THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok - page 276

(Rp2500) and a dauntingly rough track. An ojek will drive you there and back, and wait all
day for you, for Rp75,000 from Candidasa; it's Rp200,000 for a car plus driver.
Tenganan
One of the most famous Bali Aga villages is Tenganan Pegringsingan , a wealthy settlement
of 625 families set among forest and hills 3km north of Candidasa. It's a major day-trippers'
destination, known not only for its traditional architecture but also as the only place in In-
donesia that produces the celebrated geringsing cloth. It's also the finishing point of a popu-
lar and scenic trek that begins in either Kastala or Tirtagangga .
THE FOUNDING OF TENGANAN
In the days before the Majapahit invasion of Bali, King Bedaulu ruled the island. Legend
has it that one day his favourite horse went missing, and so he offered a large reward for its
return. When the horse was discovered - dead - near Tenganan, the king announced that he
would give the local people the land within which the stench of the rotting animal could be
smelled. One of the king's ministers was sent to adjudicate, and he and Tenganan's head-
man set out to decide the boundaries. The smell of the horse could be detected over a huge
area. The lines were duly drawn and the minister departed. At this point, the devious vil-
lage headman took out from under his clothes the piece of rotting horsemeat with which he
had fooled the minister. The limits of the village lands are still the ones set at that time, and
cover more than ten square kilometres.
Tenganan Pegringsingan
Laid out around three cobbled, vehicle-free avenues that run north-south, TENGANAN
PEGRINGSINGAN (admission by donation) rises in a series of terraces, its family com-
pounds hidden behind high walls of thatch, adobe and brick. Communal activities and meet-
ings take place in thatched bale on the main street and there are plenty of handicraft stalls set
out here too.
Tenganan's most famous craft is the unique and highly prized geringsing or double ikat
that gives this village its name. Dyed in a limited natural palette of brown, deep red, indigo
and tan, and designed with deeply symbolic motifs, geringsing is revered throughout Bali as
sacred cloth, able to ward off evil and having an important role in tooth-filing and crema-
tion ceremonies. Glossy, golden, tightly woven basketwork made from ata grass is anoth-
er painstakingly crafted village product. The grass has to be split, woven, boiled, dried and
then smoked, all of which means it can take a month to produce a single item. Traditional
calligraphy is another attractive Tenganan craft. Pictures and symbols are incised on narrow
lengths of lontar palm, which are then strung together to create a concertina-like book.