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.
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This rare vintage carving was probably made for a home shrine or small rice field temple dedicated to Dewi Sri, the Balinese Goddess of Rice. The hole near the bottom indicates it may have been part of a larger decorative scheme.
This very fine and very beautiful vintage woodcarving of Dewi Sri , Devi Sri or Sridevi in Java, the Balinese Hindu goddess of rice and prosperity, is in excellent condition considering it is a much used vintage piece. Personally collected in Bali in the 1970s, it reflects the offerings made to Dewi Sri placed in the rice fields to protect the rice harvest. She is depicted here as a young, attractive and fertile woman wearing a striking, highly detailed and decorative headdress similar to those worn in Balinese dances leaving her upper forehead bare and framing her oval face with high curved eyebrows, wide-open eyes and beautiful pursed lips. With its flat back it can be mounted on a wall.
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