UBUD, Bali

RICE HARVEST
An art work painted by I Made Sinteg in 1985. In this prosperous scenery shows men and women work together happily in the field.
In Bali, rice, particularly Balinese rice, means fortune, it become more and more precious since the government impose a policy ask Balinese to plant the rice imported from Java, causing the local rice plantation being squeezed into extremely small areas. Today, the only place you can find the Balinese rice is at religious rites, it was being used only as offerings, and the price is high. Balinese rice was almost unknown among young generations.
Rice cultivation in Bali goes back at least 2,000 years. The current method of irrigation goes back at least 1,000 years. Sir Stamford Raffles was impressed by the rice cultivation when, as the British Lieutenant-Governor of Java and its dependencies, he visited the ruler of Buleleng in North Bali in 1815.
Rice grows very well in Bali and the quality is excellent. Padi Bali is the old traditional Balinese rice, grown from time immemorial, but now largely replaced by "new" or "miracle" rice, it is the result of Suharto's Green Revolution policy imposed in 1965. Padi Bali takes 210 days to grow, the length of the Balinese year.
Works of rice cropping are divided according to sex. Men plant the nursery beds, plough and hoe, and binding the straws for the effigy of Dewi Sri. Men tend the early plants and deal with irrigation. Women plant the nursery seeds and make the effigies. Women also make and give the offerings. Both men and women hoe, weed and harvest the rice and look after it when it is drying.
Some rituals will be carried out by the farmer at a small temporary shrine in the upstream corner of the field, others at the water temples. The rites include water opening, field preparations, transplanting, growth, panicle appearance, flowering and harvesting.
The gods ultimately decide the fate of the crop, but the gods are not capricious. If the harvest is not a success, human being must have behaved improperly in some way.
The upstream corner of the rice field is sacred. Here offerings are made to Dewi Sri. At harvest time a sacred image of Dewi Sri herself is made from rice that grows closest to this spot. It is not eaten but carried to the rice barn and given offerings. The image is made by fastening together male and female stalks to represent the Rice Husband and Wife. Click for more of Dewi Sri and Water Temple
This painting is one of the many precious collections of ARMA museum, Ubud , Bali. To view more of the collections, please visit: ARMA MUSEUM