Agar Hubungan Suami Istri Selalu Bahagia

1. Berikan apa yang dia butuhkan sebelum dia meminta
Membuat suami bahagia bukan berarti harus selalu melayani semua kebutuhannya, tapi dengan memberikan apa yang dia butuhkan sebelum dia meminta akan membuat suami anda bahagia berlipat ganda. Karena dengan begitu, suami anda akan tahu bahwa anda menjadikan dia spesial dan penting.

2. Berikan perhatian lebih saat dia dalam kondisi tidak sehat atau sedih
Suami juga manusia, dia bisa sedih dan juga sakit, dan saat itulah anda beraksi untuk membuatnya bahagia. Dengan memberikan perhatian yang lebih saat dia sakit dan sedih, akan membuat suami anda bahagia dan tersentuh dan pastinya akan melakukan hal yang sama tanpa anda minta ketika nanti anda mengalami keadaan serupa.

3. Hargai dan berusahalah lebih dekat dengan keluarga suami andaBanyak istri justru tidak mengindahkan hal ini, bahkan tidak sedikit yang mempunyai masalah dengan keluarga sang suami. Padahal jika anda ingin membuat suami bahagia salah satunya adalah dengan cara lebih mendekatkan diri dengan keluarganya. Buktikan sendiri!

Tanaman untuk Menolak Santet !!!

Berikut ini beberapa macam tanaman yang selama ini kita kenal memiliki aura penangkal ilmu hitam. Namun, sebagian harus diperhatikan letak tanamannya agar aura yang dimiliki bisa melindungi pemilik rumah.

MAWAR

Bunga lambang cinta yang batangnya penuh duri ini mempunyai kekuatan menyerap hawa-hawa negatif, termasuk menangkal serangan santet. Hawa negative yang berhasil diserapnya akan langsung dibuang ke dalam tanah. Tapi sebaiknya jangan ditanam di depan rumah. Karena bila ditanam di depan rumah, hawa negatif yang sudah dimasukkan tanah, dikhawatirkan akan dilangkahi atau dilewati penghuni rumah. Bila ini terajdi, si penghuni rumah bisa terkena bencana.

KAKTUS

Tanaman yang biasa tumbuh di daerah kering ini mempunyai kekuatan sama dengan mawar; mampu menangkal santet dan hawa-hawa negatif lain. Namun kekuatan ini hanya bisa keluar bila ia ditanam atau ditaruh di luar rumah; di belakang, di depan, atau di samping. Bila diletakkan di dalam rumah, bukan kekuatan penolak santet yang keluar, tapi justru bisa menolak datangnya rejeki.

PINANG MERAH

Tanaman dengan nama ilmiah cyrtostachys lakka ini, juga dipercaya dapat menolak serangan black magic semacam santet yang ditujukan pada penghuni rumah.

KEMUNING JAWA

Tanaman yang memiliki nama ilmiah Murraya Paniculata ini juga diyakini mampu menolak kekuatan black magic. Selain itu, di dunia obat tradisional, tanaman yang bunganya mirip bunga melati ini biasa digunakan untuk mengobati bisul, rematik, memar, sakit gigi, radang buah zakar, infeksi saluran kencing, dan beberapa penyakit lainnya.

TEBU WULUNG

Sama seperti pinang merah dan kemuning jawa, ditanam dimanapun, tebu yang kulit batang sampai daunnya berwarna hitam ini dapat menangkal ilmu-ilmu hitam yang mengancam penghuni rumah. Karena tuahnya, beberapa paranormal biasanya menggunakan tanaman bernama latin Saccharum officniarum ini sebagai media penyembuhan.

COCOR BEBEK

Dari auranya, tanaman yang mempunyai nama latin Kalanchoe pinnata ini mempunyai kekuatan hampir sama dengan jambu dersono; bisa mendinginkan tanah yang 'panas'. Di beberapa daerah, cocor bebek biasa dipakai untuk obat sakit kepala, batuk, sakit dada, borok, dan beberapa jenis penyakit kulit lain, demam, luka, memperlancar haid, serta obat bisul.

BAMBU KUNING

Selain sebagai penghias taman atau pagar rumah, keluarga bambo kuning yang bernama ilmiah bambusa vulgaris ini juga dipercaya mampu menolak maling atau pencuri.

Susu Berguna Untuk Kecantikan Kulit

1. Pembersih Wajah
Beri nutrisi kulit wajah Anda dengan vitamin D, menggunakan susu sebagai pembersih wajah. Susu tidak hanya membantu singkirkan sel kulit mati, tapi juga melembutkan kulit. Jika kulit Anda berminyak, gosokkan lembut wajah Anda menggunakan handuk yang telah dibasahi susu skim (susu skim mengandung sedikit lemak sehingga tidak membuat kulit semakin berminyak).

Sementara untuk pemilik kulit kering, gunakan susu full cream atau susu sapi segar. Diamkan selama beberapa menit agar nutrisi dari susu terserap, lalu bilas dengan air.

2. Menenangkan Kulit Terbakar akibat Sinar Matahari
Terlalu lama berada di bawah sinar matahari, bisa membuat kulit kering dan terkelupas, atau biasa disebut dengan sunburn. Redakan efek ini dengan menempelkan handuk yang telah direndam dengan susu dingin ke bagian yang terbakar. Tempelkan dan sedikit tekan beberapa menit. Menurut Dr. Amy Pappert dari Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, kandungan protein dalam susu akan membentuk lapisan pelindung yang menjaga kelembaban kulit.

3. Merawat Kulit Kering
Bila Anda memiliki kulit yang sangat kering, lembabkan dengan susu bubuk. Isi bak mandi atau bath tub dengan air hangat, lalu masukkan setengah cangkir susu bubuk. Berendamlah selama 30 menit, dan Anda akan mendapatkan kulit lebih halus setelahnya. Jangan langsung dibilas, diamkan selama beberapa menit sampai tubuh agak mengering, baru bersihkan dengan air.

4. Masker Wajah
Anda bisa menjadikan susu sebagai masker wajah. Caranya, campurkan 1/4 sendok teh minyak almond dengan 1 sendok makan susu. Terapkan campuran tadi pada wajah sambil dipijat-pijat, lalu diamkan selama beberapa menit sampai masker mengering. Lalu oleskan lagi masker sampai tiga lapisan (selalu tunggu sampai lapisan sebelumnya mengering). Berbaringlah dan biarkan sekitar 30 menit. Kemudian bersihkan menggunakan handuk basah.

5. Mengurangi Kantung dan Lingkaran Gelap Bawah Mata
Kantung dan lingkaran gelap bawah mata membuat tampilan wajah Anda kusam dan kurang menarik? Segera redakan dengan kompresan susu. Celupkan kapas ke dalam susu cair dingin, peras sedikit lalu tempelkan pada kedua mata yang terpejam. Tunggu selama 20 menit, lalu bersihkan menggunakan handuk hangat.

Garam Mandi yang Bermanfaat

Mandi adalah aktivitas yang wajib dilakukan dan sudah menjadi rutinitas kita, Mandi bermanfaat untuk memelihara kesehatan, menjaga kebersihan, serta mempertahankan penampilan agar tetap rapi. Setelah mandi, manusia biasanya merasa segar, bersih, dan santai. Air adalah media utama untuk mandi, air bersifat menyegarkan, dan menenangkan, selain air, beberapa orang terkadang mencampurkan bunga, susu, garam atau yang lainnya.

Mandi garam berkhasiat untuk menghilangkan kepenatan dan mengeluarkan racun dari dalam tubuh. Racun tersebut dibuang lewat pori-pori kulit dan keringat. Mandi garam adalah mandi yang biayanya paling murah dan mudah dilakukan. Namun, mandi jenis ini dilarang untuk orang yang memiliki penyakit hipertensi karena sifat garam yang bisa menaikkan tekanan darah.

Berikut cara mandi garam:

1. Taburkan dua hingga tiga sendok makan garam kristal yang telah dicampur dengan essential oil ke air mandi.
2. Aduk hingga garam larut dan merata.
3. Berendamlah sekitar 20 menit kemudian bilas.

Menghilangkan Komedo dengan Obat Tradisional

Biasanya komedo pada wajah sangat mengganggu kecantikan para wanita. nah, ini tips dari saya untuk menghilangkan komedo. tidak perlu dibawa kedokter atau kesalon, karena dengan bahan - bahan tradisional juga dapat menghilangkan komedo dan mempercantik kulit wajah terutama wajah perempuan.

