Bruce W Carpenter
Is Bali Hindu? Part Four: A Name at Last!
BY BRUCE W. CARPENTER In this, the final part in a four-part series, the slow and simmering process finally ends with an agreement on what to name the Balinese religion reaching a conclusion. While orientalist scholars had long before decided that the island was Hindu, the Balinese themselves would only enter the debate with the
Is Bali Hindu? Part Three: The Rise of the Balinese Intelligentsia
BY BRUCE W. CARPENTER In the 1920s, Bali would experience a new phenomenon, the rise of a western-style intelligentsia who would lay the foundation of a long, contentious debate about Balinese identity and religion. It was a direct result of the Dutch opening government schools with western curriculums in Buleleng Regency, a once proud independent kingdom
‘Is Bali Hindu?’ Part Two: A Collective Identity
The Balinese only began to take steps to define their collective identity (Kebalian) in Singaraja, North Bali during the first decades of the 20th century. The indirect catalyst of this phenomenon was the incorporation of North Bali into the Netherlands East Indies after a series of violent confrontations that took place between 1846 and 1849. Although
Is Bali Hindu?
Is Bali Hindu? What an absurd question! As the sole heir of the glorious legacy of the ancient Hindu kingdoms, especially the Majapahit Empire (1293-1520), which ruled supreme for two centuries, why would Bali be anything but Hindu? It is here that the story becomes fuzzy. In this, the first in a series of four
