Chandra Salim Collects Mountain-Carved Agarwood Telling Stories About Life
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Badung (Atnews) - Agarwood collector Chandra Salim who is also a businessman has collected hundreds of rare agarwood items for more than 10 years.
The love for agarwood is so great because the various variants of agarwood owned have their own uniqueness. Agarwood is collected because of its unique shape, made from nature and the intervention of God Almighty.
Usually the shape is one-of-a-kind, it is different from antiques made from human intervention. If there is agarwood being cultivated it is considered less attractive because it is more suitable for use as fragrance or as an ingredient for making incense.
According to him, Agarwood trees that produce agarwood need a natural process many years after an infection occurs which takes 10-20 years and even hundreds of years to produce a fragrant smell of agarwood when burned.
Many of these agarwood brought in from Kalimantan and collected at Yunita Gaharu at Jalan Arwana No. 17 Jimbaran, Badung, Bali, (08123943718) have been visited by guests from various countries, predominantly those from China, Europe, France, including Arabs.
He said that his party received it from the Arabs because the country just found out that Yunita Gaharu has a collection of agarwood from Kalimantan which has the best quality in the world. Apart from Kalimantan, there are also regions in Indonesia that produce agarwood, namely Papua, Sumatra and Java.
“Nowadays, many Arabs come and purchase roasted bhor so that it smells good, gives healthy effect and neutralizes energy better,” stated Chandra Halim to Atnews in Badung, Monday (Jun 19).
He is also the Board of Trustees of Central Executive Board of Nawa Cita Indonesia Tourism (NCPI) as well as Board of Trustees & Ethics of Central Executive Board of Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agency (ASITA). He claimed to be interested in agarwood because it is known by the Kalimantan Dayak people as the Wood of the God and has so many benefits for life.
According to him, all faiths or religions apply agarwood as a means of performing rituals. Various rituals take advantage of it starting from birth to maintaining the balance of life, repelling catastrophe and healing.
“All religions use agarwood, both Hindus, Buddhists, Christians (agarwood oil), Muslims (prayer beads) including Arabs,” he said.
Even the benefits of medicine from the time of the kingdom, agarwood has been researched by China. It can repel catastrophe and neutralize negative energy.
Chandra Halim even went into the forest to get quality agarwood. To get agarwood is not easy, and people need to enter the forest for weeks or 10-15 days. The struggle is not over, once obtaining it must be reported to Natural Resources Conservation Agency (KSDA). The agarwood is checked first, pay the tax. Then, it can be collected.
To add to the attractiveness of the agarwood, his party also added carvings. He brought in a special professional carvers. Chandra Halim did not dare to order careless carvers or sculptors. It is feared that it could damage the unique agarwood. “Indeed, we need a wood carver who really understands the texture of wood,” he said.
He has one agarwood in the shape of a mountain. The agarwood tells stories about the life of the universe on the mountain which is filled with forest stars and a variety of plants.
There are rabbits, snakes, and bears. “The bear symbolizes finance or well-being,” he said. The mountain-shaped agarwood is also reminiscent of the Vedic (Hindu) story of turning Mount Mandara Giri in search of Tirta Amrita or holy water of life.
Moreover, Indonesia as an archipelagic country has mountains that are still active, including Bali, which has many mountains namely Mount Agung, Mount Batur, Mount Batukaru.
The mountain is made so sacred by Hindus whose preservation is well maintained. He already has two variations of agarwood carved in the shape of a mountain. There is another mountain-shaped agarwood that has not been carved.
Many have bid on Mount Agarwood (Mountain-carved Agarwood), but his party has not been released (sold) t yet because it is the most loved collectible item.
For visitors of Yunita Gaharu, they can only purchase the collection with a price tag. Meanwhile, the best agarwood in Indonesia is on the Island of Borneo, but most of them is exported.
For this reason, his party is starting to be interested (love) in saving and hunting for agarwood which is a rare species.
“I like the smell of agarwood. The real one smells good, having got a little bit of sun exposure and body temperature it will add to the fragrance,” said Chandra, who used to like antiques.
However, the uniqueness of agarwood made by nature can even be in the form of a Komodo dragon. Since it is formed from nature, it has good energy and vibration.
In addition to natural forms, agarwood collection of Candra Halim has been carved in the form of statues, and made into agarwood bracelets which have high selling price, and even made sticks for higher Hindu priests.
This effort is to maintain the unique shape of agarwood so that it remains eternal. On that account, his party only serves those who have a serious interest and understand the benefits and philosophy of agarwood.
Some of his agarwood collections have been offered up to billions of rupiah more per piece by local and foreign agarwood lovers. At his residence, he immediately smelled the distinctive aroma of agarwood.
The agarwood at residence of Chandra Salim consists of three types, namely Valeria, Trinof, and Valensis agarwood which has the highest quality. All agarwood is complete with an SDN permit from BKDSA.
Agarwood collection of Chandra Salim is intact and comes from nature, as when it was found in the middle of the forest. Meanwhile, the agarwood having been formed into bracelets, statues or carvings have various themes.
Meanwhile, Chandra Salim is active some organizations such as in the INTI Bali Advisory Organization, Advisor to FBN-Bali (Bali Defense Forum), Advisor to the United Indonesian Young Advocates Association (HAMI) Bali and was formerly Chairperson of the HPI Bali for Mandarin Division as well as Central Executive Board of ASITA for Chinese Committee. (GAB/ART/001)
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