Acknowledgments
My field research on the topic of the ritual organization of the pre- and early colonial Balinese state with a grassroot perspective began in 1990 and ended in 2023. We (Jörg Hauser, my husband, and I) spent about seven years in Bali with stays lasting from a couple of weeks to eight months each. We are indebted to many institutions and innumerable people who facilitated our research over this period of over 30 years. Our gratitude goes beyond what we can express in a few words: Above all, it were the administrative and scientific institutions in Jakarta and Denpasar that granted us research permits. Without them, we would have been unable to investigate the fascinating past of the island of Bali and its development into the stunning creative wealth of Balinese culture that is known today. The University of Udayana in Denpasar acted as a counterpart and Prof. Dr. I Wayan Ardika as our supportive sponsor. I owe many academic inspirations to him and his wife, Sutjiati Beratha, thanks to their expertise in Balinese archaeology and philology. They also made as feel at home through their hospitality. Prof. Dr. I Nyoman Suarka, who teaches Old-Javanese Literature at Udayana University, is a much sought-after reader of sacred Balinese texts at temple festivals and has also been chosen as a temple priest. He assisted me by translating two volumes of Balinese lontar manuscripts kept in the Pura Ulun Danu Batur, Kintamani (Budiastra 1979a, 1979b) over many years. He was a unique expert and dialogue partner who never became tired of my endless questions about the meaning and interpretation of concepts which were mentioned in these difficult texts. He and his wife invited us to their home many times and we still cultivate this friendship. We also owe a lot to Prof. Dr. I Nyoman Darma Putra, who teaches Indonesian Literature at Udayana University. He has also worked on Balinese culture and, therefore, became our highly appreciated colleague not only in Bali but also during a conference in Göttingen and as a holder of a scholarship in Switzerland.
My home university, Georg-August-University in Göttingen (Germany) granted me leaves and sabbaticals. The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) generously funded the research, also enabling me to carry out a joint archaeological-anthropological co-project with the archaeologist I Wayan Ardika and the Balai Arkeologi in Denpasar. It focused on the ethnohistory of the north coast and the inter-maritime trade with Julah. This village was already a major port 2000 years ago as excavations have shown and, much later, royal edicts from the 10th to the 12th century also evidenced (Hauser-Schäublin and Ardika 2008). Thanks to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and a Senior Professorship I was granted by the Federal State of Lower Saxony, we were able to support an academic Bali Conference (“Bali in Global Asia: Between Modernization and Heritage Formation” sponsored by IIAS, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and KITLV) at the Universitas Udayana in Denpasar in 2012 and organize an international Bali Workshop (“Negotiating Inter-Religious Relationships in Bali and Lombok”; see Hauser-Schäublin and Harnish, 2014) in Göttingen in 2011.
Apart from the Institutions in Indonesia and Germany that offered the framework for our research, we are indebted to many people in Bali, Germany and Switzerland for their support, empathy and generosity. We were welcomed and invited by individuals and families in every village we visited in Bali. They allowed us to spend as much time with them as we needed to discuss the many questions we had in detail. We are also grateful to our hosts in Bondalem, Air Sanih, Sembirenteng and Penelokan with whom we could stay for weeks and months. The German and Swiss Honorary Consuls, Robert A. Jantzen and Jon Zürcher, respectively, assisted us in difficult situations. Jon and his wife, Sutji, always welcomed us very warmly in their restaurant in Legian and we are indebted to both in many ways.
We are also grateful to many knowledgeable men and women in Batur, Julah and Sembiran for sharing their knowledge with us. Large parts of this book are based on what I learned from them, though I am solely responsible for the misunderstandings that may have occurred and any flaws in my text.
Our special thanks goes to:
In Sembiran: Mangku Dalem Sutarmi, Mangku Puseh Nuraine, Kepala Desa, Mangku Gede, Jero Penyarikan and the male and female elders of the the kerama desa and other priests.
In Julah: I Wayan Terang and his family as well the elders of the kerama desa tegak, Penyarikan/Klian Adat Jero Sidemen and Kepala Desa.
