Moon of pejeng: Indonesia musical instrument

The moon of pejeng is also called pejeng moon. In Bali, the moon of pejeng is the largest single-cast bronze kettle drum that has been in existence in the world. It is the largest known relic from the Southeast Asia’s Bronze Age era. The musical instrument is considered highly sacred by the local people of the region. The musical instrument is thought to be an artifact of the early rice cultivation rituals.

source of picture: rhythmuseum.com

The musical instrument is 185.6 cm high and the diameter of the instrument is 160 cm. the drum is kept at Pura Penataran Asih temple in Pejeng, near Ubud in the Petauan River valley that along the head-to-head Pakerisan River valley, forms the heartland of the Southern Bali where multifaceted irrigated rice culture first progressed on the Island.

The Dong son people produced the drum around 300 B.C, more than 2000 years ago. According to the Balinese legend, the musical instrument was a wheel of the chariot that dragged the real moon through the night sky. One night, as the chariot was passing over the pejeng, the wheel disconnected and fell off to the earth, landing in a tree, where it blazed nearly as brightly as the real moon. This light troubled a thief who got annoyed; he climbed the tree and urinated on the light. The thief paid for the abomination with his life. The moon ultimately cooled and has been preserved as a sacred relic by the local villagers.

It is the largest and most complete kind of drum known as the pejeng kind drums that have been found in Bali and Java, Indonesia.

The moon of pejeng was first reported to the western world by G.E. Rumphius in his book called ‘The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet’ that he published in 1705. The moon was first systematically described by the Dutch artist W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, who replicated the famous face motif.