RANGDA - BALI’S QUEEN OF DEMONS
RANGDA IS OLD JAVANESE for widow but is also the name of a witch or the queen of demons. Rangda the witch lives in the jungle and commands leyaks, or demons.
Leyaks commonly appear as people during the day, but at night their heads sprout wings and fly from their bodies with their organs attached.
Rangda and Leyaks enjoy hunting and eating children or pregnant women. But some people in Bali see Rangda as a protective being similar to the Hindu goddess Kali. Rangda and Kali also share similar iconography, colors, and are both depicted with protruding tongues. Popular Rangda masks portray the goddess with budging eyes, fangs, and a long tongue.
The historic figure Princess Mahendradatta has been compared with Rangda. She was a powerful and feared woman who
