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span class="inline inline-left">Before the carnage: Rooster handlers prepare the cocks before the fight.Around 2,000 men dressed in traditional costumes flocked the public hall in Samplangan, Gianyar, on that Saturday. To celebrate a religious festival? No. To watch a cockfight: Yes.

In the center of the arena, two roosters were fighting with each other, maneuvering the razor sharp steel blades tied to their legs, slashing and stabbing each other in the process.

The roar from the crowd grew louder each time one of the roosters attempted a deadly attack. Cockfights rarely last more than 30 minutes each. They usually end with one dead rooster and the other severely injured.

As soon as the rooster handlers take away the bleeding creatures, a fresh pair of roosters is introduced to the stage and the crowd welcomes them with a frenzied gusto.

As the roosters faced each other that day, measuring their opponent before making the first and, often, the last move, spectators in the arena were also doing the same. Every men searched the crowd, looking for an opponent to wager against.

Some screamed “cok” repeatedly, expressing their willingness to offer 75:100 odds, meaning that if they won, they would only take 75 percent of the amount of money wagered by their opponents.

If they lost they would pay 100 percent to their opponents. Other screamed “gasal” or “dapang” repeatedly, offering 80: 100 odds and 90:100 odds, respectively.

The betting scene seemed chaotic with hundreds of seasoned and novice gamblers alike placing their bets against strangers at the other sides of the arena.

There was no official bookmakers in this cockfighting game, locally known as Tajen, probably derived from the word taji — the narrow steel blade tied to the roosters’ leg.

Curiously, amid the chaotic scene, each gambler knew precisely which gambler on the farthest side of the arena he was betting against.

The bet was sealed with a unique hand gesture and eye contact. Balinese men loved to brag about tajen being the most honest form of gambling in the world.

Favorite pass time: Balinese men watch a cockfight at the village of Samplangan, Gianyar, recently.It is rare for any bebotoh (cockfighting gambler) to run away from a bet made in the arena even though the gambler’s opponent is a complete stranger and the bet is not recorded on a piece of paper.

“At the end of the game, a bebotoh who loses his bet will seek out the winner and hand over his money. It’s a simple process without any protest, excuse or whining,” bebotoh Bagus Krisnu said.

The tajen at Samplangan started right after the local community finished a ritual at the nearby temple at around 10 a.m, and ended three hours later.

Scores of pecalang (traditional guardsmen) provided security for the event.

An entry ticket, which cost Rp 10,000, provides full access to the arena and a traditional food court filled with mouth watering delicacies.

Prior to the start of the tajen, the owners of the fighting roosters were busy searching for fitting opponents for their prided fowl.

Once they found such opponents and the deal was made with the owners of those respective roosters, they registered their matches with the organizer.

Fights are directly supervised by a pair of saya (judges), whose duty spans from making sure the blades are properly attached to forcing reluctant roosters to fight until death.

A third judge was assigned to keep track of time. There was also another official specifically tasked with keeping tabs on the amount of major bets made throughout
the game.

The major bet, or locally known as an inside bet, is usually placed by a heavy-weight bebotoh who travels across the island solely for gambling at a cockfighting arena. These heavy weight bebotoh usually report to the organizer prior to the game the amount of bets they wish to place.

“These heavyweight could wager dozens of million rupiah in a single match,” a novice bebotoh I Putu Suteja said.

After the fight: Cockfights last at most 30 minutes, and usually end with a dead rooster as well as a severely injured one. The surviving cock might be missing a few body parts after being slashed with the razor blade attached to its opponent’s leg.The organizer will take 10 percent from the total amount of bets made by the heavyweight bebotoh and donate that percentage to the local village’s development fund.

This is why so many villages in Bali are more than eager to organize tajen despite the government declaring it illegal. Cockfighting provides a village with an easy means to raise funds.

“It is very difficult to eradicate tajen because it offers job opportunities for so many people — for food and beverage traders, taji sellers, taji fixers and polishers and parking attendants,” tajen afficionado Agung Sujana said.

It also provides a cheap form of mass entertainment for Balinese men, particularly those who live in rural areas where soap operas and foreign soccer matches shown on television are too alien to relate to.