Famous Balinese Temples

Introduction

Visitors to temples must dress appropriately, which means a sarong and sash for both men and women. Shorts should not be worn. Balinese temples are at their most interesting and colourful when a ceremony is in progress.

Pura Besakih: the Mother Temple

This is the most important temple in Bali, named after the region of Basuki in East Java, from where the first settlers came in Balinese tradition around the end of the 8th century. It is about 1,000 meters (3,333 feet) above sea level on the southwest slope of the volcano Mount Agung. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The traditional lontar texts often call the mountain To Langkir (to means man, langkir means highest), suggesting that it was the home of a mighty spirit or ancestor. In other texts, the deity is called Putranjaya, eldest son of the great Hindu deity Pasupati, or is equated with Mahadewa. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

There are 18 public temples, four special subsidiary temples, many temples honouring deified ancestors, and clan and family temples of local villagers. Every temple has its name. Pura Besakih refers to the whole complex.

The temple is in three parts and by one count has 198 structures. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

There is another classification of the temples: into two groups. The dividing line is in front of the Pura Pantaran Agung. The temples above the line are luhuring ambal-ambal (above the terraces) and those below it soring ambal-ambal (below the terraces). Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Three Besakih temples are counterparts of the three main temples, the Tiga Kahyangan, found in most villages. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Beside the public temples, there are four special temples, associated with particular clans that have an intimate relationship with Pura Panataran Agung. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Also to the right of Pura Pantaran Agung is the complex of padharman temples which honour the deified ancestors of particular clans. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

You walk up 52 steps and enter the temple through a split gate. In front of it is the Bale Pegat, the dividing line between the mundane world and the sacred. In the first courtyard are two pavilions used by the gamelan orchestras.

Walk up more stairs to the entrance to the second terrace. The most important buildings are the Sanggar-Agung, the throne of the Trinity, which was built in 1917, and the Samuan Agung where the deified ancestors gather to receive offerings. There is also a Bale Agung, where villagers meet. A little further east is the Gedung Kawas, where holy meals are prepared. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

For a detailed explanation of merus, see the chapter entitled Balinese Temples and Holy Men in Secrets of Bali.

Continuing up the staircase is the third terrace. On the western left side are two merus with nine and eleven tiers. The smaller one is dedicated to Ratu Geng and worshipped by the village people and the larger one is dedicated to Ratu Mas paid homage by the Dewa Agung, king of Klungkung. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The male god of Mount Agung and the female goddess of Lake Batur are the supreme gods of Bali and the king of Klungkung is the supreme king of Bali. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The fourth terrace has one central meru with eleven roofs, dedicated to Ratu Sinaring Jagat, the light of the world. East are two shrines, where dancers and artists pay homage to the Bhataras of fine arts. At the end of the staircase is a pavilion closed on three sides which houses two couples, 12th century divine statues. Against the western wall is a pair of pavilions for Ida Ratu Ayu Subandar, the Bhatara for trade. On the west is a little shrine for the Pande clan.

The fifth terrace has two pagodas dedicated to deified ancestors.

The highest terrace contains two little shrines, both for the deities of Mount Agung itself.

The main yearly festival is the Bhatara Turun Kabeh (the Gods descend all together) held on the full moon of the tenth lunar month, which usually falls in April. Every year in the fourth lunar month the leading lords of Bali make offerings at Besakih in the name of the whole population. At least every ten or 100 years the two greatest ceremonies held in Bali are celebrated – the Panca Wali Krama – and Eka Dasa Rudra.

The Panca Wali Krama – it was held in 1933 (the road to Besakih was built the previous year), 1960 and 1978. In 1963 Mount Agung erupted during the preparations for that year’s Eka Dasa Rudra. There was extensive damage. After partial restoration the ngenteq linggih ceremony was held in 1968 to consecrate the new buildings.

Two very sacred edicts, written on wood panels, survive from the 15th century and during ceremonies are regarded as symbols of the presence of the deities of the Pura Panataran Agung. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

As the major temple in Bali, the state has ultimate responsibility for its upkeep and provides much of the finance. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

There are ten official pemangkus, each having one or more temples in his care.