Berikut bahan - bahan dan cara untuk menghilangkan komedo :

Madu

Oleskan Madu pada daerah yang berkomedo. Diamkan selama 10 menit, lalu cuci bersih. Madu adalah pengelupas alami pada kulit berkomedo Anda dan juga sangat baik untuk kulit Anda.

Ketimun

Lumatkan mentimun dengan blender atau sendok, tetapi jaga agar teksturnya tidak terlalu halus. Kemudian, gunakan masker mentimun di wajah Anda. Ini tidak hanya membersihkan kulit dari komedo dan jerawat, tetapi juga dapat memberikan kesegaran pada kulit.

Daun kemangi

Tumbuk daun kemangi hingga halus, oleskan sebagai masker di bagian wajah yang berkomedo. Diamkan selama 15-20 menit. Bersihkan masker kemangi. Bilas dengan air dingin.

Daun Seledri dan Wajah Berminyak

Selain bisa digunakan sebagai penyedap makanan, daun seledri juga berfungsi sebagai obat tradisional untuk mengatasi kulit berminyak. Mungkin saya akan menerangkan pengalaman saya untuk mengurangi kelebihan minyak berlebih secara tradisional, karena menurut saya lebih hemat, cepat dan aman tanpa efek samping. Dan disini saya menggunakan daun seledri yang sangat ampuh selain bisa mengobati darah tinggi, namun juga bisa mengurangi kadar minyak di wajah.

Daun Seledri  yang bisa anda temui di pasar atau di kebun rumah anda, karena nama daun seledri sudah tidak asing lagi di telinga kita, daun nya juga sering di buat aneka masakan,dan juga bisa dijadikan obat kesehatan.

Cara Penggunaanya :

1. Ambil daun Seledri secukupnya lalu dipotong hingga kecil-kecil, dan setelah di potong kecil-kecil, potongan seledri tersebut dimasukan ke dalam panic yang sudah dimasuki air yang mendidih, dan biarkan rendaman seledri panas tersebut selama 15-20 menit lamanya, setelah didiamkan selama 15-20 menit, dan bisa dibiarkan agar dingin (20-30 menit).
2. Oleskan air Seledri yang sudah direbus dan sudah dingin tadi ke bagian seluruh wajah, biarkan hingga air Seledri tersebut meresap dan mengering.Setelah air Seledri meresap dan mengering bisa dibilas atau dibersihkan dengan air hingga bersih. Gunakan 2 hari 1 kali pemakaian untuk mendapatkan hasil yang maksimal.

Selamat Mencoba 

Perkembangan Chopper Indonesia

Mungkin jarang sekali kita melihat orang menggunakan motor chopper. rata-rata orang indonesia memilih motor yang praktis irit dan terjangkau. melihat perkembangan chopper di indonesia mungkin sedikit kita dengar atau kita lihat di jalanan jakarta orang menggunakan chopper untuk pergi ke kantor ataupun ke tempat yang sering dikunjungi, tetapi sekarang ini ada beberapa kelompok atau perorangan sudah melirik langsung motor besar ini untuk dimodifikasi. gue pernah baca seseorang yang berkecimpung di dunia bengkel motor, dia bilang kalo dia sangat tertarik dengan chopper karena bentuknya unik dan terkesan ekslusif. dia juga menuturkan bahwa motor ini tidak akan ketinggalan jaman tidak seperti motor musiman yang jaman sekarang ini tiap tiga tahun muncul model baru. menurutnya motor chopper sudah lama menjadi trend sejak perang dunia kedua dan sampe sekarang masih menjadi benda bergengsi yang bernilai. ketertarikan dia akan motor chopper mendorong dia untuk mempelajari setiap bagian motor chopper sehingga dia menjadi ahli di bidang motor chopper. sungguh mengesankan melihat jarang sekali orang yang punya motor tersebut melihat harga motor tersebut sama dengan harga mobil baru sekarang ini, hal ini mendorong dia untuk memanfaatkan peluang ini. dia memanfaatkan keahliannya dalam memodifikasi limbah motor besar menjadi motor chopper yang hampir mirip dengan aslinya. wow menurut gue ini sangat kreatif. gue menilik langsung memang untuk motor chopper indonesia perkembangannya jarang sekali terdengar. tetapi sekarang ini sudah banyak bengkel motor yang bisa menyulap motor anda menjadi motor chopper idaman anda, tentu anda harus merogoh kocek yang lebih dalam demi memuaskan kenginan anda. berikut ini gue beberapa foto chopper sebagai inspirasi.

Berbagai Jenis Motor Chopper

Akhir-akhir ini lagi suka sekali lihat motor Chopper, di Indonesia motor ini sangat sedikit orang yang memilikinya karena Chopper rata-rata dipakai oleh kalangan menengah atas, tapi jangan salah sekarang ini banyak orang Indonesia yang pintar membuat Chopper buatan tangan sendiri, salah satunya bengkel modifikasi Taoco jika anda sering membaca berita di detik atau di surat kabar lainnya, bengkel tersebut sangat mahir membuat chopper walaupun anda hanya mempunyai uang yang terbatas. ada orang yang ingin membuat motor Chopper dengan mesin Yamaha Scorpion. bayangkan kalau sudah jadi akan terlihat sangat keren tetapi jangan mengharapkan tenaga yang besar seperti Chopper yang asli yang memiliki 2 cylinder head.Mungkin bagi pecinta motor uang tidak jadi masalah mereka lebih mengutamakan kepuasan untuk memilikinya. gue tertarik dengan dunia modifikasi kita bisa custom motor sesuai selera dan mengatur budgetnya

PEMBEKUAN MANUSIA

Sidney - Di masa mendatang, ketika teknologi pengobatan medis berkembang sedemikian pesat, bukan tidak mungkin ditemukan cara membangkitkan orang mati, untuk hidup kembali. Itulah yang ada di benak orang-orang penganut cryonics. Cryonics adalah proses membekukan orang mati agar jaringan tubuhnya tidak rusak, sehingga di masa yang akan datang saat ditemukan cara membuat manusia hidup lagi, tubuhnya tidak rusak. Philip Rhoades (54), seorang ahli biologi Australia mendapat izin dari pemegang otoritas kesehatan negaranya untuk membangun cryonics center. Di tempat tersebut, maka tubuh manusia akan dibekukan dengan suhu minus 150 derajat celcius dalam cairan nitrogen. "Kedua orangtuaku tipe orang yang suka ilmu pengetahuan sepertiku. Saudara-saudara kandungku juga tertarik pada percobaan-percobaan yang hebat," ujar Rhoads kepada surat kabar Herald Sun, seperti dilansir AFP, Minggu (27/8/2006). Diberitakan koran tersebut, pemerintah negara bagian New South Wales telah menyetujui pembentukan pusat pembekuan itu. Rhoades telah menghabiskan US$ 490.000 untuk mengembangkan rencana tempat penyimpanan tubuh yang telah beku di bawah tanah Cowra, 200 km sebelah barat Sidney. Dalam waktu 6 bulan, dia berharap telah berhasil membangun cryonics center di atas lahan seluas 60 hektar. Dalam proses cryonics, darah di dalam tubuh manusia harus dikosongkan, sebelum dibaluti cairan nitrogen untuk dibekukan. "Sekarang mulai dikembangkan penelitian proyek genome manusia, terapi dan sejumlah penelitian tentang gen. Segala sesuatu mungkin saja terjadi, dengan penelitian, maka hal itu hanya menunggu waktu," imbuh Rhoades. Ibu Rhoades, Dorothy (74) yang berprofesi sebagai guru IPA, dan ayahnya, Gerald (79) yang menjadi karyawan pabrik kimia, kelak akan dibekukan. Namun Rhoades merasa sedih karena kekasihnya enggan mendapat perlakuan yang sama. "Sejauh ini, pacarku tidak tertarik dengan cryonics. Di masa depan, aku tidak bisa bertemu dia lagi, aku pasti akan sangat kehilangan," tandasnya. Asosiasi cryonics di Australia memiliki anggota 30 orang, 16 di antaranya telah menandatangani persetujuan untuk dibekukan di 2 cryonics center di Amerika Serikat, dengan biaya hingga US$ 250.000. Hingga kini, baru ada 3 cryonics center di dunia. (Detiknews)

PEMBAHASAN

Pada tahun 1967, seorang agen rahasia Inggris “dibekukan” sembari menunggu masa depan yang akan datang dimana musuh bebuyutannya bangun dari tidur panjangnya dalam kebekuan untuk kembali mengancam dunia. Masa itu tiba pada tahun 1997. Agen rahasia itu dibangkitkan kembali setelah diawetkan dalam es selama 30 tahun untuk menyelamatkan dunia dari kahancuran.

