temple scenes in Little India, Singapore

Singapore has a vibrant and influential Indian community. Cultural identity remains strong among these immigrants and they practice traditional customs and religion with fervor. Just go to any of the island nation’s thriving and colorful Hindu temples. In one visit to Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, the Hindu temple of Kali, last 2007, I happened to come on Friday noon which was most fortunate. It was one of two days that ceremonies are held and holy water are dispensed. The rites are different to what I witness at Hindu Bali which of course is already mixed vigorously with Javanese animism.



priests at an inner courtyard in the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, Little India, Singapore
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/400s, f/4.5, 34mm, ISO 800, -1/3EV


The prayer ceremony was swift. All of a sudden people converged at the corner in front of a Brahmin priest, chanting and offering flowers and candles. The atmosphere seemed intense to me, especially when traditional trumpets and drums were blaring inside. Perhaps the worshippers are aware that they are in one tourist-popular temple that they did not mind me. I tried to be discreet as much as I could as they are after all, lost in their own reverie.


worshippers at the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, LittleIndia, Singapore
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/25s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 1600, +1/3EV

witnessing Melasti at Kutuh

Sept 14, 2006

Melasti is one important ceremony in Hindu Bali. It is the time of the Balinese year when Hindus take religious symbols to the beach for purification. The celebration is generally timed three days before Nyepi, the Balinese New Year, or in some auspicious day dictated by local custom. It was just my luck that when I visited the seaweed farms of Kutuh, it was that auspicious date.


Kutuh, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/640s, f/5.6, 27mm, ISO 400, +1/3 EV


The seaweed-farming community of Kutuh lives by the southern shores of Bali. For those familiar with the tourist enclave of Nusa Dua, it is not just a flat coast of white beaches. The cape is bisected by winding hills and Kutuh is one of the few secluded beaches that could only be accessed through an arduous ride over steep limestone cliffs. Away from tourism bustle as for now, Kutuh nevertheless values tradition so even without outside spectators, they hold religious rites in full grandeur and fervor. The Melasti celebration I witnessed was no artificial show.


Some villagers we met along the road. They were on the way to the temple, ahead of the rest of the people who were still on the beach.
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 400, -1/3EV


As we approached the beach, dusk was settling in. The time was 20 minutes before sundown. Most of the people were buzzing with energy as they converged at the wide bamboo altar. I was the only non-Balinese in the beach. I squatted on the sand by the sidelines in a vain attempt to be inconspicuous but the Balinese, as always, were gracious and did not mind me at all.


Boys walking toward the temple. Behind them are calcium carbonate limestone hills being bulldozed to pave way for wider roads.
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/640s, f/5.6, 21mm, ISO 200, +1/3 EV


I barely had time to take a few pictures when the villagers began to move. Led by village elders, guided by shaman priests and directed by the clanging percussive rhythms of the gamelan, the people began circling the white beach in concentric patterns. Excitement was everywhere.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/500s, f/5.6, 24mm, ISO 400, +2/3 EV



As sunset approached, only a few men remained on the beach as most of the villagers already went off to the temple several hills away.
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1000s, f/3.5, 22mm, ISO 400


The sight was dizzying. The procession became a human snake that simply went swirling and spinning. People were carrying and waving penjor banners, pajeng umbrellas, fabric cordons, banners, offerings and even small altars. People were reciting chants with the gamelan drowning their prayers. This was sweet sensory overload.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1000s, f/5.6, 39mm, ISO 400, +2/3 EV



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1000s, f/5.6, 31mm, ISO 400, +2/3 EV


Purposely, the parade left the beach and headed to the hills. In a few minutes, the beach totally became devoid of life. As the tailend of the procession disappeared from view, there was only me and my companions left.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 400


Climbing the hills and getting to the temple some 5 kilometers away on foot and under vanished light was no mean task. What looked like a sacrifice to me was but a normal celebration in Kutuh. It is all perspective and I have a feeling that the Balinese got it right.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/5.6, 48mm, ISO 400, -1/3EV

