Balinese hulu identification

[A. G. Maisey]

Anthony, we are dealing with Rare Angon here, Rare Kumara does not have fangs, when we see the 'rare' form & we add fangs we have Rare Angon.

Rare Angon has other names, and first amongst those names is Rudra, we find Rudra in the Balinese Mandala, he is the God of the South West & his colour is orange. Rudra appears in the Vedas and was one of the contributing influences to the development of Siwa (Shiva).

Before Rudra was given the name "Rudra" by Brahma he was known as Mahadewa. After he was named as Rudra he then received seven other names:- Bhawa, Sarwa, Isono, Pasupati, Bhima, Ugra, & his original name: Mahadewa.

Then there is the relationship with Siwa.

Depending upon what sources we choose to accept, the names of Rudra can vary considerably, and also his existence as a single entity --- there can be multiple Rudras. For mainline Hindu relationships I prefer to use Dowson "A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology", for Balinese relationships I use a number of different sources as well as stuff I've picked up from personal contact.

So, getting back to demons. I believe your Balinese friend was near enough with his "demon" attribution. Rare Angon has a demonic nature, as Rudra his nature has both a demonic aspect and a beneficial aspect.

Don't forget that when we are dealing with ordinary Balinese people they only have ordinary levels of understanding, even people whom we might expect would know & understand more are often somewhat ignorant and/or confused by all the iconography and the varied ways of understanding something.

To reach the level of understanding that is required to get some sort of understanding from Balinese expression we need Balinese specialists, usually Brahmins, or access to a very good library. Ordinary people, even very famous members of the Pande Clan are usually very limited in their understandings.