My latest pastel painting - Sanghyang Dancer
As the last performer of the night, I want to leave a lasting impression on the audience and of course, the gods. I am proud to be one of a small select member of the Pemangku temple priests. I deeply breathe in the incense that a fellow priest wafts in my direction. Now possessed by the celestial soldier deity Gandarwa, I enter a trance and mount my hobby horse. The chants and percussive rhythms of my fellow performers encourages me to imitate the movement of a soldier on horseback as I dance in a circular motion around the blazing fire of coconut shells. After several circumnavigations, I have achieved the state needed to pass directly through the fire, filled with the energy and powers of Gandarwa to scatter the red hot coals with swift kicks of my bare feet. Surely I, as with previous Sanghyang dancers, now have been endowed with the power to drive out illnesses and disease.
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