If you have been to Bali, one thing you’ll obviously notice is the offering that spreads almost everywhere. The offering consists of flowers in a different color, put in a vessel made with yellow coconut leaves. It’s called canang, an essential part of Balinese daily life.
When you go to someone’s house, the canang is in the entrance, let alone in the family’s temple, even at the crossroad, below the tree, ricefield, and literally in every corner of Bali.
Balinese offer canang in daily basis. It is the smallest form of offering, yet it is the most essential, for the grandest offering is not completed without a canang. A canang can be viewed as an offering that facilitates the act of bhakti (devotion) and ritual means. Still, it also serves as an advanced yogic tool.
The word canang is defined as “betel” in the Balinese Dictionary and was not listed in Old Javanese (Kawi) Dictionary. In pre-modern times, betel is a symbol of status and seniority, and serving betel to a guest is an act of honoring them. To consume it, betel is only chewed (together with betel nut) without swallowing it.
Before we look at the meaning of canang as revealed by a traditional manuscript (lontar), let us first look at every part that formed a canang.
The base canang is made with braided yellow (young) coconut leaves. It’s either intertwined in square or rounded. The first element to be placed above it is called porosan – it’s made with dried betel, the betel nut, and powder in a small piece of coconut leaf. Then above it, flowers of four different colors are arranged. In the center, also the top of everything placed a kembang rampe (chopped pandanus amaryllifolius). And that was only the very least element. Other elements and variations follow the types of the canang.
First, let’s look at the flower’s color and arrangement. Each color symbolized a wide variety of meanings as follows:
- White flower: In the macro cosmos, it is everything in the east, and in the microcosmos, it is the heart. The deity is Lord Īśvara, and the demon is The White Demon. The seed mantra is SAṂ
- Red flower: in the macro cosmos, it is everything in the south, and in the microcosmos, it is the liver. The deity is Lord Brahma, and the demon is the Red Demon. The seed mantra is BAṂ.
- Yellow flower: in the macro cosmos, it is symbolized everything in the west, and in the microcosmos, it is the spleen. The deity is Lord Mahadeva, and the demon is the Yellow Demon. The seed mantra is TAṂ
- The dark flower: in the macro cosmos, it is symbolized everything in the north, and in the microcosmos, it is the bile. The deity is Lord Viṣṇu, and the demon is Dark Demon. The seed mantra is AṂ.
- The copped pandanus: in the macro cosmos, it is symbolized everything in the center, and in the microcosmos, it is the top of the liver. The deity is Lord Śiva, and the demon is the Five-colored Demon. The seed mantra is IṂ.
As we can see, the arrangement of the color of canang forms a mandala that unites the macro cosmos and microcosmos, the divine and demonic, physical and metaphysical. This simple form of offering called canang is a physical expression of the Balinese maxim, manunggaling bhuwana agung lan bhuana alit (the union of macro and micro cosmos).
As a meditative tool, the act of offering canang is a practice of contemplating the non-duality of existence and the harmony of everything.
Canang [and other kinds of bantĕn is like a Russian Doll with many layers. Canang can be treated as a simple offering [gift] for the gods, as a way for Balinese to remember their gods and goddesses. It also serves as a meditative tool that facilitates recalling the Self.
Besides offering, the word bantĕn also means “coming back.” In this case, canang is a vehicle for the soul to return to its true nature beyond the mind-body and space-time boundary.
PS: I have explained the yogic principle behind Balinese offering in my ebook, Bantĕn as Yantra. In that work, I also highlight the integrality of Yoga and Yajna [ritual] in Balinese tradition.