Bakti Negara (Balinese Silat)
The most widely practised martial art of Bali, established in 1955 by four independence veterans. It rests on the Balinese philosophy Tri Hita Karana.
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About Bakti Negara (Balinese Silat)
Bakti Negara is the Balinese school of pencak silat and the most widely practised martial art on the island; it is often called simply pencak Bali. It was established on 31 January 1955 in Banjar Kaliungu Kaja in Denpasar. This page names no founder, because there were four of them and none stands above the others: Anak Agung Rai Tokir, I Bagus Made Rai Keplag, Anak Agung Meranggi and Sri Empu Dwi Tantra. Each was a master of a different native Balinese lineage, and together they composed a unified system from them. What matters is that all four were veterans of the Indonesian independence struggle — hence the name, whose Sanskrit roots mean roughly devotion to the country. Its philosophical frame is Tri Hita Karana, the Balinese Hindu teaching of the three sources of harmony. From it the syllabus derives the development of three sides of a person: cipta as thought, rasa as feeling and karsa as will. The school divides itself into four components — sporting, martial, artistic and spiritual — and treats none of them as a mere addition. Technically, strikes with hands and feet predominate. Characteristic is the tactic of feigned weakness: the practitioner outwardly retreats or opens up in order to draw the opponent into a mistake, and only then answers. Open-palm blocks, joint locks and traditional weapons, among them the staff and the forked truncheon, belong to it as well. On Bali, Bakti Negara is taught in schools and forms part of public festivals, so it belongs to the island's living culture and not only to the club scene.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.