Beautifully depicted on a bamboo flute, Jatayu grapples with a dragon. King of the eagles, Jatayu was a friend of Prince Rama in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. When the ogre king kidnapped Rama's wife Princess Sita, Rama sent Hanoman, the white monkey-god, to her rescue. To reach her, Hanoman had to fight a fierce dragon, and Jatayu came to his aid. Known as a suling in Bali, the instrument is carefully crafted by Nyoman Lentong. Flutes of this type are used in the Balinese gamelan percussion orchestra, whose importance goes well beyond the pleasure of music and into the realm of ritual ceremony. Lentong shapes the buluh, or bamboo, by hand, using burnt coconut ash to create the motifs. He signs it as Pan Nasib, as he is known in his village.
