Balinese are Hindus and describe themselves as such. They are well aware that their tradtition of Hinduism is different from those in India and elswhere, although they enjoy the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in arts and traditions. They can be described as a different sect of Saivites and should redefine Hinduism and Saivism as having another sect, the Balinese Saivite Hindu 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 the 8th 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.
It was probably a time of the Golden Period of Hinduism in South East asia.
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 Siva at 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 Hyang Widi. They describe him as the supreme .
When you ask who is Sang Hyang Widi, invariably they reply Sang Hyang 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 Hyang Widi shrine, the picture of the supreme god is that of 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 and the 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 over the prasada in the direction of the shrine.
Every home, every shop, every supermarket, every hotel, govt depts, etc all pray 3 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 more elaborate 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 the shrine and chants some mantras. It could take 20 minutes.
The head priest is always a brahmin, but the assistant priests could be anyone including ladies. They have the 4 fold caste system and each caste has its own shrine in the major temples. The priests wear a white 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. For instance, 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 and pray, apart from praying at the main shrine. Likewise, there is a shrine for metal workers, and there is a shrine for all.
In all prayers, whether in the home shrine or in the temple attire is 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 on the forehead of the devotees made of rice. And distributes flowers to be placed above both ears for all men and women. I was walking all over Bali for weeks with a red bandana and flowers on both ears.
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 Tamil thevarams by temple oduvars. Its probably even more dragged than that. To chant a four line sutra, they probably take about 8 minutes. So much dragging 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.
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 the men wear black shirts, black sarongs and black bandanas. The corpse is place in a coffin shaped like a horse and burnt. Not much wood is used, only the wooden horse.
Balinese eat pork and meat. This appears to be a bulwark against Islam. 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. In the 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 this respect it is different from Javanese Hinduism as there Ganesha is worshipped.
However, Saraswati is worshipped in all schools and her murthi(icon) can be found in all schools. All lessons in school begins with a prayer to Saraswati. A statue of ganesha can also be found in most schools but is just 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 Saivism and vaishnavism and the acceptance of the itihasas as theology and before the reformation attempts by shankara.
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.
Om Shanti-shanti-shanti Om
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