Indian professor brings Bali and India together

Bali owes a lot of its cultural heritage to India. Buddhism and Hinduism both came from India, via Java. Barrie could write a book on how the religions spread and influenced the greater culture and daily life. To this day, the caste system still exists in Bali, though not in the restrictive way it does in India.

For visiting Indians, Bali must seem strange and familiar at the same time. The elaborate temple offerings are simply not seen in India, although the colored flowers, respresenting Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are tossed in the Ganges and decorate temples.

Indian professor Somvir, 35, is endeavering to bridge the cultural gap between India and Bali by forming the Bali-India Foundation, that will teach yoga, Hindi, sanskrit and other culturally based teachings.

I remember visiting Tenganan, in East Bali, home of the Geringsing (double ikat cloth). Tenganan is one of only 3 places in the world, weaving a double ikat cloth, in which the weft and weave are individually dyed, before weaving. A single cloth can take 5 years to make. Ancient Indian texts mention a Hindu island called Bali and DNA samples of the people in Tenganan, taken by a French team matched them with a village in Orissa, in eastern India. I think Balinese people would enjoy visiting India, and seeing some of the religious practices, the ‘Burning Ghats’ in Varanasi, for example, where bodies are created at the banks of the Ganges, or the sadhu’s, raggedy holy men who wander the country for years, in search of something. Its a colorful world we live in, and professor Somvir is bringing together two of the most colorful parts.