Vajra Sastra, a 22-year-old monk, said he hoped more could receive the vaccine sooner so his temple could reopen again for mass prayers.

The author said he spent much of his youth reading sastra picisan—pulp fiction filled with sex and violence, and his work has plenty of both.

Kurniawan is an ardent fan of Indonesian pulp fiction and the gothic romance novels called sastra picisan, dime novels known for their lurid style.

Sir William Jones admits that the Vedas are 'very ancient, and far older than any other Sanscrit works,' but assigns to the Manava Sastra, and the Bhagavat a later date than 'the Scriptures of Moses,' on the ground that 'the nakedness of the Hebrew dialect, metre, and style must convince every man of their superior antiquity.'

He holds a trident, to show that the great attributes are in him assembled and united; in another is a kind of rattle, shaped like an hour glass, and I am inclined to think that it was at first intended as such, since it agrees with the character of the deity; and a sand gheri is mentioned in the Sastra as a mode of measuring time.