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.