Mungkin Anda mengenali scenario di atas yang ada dalam film “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”(1997). Ilmu pengetahuan yang mengilhami cerita film itu benar-benar ada. Ilmu itu disebut kriogenika, yaitu ilmu yang mempelajari tentang apa yang terjadi pada materi pada suhu yang sangat rendah. Krionika yaitu tehnik yang digunakan untuk mengawetkan tubuh manusia pada suhu yang sangat rendah dengan harapan suatu hari dapat dibangkitkan kembali, sedang dikembangkan saat ini. Krionika juga muncul dalam film seperti “Vanilla Sky”(2001), “Sleeper”(1973) dan “A Space Odyssey”(1968). Gagasan  di balik kronia adalah jika seseorang “mati” akibat penyakit yang dideritanya, ia dapat dibekukan untuk kemudian dibangkitkan kembali di masa depan saat teknologi pengobatan sudah dapat menyembuhkan penyakitnya itu. Seseorang yang diawetkan sedemikian rupa dikatakan berada dalam keadaan suspense krionika.

Untuk memahami mengenai krionika, ingat kembali cerita dimana orang jatuh ke dalam sebuah danau es dan terendam selama hampir 1 jam sebelum akhirnya diselamatkan. Mereka yang selamat dapat bertahan hidup sedemikian rupa karena air es menyebabkan raga mereka dalam keadaan semacam “mati suri” dengan memperlambat metabolisme tubuh dan fungsi otak mereka hingga pada titik dimana mereka hampir tak membutuhkan oksigen.

Krionika bukanlah sekedar menghidupkan kembali seseoramg setelah ia jatuh ke dalam danua es. Melakukan suspensi krionika kepada orang yang masih hidup adalah illegal. Orangyang ingin menjalani suspense krionika harus terlebih dahulu dinyatakan mati secara hukum yakni, jantungnya sudah berhenti berdetak. Namun jika ia sudah mati, bagaimana mereka dapat dihidupkan kembali? Menurutnya para Ilmuwan yang mempraktikkan krionika, “mati secara hukum” tidak sama dengan “mati total”. Mati total menurut mereka adalah keadaan dimana seluruh fungsi otak berhenti. Mati secara hukum terjadi saat jantung berhenti berdetak, namun beberapa fungsi sel otak tetap bekerja, sehingga secara teoritis, orang dapat dibangkitakan kembali di masa depan.

A.   Krionika (Pembekuan Manusia) dalam Ilmu Fisika

Pada hukum Termodinamika II, membatasi perubahan energy mana yang dapat berlangsung dan perubahan energy mana yang tidak dapat berlangsung. Pembatasan ini dapat dinyatakan dengan berbagai cara yaitu:

a.    Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888) menyatakan rumusan Claussius tentang Hukum Termodinamika dengan pernyataan aliran kalor:

“Kalor mengalir secara spontan dari benda bersuhu tinggi ke benda bersuhu rebdah dan tidak mengalir secara spontan dalam arah kebalikannya”.

b.    Hokum II Termodinamika dinyatakan dalam entropi:

“Total entropi jagat raya tidak berubah ketika proses reversible terjadi dan bertambah ketika proses ireversibel terjadi”.

c.    Kelvin dan Planck menyatakan rumusan yang setara sehingga dikenal rumusan Kelvin-Planck tentang Hukum Termodinamika II tentang mesin kalor.

“Tidak mungkin membuat suatu mesin kalor yang bekerja dalam suatu siklus yang semata menyerap kalor dari sebuah reservoir dan mengubah seluruhnya menjadi usaha luar”.

Hukum kedua termodinamika lahir ketika manusia mencoba memanfaatkan seluruh energi yang disuplaikan ke dalam mesin agar bisa menghasilkan energi yang setara antara yang masuk dengan keluarannya.

Era industri, pada abad ke-18, merupakan awal mula pemikiran tentang efesiensi kerja tersebut. Mesin-mesin yang diciptakan pada abad tersebut telah mengantarkan pada permasalahan baru yakni mesin yang bekerja secara siklik, artinya, akan kembali kekeadaan awal di mana setiap gerakan akan terjadi proses yang benar-benar tak reversibel. Hal ini dikarenakan uap yang didinginkan dan dibuang dari silinder pada akhir gerakan. Intinya, mesin mengambil energi panas dari sumber panas, menggunakan sebagain energi ini untuk menghasilakn kerja yang berguna, kemudian membuang sisanya melalui sumber yang lebih dingin (lingkungan). Energi yang hilang tadi tidak dapat diambil kembali oleh mesin.

Sadi Carnot, seorang perwira di korps insyiur angkatan darat Prancis di zaman Napoleon, mencoba meningkatkan efisiensi kerja mesin, membuat model fungsi kerja dengan sebuah proses kerja siklik yang diidealiasasi dan sekarang dikenal dengan siklus karnot.

Dia menyimpulkan bahwa kerugian energi yang dapat diambil tidak dapat dihilangkan sepenuhnya, walaupun mesin tersebut dirancang dengan sangat baik. Bahkan sekalipun mesin tersebut bekerja dalam reversibel (yang perpindahan beban luarnya terlalu lambat untuk kebutuhan praktis), efesiensinya tidak dapat melampui batas dasar yang dikenal sebagai efesiensi termodinamik. Dengan demikian dapat dikatakan tidak ada mesin yang seratus persen efisien.

Pernyataan di atas seharusnya jangan hanya ditarik dalam ranah mesin semata karena bagaimanapun juga hukum-hukum dibidang sains mempunyai korelasi dengan ranah yang lain termasuk perilaku manusiapada era globalisasi sekarang ini dalam menciptakan mesin untuk krionika (pembekuan manusia).

Kalor dapat dipaksa mengalir dari benda dingin ke benda panas dengan melakukan usaha pada suatu system. Peralatan yang bekerja dengan cara seperti ini disebut mesin pendingin contohnya kulkas dan alat yang digunakan krikonia.

a.   T1   > T2

b.  Q 2 = kalor yang diserap dari temperature rendah

c.   Q 1  = kalor yang diberikan pada temperature tinggi

d.    W =  Q 1 -  Q 2 =  kerja atau usaha yang diperlukan

Ukuran penampilan sebuah mesin pendingin dinyatakan dengan koefisien daya guna (koefisien performansi) yang diberi dengan lambang

Semakin tinggi nilai  maka semakin baik mesin pendingin. Maka, untuk membuat alat yang digunakan dalam krikonia maka dibutuhkan nilai  koefisien daya guna ( ) yang semakin besar.

Dengan menghubungkan Hukum Termodinamika II maka para ilmuwan dapat menciptakan suatu alat untuk kegiatan krionika dimana tubuh orang tersebut akan dibungkus dalam es dan diinjeksikan heparin (sejenis antikoagulan),untuk mencegah koagulasi dalam perjalanan menuju fasilitas krionika.Setelah berada di fasilitas kriogenika, tim krionika membuang air dari sel tubuh orang tersebut dan menggantinya dengan campuran kimiawi berbasis gliserol yang disebut krioprotektan, tujuannya untuk mencegah organ dan jaringan tubuh membentuk kristal es pada suhu yang sangat rendah. Proses yang disebut vitrifikasi (pendinginan tanpa pembekuan) ini menyebabkan sel tubuh dalam keadaan mati suri. Kemudian tubuh orang tersebut didinginkan pada gumpalan es kering hingga mencapai suhu -130°C (-202°F) dan selesai proses vitrifikasi. Kemudian diletakkan ke dalam tangki logam yang besar berisi nitogen cair pada suhu sekitar -196°C (-320°F). Tubuh disimpan dengan posisi kepala di bawah ,antisipasi jika terjadi kebocoran tangki,otaknya masih terendam dalam nitrogen cair. Krionika ini biayanya sangat mahal sekali.

Selain dalam Hukum Termodinamika, dapat juga diadakan percobaan yaitu pada mayat manusia dalam air dapat terapung karena massa jenis mayat manusia lebih kecil daripada massa jenis air sehingga hanya sebagian volume pada mayat manusia yang tercelup dalam air  sehingga volume air yang dipindhkan lebih kecil dari volume total pada mayat manusia.

