WEST LOMBOK, INDONESIA, December 26, 2011: At Pura Lingsar, a historic temple in Lingsar village, West Lombok, hundreds of people of all ages, one in the yard of Pura Gaduh, a Hindu prayer house, and the other in the yard of Kemaliq, a sacred place for the ethnic Sasak Muslim community. As soon as they heard a command to begin, both groups immediately charged headlong at each other. But perang topat, or the war of topat (boiled rice cakes in coconut leaves), in which rice lumps are hurled, is a centuries-old tradition in Lingsar village that is meant to promote harmony between local Muslims and Hindus. Laughter reigns.
The ritual is believed to bring blessings through the topat thrown at each other. When the fight is over, the remaining rice cakes already used are always taken home to be strewn over paddy fields for soil fertility or placed in shops for profit. “Through generations, we’ve been practicing this tradition after bumper harvests, by which we express our deep gratitude to God and anticipate soil fertility in the current planting season. It’s also a means of strengthening relations with fellow Hindu villagers,” said Sahyan, 36-years-old, a Lingsar resident managing the Kemaliq house.
The annual event in Lingsar village takes place in Pura Lingsar, which was built in 1759 during the reign of King Anak Agung Gede Ngurah, a descendant of the King of Karangasem, Bali, who ruled part of Lombok in the 17th century. This temple, about 5.5 miles east of Mataram, is the most unique building of its kind in the country because it comprises Pura Gaduh, a place for Hindu worshippers, and Kemaliq, a Sasak Muslim house of ceremonies.
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