A. Ottino Origin myths, hierarchical order, and the negotiation of ...

A. Ottino 

Origin myths, hierarchical order, and the negotiation of status in the Balinese village of Trunyan 

In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 150 (1994), no: 3, Leiden, 481-517 

This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl

ARLETTE OTTINO 

Origin Myths, Hierarchical Order, and 

the Negotiation of Status in the Balinese 

Village of Trunyan 

The aims of this paper are twofold, namely to contribute valuable information 

about the nature of Balinese village religion, a little-studied dimension 

of Balinese culture, and to consider the structural pervasiveness of notions 

of hierarchy among commoner groups in Bali. These aims are interrelated. 

Using material drawn from Danandjaja's ethnographic account of the village 

of Trunyan, Kebudayaan Petani Desa Trunyan di Bali (The Farming 

Culture of the Village of Trunyan in Bali) (Danandjaja 1980), I shall try and 

demonstrate that the pantheon of village deities reflects the relations 

between social groups and enshrines them in such a way that their legitimacy 

becomes indisputable for the groups concerned. 1 

Bali has remained a neglected area of study in the current anthropological 

research on hierarchy and precedence, which is yielding abundant 

and productive data for eastern Indonesian societies. 2 One reason for this 

is that, while Balinese social relations are known to be organized according 

to hierarchical principles, these tend to be equated with the Indian-derived 

caste system of the Tri-Wangsa, which divides Balinese society into a 

small elite group of three upper castes: Brahmana, Satria and Wesia, also 

known as 'people of the inside' (wong jeró), and an amorphous majority 

of commoners called Sudra or 'people of the outside' {wong jaba). Thus, 

although it is generally acknowledged that status-ranking is a major preoccupation 

of all Balinese, whether of high-caste or commoner origin (for 

instance, Boon 1977:145-79, 1979; Howe 1985), and that the social organization 

of non-caste Balinese villages is based on asymmetrie relations 

such as seniority, gender and temporal precedence (Danandjaja 1980; 

1 I wish to thank James Fox, Paul Ottino and Penny Graham for their reading of 

and comments on earlier versions of this article. I am very grateful for their help. 

2 I am referring here to the studies carried out over several decades by researchers 

under the aegis of J. Fox (see in particular Fox 1980) and to the work of the French 

ERASME team in the application of Dumont's concept of hierarchy. 

ARLETTE OTTINO, who obtained her PhD at the Australian National University in 

Canberra and is specialized in hierarchy and social change, is the author of 'Siblingship 

and Continuity of the Family in the Balinese Houseyard', Canberra Anthropology, 

1993, and First Settlers, Rice Cultivation, and the Aüiance with Nature Spirits, 

forthcoming. Dr. Ottino may be contacted at the Department of Anthropology, 

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU, Canberra, ACT, Australia. 

BKI 150-III (1994)

482 Arlette Ottino 

Howe 1989), no systematic analysis of Balinese hierarchy has yet been 

carried out. Yet there is increasing evidence to show that the Tri-Wangsa 

caste system was superimposed upon a more ancient hierarchical order 

which was to a large extent village-related (Guermonprez 1991). It is also 

becoming apparent that this hierarchy is enshrined in what is somewhat 

inaccurately known as 'village religion' and is closely connected, as Fox 

underlines for eastern Indonesian societies, with notions of origin (Fox 

1990b: 13). In this perspective, the identity of individual deities in the village 

pantheon is less important than the relations between them. These 

relations are sometimes framed in an idiom of kinship, especially in the case 

of deities reflecting core notions of origin, or in an idiom of task-related 

functions corresponding to administrative functions in the secular village, 

in the case of other deities of a minor but nevertheless important status. 

Ho wever, these relations all have one trait in common: they are always 

asymmetrie. 

The differential status of the village deities reflects and legitimates the 

hierarchical relations between social groups, and as such, contributes to 

the perpetuation of what, in time, has come to be regarded by the village 

community as the natural cosmological order. These ideas are not new. 

