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THE
FAMILY
AFTER
THE WORLD,
the mountains, and the cardinal directions were created, and
here were trees, fruits, and flowers, the gods made four human
beings out of red earth, whom they provided with utensils
to work with and houses to live in. Batara Siwa, the Supreme
Lord, next made four mature girls for wives of the four men.
The god of love, Batara Semara, made mating a pleasure so
that the women would be fertilized, and eventually the four
couples had many children: 117 boys and 118 girls, who grew,
became adolescent, married, and bad children. But there remained
a girl without a husband. Broken-hearted, she went into the
forest and there found the stump of a jackfruit tree (nangka)
which Siwa had carved, to amuse himself, into the likeness
of a human being. The girl made love to the wooden figure
and became pregnant. Out of pity for her, Semara gave life
to the figure so that she also could have a husband, and the
couple became the ancestors of the ngatew6l clan," whose
totem is the nangka tree
Another
legend tells us that the gods concentrated to make human beings
and produced two couples; one yellow in color: Ketok Pita
and Djenar; another red: Abang and Barak. From the yellow
couple was born a boy, Nyuh Gading, "Yellow Coconut"
and a girl named Kuning. The second couple had also two children,
a boy named Tanah Barak, "Red Earth" and a girl
Lewek. Yellow Coconut married Lewek; Red Earth married Kuning;
and their descendants did the same until the population of
Bali was created."
There
are endless tales like these relating the origin of the Balinese
to magic or ordinary unions of the eternal male and female
principles, elements of great importance in the religion around
which their life revolves. Their supreme deity is Siwa, the
esoteric combination of all the gods and all the forces of
nature, he who is the hermaphrodite ("hindu") in
the sense that within him are the male and female creative
forces, the complete, perfect unity. Men and women must imitate
their gods to attain some of that divine " completeness
" by uniting to form families that worship common ancestors
in the family shrine of each Balinese household. The various
families that compose a village all worship in turn a common
ancestor, the village god represented by the " Navel,"
the pus6h, the temple of common origin. Family ties are consequently
the most important factor in Balinese life; a continuous sequence
that relates the individual to his family, to his community,
and to the total of the Balinese people in a relationship
that represents race and nationality to them. A woman who
marries a Chinese, a Mohammedan, or a European automatically
ceases to be a Balinese.
A Balinese
feels that his most important duty is to marry as soon as
he comes of age and to raise a family to perpetuate his line.
A bachelor is in Bali an abnormal, incomplete being devoid
of all social significance since only settled married men
can become members of the village association. Even pedandas,
the high priests, do not conform to the ascetic abstention
favoured by orthodox Hindus And invariably marry.
Thus
every Balinese ccntres all his bopes in having children, preferably
male children, who will look -after him in his old age and
most important of all, sons who will take the proper care
of his remains after be is dead, performing the necessary
rites to liberate his soul for reincarnation, so it will not
become an aimless wandering ghost. From paintings and temple
reliefs, they are familiar with the fate that awaits the childless
in Hades, the swarga, where a woman who dies without children
is condemned to carry a gigantic worm suckling at her useless
breasts. A man who does not obtain children from his wife
has the right to divorce her and get back the money he paid
for her; or if she dies or runs away, he remarries as soon
as possible. Often the sterile wife will herself suggest and
even provide for a second wife for,", her husband. There
are, however, many childless couples that,"" because
of personal attachment or for economic reasons remain monogamous
and are content to borrow or rather be given a child,by a
neigbbour or a relative to bring up as their own.
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INDONESIA
