What's Saraswati....?

saraswati day (alongside Galungan) is arguably Bali's most important all-island holy day. The day is dedicated to the goddess of knowledge Saraswati, who is said in local Hindu-Balinese mythology to be the consort of Lord Brahma, the god of creation and the pillar component of the Hindu Trinity

the worship of knowledge From a philosophical point of view, by addressing offerings and prayers to Saraswati, the Balinese endeavour to keep the karma (deeds) of their microcosmic self (Buana Alit) in harmony with the macrocosmic world (Buana Agung), symbolically driven by this same trinity (Trimurti), which comprises, beside Brahma, the symbol of creation and origin, Wisnu, the symbol of balance and prosperity and Siwa, symbol of destruction and regeneration.

The Goddess Saraswati has a classical iconographic representation, with attributes that relate to various aspects of her function. The rosary (ganitri) refers to the inexhaustible nature of knowledge. The rebab stringed instrument symbolises music and the lontar manuscript literature. The swan, Saraswati's vehicle, symbolises the ability of knowledge to feed itself within the mud. The lotus, on which Saraswati stands, is a symbol of the world.

Knowledge however, in a Balinese context, is not constructed as issuing from the individual's encounter with the tangible world, as in the Western anthropocentric conception, but as issuing from the intangible world (niskala). It builds up and creatively accumulates less as individual ‘inspiration' than as un-worldly ‘revelation', called taksu, which takes possession of the self through the intermediary of special taksu shrine found in each family compound.

Yet taksu, and related sacred knowledge (aji) are unequally distributed, and to gain access to beneficial forces from the intangible world, the Balinese commonly use the services of specialists: the balians (witch-doctors) or the priestly brahmanas (brahmins). They visit the former to ask for herbs or communicate with ancestors; recovery is then thought to be engineered and literally ‘brought down' from the intangible niskala world through the balian's entreaties – the balian may for example identify in a trance the lost ancestral soul (atma kesasar) that is the cause of woes and illnesses, which will have to be appeased in a ceremony. As for the brahmanas, the Balinese visit them at their gria to request holy waters, propitious days for an upcoming ceremony or magic formulas and drawings, usually from a high priest (pedanda).

On Saraswati day it is the duty of all Balinese to pay their respect to their sources of knowledge. They usually begin with offerings to the shrines and sacred cabinets in which are kept the family lontar manuscripts. Noticeable among the offerings presented are two small rice effigies of cecak lizards. These lizards, which are said to be able to talk and hear people talking, are symbols of the goddess of knowledge herself. Following this in-house ceremony, they go and visit, with a set of offerings, all those parties whom they believe have endowed them with the benefits of their power and learning, especially the gria brahmins and the balian native-healers. During the whole day, no one may read or consult manuscripts.

THE MEANING OF SARASWATI DAY
Saraswati falls on the last day of the Balinese calendar. To understand this, we have to go back to the myth of origin of the 210-day Wuku calendar presented in the November issue of this magazine. It was then explained that the thirty seven-day week calendar was set up by the gods after they had defeated the incestuous Watugunung, who had inadvertently made love to his mother while engaged in the conquest of the world. During this conquest, Watugunung had vanquished thirty rulers, twenty-eight kings and two queens (his mother and step-mother). After his defeat and subsequent enlightenment, the gods not only made him master of the calendar, but they gave his name to its last week. To the other rulers –Watugunung's vassals - were attributed the other weeks, with his mother occupying the first one and his step-mother the second.

The calendar enacts the myth of Watugunung and the prohibition of incest, which is enshrined in the fact that the incestuous son occupies the last week of the calendar and his incestuous mother the first week of the next calendar cycle. But the enaction of the prohibition of incest goes beyond the week system. Each of the days of the whole Watugunung week, until Saraswati day, and the first four days of the Sinta week of the new cycle, up to Pagerwesi day, in fact enact Watugunung's path from battle and defeat at the hand of the gods to enlightenment and apotheosis (on Saraswati day) and then to cleansing of the world (on Banyu Pinaruh day) and subsequent restoration of cosmic order (on Pagerwesi day). During these eleven days Bali is considered impure and sexual intercourse is accordingly prohibited.

There is no clear indication on the calendar about when Watugunung performed his incest. But we can guess that it occurred during Dukut week, consecrated to ‘herbs' (dukut meaning herb), after the Wayang and Klawu weeks, which were respectively under the protection of the goddess of rice Sri and her consort the god of wealth Sedana – both indicators of prosperity. What is clear, however, is the process of punition, enlightenment and cleansing which begin with the Watugunung week to finish with Pagerwesi day eleven days later.

Watugunung's story of enlightenment is also one of subjection to the godly. From transgressor of the gods' cosmic order, Watugunung becomes the gods' instrument of order: made the master of the calendar, he becomes the enforcer of rites and religion. His enlightenment is a godly apotheosis. Not only is incest definitively forbidden, but its prohibition is enshrined in the calendar by the separation, through Saraswati, of incestuous son from incestuous mother. Watugunung thus embodies Man's submission to religion.

Unavoidably, a comparison can be made with Oedipus, the incestuous Greek hero. When fate befalls him and he becomes aware of his incestuous love toward his mother, it is not order that prevails, but destruction. Oedipus ends up blinding himself and going about the world while cursing the gods.

The hero of the East (Bali) thus submits to the godly order, while the hero of the West curses the gods and stands out all alone against meaningless fate.