Hinduism and Buddhism Revivals

LEYAKET ALI MOHAMED OMAR

History of Religion Part 2- Prof Bernard Adeney- Risakotta and Prof Margana

Readings are from : Fredrik Barth- The Balinese World;
Robert W. Hefner- Hindu Javanese: Tengger Tradition and Islam.

Centuries have passed. Two of the considered oldest religion of Indonesia; Hinduism and Buddhism are diminishing and the area where once upon a time a kingdom of glory settled, today leaving behind flimsy traces in the region. The Islamic expansion into Asia, which commenced in from the fourteenth centuries, brought tremendous changes to the vicinity and so is modernity, logic and science where all this has transferred the local identity. Having said that, Fredrik Barth explores a great deal of activities in Bali where the locals are still maintaining their culture which is based on Hinduism. Bali Hinduism is a type of Hinduism that originated in India. Nevertheless it has incorporated with many local Javanese cultures that it has become one of its own unique systems of belief.


The Balinese follow long traditions of tight Hindu-based social structures. Rituals and other practices are part of the daily life. It is a point to note that at the same time the majority of Indonesian are either Christians or Muslim, so to speak the missionaries attempted to spread Christianity and Islam in Bali were unsuccessful. The strength and resilience against the spread of Islam and Christianity can be attributed to the functional existence of the traditional customary village units (desa adat) in Bali. ‘The uniqueness of desa adat is that it is not simply a territorial unit, but more of socio-religious unit’(Warren 1993; Surpha 1995; Imawan 2003). In other words they can still hold on to the belief, practices and rituals despite of the vast changes around, as understood that rituals can be seen as superstitious to many.Thanks to the desa adat that has prevailed it values and tradition but nevertheless I assumed the attempt by missionaries has not ended and the concern that might arises as a result to this endangerment is that of the extinction in the local belief and practices. Bali is known to be the museum of Hinduism in Indonesia.


On the other hand reading the Tengger Tradition by Robert W. Hefner firsthand experience research I feel that the deep rooted belief in Gods, demons and spirits of ancestor is a social integrated system that keep the locals move on with their lives like blood flowing in a body as Hefner mentions “It was not of cultural meanings alone, however, that focused this people on their ritual tradition. The ritual tradition was embedded in a larger system of social practice. The role of priest…these and other things combined to create a system in which ritual performance was but the culmination of general social rhythms’ (pg 267). For centuries the Tengger generally adhered to traditional Hindu-Javanese syncretic religious and cultural practices, and until recently remained relatively isolated from the Muslim Javanese population in the lowlands.