Part 8 - Balinese Religion

The island of Bali, East Java, is home to another Hindu Buddhist civilization in Indonesia. However, the beliefs and practices of the former Malayo-Polynesian culture still exist and, in some cases, have been synchronized with the religion index. For example, the sacred mountain of Balinese, Junung Agung, was identified in Mount Meru, the cosmic center of Indian legends. The Balinese god, the adventurer of the contemporary Balayang and the Wuyang, and the Shadow Theater, who became a servant of the Hindu gods, are still older and more powerful than all Hindu gods. Big Brother of Shiva (Siwa in Bali).^[1]

The various Hindu and Buddhist communities in Bali merged into one religion known as Hindu Bali or Aagama Tirtha, the sacred water religion. There are twelve kinds of holy water. Hindu and Buddhist texts are the basis of Hinduism in Bali, some of which are written in Sanskrit, but most often in Kawi (old Javanese) and Balinese. These are the manuscripts of palm leaves dedicated to Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom. It has no private sanctuaries. Books and libraries are his temples. There are about 250 texts in which it can be observed that there is care for a number of denominations without priority for any sect. All denominations were encouraged, indicating that leaders were not limited to ideological differences between sects, but they valued Indian religion more. The texts include Tantric and Mahayana Buddhism, the major schools of Hinduism Saiva Siddhanta, Vaishnava, Ganesa and Surya cults.^[2]

Seiki Bibausan, reading groups, gather at rites and festivals. The original line of text is read and another reader performs an automatic translation that can be commented upon or improved. These readings are "voice texts" to place order in the world and to manifest logos or meaning behind earthly reality.^[3]

Balinese religion is characterized by its organization in the networks of specialized temples. Water temples are found everywhere in the irrigation system, and organized festivals decide there are timing "water holes" to sink the fields downstream. Subsequent festivals occur at important times in the agricultural calendar, such as planting, planting, and the emergence of milky grains. There are also temples of the villages, class temples and other types, and the only worn worship in the temples of the institutions to which they belong.^[4]

The most important aspect of religion in Bali is the implementation of five related ritual cycles. These are the five evils, sacrifices, and derived from the ancient Brahmanic theology. These are: Dua Yagna, the sacrifices of the gods, which are made in the temples. Bota Yagna, Sacrifices of the Chthonic Forces or "Elements"; Manusia Yajna, Ritual Traffic; Pitr Yajna, Sacrifices of the Dead; and RSI Yajna, Devoting Priests.

Balinese religion contains a strong tantric element, and strongly believes that demonic forces are part of internal and external reality.

Balinese religion, which dates back to prehistoric times, reflects the culture of MalayoPolynesia. There were many religious concepts in Neolithic culture, including the gods of nature such as the God of Heaven, the spirits of ancestors who lived over the mountains, human spirit or several souls, and the Shamanism.^[5]

The era of the metal was a sophisticated culture, as evidenced by archaeological remains, including the "Pejeng Moon", a magnificent bronze drum built in Bali between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century CE. Decorated with buttons decorated with miniature human heads. The most impressive are the stone pyramids that were built at the same time, which were probably temples for ancestors and gods of nature, as well as monuments for important heads. These pyramids resemble the polynesian marae^[6].

At the beginning of the first millennium, Indian civilization reached Bali. Scientists strongly question the nature of the Hindu or Hindu process that followed, with some claiming that there is only a thin layer of Indian culture with Brahmins in the courts. Others called for widespread colonization by the Indians. Exiles. There is little evidence of widespread colonization. The first proof of "Hansa" is everything religious, with stone carvings, clay seals, ritual instruments, engravings in stone and copper. The earliest inscriptions of the ninth century are written in ancient Sanskrit and Balinese script with Indian alphabet scribes and cater to the needs of specific villages and monasteries, proving that leaders support a variety of Hindu and Buddhist denominations. The villages were responsible for helping monks and monasteries by defending hospitality, employment, taxes and the army against raids from the sea. These inscriptions speak of a complex network that develops between indianised courts, monasteries, Hindu villages and Buddhism.

In 1073 AD, the royal inscription refers to the division of the population into the Indian Varna system, the four primary denominations (see social classes in Hinduism). The intention was more than a fact.

In 1917, a deadly earthquake destroyed or damaged 2,431 temples.

The new century began in 1979 according to the Balinese calendar and a huge ceremony called Eka-Dasa-Rudra held at the Besakih temple with more than 100,000 people in which the satanic energies accumulated from the last century were converted to divine energies.

Bali Hinduism is the official religion of the Indonesian government. The government has also made all Indonesians profess a known religion. In recent years, there has been an attempt to include tribal religions from islands near Bali, such as Sulawesi, to the Hindu island of Bali.

The ancient god of Balinese nature, the great land of the Anantaboga snake with the "Indianisation" buried symbolically in the worn land, his head in the center of the island under the lake of the crater of Batur volcano and touched his sea tail in Kiramas. Ancient gods such as the Twalen and Hindus are represented in the game of theang, the game of shadows. This Yang Orang, a peoples game, is based on Hindu epics.

Early Indian statues found in Bali Dhyani Buddhas, or Avaloketsavara and Padmapani Amoghapasa Vishnu on Garuda and Vishnu as Narasimha. There are also many forms of Siva, one of them Ardhanari, which quadruples like Catukhayas and is accompanied by Durga, Ganessa and the teacher.

The ritual includes the five Yajnas, sacrifice, great symbolism and unique Yajna details to Bali. In the Yajna RSI to dedicate a new padanda to the priests, the candidates must symbolically undergo his own funeral to become a special being, a great Balinese priest, and then reach a certain denomination.

The Balinese temples follow the plan of the ancient Polynesian Malinese rock sanctuaries, and in the space of the temples, they are arranged according to a continuum, a concept followed during the Malaysian-Polynesian period. The temple line is directed from the sea to the mountain interior of the island, and other aspects of the continuum series are downstream, upstream, secular-sacred, and Cantonese-Uranian. There are more than 20,000 temples in Bali.

The priests in Bali prepare magical drawings to ward off the forces of evil. One of these drawings represents Yama Raja, the afterlife judge. The symbol is widely used in dance, theater and temple sculpture. However, the main gods are not represented in cult images, but are invisible and only come to earth during a special ritual when small statues and stone lotus are provided. Balinese loves the bold and brutal corrections of animals, monsters and mythical demons. The cave entrance is decorated in Goa Ghadia in the form of a wild head and the Cala gap, the evil lord of demons.^[7]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Haer, Debbie Guthrie; Morillot, Juliette; Toh, Irene (2000). Bali: A Traveller's Companion. Editions Didier Millet Pte Ltd. Publishers Ltd. ISBN 981-3018496.

[2]:

Hobart, Angela; Ramseyer, Urs; Leeman, Albert (1996). The Peoples of Bali. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-63117687-X.

[3]:

Jones, Howard Palfrey (1971). Indonesia: The Possible Dream. Hoover Institution Publications. ISBN 0-15-144371-8.

[4]:

Vickers, Adrian (1989). Bali: A Paradise Created. Periplus. ISBN 978-0-945971-28-3.

[5]:

Hoadley, M. C. (1991). Sanskritic continuity in Southeast Asia: The ṣaḍaatataayī and aṣṭacora in Javanese law. Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.

[6]:

Hughes-Freeland, F. (1991). Javanese visual performance and the Indian mystique. Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.

[7]:

Lokesh, Chandra, & International Academy of Indian Culture. (2000). Society and culture of Southeast Asia: Continuities and changes. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.