Introduction
tReligion is defined, according to
Wallace, as belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and
forces.
tSo defined, religion is a cultural
universal.
tNeanderthal mortuary remains provide the
earliest evidence of what probably was religious activity.
Religious Practitioners and Types
tWallace defined religion as consisting of
all a society’s cult institutions (rituals and associated beliefs), and
developed four categories from this.
tShamanic religions shamans are part-time
religious intermediaries who may act as curers—these religions are most
characteristic of foragers.
tCommunal religions have shamans,
community rituals, multiple nature gods, and are more characteristic of food
producers than foragers.
tOlympian religions first appeared with
states, have full-time religious specialists whose organization may mimic the
states, have potent anthropomorphic gods who may exist as a pantheon.
tMonotheistic religions have all the
attributes of Olympian religions, except that the pantheon of gods is subsumed
under a single eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being.
Religious Practitioners and Types
Anthony
F. C. Wallace’s typology of religions.
Hindu and Bali
Bali
is an intensely Hindu community, perhaps because it is the sole Hindu majority
district in an otherwise Muslim country. Hinduism has not just survived here,
it has thrived, unscathed by the tumultuous events of India's history over the
last thousand years. Though elements of Balinese Hinduism are unique in all the
world, most of the daily life of Balinese Hindus is easily recognizable--the
rituals, culture, traditions, rites of passage, etc. The main city, Denpasar,
is a major tourist destination, but many Hindus live in "custom
villages" run in a wonderfully traditional manner.
Guides,
attired in colorful Balinese traditional dress, greeted the tourists at the
airport, their hands in namaskar, with, "Om swastiastu." It means
"May God shower grace upon you;" and that's how I felt. Most of
hotels took us past huge sculptures with scenes from the Mahabharata and
Bhagavad Gita. The hotel clerk, with the charming, likewise greeted guesses
with "Om swastiastu," and said goodbye with "Om shanti, shanti,
shanti"--"peace, peace, peace." Every subsequent meeting began
and ended with such blessings.
In some
ways, Balinese Hinduism reflects a deeper philosophic understanding and a
fuller incorporation into daily life than found in India. For example, here
cremations are not an occasion for sorrow and mourning, but festive
celebrations of the soul's passing on to a better world. Balinese Hindus
perform Trikal Sandhya, reciting the Gayatri Mantra and other Sanskrit slokas
every day at 6am, noon and 6pm--a practice found in India among brahmins. A
third example is Nyepi, the Day of Silence in which the island comes to a
complete halt; even the electricity is shut off. Hindus stay indoors, praying
and fasting. No vehicles are on the roads, the airport is closed and tourists
must remain in their hotels. I cannot imagine such an observance taking place
in secular India!
A
Balinese Hindu's love for his religion is clearly evident in his home. Each one
I visited had an open-air temple, often larger than the main living area. In
India, in the huge houses of rich Hindus, I have seen at most a small room used
for a temple; in a middle-class home, the temple might be merely a four-foot by
four-foot space partitioned off, as an afterthought, from a drawing room,
bedroom or kitchen. Every Balinese home temple I saw was well maintained, with
flower offerings being made two or three times a day.
I was
becoming completely enthralled with the lifestyle. Religious, kind and gentle
though Bali's Hindus are, this is a land of meat eaters. Not a single
vegetarian main course was available at any of the six restaurants in the Sanur
Beach Hotel where I was staying. I took a ride in the evening in a fruitless
effort to find a vegetarian restaurant nearby. Finally, I settled for toast and
jam with hot chocolate milk back at the hotel. Eventually, with the help of
friends, I located the few vegetarian restaurants Denpasar has to offer, but
food remained a struggle throughout my stay. Even the sweets were often
nonvegetarian. I returned to India a few kilos lighter.
Many
people have studied the religion and culture of Bali, and reached a variety of
conclusions, nearly all based on an academic outsider's point of view. I've
also come to Bali to give an account, but do not intend to impose any
particular point of view. The people I interviewed will speak for themselves
and you, the reader, may draw your own conclusions. That said, let's experience
Bali and Hindu!
Reference:
Powerpoint Binusmaya slides 4, 19 and 20
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=5267
