balinese hinduism

[Guest guest]

(cross posted)I just returned from Bali a month ago, a week before the blasts.

Iwas there for three weeks learning about their religion.Balinese are Hindus

and describe themselves as such, not as Agama buddha. They are well aware that

their tradtition of Hinduism is different from those in India and elswhere.

They are certainly not Vaishnavites, Shaktas or Smartas although they enjoy the

Ramayana and the Mahabharata in arts and traditions. They can de described, by

default, as a different sect of Saivites and we should redefine Hinduism and

Saivism as having another sect, the Balinese SaiviteHindu sect; this being the

seventh sect of Saivism.The people greet each other saying, "Aum Swasti Astu"

on meeting, and on leaving they greet" Aum Shanti, shanti, shanti"Hinduism has

been existent there since the 4th century, and by the8th century, the biggest

Hindu temple was being built in Besakih, on the slopes of a volcano. It is a

Siva Temple as the Siva shrine is the largest one and in the deepest courtyard.

Besakih was being built at the same time Angkor was built in Cambodia and

Prambanan was built in Jogjakarta, and the Bujang Valley in Malaysia was

already blooming.It was probably a time of the Golden Period of Hinduism in

South East asia. I have been to all these temples. In case you are

wondering,yes, they are bigger then Madurai, Chidambaram or Rameshwaram. Its a

shame that nothing in India matches the Prambanan temple or Angkor Wat. But its

Angkor Wat, as well as Angkor Thom that takes your breath away. Forget the

pyramids, the taj mahal the great wall, the coliseum and the Maya temples.Each

village has three temples; one to Brahma at the entrance of the village, one to

Vishnu in the centre of the village and one to Sivaat the end of the village

next to the crematorium. Each of these temples has shrines to the other gods;

for instance the Brahma temple will have sub shrines for Vishnu and Siva. And

there are shrines too for ancestors as well as for the supreme god. They call

the supreme god, Ida Sang Hyiang Widi. They describe him as the supreme (my

words, as parasiva or nirguna brahman or nirvana). When you ask who is Sang

Hyiang Widi, invariably they reply Sang Hyiang Widi is Siva. Mysteriously they

say, Siva is both the destroyer as well as the Supreme god. It is this that

makes them saivites. On the back wall of the Sang Hyiang Widi shrine, the

picture of the supreme god is thatof a caricature of a male dancing god with a

bull. This confirms their sect and religion.Every home has a shrine on the

outside corner of the courtyard andthe people pray 3 times a day; morning noon

and evening, with a simple offering of flowers, water, fruits, and biscuits.

The prasadam is offered by gently swaying the flowers held in the fingertips

overthe prasada in the direction of the shrine, just like in our pujas. The

worship, chant and prayer is mental and I did not think itappropriate to ask

about this in detail. It would be too obtrusive. Every home, every shop, every

supermarket, every hotel, govt depts, etc all pray3 times a day and after

prayers the offering basket made of coconut leaves shaped like a tray is placed

in front of their home or shop, hotel at the entrance. Such a lovely sight. This

alone beats its all.In the temples they have mass worship/pujas every 2 weeks,

following their own calendar. different temples have different worship days.For

instance, on the Brahma worship days, the entire village goes to the Brahma

temple, and so forth. Of course the most devout go to temple everday or any

day. In temples, the peoples offerings is moreelaborate and includes chicken or

meat. All offerings are prepared in the homes and taken to the temples by the

womenfolk on their head. These offerings are handed to the priests who place it

in front of theshrine and chants some mantras. It could take 20 minutes.The head

priest is always a brahmin, but the assistant priests couldbe anyone including

ladies. They have the 4 fold caste system and each caste has its own shrine in

the major temples. The priests wear awhite sarong like a veshti/dhoti and a

white bandana headscarf.Throughout the island there are major temples, a sort

of pilgrimage site for all balinese. Its a must-go once a year for all.

