Here is an interesting piece of writing on Balinese Hinduism as a belief taken from Scott A Johnsen’s thesis which is entitled From Royal House to Nation: The Construction of Hinduism and Balinese Ethnicity In Indonesia.

When a man from a ward in Bangli married a Javanese Muslim woman, an official from the local Hindu Council office and another from the Department of Religion attended to make sure that this woman had formally stated her belief in the panca sraddha, the official Five Beliefs of Indonesian Hinduism:
1. Belief in (yakin akan) the existence of Hyang Widi Wasa (the high god)
2. Belief in the existence of the soul (atman)
3. Belief in the existence of the law of karma
4. Belief in the existence of reincarnation
5. Belief in the existence of liberation from reincarnation (moksa)

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Yesterday I found an interesting writing on Balinese culture, religion and people which is entitled “From Royal House to Nation” by Scott Johnsen. Here is a piece of his insight on Balinese religion:

Bali, with its thousands of temples, has long been known in tourist literature as “The Island of the Gods.” Now one can find a new slogan alongside the old: “Bali: The Island of God.” It would be incorrect to say that Bali has only recently acquired ideas of an ultimate divine form: the god Siwa has long had something like a “highest of the high” conception, and there were a variety of other concepts of ultimate divinity known primarily to Brahmana priests, including that of Sang Hyang Widhi. Nonetheless, when Christian missionaries chose this latter divinity as the Balinese “one god” (Covarrubias 1994 [1937]:263, Bakker 1993) – the most notable missionary achievement in an otherwise rather bleak record of failure (Hanna 2004 [1976]) – this began a popularization of this deity that grew after the second world war (Swellengrebel 1960:71-3) and became the centerpiece of Balinese efforts to gain formal state recognition for their religion.

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Meru, an elaborate multi-tiered temple structure with thatched roof of sugar palm fiber called duk, is surely a prima ballerina of many temple courtyards. Towering majestically among other shrine, meru is a symbol of the temple prestige. A temple with an eleven-tiered meru is surely has more prestige than just a temple with a five-tiered Meru.

The shrines symbolize the world mountain, Gunung Maha Meru, and has one to eleven tiers or, as they are called, tumpang, or “levels.” There must always be an odd number, although one meru at Pura Taman Ayun in Mengwi has two. The tumpang are square and diminish in size toward the top, so that the effect is that of a Chinese pagoda, except the colors are somber.

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Kehen Temple, one of a few largest temples in Bali, is located at the south of Bangli in Cempaga village, about 43 km from Denpasar. It was built in the reign of Sri Bhatara Guru Adikunti Ketana in the 11^th century in a terraced mountain sanctuary that was the site of an earlier temple that dates back to the 9^th century. The word Kehen is derived from the word “Keren” means flame. Formerly, it was known as “Hyang Api” (God of Fire) temple. The people of Bangli believe that Kehen Temple is the largest and the most sacred temple of the region and regard it as the state temple of Bangli.

flickr.com/photos/kumasawa/
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