Horror, Transgression, and Power: The “Demonic Numinous” in the Tantra-Influenced Literatures and Visual Arts of Java and Bali

Abstract

This article discusses the theme of the “demonic numinous” and its association with horror, transgression, and power in the Tantra-influenced literatures and visual arts of Java and Bali from the premodern to the modern period. Emphasizing continuities, it surveys the instantiations of those motifs in artistic and textual vestiges from Central Java (ca. 8th–10th century CE), East Java (ca. 11th–15th century CE, with an aperçu on 1960s’ New Order Indonesia), and premodern and contemporary Bali. The material presented in the article is discussed and contextualized in the light of a comparative analysis of analogous motifs attested in the literatures and arts of the Indian subcontinent and Tibet. Arguing that literary and artistic religio-cultural motifs associated with fierce or demonic deities in Java and Bali can be traced back to specific “hard-core” Śaiva and Buddhist tantric traditions permeated by a “charnel ground culture”, the article re-evaluates previous interpretations stressing the indigenous origin and local character of these motifs. In the conclusion, it tentatively proposes that the pervasiveness, resilience, and significance of the “demonic numinous complex” in the Javanese and Balinese imaginaries could be explained as a cross-fertilisation and convergence between Indic and non-Indic elements.