AM E094634 Calonarang

Calonarang

The Calonarang has a historical connection to Gelgel through the Pura Dalem Gandamayu temple complex which is associated with Danghyang Nirartha, the brahmana priest who came to Bali from East Java in the sixteenth century and the common ancestor of the Brahmana Siwa in Bali.

"The Calonarang story is believed to have taken place during the reign of the East Javanese king Erlangga in the eleventh century. It relates the rage of the widow Rangda (Calonarang) whose daughter, Ratna Manggali, the wife of a prince in Erlangga’s court, is sent back home due to her mother’s reputation as a witch. Rangda seeks revenge for the rejection of her beautiful daughter and worships the goddess Durga to harnass her supernatural powers and wreak sickness and destruction throughout the kingdom. Erlangga enlists the help of learned sage Empu Bradah who overcomes Rangda and kills her but then brings her back to life so that she continues to exist as a manifestation of the evil forces that require ongoing vigilance. " The Calonarang story is believed to have taken place during the reign of the East Javanese king Erlangga in the eleventh century. It relates the rage of the widow Rangda (Calonarang) whose daughter, Ratna Manggali, the wife of a prince in Erlangga’s court, is sent back home due to her mother’s reputation as a witch. Rangda seeks revenge for the rejection of her beautiful daughter and worships the goddess Durga to harness her supernatural powers and wreak sickness and destruction throughout the kingdom. Erlangga enlists the help of learned sage Empu Bradah who overcomes Rangda and kills her but then brings her back to life so that she continues to exist as a manifestation of the evil forces that require ongoing vigilance. 1. Rangda in her human form with two female attendants (left) and her daughter Ratna Manggali and attendant (right) 2. Prabu Erlangga (left) and Ratna Manggali (right) 3. Calonarang points at Prabu Erlangga in anger of his rejection of her daughter 4. The seven followers of Rangda wreak havoc in the graveyard, there are skeletons and a blue and a white monkey amongst them and buried corpses wrapped in white cloth in the ground below. 5. Prabu Erlangga instructs Maling Naguna to get rid of Rangda 6. Prabu Erlangga instructs another patih to get rid of Rangda 7. Maling Naguna (5) approaches Rangda bearing a kris 8. Patih (6) approaches Rangda 9. Empu Bradah and his son Empu Bahula 10. Women request the help of Empu B 11. Empu Bahula asks Ratna Manggali to marry him 12. The couple are wed and the curse is lifted but Empu Bahula sees the lontar on which Rangda inscribes her black magic 13. Ratna Manggali gives the lontar to Empu Bahula 14. Empu Bahula presents the lontar to Empu Bradah 15. Rangda (in her human form) confronts Empu Bradah when she discovers he has learned her secrets 16. Rangda in demonic form declares war on Empu Bradah 17. The lontar is burnt (final scene)