A Tour to The Tomb of A.A. Panji Tisna

If you are Balinese people especially lives in Buleleng, I believe you know who is A.A.Panji Tisna. A. A. Pandji Tisna has the full name of Anak Agung Nyoman Pandji Tisna. He is the fourth King of Buleleng. He was born on February 11, 1908 and died on June 2, 1978 in Buleleng, Singaraja, Bali. A A. The Tisna Pandji is known as a writer.

His famous work and making his name as a writer are “Sukreni Gadis Bali” and “Ni Rawit, Ceti Penjual Orang”. A A. Pandji Tisna is the third son of five siblings, his brother are two, and his sister are two. His father named Anak Agung Putu Djelantik, the third King of Buleleng and his mother Mekele Jero Rengga. He attended school at the Hollandsche Inlanders School (HIS). At the age of fifteen he was sent to Batavia to attend school at the Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO). At that school he studied Dutch, English, German, and French. In his second year at MULO (1925 he came back to Singaraja.

He is also the founder of Lovina which is famous by its beach. Other than Sukreni Gadis Bali and Ni Rawit, Ceti Penjual Orang, he also have some other writing such as I Swasta Setahun di Bedahulu and his poetry that is collected by HB Jasshin “Ni Putri”. He is one of the Pujangga Baru generation.

As we see, Panji Tisna is quiet memorable and quiet famous with some of his writing. But not many people know where his tomb is. Like mentioned before, he died in second of June 1978 (70 Years).  Do you know where his tomb is? His tomb is located in Seraya Nadi Hill. It is exactly at A.A.Panji Tisna Road Kaliasem, Lovina. Let us dig in deeper.

Not many people know where his tomb is because it is not opened for public until eight of August 2008. Even though so, it is still remain unknown for a lot of people. Before, it is a big orange garden owned by Anak Agung Panji Tisna Itself. Now, it is a memorial park and also a royal cemetery. There are some ceremonies already held here. Anak Agung Panji Tisna burial ceremony, Mekele Seroja (Anak Agung Panji Tisna’s wife) ceremony and other of his relative ceremonies. Mostly, the ceremony will be held with Christian tradition because Anak Agung Panji Tisna is a christian. The ceremony will be led by a priest. Because of lot of his relative are Hindu, the attendant of the ceremony that is held here is usually wearing Balinese Traditional mixed with Christian outfit. So you can see an acculturation of a culture.

If you are there, you will realize that the view is pretty peculiar. It is not dark and it is not as scary as cemetery in your imagination. Perhaps, it is quite warm there. Some citizens who live there also use a little bit part of the cemetery into a cage for cow and place for feeding chicken. There is a lot of tomb there. As you can see in the picture, most of them are the descendant of Anak Agung Panji Tisna or people who have the same bloodline and who are Christian.

Other than orange tree, you can also see a lot of mango tree, coconut tree and sweet potato (maybe the residents plant it). In general, it is not as scary as the horror film show. In the night, maybe it is a different thing. Forma my observation, there is no available light or lamp there. So that is why it is not recommended to go there at night. For your information, it is open every day and every time as long as you have courage to get in there and to get out from there. There is also no marking but do not worry, you won’t get lost there because there is a stairs to go the main tomb, A.A.Panji Tisna tomb. You only need to follow it or you can use another dirt road to see other tomb.

At the top of it, other than a tomb, trees and cage, there is also a church that is located exactly beside Anak Agung Panji Tisna tomb. It will always locked when there is no particular ceremony there. It is a small family church that approximately fit around 30 people. The church have prada ornament on two of its pole. Not only the church, A.A.Panji Tisna tomb is also have Balinese umbrella (Pajeng) on it. As mentioned before, because Anak Agung Panji Tisna is Christian, a church beside his grave is something that doesn’t need to be debated about and in the end, his Balinese is also shown by the ornament mentioned before. So the grave shows two identity about who is Anak Agung Panji Tisna. A Balinese and a Christian.

As a writer many people said that  there is a place where Anak Agung Panji Tisna spend his day writing and it is located it his tomb. it still remain unknown but it seems like it is the most appropriate place. As you can see in the picture, it is a small house located around fifty meter after the entrance. People say that he usually spent his morning until noon for writing and at night he is sleeping. That place is locked so I cannot dig information or take a picture from inside of it. but the view in front of the place is quite great. It is mango tree but maybe in the past it is an orange tree or something else. For now, the view is a lot of big mango tree and for now, there is no reliable information about Anak Agung Panji Tisna hideout place for writing.

Last is Anak Agung Panji Tisna tomb. As you can see and as I said before, it is located at the top of the memorial park Seraya Nadi Hill. The grave is easily noticed because it is the biggest grave there. A number of fence circling the grave but luckily not until in front of it. 

There is a small biography in his grave such as when he was born, when he was died, what is his famous writing and a small rounded picture of him. It is written “DISINI BERISTIRAHAT DENGAN TENANG SUAMI/AYAH/KAKEK YANG TERCINTA A.A.PANJI TISNA”. In the end, many things can be learned from A.A Panji Tisna especially for those who loves writing. [T]

References:

• Buleleng. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2018, from buleleng.com
• Firdausi, F. A. (2018, April 24). Tirto. Retrieved November 30, 2018, from Tirto: tirto.id
• kemdikbud. (n.d.). Kemdikbud. Retrieved November 30, 2018, from Ensiklopdia Kemdikbud: ensiklopedia.kemdikbud.go.id
• Ole, A. (2018, February 2). Tatkala. Retrieved November 30, 2018, from Tatkala Ya Cerita Ya Berita: tatkala.co
• Yudo. (n.d.). Pelitaku. Retrieved November 30, 2018, from pelitaku.sabda.org