2,780 itemsWelcome to The Balinese Digital Library

illustration of Saraswati by Nyoman Gunarsa.

Welcome to the Balinese Digital Library collection.

Bali has a rich tradition of literature that dates back several hundreds years. Balinese writings encompass the ancient literary texts composed in the old Javanese language of Kawi and Sanskrit; many based on the famous Indian epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The island’s literary works were mostly recorded on dried and treated palm leaves. The writings were incised in both sides of the leaf with a sharp knife and the script is then blackened with soot. The leaves are held and linked together by a string that passes through the central holes and knotted at the outer ends.

The lontar manuscripts range from ordinary texts to Bali’s most sacred writings. They include texts on religion, holy formulae, rituals, family genealogies, law codes, treaties on medicine (usadha), arts and architecture, calendars, prose, poems and even magic. Many lontar manuscripts contain information on important issues such as medicines and village regulations that are used as daily guidance.

The Internet Archive is currently scanning and uploading lontars in Bali, as well as videos depicting Balinese ceremonies and traditions. Working with Professor Ron Jenkins and Balinese scholars Nyoman Catra and Dewa Made Dharmawan, we hope that this project will make lontars accessible, readable and understandable to a wider audience and to scholars and students in Indonesia and all over the world.

For more information, there is an announcement and a progress post.

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Bali Videos Videos of Balinese Dance and Literature. Part of the Balinese cultural collection.	114 items
Lontar Balinese lontar are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves that have been used for centuries to record stories, histories, calendars, and laws on Bali. This collection are digitized versions made from Balinese holdings in a project of the Internet Archive, Ron Jenkins of Wesleyan University, and...	2,651 items