Mount Batur

Batur is an area that is a profoundly sacred part of Bali. It is 35 kilometers (22 miles), about a 40 minute drive north of Ubud, the road gently rising all the way. The area comprises Mount Batur, 1,717 meters (5,633 feet), which is a live volcano, often to be seen smoking and rumbling, Lake Batur, Bali’s largest lake and, a lava scarred terrain with many temples. Around live the villagers who serve them.

As mentioned in the chapter entitled Balinese Origins, Volcanoes and Civilisation in Secrets of Bali Mount Batur is an example of a double caldera and is one of the biggest in the world. It is eight and half miles wide. It has been partly filled by the beautiful Lake Batur, which is four miles north to south, and another volcanic cone.

Pura Ulun Danu: Head of the Lake Temple

This temple is at the northeast shore. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The villagers of nearby Songan maintain the temple.

Pura Ulun Danu Batur, Temple of the Crater Lake

This is Bali’s second most important temple after Pura Besakih. It is the ceremonial throne for Dewi Danu, the goddess of the lake. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

There are two other nine-tiered merus, dedicated to the god of Mount Batur and to the deified King Waturenggong. King Waturenggong is discussed in the chapter entitled Balinese History – Pre-history to the Europeans in Secrets of Bali.

One of the most interesting shrines is a pavilion in the inner courtyard to the far left. It is Chinese looking, dedicated to a Chinese princess, who resembles one of the Barong Landung characters in the dance play.

The temple stands at the head, physically and symbolically, of the water temple system and controls all water in central Bali. It is the supreme water temple. The temple is maintained by the several hundred irrigation societies, subaks, of the surrounding regions. Subaks are described in the chapter entitled Balinese Origins, Volcanoes and Civilisation in Secrets of Bali. They pray to the goddess of the lake for rulings on water distribution. The high priest, her earthly representative, lays down her rulings. The subaks also pray that there will be no crop pestilence and honour the mountain gods and deified ancestors.

The high priest is an interesting character. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Paseks of the Black Wood believe that they are the oldest of the Balinese descent groups and that they pre-date the kings. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The second-ranking priest is called the Lesser Jero Gede. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Unlike other temples in Bali, it is permanently open, and has a permanent staff of priests. A virgin priestess selects the 24 permanent priests when they are children. They serve for life.

The age of the temple is unknown, but there are references to it in 11th century texts. There was an eruption of Mount Batur in 1905, when the lava stopped at the main entrance. It was damaged in the 1917 eruption, although again the lava stopped at the walls. Another eruption at 1 am on 3 August 1926 covered the temple in tons of rubble and the village in many feet of lava rocks. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Pura Uluwatu: Temple above the Stone

This is a very beautiful, very sacred temple, whose full name is Pura Luhur Uluwatu, down south on the western part of the Bukit. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The first is Empu (Sage) Kuturan, who came to Bali from Java in the 10th century AD riding a deer. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The other is Nirartha, also a Siwaistic priest who arrived from Java in 1537 AD. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The temple has several unique architectural features. Because it is built of strong coral stone, it is fairly well preserved, although the monkeys have caused some damage. It is set on a spectacular cliff. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

It is part of a number of sea temples on the south coast, including Tanah Lot, Pura Sekenan, Pura Rambut Siwi and Pura Petitenget. All pay homage to the guardian spirits of the sea. This one is the most spectacular and is one of the Sad-Kahyangan group of temples of Bali.

For many years entrance was forbidden to everyone except the prince of Badung, who owned the Bukit and visited the temple right up to his death at Dutch hands in the puputan massacre of 1906. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Prior to Bandung the Royal dynasty of Mengwi controlled the temple, but coastal parts of southeast Bali were lost to Bandung around 1810.

You go through a simple limestone entrance and up 71 steps to the rectangular outer courtyard. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

All three courtyards are surrounded by coral, which has enabled the temple to survive for centuries and gives it a brilliant white appearance. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

When the demon Kala Rahu stole the water of immortality from the gods, the sun and the moon saw him. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The entrance to the inner courtyard is an enormous arched kala gate flanked by Ganesha guardians. Ganesha is the elephant God, the son of Siwa.

