Indonesia

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Indonesia

• Where in the world is Indonesia?
• Southeast Asia, thats where
• Lonely Planet photographs
• Indonesia is now the world's third-largest
  democracy, the world's largest archipelagic
  state, and home to the world's largest Muslim
  population.
• CIA 2010
• More than 17,500 islands 6,000 are inhabited
  1,000 of which are permanently settled.
• The island of Java, roughly the size of New York
  State, is the most populous island in the world
  (124 million, 2005 est.) and one of the most
  densely populated areas in the world
• CIA Library and Facts on Indonesia
• http//www.indonesia-tourism.com/

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Science Prodigious PlantTIME MAGAZINEMonday,
Jun. 21, 1937

• A specimen of the world's largest known flower
  last week bloomed in the U. S. for the first
  time. Custodian of this prodigy, whose scientific
  name is Amorphophallus titanum and which is
  called krubi by the islanders of its native
  Sumatra, was the New York Botanical Garden in The
  Bronx. Only five times before had Amorphophallus
  titanum bloomed outside the Sumatra jungletwice
  in London's Kew Gardens, once in Holland, once in
  Germany, once in a botanical garden in Java.

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Corpse plant"

• When it blooms it releases a pleasant smell of
  garbage and rotting meat, depending on who you
  ask.
• The plant is believed to be the largest flower
  that doesn't grow on a tree, and has been known
  to grow over 12 feet high at home on its native
  Sumatra.
• The stench is key to the plant's survival it
  attracts carrion beetles and other pollinators.
  Carrion beetles lay their eggs in rotting
  animals, so the plant mimics the smell as a means
  of ensuring its survival.
• It has an incredibly... unique... appearance.
  Let's just say that whoever named it was right
  on.

Amorphophallus titanum US Botanical Garden,
owned by the Smithsonian
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The Traditional Culture of Bali

• An island just east of Java in the Malaysia
  Archipelago of Indonesia

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The Island of Bali
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The Environment

• 2000 years ago farming began
• Today less than 1/3 of the island is forested
• A volcanic chain forms a large amphitheater in
  the south where most people live. It is called
  the Balinese rice bowl.
• Monsoon rains run hundreds of inches of rain to
  the sea through 80 north south running rivers.
• Each river is cut 50 to 200 feet deep into the
  volcanic soil, creating such steep sided trenches
  that east-west travel is almost impossible.

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Deep cut ravines, with steep, impassable sides
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Farming

• Villages are arranged in strings along the ridges
  between the rivers and on terraces on the slopes.
• On the north side of the mountains, the plain is
  shorter, with only two villages on the ridges,
  with others on terraces.
• Farming was not irrigated until 500AD - mining
  techniques were needed to deal with the deep
  ravines.
• The real value of the north is its access to the
  maritime trade routes

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The People

• The first people 5-6000 years before present.
• Austronesians from Taiwan - known from language
  and religion (temples with square stone-walled
  courtyards). They populated from Madagascar
  across the Pacific to Easter Island.
• They came to Bali and gave up the sea to build an
  amazing civilization!

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Some faces of Bali...
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Position in Traditional Bali

• People in Bali organized themselves in terms of
  natural and social geography
• kaja - means upstream, or towards the mountains.
  It is equivalent to goodness and heaven.
• kelod - means downstream, or towards the sea. It
  is equivalent to filth and evil. Downstream is
  the direction of sewage.

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Cont

• ALL things are arranged in terms of these two
  directions.
• Houses shrines are kaja, kitchens, stock pens
  and bathrooms are kelod.(eating is considered
  animal like)
• Villages Shrines are kaja, cemeteries are
  kelod.
• (In America we dont keep toilet paper in the
  kitchen! In Japan they dont have a toilet in
  the same room with the bathtub!)

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http//
http//baliguide.com/weather/index.html
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kaja and kelod

• Paling - an illness of disorientation caused by
  not knowing ones position. Because of this, the
  Balinese do not like to drink alcohol.
• The ocean is kelod. It is away from the mountains
  where the gods live, it is where all the filth
  washes away to, and it is easy to become
  disoriented there.

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kaja, where the gods live

• kelod,
• where demons are at home

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Humans are kaja and kelod as well.

• The head is kaja, the feet are kelod.
• Thus a person would NEVER turn around in bed, or-
• stand on your head, or-
• throw a child up and down, or spin them dizzy
• or put your head below someone elses feet.
• --it is simply wrong - demons are sometimes
  upside down.

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However...

• It is never that simple. Villages obviously
  stretch up and down a ridge - so if it were this
  simple, only one would be kaja, and all others
  kelod.
• Kaja and kelod are balanced, so each village is
  balancedas is each house, as is each person...

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Demons are kelod.
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Poise

• All adults are poised. They carry themselves with
  care. Children are taught poise. Each movement
  is done carefully and with purpose.
• People dont just walk, but place each step,
  place each arm/hand, turn their heads precisely
  and so on.
• Shocking the body occurs when movements are
  impulsive. It disturbs the feeling of well
  being.
• Falling is a very bad omen.

