Saraswati day

Saraswati day,

Ida Bagus blesses our books

with incense, rice, petals

Today is a special day in the Vedic calendar, Saraswati day. Sri Saraswati is considered the mother of the Vedas, the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. Her name comes from saras, the flow of water, plus wati, woman, so she represents the flow of knowledge, which is captivating, like a beautiful woman. Oddly, we are not allowed to write or read on this day. In the morning I see Ida Bagus getting ready for an obachar, a ceremony to honor Sri Saraswati. He will also do a yagya to bless all the books within the walls of the family natah, including the poetry books that Robin and I have had printed in Ubud. Robin is making a house call, so I put on a kamben, a long-sleeve top (my version of a kebaya), tie my batik pelangi around my waist and put my quartz crystal mala around my neck. Then I follow the pemangku around as he makes offerings to the many small shrines inside the sanggah kemulan, the family temple area. There are shrines dedicated to family ancestors, Hindu deities, the two sacred Balinese mountains, Gunung-Agung and Batur, and a large bale for yagyas. The black thatch on the shrines is sago palm, used because it looks like human hair, well, Balinese hair. There is a large statue of Lord Vishnu holding a conch in the middle of the temple area and Sri Saraswati at the entrance gate, carved from paras, a soft gray volcanic stone, and decorated with white plumeria blossoms, but Ida Bagus does not make offerings directly to them. After making the rounds of shrines, he invites me up onto the main temple bale for the yagya. He brings out a bell from a woven bag, flicks petals off the platform, chants and makes blessings with incense and water. Our poetry books are piled on one side of the altar and the priest's books on the other side, with trays of offerings in between. At the end of the yagya, he has me hold my hands together in namaste, sprinkles me with holy water and pours water into my cupped hands three times for me to drink. Then he tucks a blossom behind my right ear and in my hair. Robin and Ida Ayu join us and he repeats the personal blessing for them. Finally, we eat the traditional meal of yellow rice with small dried fish. 

holding a keris

holding a keris,

two dragons carved on top of

the long wavy blade

Kadek comes by to tell us that an odalan will be held today to celebrate the birth of a pura, a new temple up the road. He is dressed in temple clothes: red and white checked kamben, black and white stagen around the waist, batik shirt, and udeng, a batik turban. Robin has him show me his knife, worn in a small leather scabbard, a kind of miniature cleaver. Then he shows me a ceremonial keris, with two dragons carved on top of the wavy blade. He lets me pull the long blade out of its scabbard and hold it and take a photograph. He tells me the dragon symbolizes this material world. When the emperor is cremated, they burn a dragon to cut the ties to the material world so he can go to the gods. Then Kadek shows me a tiny keris, palm size, in a wood scabbard, very old. One side depicts the five sons of Pandhava and on the other side the words Om Sri Saraswati are engraved in Devanagari, with a design of the Hindu Goddess of Wisdom. This small dagger is for a woman, to be used in the practice of silat, martial arts. Kadek doesn't seem to want me to take a photograph of this dagger. Both of these blades are kept in the rafters of the communal bale, above the ceremonial bed. The Pande clan in Bali are the only ones allowed to make keris. In addition to forging the blade, they also perform rituals to imbue it with a spiritual presence with magical powers, which may be beneficial for one person and unlucky for another. I had been thinking to give keris to my sons, but knowing this I don't want to choose something that might bring them bad luck. I'm beginning to think like the Balinese, everything with a light side and a dark side.