Festival Layang-layang Ikut Promosikan Wisata Bali

Berbagai cara dilakukan untuk terus mempromosikan Bali sebagai pulau tujuan wisawatan berlibur, salah satunya adalah dengan menggelar festival tahunan lomba layang-layang raksasa yang di gelar di Pantai Padang Galak. Festival layang-layang di Pantai Padang Galak ini sudah memasuki tahun ke 32 dan diikuti sedikitnya 720 peserta dari kelompok Banjar yang tersebar di lima kabupaten dan kota, yaitu dari Gianyar, Tabanan, Badung, Karang Asem dan Denpasar.

Dalam festival layang-layang ini ada dua kategori yang dilombakan yaitu layangan tradisi yang meliputi jenis "bebean" seperti bentuk ikan ukuran 3-4 meter atau bentuk "janggan" yang memiliki ekor sepanjang 100 meter dan "pecukan" yang berbentuk lonjong. Ketiga bentuk layangan ini memang khas dari Bali. Ukurannya pun terbilang raksasa yaitu panjangnya mencapai 3-4 meter dan terbuat dari bambu dan kain parasit.

Biaya untuk membuat satu layang-layang bisa mencapai Rp 5 sampai 10 juta. Rata-rata persiapan mengikuti festival layangan raksaksa ini sudah dilakukan beberapa bulan sebelumnya. Dalam lomba layang-layang ini, juri akan menilai dari kreatifitas pembuatan layang-layang yang meliputi warna, bentuk, suara yang dikeluarkan serta performance atau gerakan layang-layang di udara.

Maraknya lomba tentu juga menarik perhatian para wisatawan untuk ikut serta larut dalam kemeriahan festival yang dikuti para peserta. Selain untuk kepentingan pariwisata, festival layang-layang ini juga ditujukan sebagai upaya untuk melestarikan budaya Bali agar tidak hilang seiring dengan perkembangan jaman.

Sebanyak 1.080 layang-layang diikutsertakan dalam Lomba Layang-Layang Bali yang ke-33 di Denpasar Bali. Hampir semua layangan yang disertakan dalam lomba  ini berukuran raksasa.

Lomba layang-layang ini digelar di kawasan Pantai Padanggalak Denpasar. Lomba yang digelar selama tiga hari berturut-turut (29-31 Juli) ini diikuti ratusan sekeha atau kelompok pecinta layangan dari seluruh Bali.

Layangan yang dipertandingkan dalam lomba ini dibagi dalam dua kategori yaitu jenis tradisional seperti layangan jenis jangan, pecukan, dan bebean, serta kategori layangan kreasi.  Hampir semua layangan yang ikut lomba ini berukuran jumbo atau raksasa ukuran panjang 3 meter lebih.

Untuk bisa menerbangkan satu buah layang-layang ukuran raksasa ini diperlukan belasan hingga puluhan orang. Semua peserta dari setiap kelompok harus bekerjasama agar layangan mereka bisa terbang dengan baik selama lomba.

Meski mengikuti lomba di bawah terik panas matahari dan membutuhkan tenaga ekstra, namun para peserta mengaku senang bisa ikut lomba ini.

“Senang bisa menerbangkan layangan bersama-sama kawan, ini wujud kebersamaan kami, selain untuk melestarikan tradisi,” ujar salah seorang peserta dari Denpasar yang bernama Krisna.

“Selain sebagai ajang berkumpul para penghobi layang-layang, lewat lomba ini aneka jenis layangan tradisional Bali seperti bebean, jangan, dan pecukan diharapkan akan tetap lestari. Disamping itu lewat lomba ini juga diharap akan muncul layangan kreasi  hasil inovasi para pecinta layangan di Bali,” kata  Ketua panitia lomba I Gusti Putu Rai Andayana. (dev)

EKA DASA RUDRA

Eka Dasa Rudra is the greatest Hindu festival in Indonesia. It is primarily a Balinese festival though with the spread of Hinduism all Hindus throughout the nation take part. The traditional Hindu literature of Bali states clearly that Eka Dasa Rudra may only be held at Pura Besakih on the slopes of Mt. Agung in Bali. The texts also state when the festival may be held. In the Balinese lunar-solar calender, one year consists of 12 lunar months, which every so often must be correlated with the solar year by adding an intercalary month. A lunar month ends on the day of the new moon, the last day of the lunar year being the day of the new moon of the ninth month (tilem kasanga) which falls around March. The Balinese count their lunar-solar years according to the Saka system which is 78/79 years behind the international Gregorian year.

On the last day of the lunar year a purification sacrifice (taur kasanga) must be held at Besakih (and elsewhere). However during a Saka year that 'ends in a zero' as the Balinese phrase it, that is every decade, a much larger sacrifice called Panca Wali Krama should rightly be held. And every century, during the Saka year ending in two zeros, the enormous sacrifice of Eka Dasa Rudra should be held. The texts do not indicate any particular day for the ceremony during that double-zero year. For the Eka Dasa Rudra of Saka year 1900, the new moon of the ninth month (28 March 1979) was chosen, a day eminently suitable for a great demonic sacrifice. If Eka Dasa Rudra should rightly be held during a double-zero Saka year, why then was it also held in 1963 (Saka 1884), only 16 years ago? Texts dealing with Eka Dasa Rudra do allow the possibility of holding the ceremony at other times, should natural and human disharmony (such as earthquakes, eruptions, plagues, wars) indicate the impure state of the world. The events of past decades such as the Indonesian revolution of 1945-1949, were deemed to be of such a nature.

However the holding of Eka Dasa Rudra in 1963 had an additional significance. For several centuries the ceremony had not been held, and so as a redemption or an acknowledgement of this neglect, it was thought necessary to hold it at that time. For this reason it was called an Eka Dasa Rudra Peneregteg (from tegteg, firm, constant, upright). That festival began on 10 October 1962 and continued till 20 April 1963, with the great Eka Dasa Rudra sacrifice falling on 8 March 1963. In February of that year, as preparations were underway, Mt. Agung erupted causing considerable loss of life and widespread damage to farm lands.
Surviving texts do not state clearly just when the ceremony was held in centuries gone by. The frequency of texts dealing with Eka Dasa Rudra and the detailed instructions about offerings and so on, suggests, that it indeed must once have been held. It seems most probable that Eka Dasa Rudra was held during the reign of Dalem Baturenggong towards the middle of the sixteenth century when the kingdom of Gelgel was at the height of its power, under the direction of the very influential court priest Danghyang Nirartha (Padanda Sakti Wawu Rauh).

Before discussing the significance of Eka Dasa Rudra a distinction must be made between two uses of the term. Karya (literally work) Eka Dasa Rudra refers to the whole festival consisting of several separate ceremonies spread over a period of two months. The most important of these ceremonies, the climax of the festival, is the Taur Eka Dasa Rudra, the enormous purification sacrifice that falls on the last day of Saka year 1900 (28 March 1979).
"Taur" is a technical term used to refer to the larger ceremonies grouped under the classification b'huta yadnya. Bhuta yadnya ceremonies are one of five classifications of Hindu ritual, the so-called panca yadnya, the others being dewa yadnya (ceremonies directed to the gods), manusa yadnya
(directed to human beings, rites of passage), pitra yadnya (directed to the spirits of the dead) and rsi yadnya (directed to holy men). Bhuta yadnya ceremonies are directed to potentially disruptive nether world forces, the demons. Bhuta means element; and kala, another word for demon, means time or energy. Demons are personifications of forces derived from the five elements (panca mahabhuta) at such times as these forces exceed their normal intensity and bring misfortune to man. To keep these elemental forces at the right level, to create harmony in the world of man and the world of nature, i.e. to placate the demons, is the purpose of the bhuta yadnya ceremonies.
Bhuta yadnya rituals with the generic name caru begin with the offering of one fowl (eka sata) of multi-coloured plumage placed at the foot of a little bamboo shrine (sanggar cucuk). The next level is five fowl (panca sata) and five shrines, the colour of ech fowl's plumage corresponding to its direction.
Larger bhuta yadnya ceremonies, called taur, require sacrifice of four-footed animals as well as fowls, a greater number of associate offerings, the tali elaborate sanggar tawang shrine, and the presence of the high priest. There are several graded divisions of taur sacrifices, gradually increasing in size from taur agung to tabuh gentuh to Panca Wali Krama and finally Eka Dasa Rudra (the Eleven Rudra).
Rudra, meaning "howler", is a god associated with wildness and danger, the Vedic antecedent of Siwa with whom he later became associated. Often one meets the compound terms Siwa Rudra or Kala Rudra (Kala is the destructive aspect of Siwa). Since Siwa is another name for Sanghyang Widhi Wasa in the Siwa-siddhanta seel of Hinduism which became dominant in Bali, these terms refer to Sanghyang Widhi Wasa in His terrifying state, the source of wild and violent energy. Likewise, of the three gods Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa who make up the Hindu Trinity (Trimurti), the three manifestations of Sanghyang Widhi Wasa, Siwa is the dissolver as well as being the destroyer of sins and calamities.

