From Text to Image: Iconographic Transformation of the Sutasoma Jātaka in the Balinese Kamasan Tradition

Ng Siaw Hung

As the Sutasoma Jātaka travelled across the Indian Ocean world, its narrative was continually reimagined, moving from the realm of text into that of image. Focusing on murals of the Balinese Kamasan school, this article examines three prominent visual motifs to trace the layered interactions between the Indian canonical source, Javanese narrative mediations, and Balinese artistic expression. Rather than functioning as direct transfers of religious art, these images arrived in Bali through long-standing networks of maritime exchange, where they were gradually merged with local wayang aesthetics. This convergence produced a triadic intertextual landscape in which Indian, Javanese, and Balinese traditions intersect. By following the shifting meanings of these motifs across regions and media, the article maps a transoceanic trajectory of visual circulation and cultural reinvention, illuminating how artistic forms are repeatedly re-articulated within new local environments.