The bronze moon and ritual battles<\/p>\n
By Garrett Kam<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): Most visitors to Bali usually make a brief stop
\nat Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) then move on quickly to the sacred
\nsprings at Tirta Empul. On a normal day, vehicles going to these
\ntwo well-known sites zoom between the villages of Bedahulu and
\nTampak Siring. Once a year, however, the normally quiet streets
\nin Pejeng along the way are full of people, processions and
\nvendors. Traffic, considerably slowed down, is rerouted to side
\nstreets full of parked motorbikes, cars and buses.<\/p>\n
The odalan, an annual celebration at Pura Panataran Sasih, the
\nState Temple of the Moon, was in full swing since March 4 under
\nthe light of the full moon. Over the following 10 days, various
\nreligious activities and rituals interested visitors and
\nresidents alike.<\/p>\n
For the past few weeks villagers were busy preparing the
\nmultitude of offerings for which Bali is famous. Formal events
\nstarted a few days before March 4 with the ritual washing of rice
\nand purification of the temple.<\/p>\n
In the first part of the ceremony, colorful, noisy processions
\nof thousands of worshipers arrived with images of visiting
\ndeities from Pejeng, Singapadu, and Bedahulu. Upon arrival, each
\ngroup circled the inner courtyard of the temple three times
\nclockwise, then the icons were placed in their proper places in
\ndifferent shrines.<\/p>\n
Pavilions and tables were packed with towering offerings, with
\nthe fragrance of fruits, flowers, cakes and even roasted chickens
\nmingling with aromatic incense smoke. Each day different
\nofferings were brought to the temple, including the special
\ndangsil.<\/p>\n
Dangsil is a two-metre high cylinder covered with rice cakes
\nand crowned with a meter-high flower arrangement. Dozens of them
\nwere set in individual bamboo stands scattered throughout the
\ntemple.<\/p>\n
On the evening of March 5 the offerings were presented to the
\ndeities and carried around the inner courtyard in a kind of race
\nto the accompaniment of gamelan music. These offerings played an
\nimportant role in another ritual two days later.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, worshipers came every day to honor the
\ndeities under the safeguard of the temple's main deity embodied
\nin a great Bronze Age artifact, the Moon of Pejeng. This nekara,
\nan hourglass-shaped kettledrum, is the largest in the world and
\nmeasures 186.5 cm high with a single circular head of 160 cm in
\ndiameter. Adorned with intricate spiral motifs, curious wide-eyed
\nfaces, and a large eight-pointed star, this bronze drum is
\nbelieved to have been cast outside Bali during the heyday of the
\nDonsong civilization in present-day Vietnam from the fourth
\ncentury BC to the first century AD.<\/p>\n
Housed in a high pavilion in the temple and almost hidden from
\nview by railings, cloths, and offerings, the Balinese have
\ndifferent stories relating to the origins of this sacred relic.
\nThe most common legend relates that once there were 13 moons in
\nthe heavens. One of them fell from the sky one night and landed
\nin a tree. Its bright light disturbed a thief who then climbed up
\nthe tree and urinated on it, believing that this would extinguish
\nits shine. This explains the damaged base of the drum which is
\nmissing a section. A variation of this tale says that the drum
\nwas a wheel of a chariot that came loose as the chariot carried
\nthe moon across the sky one night.<\/p>\n
Another popular story tells that the drum was an earring of
\nthe moon deity Candra. Others believe it was the ear ornament of
\nthe legendary Balinese hero and prime minister of Bedahulu named
\nKebo Iwa, who, as his name indicates, had the strength -- and
\nsize, perhaps -- of nine buffaloes. While this strongman lived
\nduring the 14th century, and thus much later than the artifact
\nwas made, it may indicate the era that the drum was acquired. The
\nKingdom of Bedahulu-Pejeng, however, was at its peak of power
\nbetween the ninth and 14th centuries.<\/p>\n
Whatever the origins of the Moon of Pejeng, it is a
\nmagnificent musical instrument that is never played even by the
\ntemple priests. Its sound is said to be the voice of the deity
\ncalled upon only when necessary. To play the drum casually would
\ninvite disaster, and proper offerings, prayers and rituals would
\nhave to be made. In the past, some Dutch officials tried to play
\nit and ended up with mysterious illnesses and even death. In 1906
\nthe Dutch adventure-artist W.O.J. Niewwenkamp managed to sneak
\ninto the shrine and sketch the designs on the drum without dire
\nresults, although angry villages waited below and only spared his
\nlife because of his fine drawings. At any rate, the Moon of
\nPejeng and its many ancient statues are popular attractions and
\nof archaeological interest.<\/p>\n
On March 7, a ritual battle was carried out with the dangsil
\nofferings mentioned above. Older holy women at the temple
\nperformed several variations of the Rejang ceremonial dance.
\nDressed in black sarongs and white kebaya blouses, they circled
\nthe inner courtyard at midday. They made simple and repetitive
\ndance movements in single file for many rounds, then unfolded
\ntheir white sashes which they first held individually and then
\nlinked together with the sash of the woman behind. After several
\nmore circumambulations and dances, they led out a line of several
\ndozen men wearing magically protective black and white checkered
\nhip cloths.<\/p>\n
The dance with everyone holding hands then took on new
\ncharacter as it wove in and out among the shrines. Spectators
\nstood clear, and an occasional tourist was nearly bumped into by
\nthe men, to the laugher of everyone. At this point the palm leaf
\ntops of the dangsil were pulled off and piled onto the ground.
\nThe music increased in tempo as the dancers broke their line and
\nmoved about the courtyard, picking up a palm leaf in each hand.
\nThey then quickly circled the inner courtyard clockwise three
\ntimes, and ended up in the middle open ground where they
\nplayfully whipped one another with the leaves. Dust and leaves
\nfilled the air for several minutes before the battle ended.<\/p>\n
With the negative forces chased away from the temple, it was
\nconsidered safe for all the deities to descend. In a prescribed
\norder according to rank and power, the icons of the gods and
\ngoddesses with all their ritual objects were collected by the
\nworshipers and all circled the temple three times clockwise until
\nfinally they left and headed up the main road for a brief
\ncleansing ceremony with holy water. Returning to Pura Panataran
\nSasih, the deities were lined up for a final departure ceremony
\nthat included the sacrifice of a chicken and duck. The Rejang
\ndance was again performed along with friendly mock battles using
\numbrellas as weapons.<\/p>\n
Outside the temple each village's gamelan pounded out music to
\naccompany the gods and goddesses back home. As each group
\ndeparted, so too did their musicians, banners, parasol, and
\nweapons. The streets were a tangle of processions heading in
\nevery direction. Over the next five days, tall family offerings
\nwere carried to the temple in grand processions by women dressed
\nin similar outfits and to the accompaniment of music.
\nEntertainment, from dances to shadow puppet plays to dramas, took
\nplace nightly, mostly free of charge. Across the street a field
\nfull of vendors offered everything from food to fashion.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow the locals deities will again be gathered at the
\ntemple for a journey by truck to Lebih Beach, south of Gianjar
\ntown, for a ritual purification before the end of the solar lunar
\nyear. Everyone is cleansed, but will meet again next year for the
\nsame event as they have done for generations.<\/p>",
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