At various times parts of the temple have fallen into the sea. Some new parts have been added. The candi-like building is new.

From the centre of the northwest wall is a beautiful view of the steep cliffs and ocean. Go down into the outermost courtyard and from there you can see the tip of East Java 50 kilometers away. Sunset is a beautiful time, when the temple is covered in rich golden light.

The temple has an unexplained rule that nobody can carry a red hibiscus or wear the black and white chequered poleng cloth. See the chapter entitled Balinese Dress and Textiles in Secrets of Bali. for a description of poleng.

Tanah Lot: Sea Temple of the Earth

Tanah Lot is one of the most beautiful temples in Bali, as well as being one of the most important. It means “Sea Temple of the Earth” and looks like a small pagoda. 13 kilometers west of Tabanan in Berabon village, it is built on a huge eroded outcropping of rock on black volcanic sand. World Monuments Watch lists it as one of the 100 most endangered and historical sites in the world.

Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

It is said that Nirantha, King Waturenggong’s priestly teacher and poet, who came to Bali from East Java in 1537, built Tanah Lot. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The snakes (ular suci) live in sandy holes just above the waterline along the beach. When the tide is out, they slide into the temple. Snakes are holy creatures in Bali. They should not therefore be disturbed.

Many Balinese also come to pray and they must be respected. There are two pavilions and two black thatched-roof meru shrines-one with seven-tiers, dedicated to Sanghyang Widi Wasa, the Supreme God, and the other with three-tiers, dedicated to Nirantha.

Like all Bali temples, Tanah Lot celebrates odalans, once every Balinese year of 210 days; the birthday falls close to the festivals of Galungan and Kuningan, when ancestor spirits are invited to visit their family shrines. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

At high tide, when the walkway is submerged, the waves can be rough. It is best to arrive at low tide, which is around noon during a full moon.

To prevent further erosion around the south of the temple, ugly concrete tetrapods have been lowered into the sea. More in front of the temple are planned with the help of soft loans from the World Bank and other international donor agencies.

Famous Balinese Temples

Balinese Calendars

Introduction

The heavens were more important to early humans than they are today. The heavens provided measurable certainty and could be used to measure time. The earth spun on its axis once a day; the moon spun round the earth once a month; and the earth revolved round the sun once a year.

There are three calendars operating simultaneously in Bali:

Gregorian calendar

Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, moving from a lunar to a solar year.  Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The international Gregorian calendar is named after Pope Gregory. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Saka calendar

The Hindu-Balinese lunar calendar developed in South India in 78 AD.

Pawukon calendar

The Javanese-Balinese calendar which consists of 210 days.

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is a relatively recent introduction to Indonesia. It came with the Dutch and is used for civil and business affairs.

There are a number of civic events and holidays, which include:

21 April: Kartini Day

Kartini Day celebrates Kartini, the Indonesian heroine of women’s emancipation. She was born in the village of Mayong in the municipality of Jepara in Central Java in 1879. Her father, Raden Mas Adipati Arlo Soroningrat, was a mayor. He had 12 children from several wives.

Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Kartini Day is a school holiday.

17 August: Independence Day

This celebrates the day in 1945 when President Sukarno proclaimed independence from the Dutch. It took another five years of war actually to achieve it.

20 September

The day in 1906, when the royal family of Denpasar committed puputan or mass suicide, bringing to an end the Denpasar nobility. It is commemorated in the Pupuan Badung Square every year when a fair is held.

10 November

The day in 1946 when the Balinese hero, Lieutenant Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai and his 96 Balinese troops battled against the Dutch for independence and were all wiped out. It is Heros’ Day. He was proclaimed a National Hero in 1975. The airport, where his statue stands, is named after him.

22 December: Indonesia’s Women’s Day

This is observed in remembrance of the first Indonesian Women’s Congress on 22 December 1928.

Balinese calendars

Balinese calendars give an indication of the way the Balinese actually see time. In the West we see time as a linear progression. The World has a beginning and is destined to have an ending. The Balinese, however, see time as circular, like birth and reincarnation. Balinese music is circular too.

