VISIT SOUTHEAST ASIA -6

Hinduism in Bali

Our friend’s son came to see us in the evening of our second day in Bali. This young man is a medical doctor by qualification but wanted to follow an unbeaten career path and had decided to head a health-spa at one of the premier hotels in Bali after doing a related course in U.K. I was not at all surprised when I learnt that he did not want to marry as yet—once again not taking a beaten path. He was one important source for us to gather some information about Hinduism in Bali.

Hinduism in Bali is highly ritualized and weddings and death in family are two events when these rituals are on full display. I was a little surprised about the latter; we too have our Dashkriyavidhi etc but not to the extent the Balinese have these rituals. They are expensive too because he informed us that at times a family may defer these post-death rituals to a later date by which it could raise necessary funds. These people are extremely traditional and set a lot of store by their older (deceased) generations. Our guide whom we met the following day, notwithstanding his inadequate English, had much the same to say on the subject. He called these older generations as ‘ancients’ and it seemed that no Balinese would consider doing anything without stopping to consider whether his /her act would be approved by these ancients.

It appears that the Balinese too go back to three generations during these rituals—there is a resemblance here. I remember during the tenth-day ritual after my Father’s death, I felt a little uncomfortable when I was informed that tithi (date of death by Hindu calendar) had to be joined with that of my grandfather which in turn must have been joined with his grandfather.(But why? He was more like his mother-was my reaction) So we too go back to our ancients during these post-death rituals. I did not find out whether these post-death rituals are also observed every year in Bali; it is customary in some parts of rural Maharashtra to invite the whole village and thereby feed hundreds of people on the death anniversary of one’s deceased parents.

I was also amazed at the Balinese interpretation of Chaturvarna system as given by our guide. Brahmins were at the top of the ladder and constituted the priest class in Balinese society; nobility and erstwhile kings were called Kshatriyas, solidiers were the Vaishyas and the farmers were the Kshudras. These divides were not permanent as our guide would have us believe. His ancients were Kshatriyas but now his family had been reduced to the farming class. He said all this with total ease; perhaps there is no social stigma attached to being born in lower castes in Bali. I did not want to dig him further on this issue; he may or may not have heard about untouchability factor dominant even today in rural India and probably lying dormant in urban India. I did not want to pollute his mind.

Hindu Deities in Bali excepting Ganesh do not have a recognizable format like our own Vishnu, Shankar etc. The male gods are sculptured into semi-human form and carry the head of a fierce demon as can be seen from the pictures below.

Above. This statue is probably based on Kaliyamardan episode from Indian mythology when a young Krishna is supposed to have fought a giant snake into submission.

Below Sculpture on the exterior of the famed Jagannath Temple. Curiously, there is no idol inside this temple.

Above and Below Pieces of sculpture at a Museum.

On the contrary the goddesses are sculptured into beautiful feminine forms. Floral and fruit offerings to deities especially by women seem to be common on both sides of the Indian Ocean as can be seen from the pictures below.

Above All Balinese households have at least two temples in their courtyard (see below) and I was surprised to see this woman coming to worship a statue outside a sculpture shop. The statue appears to be that of Goddess Laxmi. I hoped the Balinese women had no gender-bias in selecting their favourite deities like some of their Indian counterparts.

It was impossible to have more than a glimpse of Bali in just two days that we had there. I was very keen to visit a Bali village and spend some time there. But our guide could have hardly coped up with task of serving as an effective interpreter between us and Balinese people, moreover there was that ever present peer group pressure and this time it was in favour of a more attractive alternative –shopping.

I was left with a lot of questions about Hinduism in Bali unanswered. May be I should come back to Bali and stay longer-much longer. It may not be a fair comment but prima facie, Hinduism appeared to be at entry level in Bali.

We shall talk about Balinese art in our next part.