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They
knel at last, and another figure advanced from the far
end of the ground between the golden and purple domes
of the big umbrellas. As he came nearer, dancing deviously
up the ground, he proved to be another Sandaran on a
larger scale, yellow masked, with delicate profile,
who looked like a fairy prince. He wheeled deviously
up the ground and came to rest by each pale mask in
turn, his right hand fluttering a fan, the left perpetually
circling. He tenderly flirted with each of the crouching
Sandarans, to a traditional love-melody, then wound
away again over the stage. Then they rose and drew towards
him, gathering round him in a series of lyrical attitudes.
After posing with each pair in turn he danced off to
meet the advancing Omangs, his slender body defined
by his long, flower-petalled hair and the wide silver
stole which hung almost to his feet in front.
On this occasion, though no one knew the story, it looked
as if the Sandarans belonged to the side of the Wrong,
and that the motley crowd of comic masks, Monkey-faced,
elephant-headed, bulbous-nosed. Who now came gamboling
and frisking up the stage under the leadership of a
magnificent white-masked Djaoek, and were languidly
beaten back by the 'angels' when they trespassed too
far upon their white-flagged territory, were on the
opposite side, i.e. of the party of Rangda. But appearances
are deceptive. The Barong has a host of boisterous demon
followers as well as his elegant ballet of Djaocks and
Sandarans. All are equally demons, though some are much
better bred than others and much better looking. They
all understand each other perfectly, and the Barong,
himself a demon, enjoys an occasional rough-and-tumble
with his boeta-kalas just as much as the spectators.
Whatever their significance, all parties disappeared
as usual before the Barong-Rangda play began.
It seems certain that the Sandarans are found only in
a fairly wide circuit
of
villages
round
Denpasar, that
they
never
appear
independently
of
the
Barong,
and
that
they
have
no
essential
connection
with
Rangda,
although
on
one
occasion the Sisias (disciples of the witch) appear
in Sandaran masks, and in the Taman Intaran version
of the Bar6ng they have been drawn into a mystic relationship
with Rangda and must therefore always appear as prelude.
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