Balinese calendars track social and natural cycles. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Saka calendar

The Saka calendar arrived with the Javanese Majapahit kingdom in the 14th century. It is still used in parts of India and has 12 lunar months; each month is called a Sasih and has a name in Sanskrit. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Every so often the calendar must be correlated with the solar year by adding an intercalary month. A number of temples use the Saka calendar to fix their temple ceremonies, but most use the Pawukon calendar.

Pawukon calendar

Introduction

The Pawukon calendar, whose origin is in East Java, came with the Majapahit kingdom in the 14th century, and consists of 30 seven-day weeks, each of which has a name, and six 35-day months. The Balinese year, called an uku, is therefore 210 days but the years are not numbered or named like Gregorian or Saka years, which are.

The calendar is not used to measure time. Its purpose is to pinpoint certain days.

10 different weeks

There are simultaneously and concurrently ten different kinds of weeks ranging from the one day week to the ten day week. They follow one another in a fixed order. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The three-day week determines the markets in Bali. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The eight day week provides a clue as to the identity of a person in his or her past life according to the birth day, for example, a birthday on the first day of the eight day week, Sri, means the baby is probably a reincarnation of a woman from the mother’s side.

The Balinese calendar encompasses smaller cycles within larger ones, wheels within wheels. There is an intriguing analogy with Balinese music. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The events for which the Pawukon calendar is used are those that are especially Balinese, like Galungan, Kuningan and temple anniversaries, odalans. (New Year’s Day on the 210-day cycle is not celebrated.)

Goris in Holidays and Holy Days, 1960, lists 32 holy days in every Balinese year, which is on average one in every seven, not including several days’ minimum preparation. These days apply to all Balinese and do not take into account family ceremonies, like weddings, baby ceremonies.

Coincidence days

Other events are scheduled according to the coincidence of particular days failing on particular weeks, rather like our Friday 13th.

The five-, six- and seven-day weeks are the most important and when a day falls on all three cycles it is significant. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

An important day is when the third day of the three-day week, Kajeng, falls on the same day as the fifth day of the five-day week, Keliwon. This day is called Kajeng-Keliwon and occurs every 15 days. Many temple ceremonies are held on this day. It is also a day to make special offerings to the bad spirits. Offerings are more elaborate on that day.

Sometimes babies are born owing debts to beings in the spirit world and special offerings have to be made to repay the debt. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Other special coincidence days are the Tumpeks. If, say a birthday, an oton, fell on a number of special days, it would be regarded as a very sacred day, for example, if it fell on Kajeng-Kliwon, Tumpek Wayang, full moon, and a total eclipse.

The Tumpeks

The Tumpeks occur when the sixth day of the seven-day week falls on fifth day of the five-day week, Keliwon. There are therefore six of them in each Balinese year of 210 days. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

They are:

Tumpek Landep

This is a special day for lethal weapons of steel, like krises, guns and cars. All receive offerings. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Tumpek Wariga

A special day for certain important trees, such as coconut trees, which are covered in Balinese clothes that day. They are requested to be fruitful.

Kuningan

The third one coincides with Kajeng-Keliwon, and is Kuningan. For details about Kuningan, see the chapter entitled Balinese Ceremonies Read in Secrets of Bali..

Tumpek Krulut

This is special for musical instruments, masksand dance costumes.

Tumpek Andang

This is a special day for animals. They receive a bath and special pieces of cloth and offerings on that day, perhaps even a dog biscuit.

Tumpek Wayang

This is also Kajeng-Keliwon, special for Wayang Kulit shadow puppets, which are taken out and given offerings by their dalang, the puppeteer. For details on Wayang Kulit, see the chapter entitled Wayang Kulit: shadow puppet performances in Secrets of Bali.. It also happens to be very unlucky to be born on that day.

The Moon

Long before calendars were invented, people watched the moon. An eclipse of the moon was a momentous event. Judaism, Christianity and Islam selected the new moon or the full moon for holy days. So did the Balinese: full moon is known as Purnama and the new moon is known as Tilem.

Tika

These memory aids for the Pawukon calendar are either made of wood or cloth. They make interesting souvenirs. The design is standard, but the shape, colour and layout may vary.