The use of the number "eleven" expresses the idea that Sanghyang Widhi Wasa dan His manifestation as Rudra Siwa is omnipresent. He is found everywhere in ali directions: east, south, west, north, southeast, southwest, northwest, northeast, nadir (down), zenith (up) and at the center - 11 in all. These eleven directions signify total space.
In a phrase found in several texts, Eka Dasa Rudra ia a "bringer of good fortune to the world" (pamahayu jagat). It brings good fortune and harmony to the world in both its aspects: the world of nature (macrocosm) and the world of man (microcosm). For one aim of the festival is to affeel and strengthen the spiritual life of those taking part, leading to harmony, justice, and prosperity.
It was a heavy overcast morning, hardly auspicious weather for the opening ceremonies of Eka Dasa Rudra. Rain continued on and off for the next week, but then a change came and fine days lasted through till the end of the festival.
A small crowd gathered for the ceremonies, including members of the organizing committee and government district officials representing Bali's 1500 or so traditional villages. Rows of bright orange safari jeeps filled the carpark for most officials had a vehicle of the same colour. Wearing traditional dress of batiks and colourful sashes that broke the greyness of the morning: everyone made their way to the second terrace of Pura Panataran Agung, the ritual center of Besakih.

On the flagstones in front of the Triple Lotus shrine sat a group of Besakih pemangku (priests), dressed in white. With just a few offerings, they performed almost unnoticed the small ritual of matur piuning on behalf, ultimately, of all Hindus in Indonesia. The ceremony ritually 'announced' the intention of holding Eka Dasar Rudra which had in fact long been in the planning, and requested that Sanghyang Widhi Wasa bestow His blessings upon the undertaking so that the festival proceed without mishap.
Then it began to rain. People crowded the steps around the pavilion where three priests were performing their ritual of hymns and mantras, hand movements (mudra), ringing of bells and flicking of flowers. For this and other major ceremonies throughout the Eka Dasa Rudra festival, high priests from both Siwa and Buda branches of the brahmana caste officiated.
In the middle of his ritual, under the shelter of an umbrella, the Buda high priest performed the rite of mabumisuda, joining with lines of rice flour the opposite sides and corners of a small square defined also by rice flour, a rite to purify the temple precincts of past and future impurities. Beside it, arrayed on the ground in front of the tall sanggar tawang shrine were the offerings for the sacrifice (taur) called balik sumpah (reserve the curse). The sacrifice was structured about eleven
little bamboo shrines (sanggar cucuk), one for each of the eleven directions, each with its sacrificial animal. making it in effect a vastly smaller prelude to the enormous Eka Dasa Rudra sacrifice a month later.
The priests prepared holy water which together with other purificatory substances was sprinkled by the temple priests (pemangku) over offerings and shrines. This purification ritual, called malis from the palm leaf wand (lis) used as holy water sprinkler, was part of every ceremony where high priests officiated. At the end of their ritual the priests led the worshippers in homage to Sanghyang Widhi, uttering their mantras as the worshippers performed the act of muspa, from puspa 'flower', for homage is done by holding a flower between the outstretched fingers of the hands held palm to palm and raised up to the forehead. Afterwards temple priests sprinkled and distributed the holy water. In essence, all high priests' rituals follow this basic structure, though specific ceremonies call forth additional hymns and formulas.
At this opening ceremony of Eka Dasa Rudra, the priests also prepared special holy water called tirta guru piduka, symbolizing the request that Sanghyang Widhi forgive all shortcomings and mistakes that might occur in celebrating such a huge festival as Eka Dasa Rudra. The two kinds of holy wuter were poured into separate sets of high earthenware jars in front of the two meru, from which people filled the two short bamboo tubes they brought with them in readiness.
Each district official on returning home with the holy water distributed them to village leaders who in turn gave them out to the villagers to be sprinkled over all members of the community, young and old. These village rituals, being part of an island-wide cleansing, made people aware that Eka Dasa Rudra, after months of planning and talk, had really begun, and asked them to become actively involved in its implementation and to enter into the spirit of this the greatest of their festivals.
Most importantly they were requested not to cremate their dead, and not even to announce
publically, by beating the wooden slit-gongs ( kulkul), that a death had occurred. Instead bodies were carried to the graveyard stealthily by members of the immediate family. Post-cremation rites that purify the soul (the body already having been cremated) could be held however, and a very large ceremony of this kind took place in Sanur during March.
The ceremonies at Besakih that opening morning were over by midday and people soon left, some carrying portions of rice from the sacrifice, endowed with cleansing properties. The offerings from the tall sanggar tawang shrine were brought down and the shrine itself dismantled, for it could not be used again. 28 February, the second day of the festival, dawned lightly overcast. It was a slow day with no ceremonies till mid-afternoon. Down in Suci, the ritual kitchen, women and girls prepared offerings and men made artifacts out of bamboo. Two high priests sat quietly in a pavilion.
Up on the third terrace Pande Riyanta, his son and a couple of helpers were busy making eleven sacred sunar; flutes. Old Pak Pande, decaying teeth chomping a wad of tobacco, had for years now made these huge flutes, a full mature bamboo in length, which produce a series of beautiful low hums as the wind blows across the holes. The holes came in four shapes (circular. slit-like, triangular, half-moon), the better to catch the wind from whatever direction it blew
The number of holes depended on the direction where it was placed, for each direction is associated with a specific number. One sunari was placed by the shrine in the ritual kitchen, the rest in and around the main courtyard of the temple, each with a little piece of cloth whose colour also corresponded with its direction. Monkeys of sugar-palm fibre scurried up the poles. When the wind blows crisply the sound of a sunar; is wondrous to listen to. The Balinese say it calms the mind and creates harmony between man and nature. No wonder it is the delight of Dewi Sri, goddess of rice.
In the main courtyard pemangku prepared the posts and poles for the tall sanggar tawang shrine to replace the one pulled down the day before. The four main posts were areca-palm trunks, the rest of the structure being bamboo. This sanggar tawang was the most prominent of the nonpermanent shrines inside the temple (a second one put up by the Klungkung royal family played a minor role ritually), and, later, eleven such shrines dominated the sacrificial enclosure. It is a tripartite shrine, the center being slightly higher, and is dedicated to Brahma (whose colour is red), Wisnu (black) and Siwa (white), the three gods of the Trimurti, who are requested to witness the festivities. Cloths of these respective colours decorated the compartments.

Negtegang, the main ceremony of the day, which took place in the main courtyard, began at midafternoon. The door of the nine-roofed meru dedicated to Ratu Kubakal was opened, the shrine inside hung with cloths, and offerings placed there. The attention given this meru expressed the relationship between Ratu Kubakal, an Old Balinese deity, and Dewi Sri, for the negtegang ceremony requests of Sanghyang Widhi in His manifestation as the goddess of rice that all materials used for the ceremony be pure and of the highest quality, and that they not be wasted.
Two Siwa high priests performed the ritual, seated in the bale kembangsirang. The cleansing ritual of malis, indicating as always which shrines were the focus of the ceremony, was carried out at the shrine inside the meru and at the shrine in Suci, the ritual kitchen. While this ceremony was going on, the pemangku raised the main posts of the sanggar tawang.
As dusk was falling the final ceremony of the day, the measuring and laying out of the enclosure for, the Eka Dasa Rudra sacrifice, took place in the forecourt of Pura Panataran Agung. The measurements for enclosure and shrines were based on specific body measurements of the officiating high priest (Padanda Gede Tembau from Aan, Klungkung),for a central doctrine of Balinese Hinduism is, the intimate correlation between microcosm (here the priest) and macrocosm (represented by the endosure). Beginning at the northeast corner of the projected enclosure, the priest marked a spot on the ground from where the man who carried a length of bamboo measured off a distance equal to 14 times that of the stick. The stick, it turned out. equalled the total length of the priest's outstretched arms plus that from elbow to fingertips plus the breadth of closed hand  (depa hasta musti). To 14 times this length a further hasta and musti were added. The north and south sides were one stick shorter so the enclosure was not a perfect square.