Several decades ago already, Grader drew similar conclusions in his studies 

of several regional temples in Mengwi and Buleleng (Grader 1960, 1969) 

and Bateson gave a detailed account of the process whereby the deification 

of social hierarchy is achieved, in his classical article 'An Old Temple 

and a New Myth' (Bateson 1970). The issue of the political role of temples 

in Bali has been taken up recently also by Schulte Nordholt, who argues 

'that a proper understanding of the political role of regional temples was 

for a long time obscured by the artificial distinction between the Western 

analytical categories "religion" and "politics" ' (Schulte Nordholt 1991: 

137). Nowhere, however, is the relevance of temples in the political domain 

more explicitly described than in Danandjaja's ethnography of Trunyan. 

The uniqueness of this work lies in the fact that - perhaps because of his 

own cultural background as a Javanese researcher, which made him more 

sensitive to the religious dimension notoriously ignored or treated in a 

reductionist manner in the anthropology of Bali - the author appreciated 

the relevance of the temple network for the social organization of the 

village, and perceived the existence of close links between the pantheon 

of village deities and Trunyan ideas of cultural identity. 

While Danandjaja's book constitutes an important contribution to the 

anthropology of Bali, it has not achieved the recognition that, in my 

opinion, it deserves. This is due in part to the fact that it is written in Indonesian, 

but in part also to Danandjaja's failing to pursue the theoretical 

issues that are raised throughout the book. 3 Yet it is obvious from his 

3 Although Danandjaja published some of his data on rituals in English 

(Danandjaja 1985a and 1985b), these publications are intended for the general public

Status in the Balinese Village ofTrunyan 483 

presentation of the ethnographic data that Danandjaja was very much 

aware of the pervasiveness of hierarchical notions and the complex competition 

for supremacy of status and power among the various origin 

groups in the village. Danandjaja recognized that no group holds absolute 

supremacy in the hierarchical order; instead, ranking is contextual and is 

connected with the values and prerogatives at stake in a given context 

(see also Fox 1990a and 1990b for similar ideas with regard to eastern 

Indonesia). In particular, the question of the relation between the first 

settlers and village rulers has never been resolved. While the descendants 

of the village rulers maintain their superiority in the political arena - mainly 

through the imposition of a caste-like division between insiders (political 

rulers) and outsiders (village population) - the descendants of the first 

settlers retain their supremacy in the ritual domain. This is legitimated by 

reference to complex ideas of origin. In the case of Trunyan, these ideas 

are institutionalized in myths formulating the integration of newcomers in 

terms of nyéburin, the Balinese form of reversed marriage whereby a man 

moves to his wife's residential area, joins her ancestral group, and becomes 

integrated into her descent line. In other words, since descent is reckoned 

patrilineally in Bali, the nyéburin husband becomes subordinated to his 

wife' s patriline. The origin of Trunyan is articulated around the three key 

figures in the nyéburin marriage: the in-coming husband, who becomes the 

founder and first king of Trunyan; his wife, the tutelary goddess of the 

lake; and her hermaphrodite elder brother, who is supreme ruler of the 

whole pantheon as the originator of the ancestral customs and traditions. 

The in-coming husband represents the genitor line and the hermaphrodite 

elder brother the progenitor line. The relations between these deities 

reflect and determine the nature of the social relations between origin 

groups within the village. 

I am using the terms 'progenitors' and 'genitors' rather than the more 

usual 'wife-givers' and 'wife-takers' here, because they are better suited 

to the configuration of the relations considered here. The terms were first 

proposed by Fox in a paper on lines of origin in eastern Indonesia (Fox 

1990b). According to him, a feature of eastern Indonesian societies is that 

'all origin groups give precedence to a progenitor line', that is, a line 

which stands as the origin of life for another line, that of the genitors (Fox 

1990b:4). The terms 'progenitors' and 'genitors' thus refer to a dyadic relation 

organized asymmetrically by reference to the flow of life symbolically 

identified with the woman. The circulation of women between wifegivers 

and wife-takers is one aspect of this relation, but it is not exhausted 

simply by alliance. On the contrary, alliance is a practical expression of a 

more fundamental hierarchical order in which precedence is given to those 

and do not address issues of anthropological relevance; in particular they do not 

relate the rituals to the broader political and social context in the manner in which this 

is done in the thesis, mainly because of the sheer breadth of the ethnographic data.

KEDISAN 

EED 

BUAHAN 

Kelod 

(West) 

SONGAN 

CO 

Kan gin 

(North) 

Kauh 

(Soulh) 

Kaja 

(East) 

lf\ Tanggun Tiü 

// Cimelandung 

To Gunung . 

