In Reply to: Maybe posted by Rex on Thursday, 23. November 2006 at 13:33 Bali Time:
- palm leaves. It was the ancient method of recording all sorts of community and private information. In old times the language used was Sans Scrit or Kawi, a beautiful, flowing script, still used in serious religious rituals such as on the cloth pennants that priests attach to the eaves on new buildings when they are consecrated. Modern Balinese (except for the priests) can't read the language but they know what the various symbols mean in a given situation.
Old lontar records, some being royal decrees on bronze plates instead of lontar, can be seen and even handled in the museum at Singaraja.
These days, for the sake of the tourist, the language used can be English or German or Dutch, Japanese etc. You can also get lontar rolls which tell the fabulous stories of the ancient Indian priests, travellers and settlers in Bali.
A fascinationg part of their history and present culture all combined.