In Tejakula: Jero Bendesa.
In Batur: Jero Gede Duuran and Jero Gede Alitan, Jero Balyan Kajanan, Jero Balyan Kelodan, Jero Penyarikan Duuran and Jero Penyarikan Alitan, Guru Nengah Teket, Guru I Wayan Sukadia, Guru Wayan Witiar, Jero Kasinoman Desa Pakraman Batur, Kepala Desa/Perbekel/Jero Petinggi; the elders, leaders and priests of the individual shrines and temples of the Batur temple complex and of Pura Tuluk Biyu (Tulukbiyu), Pura Alas Arum, Pura Jati, Pura Dalem Gede, Pura Dalem Balingkang (Mangku Gede and elders of Pinggan village). Furthermore, Tim Dokumentasi Batur, I Ketut Panca Sedana, I Putu Sucita Maiva Utama (Batur) and I Ketut Eriadi Ariana, who has been Jero Penyarikan Duuran of Pura Ulun Danu Batur since 2020 (see Afterword).
We visited many other villages for comparative studies concerning temples, shrines dedicated to particular deities and village organization. I am grateful for all the information I received from the knowledgeable men and women there. They enabled me to put my arguments on a broader basis. Among them were the following villages: Selulung, Bonyoh, Kedisan, Manikliyu, Belantih, Bayung Gede, Cempaga (Bangli and Buleleng), Kintamani, Songan, Sukawana, Kintamani, Pinggan, Dausa, Madenan, Gentuh, Gretek/Sembirenteng, Tembok, Les, Penuktukan, Tembok, Tejakula, Bondalem, Julah, Sembiran, Depehe, Tajun, Pacung, Bungkulan and Kubutambahan,
Many other colleagues also contributed to this book by assisting me with their expertise. Among them were: I Putu Budiastra (Museum Bali, Denpasar), Keebet and Franz von Benda-Beckmann (Halle/Saale), Ambra Calo (Canberra), Peter Bellwood (Canberra), Hans Hägerdal (Växjö, Sweden), Hedi Hinzler (Leiden), Made Mantle Hood (Tainan National University, Taiwan), David Harnish (San Diego), Annette Hornbacher (Heidelberg), Enrico Kalb (Göttingen), Pierre-Ives Manguin (Paris), Marie-Louise Nabholz-Kartaschoff (Basel), Lene Pedersen (Central Washington University), Jos Platenkamp (Münster), Michel Picard (Paris), Urs Ramseyer (Basel), Martin Ramstedt (Halle/Saale), Andreas Reinecke (Bonn), Meike Rieger (Göttingen), Thomas Reuter (Melbourne), Christian Riemenschneider (Göttingen), Henk Schulte Nordholt (Leiden), Silke Tollmien (Göttingen), Sophie Strauss (Heidelberg), I Nyoman Suarka (Universitas Udayana, Denpasar), Kari Telle (Bergen/Norway) and Barend Terwiel (Hamburg/Göttingen). Thanks go to Philip Saunders for proofreading the manuscript and help with copy-editing.
My greatest gratitude goes to my husband, Jörg Hauser, who has accompanied me on all field trips over the past fifty years. He has been my closest, most inspiring, critical and supportive research partner, and a gifted photographer, filmmaker and drawer. He is responsible for all the illustrations (map, sketches, photographs) unless mentioned otherwise.
We spent the major part of our fieldwork in temples and with priests and other ritual specialists. On numerous occasions, we were led to the threshold, where the breath of the beyond – niskala – touched us. We experienced situations and events that I could not explain as a scholar who had been raised in a culture determined by materialism and positivism. The “methodological atheism” (Berger 1967) applied in most academic studies dealing with “religion” is the outcome of this. The transcendental experiences in which we were allowed to participate made us aware of how limited and presumptuous the western world-view is. They deeply impressed and somehow comforted us since they opened up glimpses into dimensions of being we had been taught to understand as mere chimaera. This was the most precious gift we were bestowed with in Bali. Matur suksma.
Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin
Basel, February 2025