After the enclosure was marked out the priest conducted a brief ritual on the ground at the center, dedicating offerings with the request that the spirits of the area leave and not disturb. Later the enclosure was given a dedication ceremony (malaspas).
The offerings throughout the Eka Dasa Rudra festival were astonishing, both in their striking beauty and in their enormous quantities. The ornamental sarad offerings several meters high, fashioned from rice dough were works of art as fine as anything produced in Bali, their richness and colour adding a stunning splash of brightness to courtyard and enclosure.
Their beauty was a thing of passing moment, caught only by the camera, for they lasted only as long as the ceremony. And an offering once presented cannot be offered again. The art of the Balinese offering is a transitory art, like that of the great cremation towers and sarcophagi which are made one day and burned almost the next.
This element of the transitory - made one day, gone the next - is prominent in Balinese art. In the case of offerings it is determined by the very nature of the materials used, such as palm leaf and flowers. The ingredients of an offering are the fruits of the earth and are always close to hand and only time and effort are required to transform them.
Much of the meaning of the offering lies in the effort expended, and the sincerity which with which it is offered. And in Bali presenting an offering to demon or deity is the simplest and most prevalent of religious acts. As a symbol it expresses the profound thanks of the worshipper towards Sanghyang Widhi for all His bountiful gifts to mankind. Some among the hundreds of offerings are directed towards specific gods or manifestations of Sanghyang Widhi, with specific cosmic powers or associated with specific aspects of the created world. All offerings, however, have specific functions, some with general application, others restricted to certain rituals. Ceremonies may be performed at one of three basic levels – utama, madia, nista, or elaborate, average, simple-which are sometimes further sub-divided, and the quantity of offerings varies. However there is but one kind of Eka Dasa Rudra, and the offerings needed for it are mindboggling in number - more than 50 buffaloes, scores of other animals, thousands of ducks and chickens, tens of thousands of bananas, eggs and coconut, tones and ride.
Small wonder that hundreds, sometimes thousands,of people worked for weeks to prepare everything. Besides the Besakih villages who helped throughout, visiting groups of villagers, schoolchildren and students lent a hand, and each of the eight administrative regencies of Bali sent, a contingent. Headed by several high priestesses, experts in the arcane world of offerings, each contingent had the task of preparing the offerings for a particular part of the ritual. Although groups of offering makers worked in several in the smaller Besakih temples, the center of activities was the kitchen enclosure called Suci that abuts the main courtyard of Pura Panataran Agung. There are in fact two linked enclosures, when necessary the outer one being distinguished as Suci Tambar. Ritually however they are very different. Suci proper is the ritual kitchen where women prepared offerings and whose ritual purity was closely guarded. A jar of holy water was set beside the entrance for those who needed to purify themselves, and all the women wore white headbands, likewise a mark of holiness. Every day someone placed offerings on the small shrine in the northeast corner of the enclosure. Suci Tambar is the secular kitchen which became headquarters of the committee in charge of ritual and where meals were cooked for the many helpers, and coffee and cakes prepared for guests and those whose duties brought them there.

The women in Suci, several of them high priestesses, were always doing something. In the early stages making jaja occupied much of their time.Jaja (or jaja cacalan) are cookies or biscuits (no English word quite fits) made of rice dough, fashioned by nimble practised fingers into an incredible variety of shapes. Many jaja were multicoloured but others were all white, red yellow or black, the colours associated with the cardinal directions (east. south, west. north) Offerings placed in a specific direction had to be a certain colour.
One very important offering, the catur, follows the four-fold directional structure within itself ingredients, placed within a single large high-sided cylindrical container, were divided into four groups (catur means 'four) according to colour. There was rice of four colours (ordinary white rice, red upland rice, rice to which curcuma was added to turn it yellow. and injin, (a natural variety of black rice), bananas of four varieties (distinguished by variation of skin colour), jaja of four colours, and so on.
Jaja are components of almost every offering. The catur, for example, and the suci and bebangkit offerings, contain scores of the strangest jaja, quite unlike those colourful cookies of the typical family offering seen at every temple festival. Instead, they are many of them quite small, being called after leaves or seeds or flowers. Others represent the heavenly bodies or the weapons of the gods of the nine directions. Jaja contained in the bebangkil offering often depict little scenes with human beings and dogs. But the sarad were the real showpieces, where the art of making and assembling jaja attained astonishing heights. Thousands of women-hours of work were needed to fashion all these jaja, after which they were deep fried in coconut oil. The cooking fire was never without its offering to god Brahma.
lord of fire.
Besides jaja, another important element of all offerings are the parts made of palm leaf. Like Balinese women everywhere, the women working in Suci were remarkably skilful at cutting, twisting and fastening bits of palm leaf into containers, beautiful decorative crowns, and a range of ritual artifacts. An offering must have a container: the catur employs a high cylindrical one, the suci a series of round trays. The bebangkit, however, uses squares of bamboo wicker fastened together into a box. Others use bamboo rice¬winnowing trays. Individual components are often placed in their own smaller containers.
On the top of the offering is the dominant decorative element of an offering usually called the sampian, wherein lies much of the offering's beauty. On larger offerings and at the ends of overarching penjor poles, they are wonderfully elaborate, delicate as lace. Since sampian are of quickwithering young palm leaf, the women fashioned them a day or two before they were to be used.
Of the ritual artifacts of palm leal; the lis and the pring showed another aspect of the art. Both comprise some 40 separate elements, many of intricate design, and many named after parts of the body. Those for the lis were made from young coconut palm those for the pring from mature sugar-palm leaf.
In the lis, they were simply tied together in a bunch and used as a wand for sprinkling holy water. In the pring they were embodied as it were in human guise, male and female, for they always come in pairs. They accompanied the tili mamah buffalo offering that appeared in pamendak and mapeselang rituals. Gradually the women in Suci fashioned and gathered together the necessary ingredients of an offering, and then assembled them, not one at a time, but by adding one component to all of a group of a particular offering, like an assembly line.The offering experts, co-ordinated by the committee in charge of ritual, knew how many catur would be needed, how many suci and bebangkit and so on, and they prepared accordingly.
Although making offerings was primarily in the hands of women, men were not left out entirely, for the preparation of all flesh offerings was their responsibility. Men prepared the many offerings made from pig skin, fat and entrails, cut into strange shapes. They turned the roast pigs, grilled the chickens or ducks placed on many offerings, and prepared the sacrificial animals for demonic-oriented rituals, especially the Eka Dasa Rudra sacrifice itself. Also the men's responsibility were all temporary shrines and ritual accessories and artifacts made from bamboo. For several days the temple pemangku constructed frames for the tall and striking dangsil offerings, like a meru or pagoda in shape. The roofs, always odd in number, were later covered with palm leaf and hung with colourful jaja. Men built sanggar tawang and associated shrines and pavilions in each of the Besakih temples. Many others worked at the sacrificial enclosure, transforming the bare bit of land marked out on the second day into an amazing yet ordered mass of shrines and pavilions, constructed almost entirely out of bamboo.
During the three weeks till the arrival of the gods, two ceremonies were directly concerned with ingredients of offerings. The first was a series of rituals that accompanied the preparation
of a sacred substance called madu parka (honey pot), an ingredient of the important catur and suci offerings.
The rituals which took place in and around Suci, began on Saturday, 10 March, with the arrival at Besakih of two cows, one a sacred white cow from Taro, an ancient village said to have been founded by Sri Markandeya, the legendary founder of Besakih itself. Purificatory offerings and sacred grasses were given to the cows to eat. Next day, washed and adorned with white cloth and a ribbon of white thread around the neck they were led into Suci proper where a high priest performed a further ritual of purification, after which the cows were milked three times, the first time by the priest himself.
On the day of the new moon (13 March) the ritual of preparing madu parka was conducted by a group of high priestesses in front of the shrine in the northeast corner of Suci. Madu parka consists of nine substances, symbols of the nine gods of directions and center, including ghee from the milk of the sacred cows (representing Iswara), cane sugar (Brahma), honey (Wisnu), rice wine (Sangkara), and even powdered rhinoceros horn (Mahesora). These were cooked together with black rice over a small fire of sandlewood shavings, and then poured into round trays. It was largely a woman's affair; a high priest performed only a couple of brief ritual interludes. The rituals of preparing madu parka and particularly the role of the sacred cows reflect the impact of Indian Siwaite practice.

