imported>QueerEcofeminist at 14:38, 27 May 2020

2020-05-27T14:38:16Z

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{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
{{Hinduism small}}
The island of '''[[Bali]]''' has a system of social organization similar to the [[Indian caste system]].

The four castes of Bali are:
*Sudras ([[Shudra]]s) – [[peasant]]s making up more than 90% of Bali's population. They constitute close to 93% of the population.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bW8WB-GrOYC&pg=PA53 | title=Island of Bali| isbn=9781406701746| last1=Covarrubias| first1=Miguel| date=November 2006}}</ref>
*Wesias ([[Vaishya]]s) – the caste of [[merchant]]s and administrative officials
*Satrias ([[Kshatriya]]s) – the [[warrior]]s caste, it also included some nobility and [[monarch|kings]]
*Brahmanas ([[Brahmin]]s) – the [[priest]]s caste

Note the similarity of the castes to the four ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varnas]]'' ''(shudra, vaishya, kshatriya, brahmin)'' of India.

Pre-modern Bali had four castes, as Jeff Lewis and Belinda Lewis state, but with a "very strong tradition of communal decision-making and interdependence".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jeff Lewis|author2=Belinda Lewis|title=Bali's silent crisis: desire, tragedy, and transition|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yuNMcfJHeyUC |year= 2009|publisher= Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-3243-2|pages=56, 83–86}}</ref> The four castes have been classified as Sudra ([[Shudra]]), Wesia ([[Vaishya]]s), Satria ([[Kshatriya]]s) and Brahmana ([[Brahmin]]).<ref>{{cite book|author= Geoffrey Robinson|title= The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m3Gfir3Ju70C |year=1995| publisher= Cornell University Press|isbn= 0-8014-8172-4|page=32}}</ref>

The 19th-century scholars such as Crawfurd and Friederich suggested that the Balinese caste system had Indian origins, but Helen Creese states that scholars such as Brumund who had visited and stayed on the island of Bali suggested that his field observations conflicted with the "received understandings concerning its Indian origins".<ref name="Creese2016p305">{{cite book|author=Helen M. Creese|title=Bali in the Early Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQpRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 |year=2016|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-31583-9|pages=305 with footnotes}}</ref> In Bali, the Shudra (locally spelled ''Soedra'') have typically been the temple priests, though depending on the demographics, a temple priest may also be from the other three castes.<ref name=belo4/>

In most regions, it has been the Shudra who typically make offerings to the gods on behalf of the Hindu devotees, chant prayers, recite ''meweda'' (Vedas), and set the course of Balinese temple festivals.<ref name=belo4>Jane Belo (1953), Bali: Temple Festival, Monograph 22, American Ethnological Society, University of Washington Press, pages 4–5</ref>

The members of the four castes use different levels of the [[Balinese language]] to address members of a different caste. Middle Balinese is generally used to speak to people whose caste is unknown in an encounter. Once the caste status of the participants are established, the proper language is used to address each other.

Nowadays, the caste system is used more in religious settings where the members of the lower caste would ask the members of the Brahman caste (the Pedandas) to conduct ceremonies. Since the [[Dutch East Indies|Dutch colonial years]] and more recently after the [[Indonesian National Revolution|Indonesian independence]], the differences in the economic roles of the members of the caste system are slowly eroding as the government prohibits treatments based on the caste system.

Most of the Kshatriya families in Java and Bali became extinct during the fall of the [[Majapahit]] and the numerous Javanese wars. Almost all of the Balinese Kshatriyas trace their origin to the royal family of King [[Dewa Agung|Deva Agung]], who ruled 500 years before. Some of the original Kshatriyas, such as those claiming descent from Arya Damar, were relegated to Wesia status, so only those claiming descent from Deva Agung are recognized as proper Kshatriya in Bali.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcAAANXuMVwC&pg=PA159 |title = Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Indo-China and the Indian Archipelago|isbn = 9780415245548|last1 = Rost|first1 = Reinhold|date = 2001-07-26}}</ref>

During the 1950s and 1960s, there were conflicts between supporters of the traditional caste system in Bali and its opponents. Many of the latter were affiliated with the PKI, the [[Communist Party of Indonesia]], which was violently suppressed during the [[Indonesian killings of 1965–1966]].<ref>Vickers, Adrian (1995), From Oey, Eric (Editor) (1995). Bali. Singapore: [[Periplus Editions]]. pp. 26–35. {{ISBN|962-593-028-0}}.</ref><ref>Taylor, Jean Gelman (2003). Indonesia: Peoples and Histories. New Haven and London: [[Yale University Press]]. p. 358. {{ISBN|0-300-10518-5}}.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Indonesia}}
* [[Agama Hindu Dharma|Balinese Hinduism]]
* [[Balinese Kshatriya]]
* [[Caste]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balinese Caste System}}
[[Category:Caste system by country]]
[[Category:Indonesian society]]
[[Category:Hindu law]]
[[Category:Balinese culture]]

Balinese caste system - Revision history

imported>QueerEcofeminist at 14:38, 27 May 2020