pedanda

plural pedandas

1. In Bali, a Hindu priest or priestess.First known use 19th c.

   The only people who are conversant with all the rituals of agama Hindu are the high priests, or pedanda, men and a few women of the Brahman caste who spend years studying the complex theology.

   2002, Lesley Reader, Lucy Ridout, The Rough Guide Bali and Lombok, page 510

   2 more examples

   There are records of bitter village conflicts in which Pande families were denied the right to bury their dead in the village cemetery because the families did not obtain holy water from pedandas, and the villagers said the unpurified bodies would contaminate the cemetery.

   1990, Fred B. Eiseman, Jr., Bali: Sekala and Niskala, Tuttle Publishing, page 80

   Instead of the temple having an annual festival, services are carried out every new and full moon day and on other holy days, and the presiding pedanda, after performing a ritual to make holy water, gives a sermon, yet another innovation and departure from traditional practice.

   2005, Leo Howe, The Changing World Of Bali: Religion, Society and Tourism, page 92