Land, ancestors and men : social structures in the making

Abstract

This thesis centers upon the maintenance of the social structures through the norms and values forming the ethos of a Balinese village. It is focused primarily upon the husband and wife pair during the active period of their life, because the conjugal unit is the agency who contributes to the preservation of the normative status quo through its actions in the social, economic and ritual domains. The welfare of the village community rests upon the ability and willingness of this unit to discharge its social duties and fulfil its social roles in a manner which is both appropriate to the situation of the moment and in accordance with the existing norms. The status of the conjugal unit within the village illustrates fundamental Balinese ideas about the purpose of human existence and the nature of human action.

Human life is conceived as a transitional period when the ancestral soul incarnates "to fetch food" (ngalih nasi), and a distinction is made between two dimensions of the person. One dimension is intimately linked with consciousness and social interactions, and is the prerogative of human existence from birth to death. The second dimension is identified with the continuity of the descent line and is associated with ancestry, from the time of death until reincarnation. Together, they constitute two complementary aspects of the ancestral group which moves as a single body managed by the living in the name of the dead.

All human actions entail an alteration of the social and/or material environment and have a similar bearing upon the visible and invisible worlds. In order to be effective, human activities must have a ritual as well as an instrumental aspect. The legitimacy of an action depends as much upon the efficacy of its ends as on its conformity to the established norms.

The village ethos rests entirely upon the interplay between the fundamental unity of purpose of the Balinese ancestral group and the perceived impact of human action upon the world. As such the social structures must be flexible enough to adapt to the changing requirements of the moment without losing their relevance for the community.