Sunday, April 7, 2019

History of Batik in Indonesia

The history of Batik in Indonesia originally came from the ancestral heritage of the Javanese people and was closely related to the development of the Majapahit Empire and the spread of Islamic teachings in Java at that time. In some notes, the development of batik was mostly carried out during the Mataram Sultanate era, then continued during the Surakarta Sunanate and Yogyakarta Sultanate eras.

Batik art in Indonesia has been known since the time of the Majapahit Kingdom and continued to grow until the next kingdom and its kings. The art of batik in general was widespread in Indonesia and specifically on the island of Java after the late 18th or early 19th century.

Batik art is the art of drawing on cloth for clothing which became one of the cultures of the royal family in ancient Indonesia. Initially, batik activities were limited to the palace, and batik was produced for clothing for kings and government families, and dignitaries. Because many of the dignitaries lived outside the palace, they brought this batik art from the palace and produced it in their respective places.


Gradually the art of batik was imitated by the common people and then expanded so that it became the work of household women to fill their free time.

The coloring materials used when making batik consist of native Indonesian plants which are made by themselves, including noni tree, Tinggi, soga, and indigo. The soda material is made from ash soda, while the salt is made from mud soil.

BATIK DEVELOPMENT
In its development, the history of batik itself has attracted the attention of officials of the Majapahit Kingdom. At that time also the manufacture of batik has developed. Materials that were originally made of leather and so on have now changed to the white cloth or light-colored cloth. Because it is felt from the white cloth itself the motifs obtained are more durable and can be used for wider utilization.

The motives are not only about animals and plants. But now motifs such as abstract motifs, temple motifs, cloud motifs, wayang beber motifs, and so on, have been used at that time, namely when the Majapahit Kingdom was founded.

The batik motif itself is still not varied. The patterns and motifs are still dominant in the form of plants and animals. The batik craftsmen are also still not too many. At that time making batik was only used as a pleasure for the craftsmen themselves.
From the beginning of the history of batik, it eventually spread throughout other kingdoms. Because of the popularity of batik, finally, officials from the Kingdom of Mataram, the Kingdom of Majapahit, the Kingdom of Demak, and the kingdoms that followed made batik a cultural symbol.

But when Islam came and influenced many people, the animal-shaped batik motifs were removed. Because batik cloth in the shape of animals is considered to violate Islamic law. So that the motive has been removed and eliminated. Unless the creation is disguised using other paintings.

Indonesian Batik has become increasingly famous after receiving recognition from UNESCO which decided to Indonesian Batik as a world heritage and one of the humanitarian heritages for oral and non-material culture. This recognition was carried out officially at the UNESCO meeting in Abu Dhabi on October 2, 2009, becoming an important milestone for the existence of Batik in the international world. In a very long span of time, batik was present in the archipelago. Batik has been around since the days of Indonesia's ancestors.

The word batik comes from a combination of two Javanese words: amba, which means 'to write', and point, which means 'point'. Although the word batik comes from the Javanese language, the presence of batik in Java itself is not recorded. G.P. Rouffaer argues that the technique of batik may have been introduced in India or Sri Lanka in the 6th or 7th century. On the other hand, J.L.A. Brandes, a Dutch archaeologist, and F.A. Sutjipto, an Indonesian historian, believe that the batik tradition is native to areas such as Toraja, Flores, Halmahera, and Papua. It should be noted that the region is not an area influenced by Hinduism, but is known to have an ancient tradition of making batik.

If seen from the beginning of the history of batik, began in the 17th century AD. At that time batik was still written and painted only on lower leaves and traditional house boards.

G.P. Rouffaer also reported that the grinning pattern had been known since the 12th century in Kediri, East Java. He concluded that a pattern like this could only be formed by using the canting tool, so he argued that the canting was found in Java around that time. The details of the cloth carvings resembling batik patterns are worn by Prajnaparamita, a statue of the Buddhist goddess of wisdom from East Java in the 13th century. The details of the garments feature an intricate pattern of vines of plants and flowers similar to the traditional Javanese batik patterns that can be found today. This shows that making intricate batik patterns that can only be made with a canting was known in Java as early as the 13th century or even earlier.

Meanwhile, in the legend in Malay literature of the 17th century, Sulalatus Salatin, tells of Admiral Hang Nadim who was ordered by Sultan Mahmud to sail to India in order to get 140 pieces of litter cloth with patterns of 40 types of flowers on each sheet. Unable to fulfill the order, she made the cloth herself. But unfortunately, his ship sank on the way home and he was only able to bring four sheets, which disappointed the Sultan. Then the four pieces of cloth are interpreted as batik.

In European literature, the batik technique was first described in the book History of Java, London, 1817 written by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. He had been the British Governor in Java when Napoleon occupied the Netherlands. In 1873 a Dutch merchant, Van Rijekevorsel, gave a piece of the batik he had obtained during a visit to Indonesia to the Ethnic Museum in Rotterdam in the early 19th century. It was then that batik began to reach its golden age. When exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, Indonesian batik amazed the public and artists.

Then since industrialization and globalization, which introduced automation techniques, new types of batik emerged, known as stamped batik and printed batik. Traditional batik, which is produced by handwriting techniques using canting and wax, it is called written batik. Hugh Clifford recorded this batik industry to produce rainbow fabrics and teleport fabrics.

In the end, batik is a craft that has high artistic value and has become part of Indonesian culture, especially in Java. Since ancient times, women have made their skills in batik a livelihood. So in the past batik work was exclusively women's work. Until the invention of the "Batik Cap" which allowed men to enter this field. Then there is the phenomenon of coastal batik which has masculine lines that can be seen in the “Mega Mendung” style. For people in this coastal area, batik work is a custom for men.

Speaking of batik traditions, at first batik was a hereditary tradition from the Javanese people. Maybe, sometimes a motif can be identified as coming from a certain family of batik. Some batik may indicate the status of a person. Even today, some traditional batik motifs are only used by the Yogyakarta and Surakarta Palace families. The Cirebon batik is patterned with sea creatures and Chinese influence.

In Indonesian history, batik later became the clothing worn by figures, from the pre-independence period to the present. In the early 1980s, during his foreign diplomacy, President Soeharto said that batik was inherited from Indonesian ancestors, especially the Javanese, which is still worn by various groups and ages.

With the recognition of UNESCO and the establishment of National Batik Day every October 2, Batik is increasingly positioned not only as Indonesian culture but also as the identity and identity of the Indonesian nation.

Technically, Indonesian batik is considered full of symbols and culture that is closely related to the life of the people themselves. That way the original batik from Indonesia cannot be claimed by other countries. Because previously batik had been claimed as the ancestral heritage of other countries.
Indonesian Batik is widely known throughout the world. Not only famous by the Javanese, batik itself has spread to all the islands in Indonesia.

Batik-patterned clothes are no longer only worn by the Javanese. Now batik cloth itself is considered formal clothing suitable for use in any event. In fact, it's not just people who are aristocrats, young people throughout Indonesia also often wear batik-patterned clothes.

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