In traditional Balinese mythology Rangda is the demon queen of the leyak. The child-eating Rangda leads an army of evil witches against Barong, leader of the forces of good, and their battle is the heart of the Barong dance, which stages the eternal fight between good and evil. Her name means “widow” in Old Javanese.
She is shown as a mostly naked old woman with long, unkempt hair, pendulous breasts and claws; her mask is fanged and goggle-eyed, with a long protruding tongue. On Hindu Bali she is said to resemble Durga or Kali in some respects, yet she is mostly regarded as the personification of evil.
She is held to be the incarnation of Calon Arang, the widow-witch who wreaked havoc in Java under King Airlangga in the late tenth century, blighting crops and spreading disease with black magic until her book of spells was taken and the sage Empu Bharada defeated her. Another interpretation derives Rangda from Mahendradatta, a Javanese queen exiled for alleged witchcraft, who after being widowed took revenge with a plague.