The idea of balance is central to Balinese philosophy and way oflife. Nature and Man meet and complement each other.
The villagesare a study in order. Hidden behind the same mud walls, there will be thesame red tiles of the same family pavilions with, again thirty meters apart,the same thatched puppet houses: the family temples (sanggah/merajan).Then, there will be a big tree, two slit logs hanging from its branches,with a couple of shrines under its shade and a nearby hall: the banjar(neighbourhood) community hall. An atmosphere of calm, order and collectivebelonging prevails.
The basicBalinese territorial unit is desa (village), whose surface covers boththe wet land of the ricefields, and the dry land of the compounds and relatedgardens, temples and roads. To the wet land, correspond the irrigationunits or subak, and to the dry and inhabited land, the community wardsor banjar, each with their temples and organisations.
The Balinesedesa (village) is typically host to a set of three village temples, thekahyangan tiga, each related to a focal aspect of the village's symboliclife: the origin with pura puseh (navel temple) located mountainward, wherethe tutelary gods of the village and its founders are worshipped; the territoryitself with the pura desa, located in the centre of the village, wheremeetings of the village assembly and the rituals of fertility are held;the temple of the ded (pura dalem), located down ward, where the forcesof death and the netherworld are worshipped, and near which burials takeplace. Besides these territorial temples, there is also a temple for eachbanjar (bedogol or pura banjar), a temple for each subak, and the varioustemples of the local sub - clans (pura dadia or pura panti), each of whichwith its own calendar of festivals.
All templesof the kahyangan tiga are of paramount importance in the local rituals.Most ceremonies, at the level of the household or of other local temples,cannot take place before a "notification offering" (pejati) of the kahyangantiga. The most important though, is arguably the pura desa, or villageterritorial temple, as evidenced by the honor shown to its god, the BataraDesa, who is usually given the forefront position during the village processionsof gods. The village community (desa pekraman) corresponds in practiseto the congregation of the pura desa, whatever the other affiliations.It is headed by the bendesa adat.
Much of theritual work at the village level is shared among the various banjar, forexample, one banjar may look after the pura desa for the upcoming festivaland another banjar for the next one. Each banjar redistributes the workentrusted to it to its vision of the kelian banjar or neighbourhood headman.No ritual activity can normally take place without the latter's involvementand participation.
The banjaris a grouping of anything between fifty and two hundred individual compounds.The word banjar originally referred to a row of houses, thus to the physicalclustering of compounds into a neighborhood, with a temple and a community.Nowadays, most of these banjars have split, and the banjar community isno more strictly territorial. Two banjars can occupy the same territory,and banjar members sometimes live kilometres away from the core of community.
The banjarmakes up an association called the "banjar suka duka" or "the associationfor the sharing of joy and pain" This refers to the function played bythe group in the performing of specific social services or work the ayahanwithin the larger structure of the village (desa). These bonds are arguablythe most important of all found in the network of village associations.
The basicsocial unit of the banjar is the couple (pekurenan). Only married couplesare full banjar members and subjected to the banjar rights and obligations.The decisions are taken by the assembly (sangkep) of the banjar's malemembers, the krama banjar, which usually takes place every 35 days. Thedecisions are taken on the basis of unanimity, The banjar is now, since1979, the lowest administrative structure of the national administration,directly under the authority of the perbekel / lurah (supra - village head)and beyond the traditional village headman (bendesa adat). There are alsotwo types of kelian banjar, the kelian dinas, who is in charge of the administrativeaspects of the banjar life, and the kelian adat, who looks after the customaryaspects in collaboration with the bendesa adat. They usually work handin hand, unless the two roles are assumed by the same person.
