T

housands of Hindu adherents participated Wednesday in the grand sacrificial ritual Tawur Agung Panca Wali Krama at the Besakih Mother Temple in Karangasem.

The elaborate ritual, which is held once every ten years, aims to restore the cosmic balance believed to have been disrupted by human being's negative and selfish actions.

The Bencingah Agung, an open courtyard in front of the temple's main gate was the locus of the ritual. As many as 19 Hindu high priests led the ceremony while six others performed invocations at the inner yard of Penataran Agung temple.

Penataran Agung is considered the core of Besakih, a massive temple complex on the slope of Mt. Agung, the island's tallest and holiest mountain.

The complex comprises temple compounds dedicated to Hinduisms major deities and the ancestors of the island's feudal rulers and clans.

Tawur Agung Panca Wali Krama was held at the temple's outer yard because it essentially falls into the category of Bhuta Yadnya, rituals offered to the forces of nature and the lower beings. The temple's inner sanctum is reserved for religious festivities of Dewa Yadnya category, rituals presented to the higher deities, gods and the Supreme Creator.

The sacrificial ceremony began early in the morning when all high priests offered their homage to the five primary gods, Iswara in the East, Wisnu in the South, Mahadewa in the West, Brahma in the North and Siwa in the center.

Following the homage, a group of adherents carried various sacrificial animals and Nasi Tawur (boiled rice colored with the primary gods' respective colors) walked encircling the ritual's site three times.

Another group of adherents played musical instruments.

"The sounds of the music will invite the lower beings to come to the site and enjoy the prepared feast," Besakih's temple Priest Jero Mangku Suyasa said.

As the musical invitation reached its end, devotees began slaughtering sacrificial animals and, spraying the blood of the animals on the offerings.

Different colored Nasi Tawur was placed in one container and mixed together to create an offering for Yamaraja, Lord of the lower beings.

After the end of the sacrificial presentation, worshippers performed a joint prayer.

The ceremony ended with the Medana-dana ritual, in which the ritual's committee threw coins and bank notes to the awaiting worshippers.

"The coins symbolize prosperity, so I will keep it with me to improve my luck," a local, I Nengah Suparta said.The committee later distri-buted part of the Nasi Tawur and holy water to the devotees, to be used in the much-smaller sacrificial rituals held in the evening in households across the island.

The Tawur Agung Panca Wali Krama took place one day before Nyepi, the celebration of the Hindu's Saka New Year, also known as the Day of Silence.

"Panca Wali Krama is a part of the Balinese Hinduism's important cycle of sacrificial rituals," respected Hindu scholar I Ketut Sumarta said.