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Indonesia Hinduism
Hinduism is an amalgam of related traditions and cults
that
seeks to explain cosmology in primarily deistic terms. The
religion
has countless gods but no exclusive creed. One of
Hinduism's
primary ethical concerns is the concept of ritual purity.
Another
important distinguishing feature, which helps maintain the
ritual
purity, is the division of society into the traditional
occupational groups, or varna (literally, color) of
Hinduism: Brahmans (priests, brahmana in
Indonesian),
Kshatriya (ruler-warriors, satriya in Indonesian),
Vaishya
(merchants-farmers, waisya in Indonesian), and
Shudra
(commoners-servants, sudra in Indonesian).
Like Islam and Buddhism, Hinduism was greatly modified
when
adapted to Indonesian society. The caste system, although
present
in form, was never rigidly applied. The Hindu religious
epics, the
Mahabharata (Great Battle of the Descendants of
Bharata) and
the Ramayana (The Travels of Rama), became enduring
traditions among Indonesian believers, expressed in shadow
puppet
(wayang--see Glossary)
and dance performances.
Hinduism in Indonesia is primarily associated with
Bali. Hindu
believers in the early 1990s were relatively few outside
of Bali,
where they made up more than 93 percent of the population.
Others
were scattered throughout the other twenty-six
provincial-level
units. Among these non-Bali communities were groups
labeled as
Hindu by the government--for example, the adherents of the
Kaharingan religion in Kalimantan Tengah, where government
statistics counted Hindus as 15.8 percent of the
population
(see Ethnic Minorities
, this ch.). Nationally, Hindus
represented only
around 2 percent of the populaiton in the early 1990s.
It is difficult to describe the Balinese version of
Hinduism in
the same doctrinal terms as Islam and Christianity, since
this
unique form of religious expression is deeply interwoven
with art
and ritual, and is less closely preoccupied with
scripture, law,
and belief. Balinese Hinduism lacks the traditional Hindu
emphasis
on cycles of rebirth and reincarnation, but instead is
concerned
with a myriad of local and ancestral spirits. As with
kebatinan, these deities are thought to be capable
of harm.
Balinese place great emphasis on dramatic and
aesthetically
satisfying acts of ritual propitiation of these spirits at
temple
sites scattered throughout villages and in the
countryside. Each of
these temples has a more or less fixed membership; every
Balinese
belongs to a temple by virtue of descent, residence, or
some
mystical revelation of affiliation. Some temples are
associated
with the family house compound, others are associated with
rice
fields, and still others with key geographic sites.
Ritualized
states of self-control (or lack thereof) are a notable
feature of
religious expression among the people, famous for their
graceful
and decorous behavior. One key ceremony at a village
temple, for
instance, features a special performance of a dance-drama
(a battle
between the mythical characters Rangda the witch and
Barong the
dragon), in which performers fall into a trance and
attempt to stab
themselves with sharp knives.
Rituals of the life cycle are also important occasions
for
religious expression and artistic display. Ceremonies at
puberty,
marriage, and, most notably, cremation at death provide
opportunities for Balinese to communicate their ideas
about
community, status, and the afterlife. (The tourist
industry has not
only supported spectacular cremation ceremonies among
Balinese of
modest means, but also has created a greater demand for
them.)
Balinese religion is hierarchically organized, with one
small
segment of the aristocracy--the Brahman, or priestly,
class--being
the most prestigious. A Brahman priest is not affiliated
with any
temple but acts as a spiritual leader and adviser to
individual
families in various villages scattered over the island.
These
priests are consulted when ceremonies requiring holy water
are
conducted. On other occasions, folk healers or curers may
be hired.
Data as of November 1992
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