Your Bali Pics of the Day ~ High Priest in Trance ~ Balifornian Villas and Tours
The high priest or Pendanda in Balinese Hinduism performs a cleansing ritual during a cremation ceremony or Ngaben in Sangeh Village in Bali's Southwestern province.
She sits on a raised platform after her husband carefully prepared her spiritual implements or Upakara. These include a sacred prayer bell also know as a Gantha, rings and other special jewelry, trays with many varied flowers, gold and silver vessels containing rice and sandalwood powder, a holy-water container or Siwamba with a silver sprinkler (Sesirat) and a longhandled ladle called a Tjanting, an incenseburner (Pasepan) , and a bronze oil lamp ( Pedamaran).
She will light incense and begin chanting to cleanse herself and then fall into trance as she removes special flowers one by one, recites a prayer and tosses them away. Pranayama, a special type of breathing, will enable her to fall into a trance in order to carry out the prayers and rituals necessary for the deceased's journey to the after life.
Reader Comments (2)
All flowers. Hmmmm that's probably the nicest blend of scents given that she's using a variety of flowers.
Very interesting ceremony. Her jewelry is beautiful.