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Im talking about poise here.
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Illness

• Strength and Purity are balanced with weakness
  and impurity.
• Illness waits for the body to be out of
  balance.
• Illness is a failure, because it comes from
  giving up the fight to stay in balance.
• One does not encourage illness by pampering

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Of course in country like this, it doesnt hurt
to be careful where you put your feet. And its
easy to see why falling is a bad omen.
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Kaja and Kelod

• It is misleading to see them as simple opposites.
  
• Rather, they are balanced opposites.
• They must exist together, as complimentary
  states.
• Everyone is both, everything is both.

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There are other ways of organizing, as
well.Outer World (Bhuana Agung) Inner world
(Bhana Alit)

• The Outer World is organized as three worlds -
  heaven (swah), the human world (bwah) and the
  lower world (bhur).
• Bali follows this ordering - The gods mountains
  are Swah, the plains are Bwah and the sea is
  Bhur.
• A village upstream with temples is Swah, The
  houses are Bwah and the lower end with the
  cemetery is Bhur

• A temple Where the offerings are is Swah, the
  courtyard is Bwah, and just outside the gates is
  Bhur.
• Human head is Swah, Torso is Bwah, knees down is
  Bhur.
• So at Western, faculty offices are clearly Swah,
  classrooms Bwah and the dorms are definitely
  Bhur!!
• http//www.rasabali.com/bali-articles/kaja--kelod
  -in-balinese-40.shtml

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Definitely Bhur, not to mention kelod...my kind
of kelod.
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The Inner world (Bhana Alit)

• The inner world is similarly organized, but must
  be in-balance with the outer world.
• And all must be in balance with kaja and kelod
• If the door of the house is out of balance
  (placed badly) then the inhabitant can suffer
  from various ills, such as
• Pamali - a wind in the body (!!!)
• Correcting the outer world can balance the inner
  world and so on it is very complex!
• This issue is balancing the opposites.

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Visible and Invisible Energy

• One must be in balance with the proper energy.
• Learning is an invisible energy!
• If one lives in a house that is above ones
  position, then the energy will be too strong and
  you will be burned.
• If one lives in a house that is below ones
  position, the low energy will drain you.

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Kinds of Order

• Kaja and kelod
• Social position caste, gender, generation
• Geographic position
• Bodily position
• Inner and Outer worlds
• Visible and Invisible energy

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The Tika Cycles of Time

• A calendar of 210 days, divided into ten
  different types of weeks ranging from 1 to 10
  days in length.
• Each type of week has a different name for each
  day in it.
• All types of weeks run concurrently, so any given
  day has 10 different names.
• Each week has different functions
• The 8 day week gives clues to a persons identity
  in past lives.
• The three day week is the market week. So
  different traders come throughout the year, but
  always on the same day. Such a schedule would be
  much harder with a 7 day week, as market day
  would happen on different days

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• The eight day week - Who are you?
• Sri - woman from the mothers side
• Indra - man from the fathers side
• Guru - brother of the father
• Yama man from the fathers side
• Ludra - woman from the mothers side
• Brahma - man from the fathers side
• Kala - person who died as a child
• Uma - sister of the mother, grandmother, etc.

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Kinship and Names

• Kinship is dependent on only two things
  generation and gender.
• All men of your fathers generation on both sides
  of the family are called the same thing. This
  would include your father and uncles.
• All the women of your mothers generation on both
  sides of the family are called the same thing.
  This includes Mom and all your aunts.
• Grandparents are the same names, but by gender.
• Great grandparents are the same, regardless of
  gender - Kumpi.
• Older siblings and cousins are one term, while
  younger siblings and cousins are another - by
  gender.

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Birth Order names

• 1) Wayan, 2) Nyoman, 3) Made, 4)Ketut and then it
  starts over - 5) Wayan, and so on.
• Each name is just one more in an endless sequence
  of names.
• As you age you become Father of ...or Mother of
  and then Grandfather of etc.
• Caste names are given at birth, never changed and
  never omitted when talking to one another - they
  are a clear social map of ones social position.

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The Arts

• The air was never empty of music
• complicated orchestral music
• many many hours of rehearsal
• All serious literature, poems and prayers begin
  with the letter ONG.
• The sound of this letter resonates through the
  body alerting all of ones gods and demons (your
  emotions, qualities and thoughts) to alertness
  and to their proper places.

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Ongggg!
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Culture

• A set of learned attitudes, beliefs and values.
• Culture shapes behavior within the context of the
  situation.
• All culture is complex and unique.
• Balinese culture causes them to perceive a sense
  of place in a much more detailed way than
  Americans might perceive it.
• They need to maintain a balance between good and
  evil, between their inner needs and desires and
  the outer world.
• Is it possible that Balinese Music NOT reflect
  this life-threatening and life preserving
  balance? Is it possible that Balinese Music is
  NOT concerned with a sense of ones proper place?