Ulian Macekan Agung

Having been going to Bali for 13 years, I have been to numerous ceremonies already like the ngaben or cremation and other traditional commemorations, all of which are in public places. It was my first time however to be invited by my two closest Balinese friends to a ceremony that gains you entry inside the temple- the holy Ulian Macekan Agung ceremony no less. While temple courtyards and gardens are open to tourists, the inner gates leading to the actual shrines are off limits to non-Balinese Hindus, unless you intrude of course. The occasion was the long 10-ten day celebration between the Galungan, the biggest holiday in the Balinese calendar (about 12 months x 35 days) and the Kuningan. The temple was in Gelgel, Klungkung, the central temple for the Pasek Balinese clan.

Taking pictures without standing out was an ordeal. I fit right in for I was just any other brown Asian in Balinese attire but I was torn between capturing the images and the rituals of the shrines (there are 3 courtyards with gates until you get into the inner sanctum courtyard) and feeling guilty for the intrusion. The least obstrusive opportunity to take photos was when the almost thousand teeming masses jostled their way through the narrow three pairs of Balinese gates. In the push to get inside, I think nobody paid notice to one intimidated Filipino raising his camera up in the air, praying that one shot will capture the intimate procession.


a rush of offerers in Pura Gelgel, Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia

Queueing inside the temples of Bali is customary. The sea of humanity attending the ceremony had to participate in several exercises of patience to profess their living faith.

Ceremonies often start early in the morning and depending on how big the celebration- and the Ulian Macekan Agung is- it can last well into late afternoon. People are ushered into batches of about a several hundreds each time. Once your group is allowed into the next shrine enclosure, another group is allowed inside the previous one. Inside the first 2 courtyards, there is really no rituals except the wait for the turn to get inside the 3rd and final innermost shrine.



Inside the three courtyards of the Balinese temple, all you have to do is wait and wait. Nothing happens much until you get inside the innermost shrine. I was surprised too- I originally thought that there are some rituals you perform as you gradually get ushered inside but no, you just mill around anything. Some chatter, some even sleep. As I waited for our turn to get inside the 3rd and penultimate courtyard, I was fascinated by how people automatically segregate themselves according to gender. I guess this boy is considered neuter- yeah age does that to you.




Once inside the innermost courtyard, a series of chanting and prayers were heard. The worshippers, with incense sticks and food offerings, would take the heed of the priests and sit cross-legged. They would bow on occasions, and recite prayers in unison. I did not really feel like intruding some more and refrained from taking pictures. The ceremony was fairly short – it could be no more than 20 minutes.

Afterwards, the people would be given holy water, dispensed by holy brahmana priests of both sexes in white. Some would be able to partake and drink from glasses or cups, others would just settle with being sprinkled on their heads from bunched palm leaves. Rice would also be distributed. Again, I saw others eating some morsels, though this was rare, but practically everyone would stick some rice grains on their forehead. Apparently, the Balinese you see in public with cooked rice on their temples, just between their eyebrows, most probably came from a blessing of sorts, but not necessarily from the temple though. All throughout the rites, readers of the holy scriptures would recite formal Balinese incantations over loud speakers amidst the rhythmic play of a gamelan.


a sample photo of the distribution of blessed rice and water after a Balinese ceremony, this time, during a Saraswati rites in Goa Lawah, Klungkung

As soon as the worshippers received the dispensation to leave, they began filing out, hustling through designated exits. Once empty, the same cycle was repeated as a new batch would be ushered in. My friends told me this would last the entire day. What started early in the morning would occasionally end the next dawn.

Prayers, obviously, are governed by no clock.

Tirta Empul, part 2

continued from Tirta Empul, part 1

There are protocols inside the temple of Tirta Empul. Not just anyone, most particularly tourists, can bathe in the pools. These are not spas for recreation. Even the Balinese cannot swim here to cool themselves in the heat. The pools are not for hanging out. Bathing serves a sacred purpose and follows a ritual of offerings, prayers and blessings.