There are seven named horizontal rows, which represent the days, and 30 vertical columns, which represent the weeks. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

The Balinese know the week names. Most Balinese will know the Balinese day and week they were born but not necessarily their Gregorian birthday. They will also know the Balinese day and week of important ceremonies, such as Galungan, which is Buda Gunggulan, the fourth day of week 11.

You will recall the five-day week. Its most important day is the fifth day, Keliwon. That is shown on the tika by its own symbol every five days. The three-day week’s most important day, the third day, Kajeng, is also shown. When these coincide the day is Kajeng-Keliwon, as mentioned above, when special offerings are made to the malevolent spirits. The tika makes the day clear.

There are other coincidence days, which are important, when special offerings are placed in family temples, shrines and outside front gates. You will see this if you stay long enough in Bali.

There are numerous symbols on the tika. These give guidance on auspicious and inauspicious days on which it is good or not good to perform ceremonies and other matters.

Most Balinese do not know all these symbols, so they go to a priest or balian (shaman) for advice on appropriate days to carry out important activities.

The tika below shows a complete Balinese year of 210 days, an uku. Read more about it in Secrets of Bali.

Printed calendars

Printed Balinese calendars are masterpieces of information. They show the uku, the day in each of the ten-week cycles, including the one day one, the day and month in the lunar-solar calendar, the day, year and month in the Gregorian and Islamic calendars, the day, month, year and year-name in the Chinese calendar and all important holidays within these calendars, as well as Christian holidays.

Balinese Calendars

The history of woodcarving is similar to that of Balinese painting.

Traditional style

There are hundreds of species of trees in Bali and at least 39 of them are used in woodcarving. Up to the 1930s, it was highly formulaic, and craftsmen tended to copy each other. Carvings consisted mainly of gods, heroes and demons. In the majority of cases they served a religious function, but they also decorated the palaces of the rajas. Woodcarvings were not made for ordinary home decoration.

Traditionally Bales or pavilions in temples and palaces are carved on a grand scale. The Bale has a roof, which rests on horizontal wood beams. Pillars support the roof. Very often the intersection between the beams and the pillars is decorated with a Garuda bird or birds. The Garuda is the eagle-like carrier of the god Wisnu. The beams and pillars are carved in stylized forms, very elaborate and very detailed. Sometimes they are gilded, as in the proposed new restaurant at the entrance to Murni’s Villas.

Modern styles

Modern styles arose to appeal to tourists, who were beginning to come to Bali in the 1930s. Encouragement and suggestions came from Spies and Bonnet, who saw that tourism could create a source of income. The article entitled Balinese Painting describes their activities, especially in Ubud, in relation to painting and they did the same thing for woodcarving.

The modern styles can be classified as:

The elongated style

Walter Spies inspired this style. The subject matter became realistic. The movement initiated by Spies is still very much alive today. The carvings are elongated, made of fine hardwood, sanded and finished without paint. They are then polished to a fine sheen. They are very smooth and good to touch. The shapes are extremely fluid.

The first woodcarver to carve in this style was I Tegelan in the village of Belaluan. He had admirers in Mas, a village a little to the north: Ida Bagus Ketut Gelodog and Ida Bagus Nyana. Mas then became the centre of the new style. There are some examples in Puri Lukisan in Ubud. Perhaps the best carver was I Nyoman Cokot of Jati, who died in 1971. He carved Hindu deities and demons, but in an original style.

The squat style

This is the opposite of the elongated style, invented by Ida Bagus Nyana. Still popular, the weeping Buddha is a typical example, his head in his hands. The wood is highly polished, simple, massive and fully closed,

The driftwood style

The two sons of I Nyoman Cokot, in Peliatan-Teges, developed this style incorporating faces, animals, demons and plants carved out of the twists and turns, often almost hidden, of the branches of Jepun Bali, a variety of frangipani, and the dark maroon gegirang wood, these being particularly suitable. Only the carved parts are finished,

The wooden fruit style

This was produced for the mass market. Painted fruit,banana trees, frogs and cute animals of all kinds are carved from softwood, some of quite good quality. They tend to be cheap.

