'Animal sacrifice reflects inner consciousness, peace'

I Wayan Juniartha and Ayuning Hati, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Animal sacrifice is almost inseparable from traditional Balinese Hindu ritual. The practice owes its origin to the deep influence of the Bhairawa and Tantrayana teachings over the Sivaistic Balinese Hindus.

All the paraphernalia involved in the ritual is comparable to that used by the followers of Kalais, one of the Hindu sects that resembles the Bhairawa or leftist Tantrayana in India. The difference lies in the presentation.

"In Bali, the entire caru offerings, especially meats and rice as well as alcoholic drinks, are not eaten and are left as offerings. In the Bhairawa sect, these offerings must be tasted and eaten by the followers," culture scholar Mas Ruscitadewi said.

Chief editor of the influential Hindu magazine Sarad, Ketut Sumartha, said: "The Bhairawa and Tantrayana put great emphasis on the importance of rasa (taste) in preparing the offerings. The word caru, which in Bali generally refers to animal sacrifice, in fact, literally means tasteful."

Sumartha said a sacrifice needs to be tasteful as it is given as a meal to the Bhuta, who is interpreted as an evil spirit or demon.

"That's why the most common way of sacrificing animals is by killing them, and later cooking the meats into various traditional delicacies that are later placed alongside other offerings comprising fruits, leaves and flowers. The meals are cooked with strong spices and served accompanied by traditional alcoholic liquor, arak, tuak, and brem, which are appropriate for the evil spirits," Sumarta told.

Other ways of sacrificing animals are drowning them alive in the sea, a ritual known as Pakelem, and slitting their throats and dripping their blood onto the ground, or Penyambleh.

In the Pemarisudha Karipubhaya ceremony, some 79 animals were sacrificed. They included one deer, one small antelope, one civet, three bulls, three cows, seven goats, two turtles, five swans, two black dogs, seven pigs, 23 chickens and 20 ducks of various colors. Seven of them were designated as Pakelem, eleven as Penyambleh, and the rest were cooked as various traditional meals of lawar and satay.

Contemporary interpretation places Bhuta Kala as various types of forces or elements of nature, known in Bali as Panca Maha Bhuta, which comprise apah (liquid/water), bayu (wind), teja (heat/fire), pertiwi (solid element, soil) and akasa (space).

Balinese Tri Hita Karana teaching requires that the harmonious balance and relationship between man and the gods (Parahyangan), between men (Pawongan), and between man and the nature (Palemahan) must be continuously maintained or otherwise bad things shall happen, which could take the form of a natural disaster, outbreak of disease or bloodshed as happened when a bomb exploded in the tourist resort of Kuta.

This interpretation shifts the responsibility over the occurrence of bad things from the devilish works of menacing evil spirits to man's inability to comply with the Tri Hita Karana teachings. Consequently, sacrifice has new meanings.

"It's not only a meal or an appeasement for evil spirits, but, more importantly, it is the way through which man maintains or restores the balance and harmony of Tri Hita Karana. Through caru man pays his debts to nature, thus pacifying the forces of nature," Sumarta said.

It is no wonder that the highest level of sacrifice is called Tawur, which literally means payment. In the Pemarisudha Karipubhaya ceremony, the Tawur Agung (great sacrifice) ritual was held at the blast site, while the rest of the ritual was conducted at the Segara temple, next to the famous Kuta beach.

Yet, Sumarta believes that Hindu followers must move toward a more spiritual meaning of sacrifice by realizing that the ultimate sacrifice is Mecaru di Deweke, or sacrificing oneself.

"Through sacrificing animals, our wise ancestors have tried to send us an important message that we must try to eradicate our animal instincts and behavior within ourselves.Mecaru di Deweke means killing our ego, greed, hatred, and all those inhumane characteristics that have clouded our inner consciousness," he said.

Failing to do so, Hindu believers eventually will find themselves in a very ironic situation in which sacrifice disturbs the harmony and balance between man and nature instead of maintaining them.

"By regularly and continuously sacrificing animals, including rare ones, we will soon reach a stage where the caru rituals pose a danger to the sustainability of our ecosystem, and thus disrupt the balance and harmony of Tri Hita Karana," he said.

Sumarta is looking ahead to a time when Hindu followers conduct a caru by conserving nature, releasing rare animals into the wilderness or planting trees.