Bamboo Kandel
We had just walked some distance in Kuta town that we saw a procession of women walking on the road. At our request, Putu parked the car on one side of the road and we got down to watch the procession. It was a grand procession in which mainly women were participating. These women compulsorily wore long white shirts and black tahmad. All the women compulsorily wore a red cloth bandage over the white shirt.
All the women had kandils made of bamboo sticks on their heads, in whose upper part the light of the lamp was shining. Being made of fresh bamboo, these kandilas appeared yellow in color and were also decorated with flowers. It seemed that these kandils were the shrines of some deities and the procession of these deities was being taken out.
The body of all the women involved in the Shobha Yatra was straight, the waist was straight, the neck was stretched and the gait was slow. In the next part of the procession came a woman wearing a white shirt under a white shirt. A man was also walking with him, he too was wearing a white shirt and a white shirt. Both of them seemed like priests or exorcists having religious significance in this procession.
Some women were also walking along this procession who did not carry the candle-shaped shrine on their heads. His style of dressing was the same, but the colors of his shirt, tahamed and fanta were different. In the foreground of the procession, some men were carrying two red colored umbrellas as seen in the processions of Ram Navami, Agrasen Jayanti and Chetichand in India.
Fantastic musical procession
As the procession of kandil women progressed in front of us, we saw a spectacular musical procession marching down the road a short distance away. It included only men and children. Some little girls were also walking in the procession holding the fingers of their fathers. Men and boys were essentially wearing white shirts and the same white cap as Putu had been wearing since morning and in whose place the Indian crow appeared to be sitting.
Men and boys had tied the tahmad in a special style. This battle was fought in two. That is, a second Tahmad was tied on top of one Tahmad. The lower Tahmd was longer and the upper Tahmd was less tall. Because of this, both the sides were easily visible. One of these Tahmd was usually white in color and the other Tahmd was made of cloth of yellow or red-yellow and white-black quartets. The white-black quartet cloth tehamad certainly has some religious significance for the Hindus of Bali, as such tehamads are also tied on the pillar-shaped shrines outside the various archways built in the city.
The youths leading the procession were playing drums, cymbals and some strange instruments. Some of these instruments appear in the hands of Apsaras and Gandharvas in ancient Indian temples. Although we had heard the musical sound emanating from these instruments for the first time in life, it could be clearly felt that it is the music of a religious event. The procession was being controlled by the youths accompanying them. At the intersections, a single employee of the traffic police was hardly visible anywhere, but even after this, there was no rush, scuffle, screaming situation.
All the people were walking very calmly leaving half the road empty step by step. Young children were essentially holding their fathers' hands. Seeing this procession, the vehicles automatically stopped so that the procession would continue uninterrupted.
It was natural for a person like me to be amazed at the self-discipline of the citizens of Bali, who had spent his entire life in the hustle and bustle of India. Where people inevitably take to the streets pushing each other, shoving each other's shoulders, shouting and chatting. In India, the procession itself means the chaos spread on the road. Who leaves half the road empty in the religious processions that take place on the streets of India!
Sacrifice before Barong
After enjoying these processions, we again boarded Putu's car. It was just about two kilometers that Putu applied the brakes to the car. We saw another procession coming from the front. On a large open cart is placed the statue of a gigantic Barong. It was the Varaha of a huge and terrifying looking figure. People are dancing in front of him.
At the same time another procession of hundreds of men and women came from the other direction. These people were very well dressed and they were wearing new clothes. Most of the women wore long shirts of white or yellow mesh cloth, which were tied with red or pink tassels. These women carried bamboo baskets on their heads which contained fruits and flowers. Some people were carrying banana leaves in their hands.
Both these processions came from two opposite directions of a crossroads and stopped at the crossroads. This meant that one procession came with the barong and the other procession came to worship the barong. The figure of Barong was now standing still and the dance had stopped before him. From the other side, the women who had brought the worship material in the baskets were placed in front of the barong along with the baskets.
A man who looked like an exorcist walking with Barong started chanting mantras in praise of Barong. These were in the local language of Bali, so we did not understand. Chanting and worship continued for about 15 minutes. After this a small chicken was given to the exorcist. A man caught the exorcist with a big knife. The little chick was trembling with fear. It seemed, he understood what was going to happen to him!
I knew what was going to happen here! So it was not possible for me to look beyond this. I left taking pictures and sat in Putu's car. I closed my eyes for a few moments and prayed to God that the chick should not suffer in this process. I don't know whether it reduced the pain of the chick or not, but it did give peace to my mind.
I opened my eyes and asked Putu whether he was sacrificed? Putu said in a hushed voice that yes, chicken was sacrificed to Barong so that he would be pleased and destroy all the evils from this city and protect the people here. His voice was telling that he too was hurt by this. Even if it is not, these days he was practicing becoming a vegetarian and only vegetarian for two days a week. Organizing a public sacrifice at the crossroads may sound very strange, but it is one of the important practices prevalent in the Hindu society of Bali, which is inspired by the spirit of Sarvajanhitaya- Sarvajansukhay. Before the spread of Vaishnavism, this evil practice was prevalent among the Hindus of India in different forms. I remembered that on June 27, 2002, the Hindu King of Nepal, Gyanendra Veer Vikram Shah, had performed Pancha Bali of Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Pigeon and Duck before the Goddess at Kamakhya Temple in India. Less than six years after this incident, the people of Nepal abolished the monarchy from Nepal by dethroning King Gyanendra Shah. After the sacrifice of the hen's hen, all the people got up and left, but before leaving, they took away everything present there and took them with them. Roads and intersections became clear as if nothing had happened there a while back.
Papaya Vegetable
It was six o'clock in the evening when Mangvi reached his service apartment in the rice fields outside the village. The sun god had come down far in the west but daylight was still there. Dad's vision went to a tall papaya tree standing on the side of the road, some distance from the service apartment. The whole tree was laden with large fruits of elongated shape. Dad asked Putu if we could pluck a papaya! Putu said that these papayas belong to the whole locality, anyone can break them and use them but cannot sell them in the market. Putu was pleasantly surprised to learn that we were about to make and eat raw papaya vegetable. Dad plucked that papaya. In an attempt to pluck the papaya, the papaya fell on his nose and he suffered a minor injury, but the papaya vegetable turned out to be so tasty that it could be tolerated for him.
Last evening drinking tea in the rice fields and watching the sunset
The greatest luxury of the Indian man is to sit and drink tea together. We had enough milk. We made tea as soon as we entered the service apartment and drank on the same lawn that opened into the rice fields, from where the earth looked like heaven. That evening was spent watching the sunset amidst the rice fields. After the completion of one phase of tea, the second phase was also held.