Story of Bali, Indonesia

A Western psychological interpretation of Rangda that resembles Bateson and Mead's might go like this. Rangda represents a grotesque female, a widow, who eats and kills babies. 'Me closest parallel in modern Western society is the Halloween witch who may threaten or frighten children (Rangda's role is for the entertainment and benefit of people of all ages). It can be assumed that there is such a destructive figure in the unconscious of most persons. The 'question arises as to why such a figure took form in the unconscious since mothers in general, Balinese mothers included, are in fact loving, nurturing, and giving. Possibly*it derived from the experiences of young children witnessing their siblings die when they were very young. Because infant mortality was quite high in Bali until recent years, most children would have had an opportunity to witness one or more mysterious deaths of infants. The young child might interpret the death as being caused by the mother. In Freudian theory, an infant has impulses to devour its mother or eat her and the infant or child could project those impulses on to the mother, attributing to her powers to devour and destroy an infant. Rangda's mask has a good side as well and this could be a representation of the child's or adult's image of the good side of the mother. In the drama, Rangda, the mother, is not killed by the men with daggers because to overwhelm or kill her would be intolerable to the feelings of the observers.

The kris performance could be an example of the exorcism of evil which possesses the individuals in trance as a confirmation of the witch-like female figure in tire unconscious of adults and children. In support of the latter, it was noted that the schoolchildren who experienced hysterical dissociation (trance) attacks reported frightening hallucinations of being taken into a forest by a tall woman with long hair and big eyes (characteristics of Rangda). The foregoing interpretations are consistent with Bateson and Mead's interpretation that Rangda represents the potentially fearful aspects of a mother figure.

Rangda represents a woman but it is noteworthy that she is always played by a man. No authors have interpreted this aspect of the custom; possibly the practice represents the dual sex nature of evil. In their beliefs, the Balinese do not distinguish between the sexes with regard to good or bad. Male and female and the forces of wear and strong, good and evil are united in one god, Siwa (Covarrubias, 1937:307).

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