Agung 

ö PUSEH 

1 n i 

il/MUKUS 

Map 1. Geographical and cosmological layout of Trunyan. 

(Reproduced from Danandjaja 1980:30.)


groups who are identified with the origin of life as a whole, including, as is 

the case with Trunyan, that of society, agricultural fertility and social prosperity. 

In such cases, the progenitors/genitors relation provides a 'system 

of order for the settlement as a whole' (Fox 1990b:20). In Trunyan the 

relation between progenitors and genitors serves primarily as an idiom in 

terms of which the entire village society is classified. The myths of origin 

collected by Danandjaja show that the progenitor line is identified with 

access to sources of life and natural fertility, and that for a group to be 

associated with it means that it also has the control of the political and 

ritual power represented by this line. In other words, supremacy of status 

within the village hierarchy is linked to appropriation of the symbolic 

representations of the progenitor line. It is not surprising, therefore, to find 

that the origin group associated with this line, that of the Pasek Gelgel, 

who, according to Danandjaja's informants, appropriated the shrine of the 

hermaphrodite elder brother when they took over the government of the 

village and thus established themselves as the progenitor line, is politically 

the most powerful group in the village. A result of this is that Trunyan 

provides an example of an interesting situation, where the 'life-giving line' 

is not associated with the first settlers, as is usually the case, but with an incoming 

group whose present status is linked to their political power. 

This raises interesting questions about what hierarchy represents for the 

people involved. In the case of Trunyan, this is not so much a principle of 

organization according to which all origin groups are integrated into the 

society of the village, as an expression of a continuous negotiation of 

status between origin groups competing for supremacy. The hierarchical 

ranking of origin groups is never permanent, although it is presented as 

such in the myths. This has important implications for the study of social 

change, since it leaves open the possibility of reinterpreting the hierarchical 

order of the origin groups should the social conditions happen to 

change. It suggests also the existence of a complex social set-up where, as 

Dumont indicated in more general terms, acceptance of the existing 

hierarchy is validated by reference to a value considered fundamental and 

prized as such by the community (Dumont 1980; Houseman 1984; 

Tcherkezoff 1987); but the configuration of the hierarchical relations may 

change without affecting, or in order to preserve, this value. In Trunyan 

the fundamental value is without doubt the unity and cohesion of a village 

which is currently struggling to maintain a separate cultural identity within 

an increasingly normative Balinese state, and it is expressed in the myth 

through the male/female dyad - a dyad which takes precedence over all 

other dyadic relations and encompasses them. Danandjaja's study shows 

that the concern for preserving the unity and cohesion of the village 

determines the extent of the moves considered possible by individual 

groups to maintain or raise their status. It affects in particular the balance 

of power between thefirst settlers and the political rulers, two key origin 

groups, since the nature of their relations has repercussions for the


organization of the village. The interest of the origin myths lies in their 

presentation of what is in fact a complex competition for supremacy and 

power as the ideal world order without which society could not exist, and, 

through the intricacies of the nyeburin marriage, which fuses all origin 

groups together, their overriding of status differences in order to underline 

the indissoluble unity of society. In this respect the myths also fulfil an 

important ideological role in legitimating the differential ranking of each 

origin group within the village hierarchy. 

My purpose in this article is to highlight specific contexts in Danandjaja's 

ethnography in which culturally significant dyads are used to 

determine the nature of the relations between origin groups, and to 

investigate the relevance of these dyads to the ideology of unity fostered 

by the ritual village {desa adat). Given its complexity and breadth, it is not 

possible to make a complete analysis of the book within the scope of this 

article. I am therefore limiting myself to a consideration of the myths in 

which the precedence of the progenitors over the genitors is explicitly 

formulated, and of the features of the origin groups and village institutions 

in which the dyadic relations formulated in those myths are found. 

