A trip back in time with ancient manuscripts

The hot sun was about to set in the horizon while a mild breeze swept Gedong Kitrya at the former palace complex of the northern Balinese kingdom of Buleleng as if chanting a lullaby to the huge collection of lontar, palm leaf manuscripts housed in this quaint building.

Gedong Kirtya is one of the country's few institutions that collects lontar but its importance lies in the fact its staff not only collect but also preserve, transcribe and transliterate the manuscripts.

Lontar is an ancient type of document inscribed on palm leaves, a kind of palmyra plant. A single document may be made of several lontar leaves delicately and intricately carved on both sides of the leaf. It may contain text or pictures on each side of a single leaf.

As a written document, lontar is comparable to those made of papyrus reeds used by the ancient Egyptians.

Gedong Kirtya boasts 6,500 lontar scrolls and also houses 8,200 titles of old books in its vast array of collection. Most of the books date back to the 17th century and were written mostly in European languages such as Dutch, French and English. Some of the recent ones are written in Indonesian as well.

According to the curator of Gedong Kirtya, I Gusti Bagus Sudiasta, the institution was established on June 2, 1928 by the Dutch governor of Bali and Lombok based in Singaraja, L.J.J. Caron.

"It was named Stichting Liefrinck van der Tuuk to honor two Dutch scientists who dedicated their lives to studying Bali, F.A. Liefrinck and N. van der Tuuk," Sudiasta told The Jakarta Post.

Both scientists were working under the auspices of the Buleleng king, I Gusti Putu Djelantik, and the foundation's establishment received support from other Balinese kings as well as some from Lombok. Those kingdoms contributed many of their own collections to the newly established foundation.

The king later replaced the name Stichting with Kirtya, which literally means a foundation or an institution.

Those kingdoms contributed many of their own collections to the newly established foundation.

The lontar collection has been classified into seven divisions of lontar themes. It includes Weda (Hindu holy books), religious teachings, Wariga, Itihasa, Babad, Tantri and Lelampahan.

The third division, Wariga, is essentially a compendium of the basic sciences of Wariga covering astrology and astronomy, and Tutur deals with religious teachings. Also included in the Wariga division is Kanda, which compiles practical knowledge on such topics as traditional architecture, language, black magic and white magic.

One of the most important contents in the Wariga division is Usada, which explains Balinese traditional medicine.

"The public can access our collection to get the information according to their needs. Most of them were written for pedanda (Hindu high priests) and balian (Balinese traditional medicine men)," said Sudiasta.

"We have transcribed some 3,000 titles and transliterated some 10 percent of them, but we need more staff to complete our job."

The transcription and transliteration from ancient Balinese to Indonesian allows people from all walks of life to get the information they need from the lontar, unlike in the past when the contents were limited to only royal families and priests.

Currently, the foundation has 10 staff members who all are able to read and write the Balinese alphabet but there are only five who have mastered the art of inscribing lontar.

The need for more staff equipped with the skill to inscribe on lontar is becoming imminent as the center has yet to fully complete its collection.

"There are some 300 titles that are not yet included in our collection according to our colleagues in the Netherlands. Local pura (temple) or individuals own most of the titles scattered throughout Bali."

Gedong Kirtya's staff also have to make copies of lontar owned by individuals to complete its collection as most of the owners will not allow the institution to have them.

The staff must also work tirelessly to maintain and preserve the collection.

"We preserve our collection in a traditional way. For lontar, we apply a special traditional mixture to keep the inscriptions readable," said Sudiasta.

Singaraja's hot and humid climate may likely worsen the condition of the library's important collections. In a tropical climate, preserving and caring for a library's collection including ancient lontar manuscripts is costly and difficult.

Natural enemies like animals, insects, mold, fungi as well as other chemical substances caused by air pollution may gradually destroy the collections.

"While lontar can survive longer, we are really concerned with our book collection. We can only keep them in closed shelves."

The library was almost destroyed in October 2000, when thousands of supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) ransacked and destroyed almost all government and public building in Singaraja.

The PDI Perjuangan supporters were furious because party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri had been defeated by Abdurrahman Wahid in the presidential election.

"I cannot imagine if Gedong Kirtya had been burned down. It was lucky that all the priceless pieces were safe in the puri (palace) next door, otherwise we could have lost pieces of our heritage," one staff member recalled.
Sudiasta admitted that younger Balinese did not show enthusiasm to learn the contents of the lontar scrolls let alone to learn the skill of making them.

In an effort to increase students' interest in lontar, Gedong Kirtya organizes an annual nyastra Bali or Balinese literary festival for all students.

The center also invites school students to make visits during school breaks so they can gain a better understanding of how to make and conserve lontar manuscripts.

"Such visits are an opportunity for our staff to introduce our collection to the students. This way we hope that some of them will want to learn the skills to work with lontar."

Published on The Jakarta Post on Sunday, July 25, 2002. Co-authored with Moch. N. Kurniawan