Paranormal Pajama Party

Rangda: Queen of the Demons

Listen on

Episode notes

This episode explores the complex figure of Rangda, a fearsome demon queen in Balinese mythology.

Tourists may be familiar with Rangda’s frightening face, as a version of a ritual dance based on the Balinese myth of the widow-witch Calon Arang is popular at Bali’s many resorts.

But Rangda is a much more complex figure than these simplified and shortened performances may lead you to believe. She’s an important player in the key Balinese concept of “rwa bhineda” – unity in duality – and a reminder that binary thinking often fails to capture nuanced realities.

Tonight on the podcast, we’re tracing Rangda's origins back to the historical Queen Mahendradatta and examining how her story became intertwined with the Hindu goddess Durga.

We’ll also get into how powerful women throughout Indonesian history (and, let’s be real, world history more broadly) have been demonised for political reasons.

Key moments

1:07 – The story of Calon Arang
9:00 – Meet Rangda
11:31 – "Rwa bhineda", Rangda, and Barong
16:05 – Queen Mahendradatta and the Mataram Kingdom
26:29 – The Gerwani women's movement
30:27 – Modern Bali and Rangda

If you’re enjoying the show, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review Paranormal Pajama Party to help others discover it!

View all my sources for each episode and read the episode transcipt here.

Follow @ParanormalPJParty on Instagram.