Using “Glory” to Resist Sinking Status：Ancient Hindu Kingship in Bali

（Department of Anthropology & Ethnology， Xiamen University， Xiamen， 361005， Fujian， China）

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY， VOL. 7， NO.2， 21-29， 2016 （CN51-1731/C， in Chinese）

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2016.02.03

Abstract：

I. Negara： the Balinese System of Prestige Ranking

Hierarchy is an important topic in anthropology. Before Geertzs study of Balinese society， A. M. Hocart and Louis Dumont discussed the relationship between hierarchy and kingship. The Hindu caste system exerts a profound impact on Balinese society. But， the caste system differed in Bali， for example， the Brahman was not always the center of society. They had to depend on the kings （Kshatriya caste）. The Balinese king， however， always faced a dilemma， namely that of his sinking status. Thus， the highest statused Balinese kin， in order to save himself， continually held lavish ceremonies.

The sinking status of the royal family happened in two ways.First， the kings rank fell from their ancestor-god in the myth which related to Javanese colonist Majapahit. Second， the kings brothers and cousins only inherited a lower status.As result， the entire royal family wanted to smash the fate of their predetermined rank， while the king wanted to keep the higher rank to his brothers. The concept of “sinking status” created troubles for the king. Finally， he chose “ceremony” as the solution.

The Balinese kings reputation came from two aspects： the divine， which derived from their ancestral-gods， and that which derived from luxurious ceremonies， such as funerals. The funeral is a great performance for the deceased king…h(huán)e ruled his realm as he manifested himself in the funeral. This great theatre proved that the king was able to rule the realm， because he enjoyed this lavish funeral as if he never surcombed to the dilemma of sinking status.And， the reputation of the king was given by the great god Siva in Bali-Hinduism. Although Geertz explained the mechanism of how to restrain sinking status， this does not mean he held a totally correct view of understanding Bali. He ignored the change that the king holistically represented the society， and regarded the political power and wealth from the perbekel system and desa as the opposition of the prestige system which encountered the mechanism of sinking status. The key to solving this problem was the concept of， divine kingship， which was noted， but neglected by Geertz.

A.M. Hocart emphasized that in the earliest known religions we find belief in the divinity of kings， and， that kings were represented by the sun or descended from the sun god. The concept of the king as the sun god is found in Egypt. Asia Minor， India， Tahiti， Peru， and it also extended from the North Sea to the Eastern Pacific. It is an original feature of divine kings. The Egyptian king was the source of order and prosperity. And， so in Bali， the Brahmanic priest was the person responsible for presiding over the ceremonies.However， for Geertz cooperation between the priest and the king should be the perfect model for the world. This phenomenon illustrated a characteristic in Indo-European kingship， i.e. the cooperation of priest and king as discovered by G. Dumezils theory of threefold function. The priest was the first level， the warrior the second， and， herdsmen-cultivators the third.

Balinese Hindu kingship differed from Indo-European and Egyptian kingship. Geertz did not pay attention to other factors which affect Balinese society， and accordingly， he was confused about the role of priest， except as the presider of ceremony. With regard to the relationship between order and prosperity， and the knowledge of rites and general knowledge were not seen as important parts in Bali society. In Balinese Worlds， Fredrik Barth responded to the question about the role of the priest. In his case study from northern Bali， the priest was also highly important for the Balinese. Their job included community rites， and also they were expected to be experts of arms and weapons. They were indeed a part of the Balinese cosmology.

II.The Political System in Bali

The decentralized political system in Bali was not only expressed by sinking status， but also by the political anatomy at the village level， which included perbekel system and desa. A perbekel was a man who had a large smaller number of kawulas directly attached to him； he was responsible for their duties as subjects； he was a political foreman. The kawulas owned land or practiced a craft or both； provided service to one lord or another， and lived dispersed in different hamlets. The lord （punggawa） was attached a large number of parekans and perbekels who were attached to hundreds or thousands of kawulas.

Meanwhile， the lords were not able to hold desa （village political units）， which included the banjar （hamlets）， subaks （irrigation system）， and pemaksem （temple groups）. The subak system was a sociologically stratified， spatially dispersed， administratively decentralized， and was a morally coercive body of ritual obligations. So， Geertz confidently refuted Wittfogels opinion that Indonesia was a hydraulic society （or water monopoly society） through the case study of Bali.This contradiction stimulated a discussion of Geertz as to whether the Balinese case explained the separation between the prestige system and power. In Bali， kings who represented the prestige system were more glorious than people who were powerful.

Getting rid of oriental despotism，Geertz said that kings ruled their realms via symbolic methods. Because， during the 19th century， Bali was an ancient Hindu kingship ， Geertz saw the key to the kings rule was by achieving the divine from the supreme god Shiva. In the lavish ceremonies， the king carried out his sovereignty and obtained prestige via three paradigms： the relationship of the kings to priests， of the kings to the material world； and of the kings to themselves. The first relationship underscored that the priests （Brahmans） were parts of the kings regalia， and that the priests prestige came from the king. The ideal relationship between them was viewed as a model for the whole world. The second relationship explained how the king owned the country as he ruled mimetically. The third relationship showed that the ceremony portrayed the king as a sacred likeness of kingship， and an exemplary center of an exemplary center.

The results of ceremony proved that the king wholly represented the society， and that he was the divine combination of social order and fertility. For kings， governance and wealth were less meaningful than showing their reputation and prestige. This is because it is the only way to rescue their dilemma of sinking status. This， then， is the mechanism of Negara or the state. Generally， negara （prestige system） stood in opposition to to desa （power system）. Regretfully， Geertz emphasized kings reputation， and neglected the changed role of priest in Bali. It is not difficult to understand why Barths case study， which reflected the process of knowledge accumulation in northern Bali， could serve as an important supplement to Geertzs study.