Stone carving

The only stone available in Bali is paras. Paras is tuff, a combination of volcanic and dust that contains some sand and clay. It is soft and grey and plentiful and is used by carvers to sculpt the numerous statues, large and small, which guard temples, palaces and houses. Many are characters from the Ramayana and Mahabarata epics. Temple walls are covered with carvings. Shrines inside temples, or parts of them, are generally made of paras.

The outside walls of Murni’s Villas are covered in paras. It is almost as soft as wood – and it is also fragile. We decided to leave it plain and uncarved. Because it weathers badly and requires constant renewal, it provides a good living for carvers: it provides continuous work and a honing of skills. After a short time, moss grows on the outside of paras walls. It makes them look very ancient.

The stones are quarried at the riverbank, cut into blocks there and transported to the temple or other building. Then they are fitted without mortar. It takes a long time. The process involves wetting and then grinding adjacent blocks against one another. Once in place, the detailed carving starts.

There are a large number of stone carvers in Batubulan, a village on the road from Ubud to Denpasar. The wood carvers work there and the shops have hundreds of carvings for sale at reasonable prices. Stone carving has not really succumbed to tourism. They can be a bit heavy to carry on a plane.

Masks

Balinese masks are of ancient origin and act like a lightning rod in the sense that they attract the spirit of the person to be portrayed. They are sacred. The Balinese believe that living masks can provide inspiration for the wearer, whether he is a dancer or actor. The plot of the play or dance comes from the mask. In other words, as the Balinese say, the mask “speaks”.

Masks are used in dance and drama performances and are treated with a great deal of respect. They represent the faces of gods and heroes, so the persons they represent are revered. Masks are put on the head, which is the most sacred part of the body. It follows therefore that masks should never be put on the ground or stepped over. They are usually kept out of sight, wrapped inside a box, which is often covered with a white cloth.

Masks take many forms and are usually carved from wood. Endless sanding and at least 40 coats of paint achieve a striking glossy surface.

Sacred masks have a power called tenget. If a mask has tenget, it is alive and when a dancer puts it on, he actually becomes the person or god portrayed by the mask. These very powerful masks have been brought to life by a ceremony conducted by a pedanda, a Brahman high priest. They are kept in special shrines and receive offerings every full and new moon, every 15 days on Kajeng-Keliwon and when they are used. In addition, they get special offerings on the day known as Tumpek Wayang – see the article entitled Balinese Calendars for a discussion on the Tumpeks.

Traditional Balinese mask theatre has no stage, dressing room or auditorium. Open-air performances are the most common. The direction of the playing area is dictated by cardinal points, which symbolically affect the entrances and exits of important characters. For more on the cardinal points see the article entitled Balinese Symbolism.

Masked dance

There are three main types of masked dance:

Topeng

Topeng traces its roots to India and Java. The origin, according to lontar palm leaf books, is 840 AD and possibly earlier. Topeng is Javanese for “mask.” The stories are about the early genealogical histories of the early kingdoms of Bali and Java. They are then brought up to date. They therefore validate the exalted status and authority of the high castes.

Dancers are usually men. He undergoes a ceremony with a Brahman priest before he dances for the first time. He thereby becomes “married” to his masks. Topeng is often passed down from father to son. They are sometimes asked to perform in other villages and there are usually references to local stories and families, presented in an amusing way.

Before dancing, the dancer will make two offerings one to Siwa, the god of dance, and the other to the Butas and Kalas, the low spirits. He will tap the box containing the masks three times to wake them up. He will take them out, remove the white cloth, and sprinkle them with holy water. He will wait for the priest to indicate the auspicious moment for the dance to begin.

The Department of Information has arranged for topeng dancers to tour villages and appear on television about family planning, politics and irrigation programs and the like.

In Hindu Java, the early rajas insisted the masks were held in place by the teeth, so that the dancers could not speak and ridicule the king! There were cases during the Dutch and Japanese occupations of dancers being imprisoned for satire.

Wayang Wong

This is a sacred masked dance-drama, involving human characters, but also, and more often, animal masked characters, especially monkeys. For details, see the article entitled Balinese Dances.

Barong-Rangda

These dramas involve a variety of demons. For details, see the article entitled Balinese Dances. Only carvers who are members of the Brahman caste are allowed to carve sacred Barongs. A sacred Barong mask can take up to 150 layers of paint.

