Origins of the Balinese caste structure

Bali is the only Hindu island in Indonesia , a country dominated by Islam. Hinduism is a religion that developed out of the way of life of the people living on the banks of the Indus river in India and Hinduism came to Indonesia many centuries ago.

My guide book says that the earliest written records in Bali, metal inscriptions called prasati, speak of Buddhist and Hindu influences and date back to the 9th century. The caves, statues and bronzes of Goa Gajah and Gunung Kawi indicate this too.

As far as Bali is concerned the 3 big events that pushed Hinduism to the fore were the marriage of the Balinese king Udayana to Princess Mahendra from East Java, at the end of the 10th century thus bringing the 2 areas together. This was followed in 1343 by the conquest of Bali by the Majapahit empire of Gaja Mada, prime minister of that kingdom in East Java. Finally in 1515 the Majapahit empire in Java fell to the increasingly powerful Muslim Mataram empire. This created an exodus of priests, crafts people and noblemen and helped to make Bali the unique center of art that it is.

As many people will tell you the version of Hinduism (Agama Hindu ) that is practiced in Bali differs from that practiced in India. One of the most obvious differences is the quantity of offerings given in Bali, which is usually to either ward off evil spirits or to satisfy the Gods, a relic of the Balinese animist beliefs to which Hinduism has been melded.

There are many clues to the origins of Balinese Hinduism and one is the caste system. I recently read an article in the Jakarta Post by Joyeeta Dutta Ray, that discusses the caste system in India and my mind went over to think about Balinese caste structure again.

Here in Bali there are 4 main castes: Brahmana ( priests), Satriya ( the ruling royalty), Wesya ( military class) and Sudra. Ninety percent of the population is from the lowest Sudra cast and anyone called Gede, Made, Kadek etc. is a Sudra. A person of the Brahmana (priest) caste will have the first name Ida Bagus if male and Ida Ayu if female.

Long before the caste system came to Bali the local people already had their own form of hierarchy and adapted the caste system to fit over this, just like the Hindu religion blended with their animist beliefs. In the Bali Aga villages of Tenganen and Trunyan up in the mountains the new Hindu religion did not penetrate and the locals practice religion in their own ways today.

Nowadays the language the Balinese pedandas (high priests) use during temple ceremonies is Kawi, old Javanese which is largely composed of Sanskrit. Bahasa Bali (the Balinese language ) has different levels and caste comes into play when speaking. I have asked many young people what languages they speak at work and they say Indonesian, even if the whole staff is Balinese. Back in the village it will all be Bahasa Bali.

Bahasa Bali used to have multiple levels but in the last century it seems to have thinned down to 3 (common Balinese, middle Balinese and high Balinese). Village life is more traditional of course than the free-style living in Kuta and people will be watched more closely as people know who they are. Paying attention to the levels of respect are more important here and super important involving religious activities.

When a Balinese person meets a stranger in the village he will start by using the Middle language and might ask Antuh lingge? meaning Where is your place?, as far as caste. The stranger will tell his caste and that will dictate what level of Balinese is used. If one man is high caste and the other low the high caste man will talk in the common language to the other and the man of low caste will reply using high Balinese. Its all about respect.

Using the words (tjai, nyai, nani) which all mean You, are too familiar and impolite, so the word jero is used. Jero is the name given by some Balinese to a child of a nobleman and a commoner and maybe this is a way of saying, I can see you carrying wood in the village but I give you the credit that you came from a nobleman.

Covarrubias writes is 1937 that he finds the levels of Bahasa Bali totally unrelated, not just different dialects or variations of the same language. Common Balinese originates from Malayo-Polynesian dialects of the aboriginal population of the region. Middle Balinese is an adaptation to fill the void when caste becomes an issue and High Balinese is from Sanskrit-Javanese.

In older times the caste system had more power than is does today. I have seen Ida Ayus working the counter at McDonalds. There are 2 areas still though where caste is very important, ceremonies and marriage. At Besakih temple, the largest in Bali there are some areas that are set up only for high caste people to pray. When I went to Besakih a couple of years ago with a group of 6 Balinese people one girl, Ayu went off to her own special shrines then joined us later. As one of the party explained, Ayu is like a Queen and the rest of us are Jacks.

It is somewhat taboo for a Balinese woman of high caste to marry a man of lower caste. In such a case she drops to his level. The reverse is true if it were a man.

Interesting cross-overs from the Indian caste-system to the Balinese. The Sanskrit word for color, varna is almost the same as the Indonesian word, warna. I think the Balinese people have a natural easy going mentality and still for the most part live close to the village. Maybe this is why the hardcore caste discrimination did not take hold here.

On another interesting note I was wondering why Bali was sparred the Muslim wave back in 1515 when islands to the east including neighboring Lombok are strongly Muslim. The reason is that new ideas, culture, religion etc. travel along trade routes and back then Bali was not much of a trading island. Its lack of good deep-water ports meant people heading east simply passed it by.

The highlands of Bali between the lakes were probably the most impenetrable part of the island so naturally that is where you will find the closest thing to the original Balinese and there culture, The Bali Aga.