On Eclipse

Published 7 months, 1 week ago in People & Community by Sidarta Wijaya | 1,098 Views

Every civilization on the face of earth developed its own tale on the cause of eclipse and Balinese has its own version on the cause of the eclipse, and developed a unique practice during an eclipse, though nowadays it is seldom practiced.

Kala Rahu swallowing the sun. Image taken from Bali Sekala Niskala Vol. 1, Fred B. Eiseman, Jr., page 66.

Balinese version of lunar and solar eclipse is taken from a famous section of Mahabharata epic that describes the join effort of gods and demons in churning the sea of milk in order to obtain the elixir of life (tirtha amertha), a holy water that can grant immortality. Using the huge mountain Mandara Giri as the mixer, the gods and demons churned the sea of milk, after truly epic labors, the tirtha amertha was produced on the side of demons. The demons brought the elixir to their base. The god Wisnu, the protector, disguised as a very beautiful girl deceived the demons and stole the tirtha amertha, before they got any chance to drink it. One of the demons, named Kala Rahu, changed his shape and infiltrated into the gods base to drink the holy water.

The Sun and Moon, always on guard, saw this and alerted Wisnu, who hurled his lethal chakra, a discus-like weapon, which neatly sliced Kala Rahu’s head. His body fell lifeless, but because he was in the process of swallowing at the time, the tirtha ametha had already made his head immortal. Kala Rahu’s head, angry at the Sun and Moon for reporting the theft pursues them through the sky and swallows one or the other, since Kala Rahu has no body the sun or moon will reappear after passing his mouth.

Kala Rahu swallowing the moon. Image taken from Island of Bali, Miguel Covarrubias, page 299.

An eclipse of the moon in Bali is called bulan kepangan or bulan kepaksa, the word “bulan” means “moon” and the words “kepangan” or “kepaksa” mean “that someone is eaten” so “bulan kepangan” means “the moon is eaten”. The same terms is also for solar eclipse or matanai kepangan, the word “matanai” means “sun”, so as a rule of thumb a solar eclipse in Bali is called “the sun is eaten” (matanai kepangan). Another terms “ketemu” which means “meeting” is used for lunar and solar eclipse. The lunar eclipse is called “candra ketemu” and solar eclipse is called “surya ketemu”.

It is said that in the old days, in some areas in Bali, Balinese usually beat the kulkul signal drums when there was an eclipse in order to scare Kala Rahu away but I have never observed this practice yet.

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