The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

238 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[202]tangible representative of the rice-deity and taking a part for thewhole, picks out some stalks and conceives them as the visibleabode of the rice-soul, to which he can pay his homage andfrom which he hopes to derive advantage. These few stalks, theforemost among their many peers, form what is called the nininpantun by the people of Bali and the inan paré by the Sassaks”of Lombok. 609 The name ina paré is sometimes translatedRice-mother, but the more correct translation is said to be “theprincipal rice.” The stalks of which this “principal rice” consistsare the first nine shoots which the husbandman himself takeswith his own hands from the nursery or bedding-out ground andplants at the upper end of the rice-field beside the inlet of theirrigation water. They are planted with great care in a definiteorder, one of them in the middle and the other eight in a circleabout it. When the whole field has been planted, an offering,which usually consists of rice in many forms, is made to “theprincipal rice” (inan paré). When the rice-stalks begin to swellthe rice is said to be pregnant, and the “principal rice” is treatedwith the delicate attentions which are paid to a woman with child.Thus rice-pap and eggs are laid down beside it, and sour fruitsare often presented to it, because pregnant women are believedto long for sour fruit. Moreover the fertilisation of the rice by theirrigation water is compared to the union of the goddess BatariSri with her husband Ida Batara (Vishnu), who is identified withthe flowing water. Some people sprinkle the pregnant rice withwater in which cooling drugs have been infused or with waterwhich has stood on a holy grave, in order that the ears may fillout well. When the time of harvest has come, the owner of thefield himself makes a beginning by cutting “the principal rice”(inan paré or ninin pantun) with his own hands and binding itinto two sheaves, each composed of one hundred and eight stalks609 J. C. van Eerde, “Gebruiken bij den rijstbouw en rijstoogst op Lombok,”Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, xlv. (1902) pp. 563-565note.