Tenganan, Indonesia
Tourism

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Gunung Agung. It is 4 km (21/2 mi.) from Candi Dasa and 9 km (51/2 mi.) from Amlapura.

The people of Tenganan occupy a special place in the population of Bali. They claim to have been created by the god Indra himself, and for proof of this refer to the "Usana Bali", a Balinese creation story written on palm-leaves in the 14th century, which states that the inhabitants of the village of Tenganan are descended from gods. The Bali Aga (Old Balinese) of Tenganan, like those of Trunyan (see Penelokan, Surroundings), form an independent community consisting of a number of groups organized in accordance with strict rules. They recognize no right of private property: everything belongs to the community. At the age of eight boys and girls must, after a transitional period of a year, join a group (truna or daha), and thereafter their family home is of only subordinate importance: the group is now responsible for bringing the children up to be full members of the community (krama desa). Later they are assigned, according to age, sex, occupation and capacity, to the "right" group, in which they remain for the rest of their lives.

As "favorites of the gods", the people of Tenganan see their aim in life not as strenuous physical labor but as the enjoyment of leisure, and also as the maintenance of old traditions and crafts. They let other people work for them: the rice-fields around the village are tended by peasants from other areas, who pay rent in the form of a proportion of the produce. The villagers of Tenganan thus have time to devote themselves to playing in gamelan orchestras, weaving fine textiles (this is the only place where the technique of double ikat is practiced: see Art and Culture, Textiles) or copying old manuscripts. Any villagers who dissociate themselves from the community (for example by marrying someone from another village) lose all their rights as natives of the village. They may be allowed to remain in Tenganan but will be required to move to a section of the village to the east, Banjar Pande, and will not be permitted to take part in any religious ceremonies.

As recently as the early eighties visitors were unwelcome in Tenganan, but the villagers have now realized that tourism brings in good money and can improve still further their standard of living. Visitors are, however, still banned from entering any of the local temples.

Tenganan is a traffic-free area. Outside the village, which is surrounded by a wall, the local boys and girls lie in wait to act as guides.

The village consists of three parallel streets aligned on Gunung Agung at one end and the sea at the other, along which are the family compounds, the houses and other buildings roofed with rice straw. Visitors will sometimes be invited into the compounds by the inhabitants. At the west end of the village stand the buildings in which the boys' and girls' groups meet and the Bale Agung, in which the (married) full members of the community meet.

Above the village are the Pura Sembangan (dedicated to Prince Pangus, an Old Balinese ruler) and the Pura Santi (the abode of the divinities of Gunung Agung).