Cloth Painting: "Burning of the Love God," scene from Semaradahana, Twelth-Century Javanese Poem

In the painting from which this detail comes, Asmara, the god of love, shoots arrows at the god Siwa to arouse his lust. Enraged by having his meditation disturbed, Siwa, as a giant, many-headed demon (pamurtian), shoots fire from his third eye, surrounding Asmara in flames. Later in the story, Asmara’s wife Ratih, the goddess of love, immolates herself; together, they are consumed by the fire.

In contemporary Bali, people explain innate human desires by pointing out that the ash from the burning of Asmara and Ratih filled the air that humans breathe and the food and water they consume. In this way, the ash became one with the five elements from which human bodies are assembled. As a result, living creatures are afflicted with desires—gluttony, lust, and greed, for example—that arise from the body and must be controlled by social rules, meditations to increase self-control, and ritual processes such as tooth filing (matatah).

When Balinese children reach puberty, it is said that these desires have become activated in their bodies. At this time, during matatah, the six upper front teeth are filed evenly. Each tooth is associated with a particular kind of desire that, if acted upon, renders the individual like an animal rather than fully human. Balinese ritual specialists assert that matatah diminishes such animalistic impulses.