Evoking both fear and intrigue, the Balinese divinity known as Rangda represents a symbol of ultimate darkness and the eternal struggle between good and evil in her brutal battle against Barong, the guardian saint and symbol of all that is good. Derived from ancient Javanese scripts, Rangda translates as ‘the widow’.

Protected by steep, jungled slopes, the remote mountain village of Trunyan rests on the eastern shores of the vast Batur crater lake, at the foot of Mount Abang. The people of Trunyan practice unique and ancient rituals of Animism found nowhere else in Bali, which predates the arrival of Hinduism or Buddhism on the Island of the Gods.