Ethnographic background 

Trunyan is a medium-sized village (1416 people in 1973) located on the 

eastern shores of Lake Batur in the ancient crater of Gunung Batur, at an 

altitude of 1038 metres. Gunung Agung rises to the east, in the kaja 

(mountainward/elevated) direction. Trunyan is reached by a road winding 

down the crater from Kintamani and Penelokan, or by crossing the lake by 

boat. The name Trunyan refers to the main residential settlement, the administrative 

unit {desa dinas) and the ritual village {desa adat). The desa 

adat is divided into six tempek, including the mother village {desa induk) 

of Trunyan and five satellite villages {anak desa): Madia-Pangkungan, 

Bunut, Puseh and Mukus. The desa adat also includes four isolated 

house-yard clusters {belongan): Kakap, Waru, Tanggung Titi and Cimelandung 

(Danandjaja 1980:32-5). Cimelandung was the original site of 

Trunyan before the village was moved to its present place. Trunyan also 

functions as the core village in a federation of villages {banua), which 

includes the 'stars of the lake' {bintang danu), namely Abang Dukuh, 

Kedisan, Songan and Buahan, as well as a number of villages in Karangasem, 

Gianyar, Tabanan and Bangli, such as Kehen, Bayung, Landih, 

Penulisan, Penrajoan, Palek and Candi Guna (Danandjaja 1980:51). 

Members of the banua have specific ritual duties to fulfil at the annual festival 

{saba gede) in the Pura Desa, on which occasion effïgies of their gods 

{pertima) ceremonially visit the Trunyan gods. 4 

4 Throughout this article, the spelling of Balinese names and words strictly follows 

the spelling used by Danandjaja in his book (Danandjaja 1980).


From a sociological perspective, the ritual and social autonomy of Trunyan 

is its most significant characteristic, as it contributes to the maintenance 

of ideas of cultural identity that are distinct from those of mainstream 

Balinese society. A strong ideal of intra-village endogamy ensures that 

contacts with other villages are reduced to a minimum. In the ritual domain, 

Brahmanical high priests {pedanda) do not perform rituals in the village 

temples. These are conducted by a village high priest (balean desa) and 

other temple priests who are related to the deities through mythical kin 

ties. The village gods are referred to as Batara Kawitan; they are deified 

ideas of origin presented in the form of ancestral figures for individual 

groups or for the entire community. 

Trunyan is an ancient village, even by Balinese standards. lts population 

is known as Bali Aga, a vague term used to refer to conservative, 

usually isolated, village communities. The term has connotations of pre- 

Hindu, 'aboriginal' populations, egalitarian social and political systems, 

and limited interaction with mainstream society over the centuries, although 

Danandjaja's ethnography clearly demonstrates this not to be the 

case. Written records (prasasti) show that the village already maintained 

relations with Balinese kingdoms in the ninth century. The historical circumstances 

of its foundation are unknown (Danandjaja 1980:37). From 

evidence provided by the origin myths and the local oral tradition it can be 

inferred that the original population probably consisted of several unrelated 

groups, which included a group of Pande, amongst others. The first 

rulers of Trunyan were members of the Pasek Kayu Selem, a local origin 

group which was later defeated by members of the Pasek Gelgel. The 

latter ruled Trunyan until the arrival of the Dutch in the present century. 

They brought with them the banjar division and a new system of desa 

adat leadership, which was superimposed upon the previous one. The two 

systems are still in existence today. Trunyan was at one stage incorporated 

into the kingdom of Karangasem, which granted the village a gift of land 

south of the main settlement. Later, Karangasem relinquished Trunyan to 

the kingdom of Bangli, with which relations appear to have been close 

enough for them to have been incorporated into the pantheon of village 

deities. Bangli donated the land where the tempek of Puseh and Mukus 

are now located. 

Trunyan is situated above the irrigation belt. Except in the main 

settlement {desa induk), where it is taboo for the population to cultivate 

rice (Danandjaja 1980:208) 5 , dry rice was grown as a main erop until the 

1963 eruption of Gunung Agung. Today rice is bought commercially. 

Corn, coffee, potatoes and other vegetables are grown in gardens established 

on the steep inclines of the ancient crater. Fish from the lake constitutes 

the major source of protein. The tourist industry has recently 

5 It is also taboo to grow papaws and bananas, as well as a variety of gourd known 

as labu jepang.

Map 2. Pura Bali Desa Pancering Jagat Bali. 

(Reproduced from Danandjaja 1980:321-3.)