The mask always indicates the personality of the person portrayed. As with representations in paintings, good people look pleasant and serene and wear white masks. Bad people have fangs and bulging eyes. Aggressive people look strong and their masks are black. Brave people have red masks and loud, rough people have purple masks. The same conventions are employed for statues and puppets.

The mask carver, Undagi Tapel, is likely to come from a family of carvers. Most come from the villages of Mas or Singapadu.

Wood – Stone Carving – Balinese Masks

Balinese Organisations

Introduction

There are many examples of the communal nature of Balinese life. The Balinese like to do things together and many things are actually done better if done with others. Some absolutely require co-operation. Everything in Bali is inseparable from religion and is infused with religious meaning. Virtually every Balinese institution is deeply involved in religious matters.

The communal organisations intersect and overlap and bind the Balinese people together as a whole.

There are many organisations:

Banjars: hamlet groups.
Title groups.
Kinship groups.
Subaks: irrigation societies.
Temple congregations: pemaksan.
Voluntary associations like drinking or kite flying clubs.
Groups concentrated around Brahman priests.

Banjars: hamlet groups

The most important groups, amongst the Sudras, are the family kinship groups and then the banjars.

Duty

The overriding duty of the banjar is to maintain the ritual purity of the village, which is achieved by carrying out a number of activities, some major, some minor. It is a civic body.

Membership

Banjars comprise groups of adult men in villages. They have rights and duties and authority. The gentry do not belong. The men must be adults, married or at least have a female partner, who can be a sister, mother or daughter. This is necessary, as women are required to deal with offerings. In most hamlets, a man can become a member at marriage or after the birth of his first child (often these events take place in short order). Retirement often occurs on the death of a wife. Old and frail men can retire and be represented by their married sons.

Activities

The activities include most governmental issues:

Building, maintaining and improving the roads.
Constructing, maintaining and restoring the hamlet meeting house, the bale banjar, granaries, cockpits, market places and cemeteries.
Local security, including night watches, apprehension, judgment and punishment of thieves,
Settlement of civil disputes, such as inheritance conflicts, traditional rights and duties and contractual disputes.
Controlling access to village land.
Legitimising marriage and divorce.
Administering oaths.
Organizing communal village work.
Assisting with rituals, like tooth-filing.
Ensuring compliance with adat rules, such as observing silence on Nyepi, the Balinese New Year, and fining offenders.
Constructing sarcophagi and cremation towers, carrying and accompanying the deceased to the cremation ground, collecting the wood for the funeral pyre and setting it alight.

Matters concerning wet rice agriculture are excluded. These are the responsibility of the subaks.

Temples

Each banjar has its own temple.

Meetings

Once every Balinese month of 35 days the banjar meets. Special meetings can be called for special reasons. Like the subaks, absentees have to pay a fine, as well as their normal subscriptions. They elect a headman, the klian banjar, for a period.

Property

The banjar owns collective property. This includes streets and paths between houses, ditches, and public buildings like the wantilan or meeting house. The banjar also inherits property where a family dies without heirs. The banjar may own a gamelan orchestra.

Rules

The rules of village behaviour, awig-awig, are written on lontar palms and kept in the temple. All important decisions are decided consensually.

The sanctions for transgressing adat can be severe. The banjar can impose large fines, prohibit members from praying at village temples and even refuse use of the cemetery.

Desa dinas

The Dutch created villages, desa dinas, in order to administer the island, but their borders do not always overlap with the old Balinese villages, desa adat. They can encompass several desa adat and several banjars. The head of the village, the kepala desa, is responsible for ensuring that national and regional government decrees are implemented.

Markets

The banjar is responsible for maintaining market areas. Markets date back a long way in Bali. The first reference to markets and market weeks is in the 9th century. Some of these old inscriptions refer to markets that are still on schedule today.

The market week is on a three-day cycle. Markets start very early in the morning and are staffed almost entirely by women. Markets are usually situated outside the royal palace or a lord’s house. This is so in Ubud.

