Lontar / Balinese ancient manuscripting

In Bali, LONTAR does not refer to toddy palm trees. It refers to a Balinese traditional ancient manuscript, which does actually use toddy or fan palm leaves as its paper.

Lontar itself refers to the whole manuscript, which is pretty small in size, but are compact with ancient wisdoms. This is a running tradition till this day, In fact, every Balinese has their unofficial birth certificate written using this method. In it, it tells several ceremonies and rituals one must go through as this person grow up until they reach 17yo, then it’s thrown to fire.

Making one, on the other hand, takes more than just as simple as burning it. In fact, it takes 2 years until a paper can be inscribed. A whole process of (simplified):

Harvesting > soaked in running water > boiling in spices > drying > pressing > coloring > inscribing

Boiling it in spices serves as a natural preservation technique, yes, even for papers. This whole process takes extreme precision and tradition accuracy, hence only certain individuals are trusted to make Lontar.

Inscribing it on the other hand, is quite straightforward, a razor-end pencil is used to create a dent on the paper. It is then tinted with burnt candlenut that has a slightly oily texture, resembling a charcoal paste. This can only be done by certain calligraphers. A rare talent that the current young generations seem to lose interest in pursuing.

This museum treasures a significant tradition that needs to be preserved. An ancient manuscript as old as 400 years can be found here, which preserves a whole encyclopedia of ancient Balinese herbal medicine knowledge. Its complexity rivals the more well known ancient wisdoms like Chinese medicine or Ayurvedha.

These knowledge are not known to the public yet, so Lontar Museum (located in Karangasem, Northeast Bali) is currently endeavoring a big project of digitalizing these ancient Lontar manuscripts.

This is a rare tourist destination recommendation ;) not a lot of tourist know about this gem, in fact, me and @nenglisaindo were the only visitors that day. Although they’re donation-based, every guests ware treated like royals, they give one-on-one lecture for hours (available in english). Dissecting each knowledge as deep as you want it to be. Truly a humble yet honorable institution run by beautiful souls in dire need of recognition and appreciation.