Legend to Map 2 

Outside Yard - Tempek Semangen 

1. Bale banjar 7. Bale Mondar Mandir Tengen 

2. Wantilan 8. Sanggar Agung 

3. Bale kulkul 9. Bale Mondar Mandir Kiwa 

4. Belagung Maspait 10. Semangen Teruna 

5. Belagung Patemon 11. Semangen Debunga 

6. Belagung Tilem 

Inner Yard - Palinggih Maspait Complex 

12. Palinggih Ratu Ketut Gum Ning Wisesa 

13. Palinggih Ida Ayu Maspait (Ratu Sakti Gangga) 

14. Palinggih Ratu Gede Galungan dan Kuningan 

15. Sangyang Dunggulan 

16. Bale Kulkul Ratu Ayu Mekulem 

17. Petiasan Ratu Ayu Mekulem 

18. Palinggih Ratu Ayu Mekulem 

Petiasan Ratu Sakti Meduwe Raja 

21. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Meduwe Raja 

Tingkih Tengah 

22. Bale penguan nasi 24. Bale bunder 

23.Balepebat 25. Bale gong 

Palinggih Medruwe Complex 

26. Palinggih Ratu Sakti Kemulan Kangin Ulun Suwi 

27. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Kemulan Kangin Ulun Suwi 

28. Ratu Sakti Wayan Manik Gaduh 

29. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Wayan Manik Gaduh 

30. Palinggih Ratu Sakti Pujangga Lueh 

31. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Pujangga Lueh 

Penaleman Jaban 

32. Bale gong 

33. Bale Peuk 

34. Panggung Mencengkrama 

35 and 36. Bale Gunung Merau (petiasan Ratu Ayu Pingit Dalam Dasar) 

57. Palinggih Ratu Wayan Purus Mandi 

58. Palinggih Ratu Ayu Manik Surat Mepura Kangin 

59. Palinggih Ratu Wayan Basang Bedel 

Penaleman Jeroan 

37. Palinggih Ratu Ayu Pingit Dalam Dasar 

38. Palinggih Ratu Sakti Rambut Sedana


39 and 40. Pepelik Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagat 

Meru Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagat 

Palinggih Gunung Agung Complex 

43. Palinggih Betari Sri 

44. Petiasan Ratu Ayu Pujung Sari Mas Mahayun 

45. Palinggih Ratu Ayu Pujung Sari 

46. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Gunung Agung 

47. Palinggih Ratu Sakti Gunung Agung / Gunung Emas 

48. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Gunung Agung 

Palinggih Kepasekan Complex 

49. Palinggih Ratu Ngurah Puseh 

50. Petiasan Ratu Ngurah Puseh 

51. Palinggih Ratu Sakti Meduwe Gama Ujung Sari 

52. Palinggih Jero Sangyan Melinggih (Ibu) 

53. Palinggih Ratu Ngurah Pasek 

54. Petiasan Ratu Sakti Meduwe Gama 

Kemulan Kangin 

55. Palinggih Ratu Wayan Manik Sepat / Ratu Wayan Dalam Suaring Bali 

56. Tree (banyan)


become a major money-making venture, employing a number of young 

men as guides and boat operators for the conveyance of tourists across the 

lake. Nothing is known about the living-conditions of the Trunyanese 

prior to the two volcanic eruptions and the earthquake this century, but 

one may suppose the surroundings of Gunung Batur to have been a lush 

and fertile, heavily forested region in the past (Danandjaja 1980:36). 

Principles of social organization 

The desa adat is a ritual unit organized around two temples: the temple of 

the origin of the village community (Pura Desa) and the temple of the dead 

(Pura Dalem). The Pura Desa (Pura Bali Desa Pancering Jagat Bali) is a 

complex of walled enclosures housing the shrines of the village founders 

and of the deities associated with the origin and social organization of the 

village, as well as several meeting-halls (belagung) where the council of 

elders and other ritual groups meet (see map 2). The Pura Dalem is located 

at the northernmost {kangin) point of the village territory. It is the place 

where the souls of the dead go before reincarnating in their families or, if 

they do not reincarnate, before merging with other ancestral spirits in the 

crater of the volcano. The Pura Dalem has two tutelary deities: Mother 

Earth (Ibu or Sang Hyang Ibu Pertiwi) and Father Sky (Sang Hyang Aji 

Angkasa or Ratu Sakti Dalam Suarga). The main village deities include the 

first king of Trunyan, Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagat Bali, also known as 

Batara Da Tonta; his wife, Ratu Ayu Pinggit Dalam Dasar, the tutelary 

goddess of the lake; and her hermaphrodite elder brother, Ratu Sakti 

Meduwe Gama Ujung Sari, originator of the ancestral customs and traditions 

enshrined in the village laws (awig-awig). 

