ACCORDING TO LEGEND, the Balinese originally had only the juice
of sugar-cane as food. Out of pity for the human rice, the male
god of fertility and water water, Wisnu, Plutonic Lord of the
under world, came to earth in disguise to provide them with
better food, He raped an unwilling Mother Earth to fertilize
her and give birth to rice, and s'be became known as Sanghyang
ibu pertiwi, the Smitten Grandmother. Then Wisnu made war on
indra Lord of the Heaven, to induce him to teach men how to
grow rice. Thus, as the principal source of life and wealth
and as a gift from the gods, rice was bom from the cosmic union
devine male and female creative forces represented in earth
and water
Besides white rice (bras), there are red (gaga) and black (injin)
varieties. These the Balinese conveniently co-ordinatedwith
their symbolyc notion of the relation between colour and direction
by the explanation that the seeds were provided Sanghyang Kesuhum
Kidul (Brahma), the patron of the south who sent four doves
with seeds of the four, cardinal white, red, yellow, and black.
Since there was no yell the seed of that collour became tumeric
(kunyit), an important condiment.
Poor people, or those living in districts where water is not
abundant, live on corn and sweet potatoes, foods considered
inferior to rice, and taken to be transformed male and female
at. tendants of Dewi Sri, wife of Wisnu, goddess of agriculture,
fertility, and success. To the Balinese Dewi Sri represents
all that is good and beautiful and she is their most popular
deity. She has been placed, perhaps with the advent of Hinduism,
above Dewi Melanting, the native goddess of seed and plants,
who, as daughter of Dewi Sri, remains the goddess of gardens
and markets. Dm,i Melanting spends half the year above the earth
and the other half below; or, as Dr. Goris puts it, " she
has first to undergo death under the black earth before she
can come to new life."'
Since man lives off rice and his body and soul are built from
it, rice itself is treated with reverence and respect and the
whole rice culture has developed into an elaborate cult. There
are end less magic-ritual acts to make the rice grow big and
strong, or so that water shall not be lacking, or to prevent
the pollution of the land and the loss of seed by theft, birds,
and mice. From planting-time' until harvest the growth of rice
is watched with as much anxiety as the life of a child. The
Balinese are famed as the most efficient rice-growers in the
archipelago. They raise two crops of fine rice a year with such
success that they have more than sufficient for the needs of
the population, often having enough left over to sell or give
away. Even agricultural experts admit that modern methods could
not improve the already excellent results, due perhaps to the
intense striving of the Balinese for improvement, their communal,
co-operative agricultural societies, and their Burbank-like
system of seed selection.
The most striking element of the Balinese landscape is the ever
present rice field, the sawa, a. patch of land filled with water
held by dikes cut out of the red earth. Every available piece
of ground to which it is humanly possible to bring water, even
to mountain heights, is made use of. The receding man-made ter.
races, like flights of gigantic stairs, cover the hills and
spread over the slopes and plains. When they are first filled
with still water they are like mosaics of mirrors that reflect
the clouds. Later they are sprinkleed with the dainty blades
of the newly planted rice in an all-over I pattern of chartreuse
on a ground of brown ooze. This thickens eventually into a tender
yellow-green carpet which turns to a rich gold ochre as the
grain ripens, finally leaving only dry, cracked mud after the
harvest. The landscape is continually changing, and as the crop
begins or ends, a familiar surrounding is so transformed as
to become almost unrecognizable.
