The battle of ‘Jempana’

The battle of ‘Jempana’ - The sound of the xylophone ensemble peaked into a hair-raising crescendo as the bearers of jempana (palanquins) entered a state of trance.

Each jempana was carried on the shoulders of two adult men, the front and rear bearers. Several other men accompanied the bearers throughout the ritual, making sure their trance-induced wild movements would not hurt the spectators or, God forbid, damage the jempana.

The ritual involved six of these palanquins, each containing a pralingga, which is an effigy of a protecting deity sanctified by the people of Timbrah, a small hamlet in Paksabali village, Klungkung.

Before the battle: Devotees carry jempana (palanquins) to a river-side temple for a purification ritual.JP/Agung Parameswara

Popularly known to outsiders as Siyat Jempana (the Battle of Jempana) or Dewa Mapalu (the Battle of deities), the ritual comes at the end of an 11-day-long ritual held at the Panti clan temple. It falls twice a year on the day celebrated by the Balinese Hindus as Kuningan.

During this Kuningan Day mid December last year, the bearers took the jempana into the temple’s middle court. They performed a purwa daksina, circling around the grounds of the court three times before running faster toward each other. The bearers, eyes tightly closed and in deep trance, shouted repeatedly as they collided into each other in the center of the ground, whilst carrying their jempana.

They repeatedly did so for over an hour. As the night grew darker, some other men tried to guide their palanquins into the temple’s inner court. But the bearers wouldn’t have any of it, determined to continue smashing into each other again. After a brief struggle, the bearers were separated from their respective jempana. The palanquins were carried into the inner court followed by their bearers. The temple priest sprinkled holy water on the bearers, bringing them back from their state of trance.

Host of women and young girls performed the sacred Rejang dance to greet the jempana as they entered the inner court.

Despite the seemingly violent nature of the event, locals maintain it is actually a ritual of celebration.

That’s why they prefer to call the ritual Dewa Mesraman (Gathering of Deities), rather than Siyat Jempana and Dewa Mapalu.

The celebratory nature of the ritual was evident in the communal feast of Megibung the villagers
partook in to mark the beginning of the ritual.

Despite the absence of written historical sources on the unique ritual, many scholars believe that Dewa Mesraman is related to the Usaba Gumang festival at the Bukit Gumang temple and the Meami-amian ritual in Asak village, Karangasem.

The Usama Gumang festival involves four villages; Bugbug, Bebandem, Jasri and Ngis. All these villages are ancient communities that maintained their unique traditions despite East Java’s Majapahit Kingdom attempts to culturally homogenize the island when they annexed it in the 14th century. ( thejakartapost.com)