The other ceremony associated with ingredients for offerings was called ngingsah, washing the rice. held the day the gods arrived (21 March). At the head of the bale kembangsirang where two Siwa high priests conducted the ritual, seemingly like any other offering, was an object called daksina palinggih, symbol of Dewi Sri, goddess of rice, to whom the ceremony was directed. Within the pavilion were four baskets of rice, two of ordinary white rice, to one of which curcuma was later added to turn it yellow, another of red upland rice, and the fourth of black rice. After the priests' ritual, the rice was carried outside where, one basket at a time, high priestesses washed it first with fresh water, then with holy water from three Besakih springs (Tirta Sangku, Empul, and Sudamala). Sanctified rice of the four colours of the cardinal directions was an ingredient, as we have seen, of offerings such as the catur.
All these preparations took place in a Besakih radically changed from its old self. Ever-present crowds of people, streams of trucks, buses, cars and motorbikes coming and going at the two carparks, a hundred or more food and drink stalls serving visitors, peddlers selling all sort of merchandise, dance or drama performances almost every night, and even electric lights - the whole place looked like some country fair. The very landscape was changing. Carparks were built, a new side road pushed through to the main temple, a vast packed-dirt terrace constructed just down from the sacrificial enclosure. Kiosks were moved to the carparks, giving a spacious view of the temple as one approached. Many water points and toilets were built. Work went on till the last minute.
But most of all it was the people who brought the change in atmosphere. There were thousands of people everywhere at all times. Groups of villagers and townsfolk from early morning to late at night came to worship or help for the day. The resident population swelled several times. At night people packed every available space in and around the temples, filled the homestays, took rooms in village homes, vacated by the family for the sake of the soaring price of a room for a night.

On the same day as the madu parka ceremony at Pura Besakih, 13 March a unique event was taking place on the the slopes of Mt Semeru in East Java. A volcano like Mt Agung, Mt Semeru is the highest mountain in Java and plays an honoured role in the mythology of early Hinduism in Indonesia. The story goes that the islands of java, Bali and Lombok were not yet stable, so to stop their wobbings, Mt Mahameru the central holy mountain of Hinduism and the abode of the gods, was transferred to Java where it became known as Mt Semeru. Part of the mountain was carried to Bali where it became Mt. Agung, and part to Lombok where it became Mt. Rinjani. According to this myth, the god of Mt. Semeru, Pasupati, is the father of the god of Mt Agung and that of Mt Rinjani. For Eka Dasa Rudra, and this festival alone, the gods of Mt Semeru and Mt Rinjani were invited to attend, in each case represented by holy water obtained with due ritual from a sacred spring high up on the volcano's slope. The holy water (tirta) was placed in a sujang, a tube of bamboo wrapped in white cloth and stoppered with sacred leaves. Shaded by a white umbrella it was borne with all the honour due a deity, for indeed it symbolized the god's presence and power, and was usually referred to as Bhatara Tirta, God Holy Water. The holy water was brought to Bali and enthroned in the Denpasar state temple, Pura Jagatnatha. Several days later (20 March) holy water was requested at nine sacred places in Bali either associated with the mountains or with the waters of lake or sea, mountain and sea being the poles of Balinese sacred geography. The deity of Mt Agung was represented by holy water from the sacred spring Girikusuma, half way to the summit from Besakih. The deities of other mountains were represented by holy water from temples on Mts. Lempuyang, Andakasa, Batur, Mangu (Bratan) and Batukaru. Representing the waters were the deities of Pura Ulun Danu, the lake temple at Batur, and the sea temple of Ulu Watu which is closely related to Besakih. Also' present was holy water from Pura Panataran Peed on the shores of Nusa Penida. So in all there were eleven visiting gods, each represented by holy water, two of them from neighbouring islands. Several of these- holy waters arrived at Besakih on the afternoon of 20 March and were temporarily enshrined in Pura Manik Mas, or in the case of that from Mt. Agung in Pura Gelap. The rest were brought to Besakih the next day. Homage was paid also at many other important temples in Bali, without holy water being requested.

Wednesday, 21 March, began like any other day of preparations. Activities continued non-stop in Suci, where groups of high priestesses and other women helpers readied the offerings required for the several ceremonies later in the afternoon. Down the main flight of steps decorated with umbrellas and penjors, a long piece of white cloth was laid. On the ground at the foot of the steps women laid out what is called a titi mamah - the head, hide and hooves of a buffalo, flanked be tall palmleaf figures (pring) besides an amazing assortment of offerings. Other offerings were placed on a platform and on a shrine to Surya, god of the sun, as witness. A titi mamah is required at the largest kind of pamendak or 'welcoming' ceremony, for a buffalo is the most honoured, vehicle with which to welcome the gods.
Although laid on the ground it is not an offering to the demons. But first of all the gods and goddesses of all the Besakih temples had to be 'brought down' (nedunang), a brief ritual in which the deities were requested to descend and take up residence in statues or other sacred objects, such symbols being called pratima. In the Pura Panataran Agung this ceremony took place at the kehen (storehouse) building on the third terrace, a three-roofed structure like a meru save it is rectangular rather than square in plan. After a brief ritual, pemangku entered the building and passed out one by one the sacred pratima. Two pralima of particular importance were large flat rectangular objects wrapped in white cloth, each large enough to need two men to carry them. These were the wooden inscriptions dated 1444 and 1458.
Usually the pratima are carried straight to the gods' meeting pavilion in the main courtyard, but for Eka Dasa Rudra, just as a host must go outside his door to receive exalted guests, so the deities of Besakih welcomed the eleven visiting gods at the foot of the main steps outside the temple, the gods of Mt. Semeru, Mt. Rinjani and Pura Ulu Watu having arrived from Denpasar just minutes before. The gods, gathered in an open square facing the titi mamah and the steps rising beyond, were there presented the ceremony of welcome (pamendak) that ushered in the series of core rituals culminating a week later in the enormous Eka Dasa Rudra sacrifice. When the Siwa high priest had concluded his ritual and the buffalo and offerings sprinkled with holy water, the gods were carried one by one across the buffalo on the ground and up into the main courtyard of Pura Panataran Agung. The gods of Besakih were seated in their meeting pavilion (bale pasamuhan agung) just behind the Triple Lotus shrine. The visiting gods were enshrined on the tall sanggar tawang shrine, the god of Mt. Agung in the exalted position at the center, shaded by an umbrella. Also present was the god of Pura Gunung Raung, a temple in the village of Taro associated with Sri Markandeya, founder of Besakih.
In the evening after the gods were duly enshrined Padanda Gede Tembau conducted the ngaturang ayaban ceremony offering homage to the gods. Afterwards the priest purified and blessed a group of some 25 men to help the official Besakih pemangku in sprinkling and distributing. holy water to the thousands of worshippers who continued to visit Besakih every day

The Gods Journey to the Ocean
It was great spectacle. To the steady thud of the wooden slit gongs, led by men, bearing colourful banners, umbrellas and sacred weapons, the gods of Besakih went forth from the temple on their long journey to the seacoast at Klotok.

