On Wednesday, Balinese celebrated Galungan Holyday, a holyday to commemorate the victory of Dharma (virtue) over Adharma (evil). This holyday is considered the pinnacle of Balinese struggle to subdue the negative force of evil, and what is called evil here is the sad ripu (six internal enemies), they are kama (lust), loba (greed), krodha (anger), mada (drunkeness), moha (confusion) and matsarya (envy). It is an inward struggle, a struggle to free our mind from the influence of negative force that at the end leads us to do various bad deeds.

Though this struggle is carried out everyday but the ultimate battle occur during three-day period before Galungan, when three personifications of negative force come to the world successively, they are known as Kala-tiganing Galungan – which are Bhuta Galungan, Bhuta Dunggulan and Bhuta Amangkurat.

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The following Penyekeban is Penyajaan Galungan, here is previous article:

Penyajaan Galungan for Balinese is always a day full of cookies, Bali is covered with cookies. As its name suggest, the words “penyajaan” is derived from the word “jaja” which means “cookies. Various fried rice dough cookies are made for offering on Galungan (the day of victory). The creativity and patience of Balinese women are put into test when making these cookies since they usually have intricate pattern with different shapes and colors. Heaps of cookies are everywhere, in traditional markets, in roadside stalls and of course every house compound is filled with half processed cookies.

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Today, Redite Paing Dungulan, is the day of Panyekeban Galungan, According to Gregorian calendar falls on January 20, 2008. Here is previous article’s featuring that event:

Galungan, a Balinese celebration to commemorate the victory of Dharma (virtue) over Adharma (evil) will be celebrated on November 29^th. But there is always a battle precede the celebration of victory. The peak of battle between Dharma against Adharma begin three days before Galungan, on Sunday Paing wuku Dunggulan (based on traditional Pawukon cycle calendar). This day is called Penyekeban by Balinese. The word “penyekeban” derived from the word “sekeb” which means “to cover up,” this word signifies the nature of enclosure or restraint. Balinese believe that on this day, the avant garde of evil, Kala-tiganing Galungan (three personifications of negative force which are Bhuta Galungan, Bhuta Dunggulan and Bhuta Amangkurat) come to the world.

As mentioned by the Holy Scripture, they are the symbol of Sad Ripu (six internal enemies, they are: kama (lust), loba (greed), krodha (anger), mada (drunkeness), moha (confusion). In this case the battle is not a physical battle but a battle against our own negative qualities. Sundarigama a sacred Balinese scripture describes this day as “den prayitna anjekung jnana nirmala, lamakane den kasurupan” which means “the day for self restrain in order not to be influenced by the evil force”. Penyekeban day for Balinese is always a day for cultivating self restraint (as the name of this day suggest) since it is an essential weapon for fighting the Adharma.

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The existence of Caka Lunar Calendar was the basis history that ended the hostilities among Indian tribes. They were Pahlawa, Yuehchi, Yuwana, Malawa, and Caka. They were fighting each other to have power. The Cakas were tired with this condition, so they changed their way of struggle not to defeat for power but for culture and prosperity.

125 BC the Kushana Dynasty from Yuehchi run India and was touched by the Caka’s effort, so the Kushana decided not to defeat the other tribes but it is used to tug all tribes in India by collecting every culture and put it as part of the palace culture. In year 79 AC, King Kaniska I from Kushana Dynasty and Yuehchi let the Caka Lunar Calendar system as the palace calendar. And on that day the tolerance among the Indian tribes arose. Due to the tolerance and unity, the Caka Lunar Calender System expanded through the spreading of Hindu.

In Indonesia, the Caka Lunar Calendar had been extended in the 4th century as the Hindu expansion. It was brought by Aji Caka, a priest of Caka Tribe from Kshatrapa Gujarat (India).

In Bali, the celebration of Caka Lunar Calendar is celebrated annually by doing Nyepi which means sepi (silent) on March or early of April. It is based on Lontar Sundarigama and Sanghyang Aji Swamandala (Hindu’s manuscript). The philosophy of Nyepi itself is to control our senses through catur brata penyepian (four ways to control ourselves); amati geni (to turn off the fire – the fire of anger, fire of passion), amati karya (not doing any work/activity except focusing on God), amati lelungan (not going anywhere), and amati lelanguan (far from the worldly pleasure). So, what is the correlation between the philosophy of Nyepi and the environment preservation?

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Tomorrow, 4/18/2007, Balinese will celebrate a special holiday, Pagerwesi. The Pagerwesi occur every 210 days on Wednesday Kliwon Sinta (the first Wednesday in Balinese Pawukon calendar). The Pagerwesi mark the beginning of Balinese Pawukon cycle with important message to stay aware and surround oneself with a strong fortification against the forces of evil all the year to come, these pledges clearly stated in the meaning of the word “Pagerwesi”. The word “pager” means “fence” and the word “wesi” means “iron”, on this day Balinese have to erect a strong fence against all evil forces.

The celebration of Pagerwesi is based on the ancient scripture, Sundarigama, which stated that “Budha Kliwon Shinta Ngaran Pagerwesi payogan Sang Hyang Pramesti Guru kairing ring watek Dewata Nawa Sanga ngawerdhiaken sarwa tumitah sarwatumuwuh ring bhuana kabeh”, means “Wednesday Kliwon Shinta is known as Pagerwesi, when Sanghyang Pramesti Guru (God as Supreme Teacher) with Dewata Nawa Sanga (Gods that protect nine directions) meditate for the welfare of all being in the world”.

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