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by C. Hooykaas (Editor)
More than 1,000 years ago in India there lived five ascetics, Pasupata's, who went around naked, with ungroomed hair. The fame of their holiness spread to Java and Bali, where they became heavenly seers, aspects both of Shiva and Buddha, celestial gods even, and as such connected with the creation. Classificatory thought classes them with a man's four older brothers: amniotic fluid, blood, vernix caseosa, and the placenta, the helpers or enemies par excellence of each and every person, whether layman or priest. This book brings together much material, from old to very modern, which indicates the extent to which these ideas were, and still are, living reality for the Balinese. The most important texts, both prose and poetry, and the comparison of many manuscripts published here for the first time, form the body of this book.
