RITES
AND FESTIVALS
SOCIETY
AND RELIGION
That
the tjandi bentar represented the two halves of a unit was
obvious; in most of them each side was elaborately carved,
often with the design also cut in two, as in a temple. near
Mengwi where half of a monstrous face adorned each side
of the gate. Furthermore, the two inner sides were invariably
left smooth, clean surfaces that shone by contrast with
the elaborately carved rest of the temple. This we decided
was an inviolable law until we found one tjandi bentar in
Pura Bangkung, in Sukasada, North Bali, with its inner sides
carved. This exception, however, is not important, given
the anarchy that prevails in North Balinese temples, and
since there is no rule in Bali without its exception.
All
sorts of theories have been advanced as to the significance
of these two gates, the most characteristic structures in
the temples. It has been said that the tjandi bentar represents
the two halves of the mountain Mahameru, which was split
by Pasupati (Siva) in order to place each half in Bali,
one as the Gunung Agung and the other as the Batur.
A
scholarly Balinese told me that it represents the two halves
of a complete thing, the male at the right, the female at
the left; or it is perhaps symbolical of the splitting of
the material world to permit the entrance into the mystery
with the physical body. Dr. Goris suggests as the origin
of these gates the remainders of the old tjandis, the burial
towers of the former kings, a logical explanation because
of the cult of deified kings linked to the ancestorworship
and, further, because of the identical shape of the Balinese
temple gates and the old tjandis, a shape of temple gates
which dates back to the most ancient of Javanese temples.
The
tjandi form appears throughout Balinese ritual as the symbol
for the universe: a pyramid of receding platforms - the
foundation of the earth and the mountains - the intermediate
space between heaven and earth, and the stratified heavens,
represented by the pagoda-like roofs (tumpang), or by gradually
decreasing stone mouldings.
The
first courtyard is only an antechamber for the preparation
,f feasts and for other social purposes. It is in the inner
court -hat are erected the altars and shrines that serve
as rest-houses for the gods during their visits to this
earth. The principle of orientation - the relation of the
mountains to the sea, high and low, right and left - that
constitutes the ever present Balinese Rose of the Winds
(nawa sanggah) , rules the orientation and distribution
of the temple units. The principal altars and shrines :re
arranged in two rows on the honoured sides of the court:
kadja, upward to the mountain, and kangin, to the right
of this direction.
First
in importance is the gedong pesimpangan (K), built in the
middle of the kangin side, a masonry building closed by
wooden doors dedicated to the local deity, the ancestor-founder
f the community, often named after the village, as, for
in-Lance, in desa Dedap he is called Ratu Dalam Dedapan.
Inside ',ere is often a stone phallus (lingga) and, since
the building can be locked, there the relics and heirlooms
of the temple are
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