Custodians of the Sacred Mountains

Ritual Domains and Communal Land in the Highlands of Bali

“…The length of such a historical sequence of migrations may seem unlimited theoretically, but in ritual practice connections of precedence are restricted within the more narrow confines of a socially recognised history. My research has shown that the depth of ancestral origin and migration connections in a domain usually amounts to only two layers (origin and branch), and rarely exceeds three layers, as depicted in Figure 2 (see Reuter 2002a). Four layers are very rare, and I have no example of a five-tiered domain.…”

“…The earliest written sources of local cultural history are ninth-century royal edicts from the first Balinese Hindu kingdoms (negara), which might have been centred in the region of the highlands and northern coast. These edicts depict several important and ancient temples that are the ritual centres of contemporary banua already at the heart of regional ritual organisations (Reuter 2002a). The prehistoric significance of these same sacred sites makes it seem very likely that ritual domains preceded the formation of early Hindu kingdoms on Bali as well as providing an organisational platform for their establishment, not just in the highlands but on the island as a whole (for evidence of similar ritual networks with royal patronage in southern Bali, see MacRae, this volume).…”

“…Bali Aga society provides an ideal contemporary vantage point from which to explore some of the Austronesian foundations of Balinese culture that have become less visible in the polities and communities of the southern lowlands (Reuter 2002a). Highland people actively resisted the influence of Javanese-descended royal courts of southern Bali and the orthodoxies of the Brahmana priesthood affiliated with these courts for more than half a millennium (Reuter 2003).…”

“…In the Balinese case, and probably in other societies too, there are recurrent metaphors, idioms and concepts in how the idea of 'place' is defined across different levels of social organisation. Indeed, the distinctions house-village, village-domain, and domain-kingdom are all more or less fluid (see Reuter 2002a). In part, this conceptual similarity and fluidity is a reflection of historical processes.…”

The Battle of Power in Sacred Arena: A Study at Pura Dasar Buana of Gelgel, Bali

“…The temple also acts as a means of seizing economic resources and socio-political society. The study of Router (2005) about temple becomes a struggle for the adherents [11]. Fox (2010) says Besakih temple is influenced by king/state intervention [12].…”