HINDUISM

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