Balinese Caste Division
Due to the enormous amount of Balinese Temples in Indonesia and their different levels of importance and meaning, the following summary will create an overview of Bali’s 9 directional temples ( that face the water or mountains), the most popular and important temples, and finally some hidden and sleeping beauties, that are more or less worth an exploration.
To understand the Balinese a little better, we start with a general introduction to their mentality and an explanation of the Caste Division.
Every village in Bali has several public temples and every Balinese home at least one little house temple as the Balinese are enormously religious. It can probably be said that the Balinese are the most religious people in the world. Official numbers prove that 90% of Bali’s inhabitants still follow Hinduism. This illuminates the diversity of the temples in Bali.
There are three fundamental types of temples in every village. Pura Puseh (temple of origin) remains the most important and is reserved for the founders of the village. It is always situated at the kaja (facing the mountain) end of the village. In the middle of the village is the Pura Desa, which is for the spirits that protect and bless the villagers in their daily lives. At the kelod (facing the sea) end of the village is the Pura Dalem (temple of the dead) as well as a graveyard. The Pura Dalem would have representations of Durga, the dark and terrible side of Shiva’s wife, Parvati. Both Shiva and Parvati have a creative and destructive side, and it is their powers of destruction that are honored in the Pura Dalem.
The house temples are partially ostentatious if a family is rich or can also be just a simple shelf if the owner is poor.
The Balinese love to express their selves as we still have a caste division in Bali, which rates the quality of a person. Even though everybody says that this caste system is outdated; it is still in the head of the Balinese people. The fact that a person from a lower Kasta (Balinese for caste) is not even allowed to invite somebody from the higher caste for a coffee or a snack, but it is possible the other way around, shows that the caste system is still omnipresent.
The Balinese caste system is similar to the one in India (Shudra, Vaishya, Kshatriya, and Brahmin) and is separated into 4 different categories:
- Shudras
It is the lowest caste. About 90% of the Balinese people belong to this caste. Regular workers are classified as Shudras - Wesias (Vaishyas)
The caste for businessmen and merchants - Ksatrias
The caste for warriors and kings - Brahmins
This caste is the highest and is reserved for holy men and priests
Different castes mean different languages and the lower-ranked person has to use the language of the higher caste.
Please make a picture in your mind and then leave a comment. We would be happy to hear what everyone personally thinks about the caste systems or to give us an opinion on the Balinese mentality or even about the Balinese in general.
Ok, let us come away from the excursion into the Balinese Caste System to our main category “Balinese Temples”.
The term pura originates from the Sanskrit words (-pur, -puri, -puram, -pore), meaning city, walled city, towered city, or palace. Finally, a temple is a place that is surrounded by a wall. A wall has a very important meaning in the Balinese religion. It is meant to keep the devil’s spirits outside of the property.
A temple visit in Bali is already something really special but it becomes an unforgettable experience if there is a chance to see a ceremony. Temples are transformed into scenes bursting with color, offerings are made, and the gamelan orchestra plays their holy music while the men can be seen betting on cockfighting.
Have a wonderful stay on the “Island of the Gods”.
