Dewi Sri

Dewi Sri, Devi Sri or Shridevi in India is a type of Earth God and specifically the Goddess of Rice and Prosperity in Bali and Java. Revered and worshipped daily, she maintains the stability and fertility of rice and the rice fields upon which the Balinese and Javanese rely for survival. She personifies the life force controlling birth, life and wealth and likewise poverty, famine and death. Although Indonesians are mostly Muslim or Balinese Hindu, animist beliefs practiced long before the arrival of modern religions are ingrained in the belief systems of indigenous Indonesians and worshipped in parallel with all later religions. Homes have shrines dedicated to her, and prayers for health and prosperity and colorful offerings are made for her daily. In Bali, special Dewi Sri shrines and temples are maintained by nearby village farmers who belong to social and workgroups called a subaks, a social and a work organization for agricultural cooperation where farmers work together and share rice fields. Subak members celebrate agricultural festivals, especially on the temple’s founding centennial and holidays dedicated to the goddess. They decorate and beautify the temple making attractive abstract colorful images of her as offerings from banana leaves, coconut leaves, rattan, flowers and other natural materials to attract her presence. In Bali, this is also done using old Chinese coins that are tied together to make impressive decorative temple images of her called a salang and similar images made from the natural materials mentioned above are also placed in fields to help entice her to honor them with her favor.