Bali - Island of Gods A woman's head with put up hair True-to-life style of the Majapahit period Bali, 15th or 16th century Photo Peter Horner, Museum der Kulturen Basel About 2500 years ago the first Balinese ancestors probably have reached the island on outriggers. In graves and stone sarcophagus of the early Balinese there have always bronze objects been found too, apart from stone blades. At first, metal objects had reached Bali within a net of trade relations branching out in all directions from the South-East Asian mainland. Moulds for cast metal show, however, that later on production technologies had been imported as well. These archeological finds lead to the conclusion that, already in prehistorical times, Bali had complex social structures and a sophisticated cult of ancestors and of the dead. In 1343 AD Gajah Mada, the highest minister and general of the powerful East-Javanese kingdom of Majapahit (from 1293 to the beginning of the 16th century), succeeds in breaking the power of the old Balinese kings. Bali is being conquered militarily, colonised by vassels and forced into line. The eager collaboration of the leading old Balinese clans is but one factor as far as the success of the new regime of Gelgel and its succeeding realms are concerned. As important are those priests, literati, artists groups and guilds somehow associated with the court who cooperate, effectively and in a spectacular way, in the setting up of a new ideology, a new feudal caste-system and a new culture of power. As to its character, the Majapahit art of terrakotta and its Balinese developing it further is profane, refered to man, intuitive, often also full of humor and true-to-life. Mirrored in it is rather the society of peasants and craftsmen from the wider surroundings of the courts. Exorcist-priest officiating Bali, early 20th century Photo Peter Horner, Museum der Kulturen Basel Those who believe in the ambivalence of everything good and bad, and are convinced to be able to actively influence this in their favour through ritually correct behaviour, will attach above-average importance to the rites within their culture. So, the Balinese walk through a life full of rites whose purpose it is to clean what is unclean, to reconcile what seems to be incompatible, to balance out, to worship and to soothe, to avert dangers, to find nourishment, to secure for themselves a fortunate life in the hereafter, and a favorable reincarnation. Balinese rituals define a complex dramatical art with countless stages, actors and possibilities of presentation. On the one hand, there are five categories of sacrificial rituals (panca yadnya) where the gods (dewa yadnya) and demons (bhuta yadnya) are the focus of ritual activities. As important, however, are the transition rites for man (manusa yadnya) and for the purification of dead souls (pitra yadnya) which are being performed by specialised, ritually ordained priests (rsi yadnya) with holy waters with different effects. Temple dancer performing the ritual Rejang dance Bali, early 20th century Photo Peter Horner, Museum der Kulturen Basel Man reaches true happiness when he is able to lead a live of pureness and in harmony with god, with his fellow men and with nature (Tri Hita Karana). The world of man has to be kept in balance with the environment, the earth and the universe. The focus of countless thanks- and rogation-offerings are the powers of nature become god: Siwa as sungod Surya, as mountaingod Mahadewa or volcano Gunung Agung, mother Earth, Perthiwi, god of the fertility-offering water, Wisnu, and the divine rice plant, Bhatari Sri. So, riceland and water should be treated with deep respect. The holy is being associated with the direction of the volcanoes (high) and the rising of the sun (east), which also determines how villages, temples and estates are set up. The profane finds itself downwards, in direction of the sea and the setting of the sun. Man lives in the middle-world, limited by the upper- and the underworld, and in his being divided into three parts (head, upper part of the body and feet) he takes part in all three worlds. The hierarchy of up - middle - down (Tri Angga) determines all structures which have a head (roof), a body (living space) and feet (base). Mask for anthropomophizing sacrificial offerings Bali, 20th century Photo Peter Horner, Museum der Kulturen Basel The world of the Balinese is being determined by complementary opposites (rwa bhineda). It rests between antagonistic poles - between mountain and the sea, sunrise and sunset, light and shadow, life and death. Opposite forces like feminine/masculine, left/right, high/low or black/white complement one another, make sense only by their acting in combination, and are equally necessary for the welfare of man. Man can favourably influence this ambivalence by incessantly endeavouring to behave correctly at the right place and the right time as far as both sides are concerned. But the reality of impurity and material temptations stands in the way of the ideal of harmony, purity and immaculateness. The threatening of Balinese culture through urbanisation and globalisation is met with ever bigger and more costly purification rituals which are meant to even out the painfully experienced social, economical and spiritual imbalance. Godfigure (arca) in the form of a young mythical heroe riding his vehicle Bali, early 20th century Photo Peter Horner, Museum der Kulturen Basel Balinese gods and ancestors stay in a special celestial world from where they descend upon the middle-world inhabitated by man. In accordance with this concept the Balinese temple is no roofed place of worship, but a compound closed off towards the outside by walls and upwards open, into which the gods descend for the period of reception in order to take their seat in the specially intended vessels (idols), on their shrines and altars. Among the essential elements of the tempel celebration - apart from the ritual cleaning of all sacred ground, persons and objects - are sacrificial offerings and the following worship of the god in his shrine. Godfigure (arca) in the form of a Brahman high priest riding his vehicle Bali, early 20th century Photo Peter Horner, Museum der Kulturen Basel There is but one almighty god, Sanghyang Tunggal or Sanghyang Widhi Waça. He belongs into the realm of the non-manifest, inconceivable for man, and, as original and eternal soul of the world (Brahman), never actively intrudes on the process of creation. In the course of recent history and a growing Indianisation of Balinese Hinduism Sanghyang Widhi has been increasingly equipped with monotheist traits. Not least because of the state maxims of the Republic of Indonesia - organised in five pillars (Pancasila) which have made the belief in one single god a condition for the state's recognition of differing religions (Agama) - this development has been influenced. Among the Hindu-gods which also play a role within the popular belief, understandably those are closest to the Balinese who easily can be identified with natural powers so important for an agrarian culture: in this context the idolisation of vital elements becomes comprehensible, as there are earth (Perthiwi, feminine), water (Wisnu, masculine), sun (Surya, masculine) and fire (Agni, Brahma, masculine), the divine volcano Gunung Agung as Mahadewa (musculine), the lakes vital for the irrigation of rice-fields (Dewi Danu, feminine) as well as the basic foodstuff rice (Dewi Sri, feminine). The highest-ranking Hindu-god is Siwa, who is known under many names and in many appearances.