Dewi Ratih

In the Balinese and Javanese retelling preserved in local Hindu-influenced myth, Dewi Ratih is a goddess of the Moon and beauty. When the giant Kala Rau attempted to enter the heaven of the gods, he disguised himself as Kuwera; Dewi Ratih warned Vishnu of the deception. Vishnu decapitated Kala Rau, but because Kala Rau had drunk the tirta amerta (the gods' elixir) and only his throat tasted it, his head survived. Kala Rau's floating head periodically chases and swallows the Moon (Dewi Ratih), but because Kala Rau lacks a body she emerges again from his neck — a sequence given in Balinese and Javanese accounts as the origin of lunar eclipses.

Sources emphasize Dewi Ratih's notable beauty and grace but provide no standardized iconography or detailed physical description. She is described in summaries of local tradition as the goddess of beauty and the Moon, and her appearance in narrative context is characterized by aesthetic qualities (beauty, grace) rather than fixed garments, colors, or attributes in the cited materials.

Dewi Ratih's principal role in the available sources is as a lunar deity: she is associated with the Moon and figures in the mythic explanation for lunar eclipses in which Kala Rau swallows her and she subsequently reappears. She is also the focus of devotional observance (notably the Balinese purnama full-moon ceremony). The provided materials do not ascribe additional powers such as control over weather or fertility.