A Simple Explanation about Indonesian Batik History

I think we all agree if we as a nation have something about our country that we pride ourselves on. As for Indonesian, Batik is one of that pride. Batik is a cloth made using wax-resist dyeing technique either drawing manually or by stamping. For your information, Indonesian Batik is a cultural heritage that has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in October 2009. Now, Indonesian people celebrated Batik Day every 2 October.

Started from Java Island

In Indonesia, the history of batik started from Java Island, from the Majapahit Kingdom about the 18-19 century. In Indonesia, there are two kinds of batik by the technique, the first is batik tulis (handmade drawing), it is made from a traditional tool called tjanting and drawn manually, the second is batik cap (printing by copper stamp). Initially, there were only batik tulis in Indonesia, but in 1920 or after World War I batik cap began to be widely known. For batik tulis, it needed about 2-3 months to finished it than batik cap that can be finished just by 2-3 days.

The Patterns

Batik is a craft that has a high artistic value and has become a culture for the people of Indonesia. Initially done by women because drawing with tjanting requires high thoroughness and persistence. When the batik cap era, the men also began to paint. The batik patterns are influenced by many factors. The motive is about the temples, clouds, wayang beber (traditional puppet) and so on during the Majapahit kingdom. While the motif produced due to foreign influences include Arabic calligraphy, Dutch tulips, Chinese phoenixes, Japanese cherry blossoms, and Indian or Persian peacocks.

Because initially, batik is a hereditary tradition, there are some motives that are only used by certain families, in this case, only the royal family can wear it even until now only used by the royal family in Indonesia that still exist, namely in Keraton Yogyakarta and Keraton Surakarta in Java Island.

Initially, a variety of batik patterns and colors are limited and can only be worn by certain circles. Coloration is still simple and uses natural dyes with plants such as teak leaves, mengkudu (morinda), indigo trees and soga.

The first president who introduces batik in Indonesia was President Suharto at the time of the United Nations Conference. The use of batik cloth that was previously limited only in the royal environment can now be developed by anyone.

Batik Nowadays

Nowadays, some areas in Indonesia already have their own motive in accordance with the characteristic of each region, and the Indonesian people call it according to the region, such as batik of Pekalongan, Yogyakarta Batik, Bali Batik, Jepara Batik, and etc. The motive has a name, such as Kraton Batik, Sudagaran Batik, Cuwiri, Sida Mukti Batik, Kawung Batik, Luhur Sida Luhur, Sida Asih Batik and so on.

In the present era, even we can recognize various goods that have a pattern of batik in Indonesia, ranging from shoes, bags, helmets, even buses, and planes. Some tourism areas in Indonesia have batik as souvenirs too.