Kamasan

Kamasan is located just next to Semarapura (north-west) and to Gelgel (south), in the Klungkung regency, between the south-east coast and the mountain range of Gunung Agung. Denpasar is 31 km south-west.^[1]

Administratively, it is part of Gelgel territory.^[2]

In 2014 its population was about 4,000 people.^[2]

The various 'traditional' styles of painting on modern Bali are derived from the "Kamasan wayang style", or Kamasan shadow puppet painting, which in turn takes it patterns from ancient Java.^[3]

Kamasan wayang painting is a 2-dimensional painting depicting shadow puppet performances.^[4] It has been listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage (WBTB) in 2015 by the Indonesian Government.^[5] It was proposed to Unesco for registration as Intangible cultural heritage in 2018 and 2022.^[4]

Historically, artists from Kamasan were used by the many raja courts that existed on Bali up to the early twentieth century.^[3] Some became known with the emergence of the kingdom of Klungkung and its palace, which replaced the kingdom of Gelgel at the end of the 17th century;^[6] for others, this started earlier, in the 16th century.^[7] However, the name of Kamasan is mentioned as early as 1072 AD (Saka year 994), during the reign of Bali king Anak Wungsu.^[4]

The village also provided gold- and silversmiths, dancers, musicians and puppeteers. The painters have a particular ward in Kamasan, the Banjar Sangging. The smiths are located in another ward, the Banjar Pande Mas.^[3]