Forinstance, besakih temple is thronged by 3 million balinese once a year in a

week long festival/holy day. For instance the farmers/sudras have their shrine

in Besakih where all the farmers in the island will go andpray, apart from

praying at the main shrine. Likewise, there is a shrine for metal workers, and

there is a shrine for all, say, taxi drivers. Each occupational group has its

own shrine in these major temples, and I guess there also serve as as a guild

and trade association as usually once a year after prayers they gather for a

meeting to trash out guild rules. In all prayers, whether in the home shrine or

in the temple, attireis important. Sarongs for ladies, and sarongs, traditional

shirt and a bandana headscarf for men. No entry into the temples without this

attire. At the end of prayers, the priest places a pottu/tilak on the forehead

of the deovtees made of rice. And distributes flowers to be placed above both

years for all men and women. I was walking all over Bali for weeks with a red

bandana and flowers on both years. :)The brahmin priests learn and chant in

Sanskrit but the style is different. It is a dragged form of chanting,

probabaly a 4th century version of sanskrit and chanting. For instance, they

take about 30 seconds to sing/chant "Aum Namasiwaya". It is very slow and its

dragged, much like Sangeetam singing or the singing of Tamilthevarams by temple

oduvars. Its probably even more dragged than that. To chant a four line sutra,

they probably take about 8 minutes. So muchdragging that you cant make sense of

it. Obviously several words are ancient sanskrit or pali and no longer in use by

us today and this compounds the difficulty in understanding. Their sanskrit and

old Balinese script looks like Pali, but I cannot confirm as I am not a

linguist.They cremate their dead next to the Siva temple in the village with

days of prayers to Siva. Cremation is a mens only occasion. All themen wear

black shirts, black sarongs and black bandanas. The corpse is place in a coffin

shaped like a horse and burnt. Not much wood isused, only the wooden

horse.Balinese eat pork and meat. This appears to be a bulwark againstIslam.

Vegetarianism is unheard of except for the priests, and even then only on

certain days. They have their own architecture for homes and temples and its

unique and enchanting. Every home and govt building and police station looks

like a temple. The temples are concrete based with wooden pagoda like

structure; with 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 tiered. In classical Indian style, major

pilgrimage temples are located on the mountains,on the foothills of mountains,

by the rivers or on the seashore. Temples are decorated with guardian devas and

angels at the 4 corners and entrances. These guardians look fierce with lion

like heads, large bellies and carrying implements. They demand awe from the

visitor to the temple.There are no murthis ( icons or idols) in any shrine or

temple. Inthe sanctum sanctorum or moolasthanam, it is empty. Nothing there.

Offerings and are placed in front of the empty shrine. There is no worship of

Ganesha, Muruga, Hanuman, Rama, Garuda, etc. In thisrespect it is different

from Javanese Hinduism as there Ganesha isworshipped. However, Saraswati is

worshipped in all schools and her murthi(icon) can be found in all schools. All

lessons in school begins with aprayer to Saraswati. A statue of ganesha can also

be found in most schools but I do not know if he is worshipped or is recognised

and revered as a guardian diety. Religion is taught in all schools. All radio

and TV programs and all govt meetings, police roll calls all begin with Hindu

prayers.Balinese Hinduism is unique because it is the only sect in the world

that worships Brahma. Brahma worship disappeared in India almost 1800 years

ago. having being absorbed by Saivism and Vaishnavism. This is another

indication that Balinese Hinduism is what mainstream Hinduism was in India 2000

years ago before the advent of devotional Saivismand vaishnavism and the

acceptance of the itihasas as theology and before the reformation attempts by

shankara. Could it be that Hinduism did not have murthi worship at this

stage?There is little or no mediation in Balinese Hinduism. There is no

monastic orders or sanyasins. There is only chariya and kriya; only karma yoga

and bakti yoga. There are no mantra dikshas. But they have all the sacraments

from birth to death, like name giving, first feeding, coming of age,

etc.Sukarno's mother was Balinese Hindu royalty. Megawati is part Hinduand she

has her ancestral home in Bali. The Balinese speak their own language and its

not Indonesian or Javanese. They are fiercelyBalinese and fiercely Hindu. The

Javanese are afraid of them. They also dont want to water down their religion

or traditions in anyway so as to bring it closer to Indian Hinuism.I have

posted this article to Balinese friends of mine for confirmation, and if there

are any changes, I will post theamendments.

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