01/04/2022
The pedanda siwa’s daily morning rites, “surya-sewana”, take approximately 50 minutes to an hour to carry out and are performed in the house-temple of the pedanda’s residence (griya) on a special pavilion called the bale pawedaan (see fig.1 to 7). The pedanda sits cross-legged in a padma āsana, not moving from this position through out, but performing elaborate hand movements (mudrā), ringing a hand bell, and manipulating various cult objects and materials, such as flowers, rice, incense and water. The practitioner’s eyes are closed, while words are continuously muttered inaudibly under the breath. He, or she, appears to be in a self-absorbed trance state, paying no attention to what is going on around them. The rite culminates with the pedanda creating holy water (tirta amerta), which he uses first to sprinkle on his own head and face and then gives the container to an assistant, who administers it to others present, or to those who have requested it to take home with them. The pedanda then rises and leaves the bale pawedaan, the ritual is over. These actions are plainly visible to any visitor who has access to the griya, and may be observed today all over bali.
While the aim of the ritual and how it is achieved are hardly transparent to an outside observer, almost any Balinese present can explain that the aim is to produce holy water and that this is achieved through the mystical power of the pedanda’s words and actions (more knowledgeable might say through his “yoga”), although precisely how is not known. Hooykaas (1966:9) notes that the term “surya-sevana” actually means “worship of the sun”, and thus is rather misleading since both text and rite are concerned with the production of holy water rather than sun worship.My observations of the rituals in many communities,and my questioning of informants, confirm that providing holy water constitutes the pedanda’s most important ritual function in the eyes of ordinary people.
