Worshipped as the goddess of knowledge, beauty, and the arts, Saraswati continues to influence daily life in the Balinese village of Peliatan. Saraswati in Bali explains how one of the world's most famous tourist destinations strives to preserve its cultural traditions through the ceremonies, shadow plays, and masked dances held at the Pura Madya temple festival as well as the art collectio…
In my mind rose a misty picture of a little girl in a floral dress. As for her face: nothing. I could only hope that she had been pretty. I sat overcome. What a procession of developments in one day! Only that morning I had left Madiun; at midday I was wobbling on a buggy past an ocean of rice fields; tonight, suddenly, I had been renamed by my parents and handed a wife. Thus begins Sastroda…