First among the gods, like a guard of honour, came the gods of the four subsidiary clan temples, Bhatara Ratu Pande, god of metalsmiths, at their head, in an all red palanquin as befits a deity so closely associated with fire, followed by Bhatara Ratu Pasek, Bhatara Ratu Panyartkan and Bhatara Ratu Segening.
Next in line came the gods of the smaller Besakih temples, each in his painted and gilded palanquin borne on the shoulders of four bearers. And in the exalted position at the rear of the kilometer long procession came the gods of Pura Panataran Agung. Some two thousand followers took part in the procession, including 100 people from each of the eight pamaksan into which Besakih and neighbouring hamlets are grouped.
Barely half a kilometer out of Besakih the procession ground to a halt. Bhatijra Panataran Agung, the most temperamental of the Besakih gods refused to pass under an electricity line strung accross the road. 30 people could not budge the 4-man palanquin. Pemangku Dalem tried some words of encouragement but the god would not budge. The line had to come down! Which it did and the procession moved on.
Another three miles down the road the procession was again halted by a similar obstacle. It was obvious every offending wire between Besakih and Klotok could not be taken down and the palanguin was sneaked under the wire. At this point the palanquin became possessed of great strength and screamed past the other gods ricocheting diagonally down the roadway in a fit of outrage. Peace was finally restored and the procession continued.
At each village the gods were greeted by the local gamelan orchestra spiriting the march onwards. Platforms of offerings were laid along the way 
around which villagers prayed to the gods as they passed . Tall decorative bamboo penjor poles were placed every ten yards defining a long gothic arch through which the procession moved. At the base, of each penjor a young coconut full of milk sat on a special 'tee' for thirsty followers.
The procession grew with each village. By Klungkung it was a mile in length. The coloured umbrellas and standards of the gods were only sporadically visible in the sea of devotees. At Klungkung buckets of punch were handed out. The family of Dewa Agung, head of the former royal house of Klungkung, dressed in beautiful silver-thread songket cloth, joined the surging mass for the last six kilometers.
While the procession was on its way to Klotok beach, ngeed ceremonies, held only in conjunction with Eka Dasa Rudra, were performed at nine different places-on the east, south, 'west and north coasts of Bali, at Lake Batur, and at four smaller temples at Besakih: Pura Manik Mas (directed to Saptapatala, the Underworld), Pura Bangun Sakti (directed to Kentel Gumi, the surface layer of the earth), Pura Basukian (directed to the village of Besakih and to Mt. Agung) and Pura Pangubengan (directed to Luhuring Akasa, the Heavens). These nine ngeed ceremonies requested of Sanghyang Widhi that the oceans, lakes, earth, mountains and heavens be pure and so bring prosperity and harmony to mankind. Each ceremony consisted of a caru sacrifice directed towards the negative forces (or demons) that disturb the welfare of the world, and a pakelem ritual that 'drowns' the sacrifice into the ocean, lake, etc. A buffalo was required for both parts, for the caru a dead one, specially cut up and placed on the ground, and for the pakelem a live one that was drowned in the ocean or lake, thrown into the crater in the case of the ceremony directed to Mt. Agung, or let free to roam in the other three cases.
The procession from Besakih arrived at Klotok after the ceremonies of cleansing the ocean had taken place. On the black sands of Klotok, the gods lined up in front of long altars overflowing with offerings. Bhatara Panataran Agung refused to take his seat until crowds of tourist photographers, grouped on a terrace above the gathering, were moved by an irate Besakih priest. The followers dived into a nearby estruary to clean off the dust of the last 28 kilometers as Padanda Dawan, one of Bali's most revered high priests, performed his part of the malasti ceremony. Ma/asti, a ritual that cleanses or purifies the statues of the gods, is by no means special to Besakih but takes place yearly throughout Bali. At the same time water from the ocean, considered as the essence of life (amerta) was placed in a special bamboo tube (sujang) and carried back to Besakih for use in further rituals. This holy water is believed to bring fertility and prosperity to mankind and the world of nature.

At the end of the ceremony, the buffalo, decked out with gold horn caps, a gold flower on its head and gold anklets, was taken by boat a short distance from shore and thrown overboard.
The procession then returned to Klungkung to spend the night in the Pura Panataran Agung (there are many temples of this name), there to receive the homage of their devotees. Next day they proceeded to Pura T abola in the village of Sidemen where again they. spent the night and were entertained by dancing. The procession left in the early hours of the morning and by seven o'clock of 26 March the loudspeakers were already announcing the arrival of the gods at Besakih.
At the bottom of the main flight of steps of Pura Panataran Agung the gods were 'welcomed' home with a pamendak ceremony, essentialy the same as that held five days earlier. After the ceremony, one by one, the gods were carried across the buffalo laid out on the ground and into the temple. They were placed in their meeting pavilion where they resided until the close of the Eka Dasa Rudra festival.
To The Crater of Mt. Agung
The ngeed ceremony at Pura Basukian directed towards the God of Mt. Agung was a long one lasting some three hours. With holy water prepared by Siwa and Buda high priests, the buffalo, goat and duck to be sacrificed at the volcano's crater were cleansed and blessed.
Afterwards the animals were taken by vehicle to the village of Sebudi, north of Selat, well to the east of Besakih. The expedition to the summit left very early the next morning. A buffalo is not a strong walker, what's more up 45 degree slopes, kilometer after kilometer. It had to be carried all the way an exhausting task for the men assigned to it. From Sebudi the path passed over an ash flow from the 1963 eruption, through the village of Surga and up through unfarmed scrub and wasteland to a temple called Pura Pasar Agung, altogether about seven kilometers. People arrived there just as the sun rose over Mt. Rinjani, the peak of Lombok Gradually the shadow of Mt. Agung over the lands to the west crept back into itself. The view were superb. There was no ceremony at the temple, for it had yet to be rededicated after its total destruction in 1963. From the temple to the summit was said to be another nine kilometers. The path climbed sharply through the scrub, passing a sacred watering place where everyone stopped and prayed, sprinkling themselves with the water.
The trees soon stopped and at times one had to scramble up bare stony sixty degree slopes. Everyone made his or her own way as best he could, in small groups or singly, at one's own pace. Towards the top mists swirled in and sealed the view, giving mirage-like visions of the next rise, only to find another one beyond. The weaker would climb a hundred meters or two and collapse gasping for breath, heart pounding.
Gradually a hundred or more villagers, men and women and boys, reached the summit at a point where sharp outcrops of rock jut up from the crater's rim, leaving just a very narrow gap of two to three meters where one could look down into the crater. Wisps of smoke rose from a few places
in the crater's bottom hundreds of feet below and occasionally a whiff of sulphur reached the people on the rim. One had to move up very gingerly to this narrow gap for the slope was steep and it was easy to slip or dislodge loose stones that bounded down towards those below, As people reached the summit they took their offerings to the crater's rim and paid homage to the god of Mt. Agung. The last to arrive were the men carrying the live buffalo . Taking it up to the narrow gap they placed it on the very edge its head looking over.
It gave a low moo. Then, in the presence of the pemangku and his wife but virtually without ceremony the buffalo was heaved over the edge. The goat and the birds were thrown over as well as offerings. No sooner than done and everyone
left immediately on the long trip back down to their villages. Two intrepid men, however descended into the crater using a buffalo hide rope, and retrieved the duck and Chinese coins.
Ceremony of the Animals
During the previous week the secular, part of Suci had become something of a zoo, and like any zoo attracted a steady stream of curious visitors.
Prime attraction after he arrived was the garuda, a regal white-backed black-winged eagle. By the morning of the 27 March, the collection had grown to some 60 varieties of animals, birds and insects. The creatures were required for the enormous Eka Dasa Rudra sacrifice the next day. The structure of the sacrifice was based on the 11 directions, an outer group consisting of the cardinal and intermediate directions, and the central group of nadir, zenith and center.

Animals were assigned to particul3r directions. However, the animals of the central group were further divided into an 11-fold structure, forming as it were a pair of concentric circles.
The animals of the outer circle included white cow, goose, duck (east), goat (southeast), cow (south), dog (southwest), buffalo (west), deer (northwest), black monkey and garuda (north) and horse (northeast). The bulk of the animals fell into the inner circle and were divided into the 11 groups according to their nature. For example birds other than fowls were placed in the northeast footed reptiles in the west, fishes in the north, creatures that crawl (centipede, snake) in the nadir, beetles in the zenith, flies and hornets in the center. Such divisions tie in with other aspects of Hinduism imposed on this directional structure, of which colour and deity are only two of a list that runs into dozens. North, to give but one example, is associated with black, with Wisnu, with water. And so the black monkey is placed in the north, and so are the fishes, Garuda is the mount of Wisnu so it is placed there too.
On the morning of the ceremony, secular Suci was like some strange market, everyone admiring the amazing collection of animals being led around. The animals or their containers were decorated with strips of coloured cloth, the buffaloes, as usual, being covered with white cloth. Before the creatures were carried or led from Suci up to the main courtyard of Pura Panataran Agung they were sprinkled with holy water (panglukatan). The ceremony in the temple was conducted by two Siwa high priests seated in a temporary pavilion. After the offerings were cleansed and blessed, they were presented to the animals either by wafting their essence towards them or by actually giving them bits of the offerings to eat, such as the fruit or cakes.
After this ritual the procession descended the main flight of steps and circled the Pura Panataran Agung three times clockwise. It was led by a member of the metal-smiths clan carrying a sacred sword kept in Besakih's Pura Ratu Pande, followed by a man carrying a special object symbolizing the souls of the creatures that were ritually killed during the high priests' ritual. Then came all the animals, some among them such as the garuda and the white cow being honoured with an umbrella held over them.
After the third circumambulation each animal in turn was symbolically killed by the sacred sword held by the smith. In essence this ceremony of mapepada requests approval of Sanghyang Widhi to sacrifice the creatures for a ritual purpose, so that their flesh be pure and their souls be granted favour in the afterworld. The creatures were actually killed later, outside the temple.