Klungkung, Ancient Kingdoms

‘Dewa Maseraman’ Ceremony at Pura Panti Timrah

Pura Panti Timrah temple, located in Timrah Sub-Village, Desa Paksebali, Sub-District Dawan, Klungkung Regency and about two kilometres from the regency capital of Semarapura, has a special ritual called ‘Dewa Maseraman’. This is a popular and eagerly awaited performance in the temple both during a ritual and a meeting of deities of temples scattered throughout Bali. Even tourists look forward to the event

Made Mustika (58), a second ranked priest in charge of performing rituals in the temple, told Bali Travel News that this ritual aims to give deities scattered throughout Bali a chance to meet each other at a ‘reunion’ feast. The deities are to come from temples including Pura Besakih, Ulundanu, Batukaru and Pura Lempuyang.
Preparatory works for the ritual have to take place one day before Kuningan Holy Day, which is celebrated on Saturday, 28 June 2003. The works consist of cleansing areas in and around the temple and installing bamboo ‘penjor’ poles as one of the ritual implements. On the Saturday afternoon the people in charge of security at the ritual, ‘pengempon,’ are ready to watch the arrival of the festival participants.
After consuming rice as a holy gift from god in the temple, the participants go out to Segening, a site not far from Paksebali to take holy water for self-purification. They then return to the temple to end the ritual in a specific way. A procession follows by taking seven ‘joli’ implements, symbolizing God’s existence, from their previous position in the inner area of the temple to the temple’s outer space.
A ‘mundut’ spell happens in the outer space while part of the procession’s participants dance and stab themselves with daggers in a ‘narat’ event. Some of the ‘pengempon’ and watchers fall down in a trance, while others fight for the ‘joli’ which they will take back to the inner space of the temple. One of the ‘jolis’ symbolically is female, while the six others are male. In this inner space, a ‘pengodal’ ceremony takes place through ‘sesaji’ offerings conducted in the ‘rejang’ sacred dance, followed by common prayers. Three days later, another ceremony takes place conducted by the sacred dance of ‘lente’. Those ‘pengempon’ with grown-up daughters join the dancing.
The temple ceremony may take place in 11 of the of Pura Panti Timrah temples, being holy buildings belonging to Desa Paksebali family group, especially that of Dusun Timrah. Around 80 family units take part in the ‘Dewa Maseraman’ ceremony. (BTN/033)