square meters. Each pepadu and their respective coaches, called pengancang, stand ready at the lip of the arena. The referee appoints two pepadu and strikes a shield made of cowskin (ende) with the penyalin to signal the beginning of the fight.

At a glance, because the penyalins move very fast. it looks as though the pepadu are just waving their sticks about randomly in the general direction of their opponents. The way they use the shield also appears random and spontaneous. The whole thing, it seems, seems to be without any rules at all. But when you start to look at it more closely, you can begin to see that the direction of strikes and the shielding action both have very spesific targets. Both the ende and the penyalin are always directed at the torso or head of the opponent. As explained to me by Haji Ilyes Acaderis, a 62-year-old pakembar, the main rule in presean is that only the head may be the target of the penyalin. Once one of the contestant's head is struck and begins to shed blood, he is considered uniquivocally defeated. And at the same time, Haji Ilyes went on, if a contestant hits the legs or the side of his opponent's body three times he is disqualified and immediately forfeits the match.

A whole presean match usually only lasts for three to five minutes. it is up to the pakembar to decide how long to allow a match to proceed, for it only he who knows is familiar with the strength of each contestant.

When one of the contestants suffers a head wound, he is taken immediately to his pengancang for treatment. Head wounds for a presean match are treated oat - chewed betel leaves - which are applied to the wound. The applicationof the oat stops the bleeding and dries the wound.

As well as developing the skill of avoiding the blow of their opponent's penyalin, some pepadu are also resort to metaphysical measures to ensure their infallibility. Such measures are known locally as bebadong, and are bestowed on the pepadu by his pengancang-Bebadong can not only assist a pepadu to defeat his opponent but also to withstand his opponent's blows. Bebadong can make a pepadu's skin flex beneath the blow of the penyalin, avoiding bleeding and thus defeat. It can be bestowed on a pepadu by the reading of mantras over their body prior to the fight, or may also take the form of a cloth belt worn by the pepadu. This means that the audience are well aware when particular pepadu has made use of bebadong.

Followig the completion of the fight, each pepadu must embrace his partner or shake his hand. Even if his head is full of wounds and scrapes or blood is flowing from his head from a penyalin blow, and even amidst the cheers and jeers of the audience, and as their wounded heads and battered bodies ooze blood from the blows of the penyalin, the golden rule s that, at the end of the game, the two contestants must leave vengeance behind them. For presean, after all, is nothing but a game to express joy and thanks to the gods.

photos and text by Arie Basuki

above :
a. Head wounds are treated by each contestant's coach with a mixture of       chewed betel nut leaves, which stops bleeding and dries the wound.