Candrasengkala: Art of Chronogram

Monday, June 4th, 2007 by Sidarta Wijaya

History to Balinese is not just something to be buried in the past, but it is something that has to be remembered and used as a guidance to face the future. An attempt to immortalize the history is by memorializing an important event with Candrasengkala.

Candrasengkala is combination of words representing numerical values that is used to denote the year of an important events, chronogram in short. It is written in Kawi language or High Balinese using traditional Balinese alphabet (aksara Bali). Candrasengkala can be found in ancient buildings, artifacts, work of arts, traditional literature, and in coat of arm of a city or organization. Candrasengkala can also be found in ancient letters. Candrasengkala that is found in ancient building or coat of arm of a city or organization denotes the year of establishment of the building, city, or organization.

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The Hallmark of Balinese Hinduism

Friday, March 2nd, 2007 by Sidarta Wijaya

Bali is the land of symbol, all product of Balinese activity is a symbolization of their faith and belief, and offering is the hallmark of all Balinese symbolization. Offering is a symbol of Balinese devotion the God and in some areas in Bali offering is even considered as symbolization of God.

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