Currency

There was no local state currency in Bali or indeed the rest of Indonesia. The currency in Bali was Chinese kepengs until the 20th century, but most people did not use money. They bartered. Food and articles were exchanged in the markets.

Chinese kepengs, bronze coins threaded on a string through a hole in the centre, were privately purchased abroad, sold locally, and used as a currency. In 17th century, Indonesia was so great a drain on the currency that the Chinese Government tried to stop the export of coins, but they failed. There were different denominations of kepengs.

Kepengs are still used for ceremonial purposes. A string has nominally 200 kepengs, but this is unlucky, so they are sold in bunches of slightly under 200.

Subaks: irrigation societies 

Water rushes down from the mountains, where the gods are, from higher-level terraced rice paddies into the many lower-level terraced rice paddies. Neighbouring farmers, who are dependent on the same water supply, need to co-operate. To achieve this aim, they form subak associations to ensure that the water is fairly distributed during the long dry season, which stretches normally from April to October.

The subak associations were established over a thousand years ago and pre-date the Hindu Majapahits. According to legend, Rsi Markandeya, a great Hindu saint, the first person to set foot on Bali, is credited with founding them. The first reference to a subak by name was in 1022. As early as 896 tunnel builders were mentioned.

The engineering knowledge is sophisticated. The tunnels can be three kilometers long and 40 meters deep.

Membership

There are about 1,300 subaks in Bali and each has about 200 members, depending on the size of the plots involved. Everyone who owns land within a subak area must join and pay a joining fee. If a farmer owns land in two subak areas, he must join both. A head of the subak is voted and everyone must attend the meetings. It is obvious that the subak boundaries will not necessarily overlap with village boundaries, so a subak may include members from several villages.

Activities

The subak members, like banjar members, have equal rights, regardless of caste or title or indeed the size of their land holding. They meet every month, under their elected head, the klian subak, and decide all matters concerning rice cultivation: times for planting, harvesting, offerings, ceremonies, repairing dams, fertilizing, using insecticides. Subaks also give or withhold permission for new rice terrace construction. The klian subak is also responsible for ensuring compliance with government regulations.

The Dutch underestimated the subak system, as did the Indonesian Government until a few years ago. The careful coordination of rice planting times has a very important role in keeping down pests, a role well understood by the subaks. The effectiveness of burning or flooding a rice paddy after the harvest as a means of controlling pests depends on the co-operation of all the farmers in a given area. A sizeable block has to be burned or flooded to kill the pests, otherwise they just move to the neighbouring field.

Temples

There are subak temples.

Pura Ulun Swi, literally head of the rice fields temple, usually located towards the upper end of the fields, is at the spot where the water first enters the fields. It has a Balinese annual celebration, like all other temples. Shrines do not.

Downstream the canal will split in two and there will be another temple at that point.

Subaks also have an interest in the Pura Desa in the village and send offerings during their odalans. This ties the banjar and the subak together.

There are also small individual shrines near dams and weirs. These are called duguls and are places where the gods stop to rest on their journeys. Resting places are common in the Balinese temple system. Temples are themselves regarded as resting stations on the way to more important temples.

Ceremonies are held at each stage in the rice cycle. The waters ultimately come from the mountains, so the subaks make regular pilgrimages to the temples in the mountain lakes. The priests in the lake temples have considerable influence, especially the Temple of the Crater Lake at Mount Batur, which is about 13 kilometers from Murni’s Villas.

There is therefore a sacred aspect to the subak, so an infringement of the rules is a violation of the divine order and can result in negative consequences for the whole community, for example, bad harvests. This results in immense peer pressure to act properly. Disputes concerning boundaries, water rights and so on are normally settled informally. In serious cases the subak arbitrates and its decisions are binding. The sanction is expulsion from the subak and loss of water.

It works. The authorities now recognize that fact.

Temple Congregations: Pemaksan

The hamlet is the civil community, the subak is the economic community and the pemaksan is the moral community.

The pemaksan is responsible for following the desa adat, the customs laid down by the gods, and for worshipping the gods. The worshipping takes place in the three village temples, the Kahyangan Tiga, the Three Great Temples, which are described in the article entitled Balinese Temples and Holy Men.

Balinese Organisations