Hinduism in Indonesia
The natives of Indonesian Archipelago practiced indigenous animism and dynamism, beliefs common to the austronesian people. Native Indonesia venerated and revered ancestral spirit; they also believe that some spirits may inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or any sacred place. This unseen spiritual entity that has supernatural power is identified by ancient Javanese and Balinese as "hyang" that can mean either divine or ancestral. In modern Indonesian, "hyang" tends to be associated with God.
Hindu influences reached the Indonesian Archipelago as early as 1st century. There are several theories as to how Hinduism reached Indonesia. The Vaishya idea is that intermarriage occurred between Indian traders/merchants and Indonesian natives. Another theory believes that defeated soldiers from India found solace in Indonesia. Third, the Brahmana take a more traditional point of view that missionaries spread Hinduism to the islands. Lastly, the nationalist (Bhumiputra) theory is that Indonesians chose the culture themselves after having traveled to India.[EBSCOhost 1] In 4th century, the kingdom of Kutai in East Kalimantan, Tarumanagara in West Java, and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java, were among the early Hindu states established in the region. Several notable ancient Indonesian Hindu kingdoms are Mataram, famous for the construction of the majestic Prambanan temple, followed by Kediri and Singhasari. Since then Hinduism along with Buddhism spread across the archipelago and reached the peak of its influence in the 14th century. The last and largest among Hindu-Buddhist Javanese empires, Majapahit, influenced the Indonesian archipelago.The sacred texts found in Agama Hindu Dharma are the Vedas. They are the basis of Balinese Hinduism. Other sources of religious information include the Puranas and the Itihasa.
One of Hinduism's primary ethical concerns is the concept of ritual purity. Another important distinguishing feature, which traditionally helps maintain ritual purity, is the division of society into the traditional occupational groups, or varna of Hinduism: Brahmins, Kshatriya (ruler-warriors, satriya or "Deva" in Indonesian), Vaishya (merchants-farmers, waisya in Indonesian), and Shudra (commoners-servants, sudra in Indonesian). Like Islam and Buddhism, Hinduism was greatly modified when adapted to Indonesian society.
The caste system, although present in form, was never rigidly applied. The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana (The Travels of Rama), became enduring traditions among Indonesian believers, expressed in shadow puppet (wayang) and dance performances.
Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual, and is less closely preoccupied with scripture, law, and belief than Islam in Indonesia. Balinese Hinduism lacks the traditional Hindu emphasis on cycles of rebirth and reincarnation, but instead is concerned with a myriad of hyangs, the local and ancestral spirits. As with kebatinan, these deities are thought to be capable of good or harm. Balinese place great emphasis on dramatic and aesthetically satisfying acts of ritual propitiation of these spirits at temple sites scattered throughout villages and in the countryside.
The Balinese temple is called Pura, and unlike the common towering Indian Hindu Temple with interior space, the Balinese temple is designed as an open air worship place within enclosed walls, connected with series of intricately decorated gates to reach its compounds. Each of these temples has a more or less fixed membership; every Balinese belongs to a temple by virtue of descent, residence, or some mystical revelation of affiliation. Some temples are associated with the family house compound, others are associated with rice fields, and still others with key geographic sites.
Ritualized states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behavior. One key ceremony at a village temple, for instance, features a special performance of a dance-drama, a battle between the mythical characters Rangda the witch (representing adharma, something like disorder) and Barong the protective predator (mostly like a lion) (representing dharma), in which performers fall into a trance and attempt to stab themselves with sharp knives. The dramas regularly end apparently undecided, neither side winning, because the primary purpose is to restore balance.
A priest isn't affiliated with any temple, but acts as a spiritual leader and adviser to individual families in various villages scattered over the island. These priests are consulted when ceremonies requiring holy water are conducted. On other occasions, folk healers or curers may be hired.
Balinese Hinduism also includes the religious belief of Tabuh Rah, a religious cockfight where a rooster is used in religious custom by allowing him to fight against another rooster in the religious cockfight of the Balinese Hinduism spiritual appeasement exercise of Tabuh Rah, a form of animal sacrifice. The spilling of blood, Tabuh Rah is necessary as purification to appease the evil spirits bhuta and kala, and to insure a good harvest. Ritual fights usually take place outside the temple and follow an ancient and complex ritual as set out in the sacred lontar manuscripts.
Both Java and Sumatra were subject to considerable cultural influence from the Indian subcontinent during the 1st and 2nd millennia of the Common Era. The earliest evidences of Hindu influences in Java can be found in 4th century Tarumanagara inscriptions scattered around modern Jakarta and Bogor. In the 6th and 7th centuries many maritime kingdoms arose in Sumatra and Java which controlled the waters in the Straits of Malacca and flourished with the increasing sea trade between China and India and beyond. During this time, scholars from India and China visited these kingdoms to translate literary and religious texts.
From the 4th to the 15th century Hindu kingdoms rose and fell: Tarumanagara, Kalingga, Medang, Kediri, Sunda, Singhasari and Majapahit. This era is popularly known as the Javanese Classical Era, during which Hindu-Buddhist literature, art and architecture flourished and were incorporated into local culture under royal patronage. During this time, many Hindu temples were built, including 9th century Prambanan near Yogyakarta, which has been designated a World Heritage Site.
Among these Hindu kingdoms, the most important was Majapahit, the largest and the last significant Hindu kingdom in Indonesian history. Majapahit was based in East Java, from where it ruled a large part of what is now Indonesia. The remnants of the Majapahit kingdom shifted to Bali during the sixteenth century as Muslim kingdoms in the coastal part of Java gained influence.
Hinduism has had significant impact and left an obvious imprint in Javanese art and culture. The wayang puppet performance as well as wayang wong dance and other Javanese classical dances are derived from episodes of Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Although the majority of Javanese now identify as Muslim, these art forms still survive. Hinduism has survived in varying degrees and forms on Java; in recent years, conversions to Hinduism have been on the rise, particularly in regions surrounding a major Hindu religious site, such as the Klaten region near the Prambanan temple. Certain ethnic groups, such as the Tenggerese and Osing, are also associated with Hindu religious traditions.
Among the non-Balinese communities considered to be Hindu by the government are, for example, the Dayak adherents of the Kaharingan religion in Kalimantan Tengah, where government statistics counted Hindus as 15.8% of the population as of 1995. Nationally, Hindus represented only around 2% of the population in the early 1990s.
Many Manusela and Nuaulu people of Seram follow Naurus, a syncretism of Hinduism with animist and Protestant elements.
| Similarly, the Tana identified their animistic | Toraja of Sulawesi have religion as Hindu. |
| The Batak of Sumatra animist traditions with | have identified their Hinduism. |
Related Sites for Hinduism in Indonesia
- Indonesia - Hinduism - Country Studies read Hinduism in Indonesia
- Hindu Human Rights Online News Magazine - Hinduism in Bali ... read Hinduism in Indonesia
- Hinduism in Indonesia - Praying For Indonesia read Hinduism in Indonesia
- Indonesia : Indonesian "Hinduism" -- Encyclopedia Britannica read Hinduism in Indonesia