The water source is not volcanic. There is no smell of sulfur and there is no heat of steam. As the water is fresh and cold, it probably comes from an underground stream gushing deep from the ground. The name is derived from the Tirta or “sacred waters” and Empul or “bob up” or “bubbling up”. How the water is collected and channeled into more than 30 spouts is a feat in engineering. Each of the spouts has a separate and distinct divine and physical purpose. There are waterspouts that are to cure illnesses and some for mental peace. There are designated spouts for prosperity and even for pregnancy. Peculiarly, there are two specific waterspouts intended for the dead.

Most bathers apparently are not well-versed in the “science” of the spouts. I noticed that they were guided by priests and locals on which spouts to bathe and in what order. They also could not go back and repeat bathing in the waterspouts. It seems too that there are rules governing which spouts they could drink.

To the Balinese, water, like the sun, is grace and they embrace it wholly.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/4.0, 25mm, ISO 100
After bathing, worshippers change back to their dry clothes and receive holy water and rice in a central courtyard in Pura Tirta Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Praying is not for public show but the Balinese allow tourists inside the courtyard. Be unobstrosive and stay at the sidelines.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/30s, f/4.0, 30mm, ISO 100, +1/3EV
Pura Tirta Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Mid-afternoon light (3PM, or 3 hours before sundown) is flat, if not harsh. To bring more animation, I chose an angle where the twin Balinese gates could cast shadows that appears to dance with the flowing stream.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1.3s, f/20, 27mm, ISO 100, +2/3EV
Pura Tirta Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 5s, f/20, 40mm, ISO 100, +2/3EV
my friend Komang waits for her turn at Pura Tirta Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 20s, f/32, 40mm, ISO 100
Pura Tirta Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Observe how long a bather pauses to determine the optimum exposure time. Here, the lady subject was almost still for 20 seconds.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 10s, f/11, 22mm, ISO 100
Pura Tirta Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: A little bit of overexposure makes the water cottony and dreamy.

Tirta Empul, part 1

Sacred waters

I’ve always been enamored by the animistic Hindu culture of the Balinese and I try to observe, if not imbibe, the strong mystical connection that they have with nature. Water, in particular, is particularly central to the Balinese culture, not just for nourishment, but for spiritual cleansing.

Pura Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring Village, Gianyar is one such temple which features sacred pools. Established in the 10th century, it is one of the major tourism draws in Bali. Overseas visitors come to the place by busloads to gaze at its architectural beauty. The temple is never bereft either of Balinese to heal both body, mind and soul.

Fifteen years have gone by since I last visited the temple and this was before I had photography as a hobby. So last Thursday afternoon, after some craft shopping in the Sukawati Art Market, I and my Balinese friends decided that Tirta Empul would be a good stop. I was ready with my camera.




Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/5s, f/22, 18mm, ISO 100, -1/3EV
the Mata air or “eye of the water”, the pool where water from underground stream is collected, Pura Tirtha Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Water reflections are best captured in the absence of glare. I waited for the sun to disappear behind the clouds to eliminate possible solar flares on the pool. Alternatively, a circular polarizer may also be used.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/160s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100
Statuary guarding the gateway to Pura Tirtha Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Attractive compression “DOF” spots are a function of the distance between the subject in focus and the background, with the lens set at its widest aperture. There is a mathematical formula for this but as an alternative, just experiment and chimp the results.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/6.3, 28mm, ISO 400, -1/3EV
a worshipper laying offerings at an altar between two sacred pools of Pura Tirtha Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: The temple’s two bathing pools are confined in a narrow space and a panoramic view is not possible (climbing temple walls would be rude). I used the walls to show the tightness of the bathing space and visually compartmentalize the scenes.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 13s, f/32, 41mm, ISO 100, with two ND 0.9 filters
a bather praying in Pura Tirtha Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Use ND filters to achieve long exposures even during the day. Use a tripod.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1.30s, f/5.0, 28mm, ISO 100, with two ND 0.9 filters
Adults pray while children frolic in Pura Tirtha Empul, Tampaksiring, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
phototip: Location, location, location. I claimed a stake at the narrow ledge of the pool just beside the first spout (the one at the right of the picture). I literally sat on my haunches as I mounted the tripod quite low. The worshippers who bathe a few feet in front of me then became fair game.


more in part 2