Pura Besakih : a study of Balinese religion and society

Abstract

Pura Besakih is the paramount Hindu temple on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Its location on the slopes of the volcano Mt. Agung, the highest mountain on the island, reflects a tradition of regarding the mountain as a major locus of divinity. In Bali, the Lord of Mt. Agung is associated with Siwa (Mahadewa). Pura Besakih is the name given to a large complex of public temples located in the village of Besakih. Through a comparison of villages throughout the west Karangasem region (Besakih is one of the region's old core villages), the regional system of two main communal temples provides a framework for analyzing the system of dual classification underlying Besakih's public temples. However, other systems of symbolic classification group together certain other sets of temples. Data from written sources indicate that the five-part classification system is relatively recent in Besakih's history and marks the introduction of brahmanic ritual. An analysis of the rituals helds in the public temples develops the concepts of the hierarchy of ritual elaboration and the idiom of ritual. The relationship between levels of ritual elaboration and ritual cycles indicates the pre-eminence of rituals held according to the lunar cycle. Further analysis examines the relationship between levels of elaboration of rituals and their sources of funding. Rituals of the greatest elaboration are the responsibility of the state. Being the paramount Hindu temple on Bali, Pura Besakih has been involved with the island's political authority, at least since the 15th century. The nature of the relationship between temple and state has changed as the nature of the state in Bali has itself changed from the traditional courts of pre-colonial Bali to the island's incorporation into the Dutch colonial empire, and finally to its present status as a province within the Republic of Indonesia. The hierarchy of political authority, temple status and ritual elaboration come together in the enactment at Besakih of the great purificatory rituals of Panca Walikrama and Ekadasa Rudra. These great rituals have contributed to the present status of Pura Besakih as the Hindu sanctuary of national prominence.