Yellow-colored flowers that point to the west are
a symbol of Mahadeva. Mahadeva means “Great
god”. The main iconographical attributes of
Mahadeva
or Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the
snake Vasuki around his neck, the crescent moon
adorning, the holy river Ganga flowing from his
matted hair, the Trishula as his weapon and the
Damaru as his instrument.
Blue or green colored flowers that point to the north
are a symbol of Vishnu. Visnu is conceived as “the
Preserver” within the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of
the divinity. He is depicted as a blue being, holding
a Padma (lotus flower) in the lower left hand, the
Kaumodaki gada (mace) in the lower right hand,
the Panchajanya shankha (conch) in the upper left
hand and the discus weapon Sudarshana Chakra
in the upper right hand.
Normally, Canang Sari stays for one night after it
is being prayed over and offered before it is being
removed to be replaced with the new one. After all,
Hinduism is very concerned with the relationship
between humanity and the environment. Whatever
comes from nature, it has to be given back to
nature.
Did you know?
Trimurti means “three forms”, and is a concept
in Hinduism “in which the cosmic functions
of creation, maintenance, and destruction are
personified by the forms of Brahma the creator,
Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Shiva the
destroyer or transformer.
For a traditional Balinese woman, it is an obligation
to know how to make Canang Sari and other
offerings (called “mejejaitan”) because offering the
Canang Sari is one of the important daily activities
other than cooking, taking care of the children
or cleaning the house. However, this term is not
common in these modern days. Now, people can
buy Canang Sari from traditional markets.