III. Dualistic Cosmology in Bali

In Perfect Order： Recognizing Complexity in Bali， J. Stephen Lansing also thought that the subak system of Bali did not fall under the control of kings. However， he believed that Bali was also not the result of competition between negara and desa. By using computer modeling， Lansing suggested that the “perfect order” of a functioning Bali was based on the balance and complementarity of male and female principles. The male principle was the hierarchical society in which the local lords and nobles could be seen clearly through the ceremonies presided over by the priests. The female principle was represented by the equality of the water temples which were composed of several subaks. The origin of the male principle came from Hindu caste system and the Polynesian chiefdom system that existed in the Austronesian area. Lansing said that the study of the Balinese subak had inevitably to face the concept of kingship. The beliefs and practices associated with the Hindu caste system， complete with arich panoply of Brahmanic ritual， took root in the countryside. All the core projects of the ancient royal cult of kingship succeeded except kingship itself.

In Bali， the water temple， which was composed of subaks， played a role in the distribution of natural resources， like water. The reason why the water temple expressed the principle of equality was the need for cooperation and negotiation between different subaks. Another reason was that the subaks within the same water temple shared the same original spring， which means the same status. The operation of the water temple can also be established in Balineses legend. The supreme god who resides on Mount Meru broke apart the summit of the mountain and sent these pieces to Bali to become abodes for his son and daughter. The son， who took up residence atop the large fragment， became the first male god of Bali. The large fragment was the volcano Mount Agung. The smaller fragment， which became Mount Batur， contained a crater lake. On the floor of the lake the daughter built a palace and took the name Dewi Danu， Goddess of the lake. After the gods took up residence in Bali， the male god began to press his sister to marry him. But Dewi Danu resisted his advances， explaining that such a marriage would be incestuous. Then， she refused to subordinate herself to her brothers authority. Within her domain， which includes the summit of Mount Batur， the lake， and the subaks which depended on her， she claimed supremacy. Though a simple symbolic association， Ulaun Danu Batur ， the goddess came to stand for the subaks， so that her desire for autonomy became one with theirs However， unlike her brother， she made no claim to universal authority. Instead， she upheld the principle of dualism， which was based on the complementarity of male and female cosmological principles.

The origin of dualistic cosmology was a concept in primitive religion in the Austronesian area， and also in the Hinduism concept of purusa and pradana. Purusa means not only male， but also the fallis， and the ancestral line from which males descend. In this way it directly connects maleness with the origin of homo hirerarchicus. This is because the potency of its purusa determines the rank of each male descent group. Pradanua means “female” and it draws attention to the feminine qualities of natural world， in particular the capacity for growth. But， it also refers to those elements that awaken the world. It derives from the Sanskrit term pradnaatattwa， meaning the original source of the material universe， unevolved nature. Generally speaking， the caste system is viewed as masculine， as deriving from the progenitive powers of male ancestor-gods， while homo aequalis serves the pantheon of goddesses associated with fertility.

If people broke up the perfect order. it would lead directly to agricultural and environmental disasters. This was because they did not follow the regulations of water distribution system. The “Green Revolution”， which was promoted in the 1960s， was the best exemplification of this problem. But the awful results of the Green Revolution also played a role in recognizing the advantages of Balinese water temple. This was because this system was in accord with Balis natural environment and Balinese ethos.

Dualistic cosmology in Bali can be associated with the concept of “yin and yang”， which appears in Chinese philosophy and Hindu classical texts. Inspired by Marcel Granets study of Chinese civilization， French anthropologist G. Dumezil introduced the concept of “yin and yang” into the analysis of Indo-European myths， especially the concept of duality in kingship. The analogy with yin and yang freed Dumezil “from the task of defining Indo-European paired gods exactly in terms of its material： it too， being essentially a mode of thought， was a formal principle of classification， and evaded such definition.” However， we should pay attention to the differences between the concept of yin and yang in Chinese philosophy and that in Hinduism. For example， within the paired gods Mitra-Varuna in Hinduism， Mitra who represents male is an earthly yang， and Varuna who represents the female value is a heavenly yin. This contradicts the concept in the Chinese system——heavenly yang and earthly yin.

Lansings study of the water temple in Bali gives a focus on the significance of dualistic cosmology. It is related to recognizing the complexity of Balinese society， especially under the perspective of kingship.

IV. Conclusions

Negara： the Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali is one achievements about Bali. Barths study that focuses on process of the production of knowledge， and Lansings study that focuses on the relationship between the Balinese temple system and ethos of Hinduism and dualistic cosmology can be seen as complementary by their recognition of the complexity of society in Bali. From these studies， we can see that confronting the hierarchy and kingship is necessary for Balinese society.

Kingship and hierarchy may be thought of as old topics. Actually， they are never outdated. The study of Indo-European kingship and the Hindu caste system now is an influential field in anthropology. A.C. Hocart also wrote a book about the caste system； then Dumezil and Dumont continued to discuss the relationship between the caste system and kingship. And from the analysis of Indo-European myth， Dumezil put forward a theory of Indo-European social structure—as a threefold function. Inspired by Hocart and Dumezil， Marshall Sahlins stated that kingship in Fiji illustrated a new form： the “stranger-king”.

Geertzs contribution of kingship and hierarchy was to show a variation of Hinduism， Indo-European and Egyptian kingship. Considering the impact of Hinduism on Southeast Asia， South Asia and west of the Pacific， hierarchy and how to deal with it become pivotal question， and kingship offer us another path. In gener， reading Negara： the Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali again is an opportunity to consider these classic anthropological topics.

Key Words：theatre state； divine kingship； sinking status； prestige system； dualistic cosmology

References：

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