secrets of Bali, Fresh Light on the Morning of the World appeared first on Murni's in Bali.