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It’s certain that Bali has been populated since early prehistoric times, but the oldest human artifacts found in Bali are stone tools and earthenware vessels from Cekik, from about 3.000 years ago.
Not much is known of Bali during the period when Indian traders brought Hinduism to the Indonesian archipelago, but the earliest written records are stone inscriptions, dating from around the 9 th century AD by that time rice was being grown with a complex irrigation system, and there were precursors of the religion and cultural tradition that can be traced to the present day
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barong & topeng dance |
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Bali is a tiny, extremely fertile and dramatically mountainous island just eight degrees south of the equator so that Bali has tropical climate.
Bali covered an area of 5620 sq km. Bali’s central mountain chain includes several peaks over 2000m and many active volcanoes, including the “ mother “ mountain Gunung Agung ( 3142 m ).
Bali’s volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility, and the high mountains provide the dependable rainfall that irrigates the island complex and beautiful rice terraces.
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Bali is a densely populated island, which had an estimated 3 million people in 1995.
The population is almost all Indonesian ; 95 % are of Balinese Hindu religion and could be described as ethnic Balinese. Most of other residents are from other parts of Indonesia, particularly Java, but also Sumatra and Nusa Tenggara.
The Balinese have a traditional caste system that resembles the Indian Hindu system, although there are no ‘ untouchables ‘. Over 90% of the population belongs to the common Cudra caste, which now includes many wealthy Balinese.the main significance of caste is in the language; but its importance in other aspects of life is declining.
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Traditional Balinese society is intensely communal; the organization of villages, the cultivation of farmlands and even the creative arts are communal efforts-a person belongs to their family, clan, caste and the village as a whole.
Religion permeates all aspects of life and ceremonies, and rituals mark each stage in the life cycle. The first ceremony takes place before birth, at the third month of pregnancy, when a series of offerings is made at home and at the village river or spring to ensure the wellbeing of the baby.
When the child reaches puberty its teeth are filed to produce an aesthetically pleasing straight line-even teeth symbolize an even temperament, while crooked fangs are characteristic of witches and demons.
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tanah lot temple |
The Balinese are nominally Hindus, but Balinese Hinduism is half a world away from that of India.when the Majapahits evacuated to Bali they took with them their religion and its rituals, as well as their art, literature, music and culture.
The Balinese already had strong religious beliefs and an active cultural life, and new influences were simply overlaid on exiting practices-hence the peculiar Balinese interpretation of Hinduism.
The Balinese worship the same gods as the Hindus of India-the trinity of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu-but they also have a supreme god, Sanghyang Widi.
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The word for temple is Pura, which is a Sanskrit word literally meaning a space surrounded by a wall. As in so much of Balinese religion the temples, though nominally Hindu, owe much to the pre-Majapahit era. Their kaje, kelod or kangin ( alignment to wards the mountains, the sea or sunrise ) is in deference to spirits that are more animist than Hindu.
Almost every village has at least three temples. The most important is the pura puseh, or temple of origin, which is dedicated to the village founders and is at the kaje end of the village. In the middle of the village is the pura desa for the spirits that protect the village community in its day-to day life. At the kelod end of the village is the pura dalem, or temple of the dead. The graveyard is also here and the temple will often include representations of Durga, the terrible incarnation of Shiva’s wife.
Families worship their ancestors in family temples, clans in clan temples and the whole village in the pura puseh.
The simple shrines or thrones you see, for example in rice fields or next to sacred old trees, are not real temples as they are not walled. You’ll find these shrines in all sorts of places, often overlooking crossroads, intersections or dangerous curves in the road, to protect road users.
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