Advantages |
After caste, the second main rubric for characterizing Balinese life was
religion. Three of the major liberal achievements the Dutch claimed for
the administration were its prohibition of suttee, its elimination of slavery,
and its exemplary religious tolerance. By religion is intended Hinduism
as conveyed by Sanskritic and Kawi texts and activated in rites at the temples
and shrines throughout the island. As for the Hinduism of Bali: After first mixing itself with another cult in Java, in Bali it absorbed various aspects of the Polynesian-animistic worship of the original inhabitants. Siwa is worshipped as Supreme God, while Brahma and Wisnu are considered not so much as particular gods but more as divine powers of Siwa. The article reviews flexibilities in the complicated Balinese world view, with its parallel deistic and demonic incarnations of every cosmological attribute, not to mention its desa and family gods. Balinese religion is declared 'a pantheism in the broadest sense of the word': Religion saturates
the whole life of a Balinese; the gods as well as the evil spirits (butas)
are ubiquitous and their influence on the fate of men is always felt. Christianity at present numbers no Balinese among its adherents. The sole Balinese who had been won over to the new doctrine, whether out of remorse of insanity, murdered the missionary Vroom (188 1). The discussion of religion emphasizes Bali's innumerable temples and shrines (offerplaatsen). In this area extensive philological and archaeological work had pro-
|
Institutions Hamlets Member Draw Encyclopedia Offspring The Raja's Indian Optic Consideration Flexibilities Irrigation Individual Prohibition Commoners Abduction Raden pan kertas Baliology Liberal Borneo Pan Sukarja Hinduization Palace Service Central east Significance Patrilineal Desa Adat Student Metamode Tribal Africa Tihingan Formation |
|
For more Bali hotels Bali activities information and reservation Bali hotels in Bali hotel Bali accommodation Travel | bali hotels | Bali Golf Bali Spa Bali Diving Bali Rafting in Bali
we must point out a very important distinction which the Balinese make between
two clearly separate groups of ancestors. The first of these groups consists
of the dead who are riot yet completely purified. This group is in turn subdivided
in pirata, those riot yet cremated, and pitara, those already cremated. The
former are still completely impure; the latter have been purified, but are still
considered as distinct, individual souls. The second group consists of the completely
purified ancestors who are considered as divine. Everything Bali Indonesia |
