RITES
AND FESTIVALS
SOCIETY
AND RELIGION
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 also kept: ancient statues of stone ,
wood, or gold, old bronzes, and so forth.
Most
impressive are the merus, high pagodas of wood resting on
stone platforms, always with an odd number of superimpose;
receding roofs (from three to eleven) made of thick layers
of idjuk, the everlasting and costly fibre of the sugar
palm. These roofs are arranged along an open shaft through
which the gods are supposed to descend into the meru. The
temple of Besakih. the greatest in all Bali, on the slopes
of the Gunung Agung, consists practically of merus, and
other important temples have three, five, seven, or nine
merus, but our typical temple has one. built in the principal
place, the centre of the kadja side of the courtyard.
The
meru is supposed to represent the great cosmic mountain
Mahameru and is the seat of the high Hindu gods. A curious
feature of merus is the miniature iron implements buried
under the building, together with little gold and silveroast
chickens, lotus flowers, crabs, shrimps, and so forth. Again.
where the rafters of the uppermost roof meet, there is a
vertical beam of sandalwood with a bole in which is deposited
a small covered Chinese bowl of porcelain containing nine
preciou5 stones or nine pripih, plates of various metals
inscribed with magic words.
Never
missing are two shrines for the great mountains: one for
the Gunung Agung (M) and other for the Batur (O) (or for
the Batukau in the villages in its neighbourlrood) . They
resemble little merus of one roof, also made of idjuk and
ending in tall phallic points. Of great importance is the
padmasana (L) , the stone throne for the sun-god Surya,
which stands invariably in the uppermost right-hand corner
of the temple, with its bad directed always towards the
Gunung Agung.
The
form of the padmasana is again the representation of the
cosmos. On a wide platform shaped like the mythical turtle
bedawang, with two stone serpents coiled around its body,
rest three recedingplatforms, the mountains, the whole surmounted
by a stone chair with a high back.
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