Trunyan is conceived as a macrocosmic universe with the Pura Desa, or, 

more accurately, the statue of the first king of Trunyan, as its centre and its 

axis. The village is oriented to a kangin/kauh axis. As a result of its geographical 

location, kangin corresponds to the north and kauh to the south, 

while kaja (mountainward) is to the east and kelod (seaward) to the west. 

This orientation also governs the layout of the residential village, the 

relation between the two desa adat temples, and the ritual seating of the 

members of the desa adat during temple festivals. 

The basic unit of social organization is the pair formed by a husband 

and wife and their children (roban or pakurenan) (Danandjaja 1980:114). 

Marriage is an essential stage in the human life cycle. It is a prerequisite for 

membership of the ritual village {desa adat) and of the origin group 

{dadia). Marriage also determines a person's fate after death; married individuals 

return to their dadia, while unmarried adults and children do not 

reincarnate - they go to.the crater with other ancestral spirits (Danandjaja 

1980:194). The value attached to marriage derives from its links with 

fecundity. It is customary to wait until the bride-to-be is pregnant before 

performing the wedding rites (Danandjaja 1980:163). The smallest ritual


unit for the ancestor cult is the dadia, which Danandjaja defines as a 'small 

clan' {kien kecil) and a minimal lineage (Danandjaja 1980:114). Danandjaja 

recorded seventeen dadia, ranging from very small (two households) to 

very large (over sixty households). Of these, only six dadia play a significant 

role in the political and ritual life of the village. Minor dadia are offshoots 

of larger dadia which may or may not maintain links with their 

original dadia. Dadia can arise in two ways: from the expansion of an 

original cluster of male kinsmen and their families, or from an association of 

several unrelated families. 6 

The dadia is firstly a descent group made up of patrilineally related male 

kinsmen and their families, who share an awareness of issuing from a single 

ancestral source. It is also a more or less discrete residential unit based on 

virilocality and, in the past, viri-patrilocality. 7 Knowledge of the genealogical 

forebears is shallow, stretching no further than four generations 

above ego's (Danandjaja 1980:147). 8 The dadia also display the features 

of origin groups organized as status lineages. Within the village they are 

hierarchically ranked according to the following criteria: first settlers are 

considered superior to later arrivals, and politically powerful groups are 

superior to the rest of the population. No^ingle dadia enjoys supremacy 

of status, however. Although ritual status tends to be stable, power and 

authority are negotiated between several dadia in different contexts, and 

village institutions such as the sibak are explicitly used to counteract the 

hegemony of any one dadia over others (Danandjaja 1980:274). Caretaker 

functions with respect to the shrines of village deities play an 

important role in determining the status of a dadia, the more so as these 

functions provide access to the agricultural land attached to the shrine and 

its produce. At the time of Danandjaja's research, the main players in the 

political and ritual arenas were two factions made up of the descendants of 

the Gelgel rulers on the one hand and several dadia sharing the status of 

first settlers on the other (Danandjaja 1980:117). 

The main residential settlement is subdivided into two banjar or 

residential units, which also implies a form of caste division. 9 Before the 

1963 partial destruction of the village, the banjar jero ('inside' banjar) 

consisted of a walled enclosure housing the descendants of the Pasek 

6 This is a feature common to dadia and sanggah gede everywhere in Bali (Geertz 

and Geertz 1975). 

7 This is congruent with recent changes in housing patterns, from large compounds 

to small houses better suited to the rising importance of the nuclear family (Danandjaja 

1980:114, 192-4). 

8 This is one generation further than is usual among commoner groups. The Trunyanese 

generation terms are, from eldest down: klakab, kumpi, kaki (M) I yaya (F), 

nanang (M) / meme (F), ego's generation, panak, cucu, kumpi, klakab (Danandjaja 

1980:137-44). 

9 Danandjaja uses the term kasta, quite rightly, I think, with reference to the 

relations between the two banjar (see, for instance, Danandjaja 1980:153).


Gelgel, former rulers of Trunyan. The remainder of the population resided 

in the banjar jaba ('outside' banjar). As the enclosure of the banjar jero 

was not rebuilt, this banjar is no longer manifest today, but the awareness 

of a difference in status between members of the banjar jero and those of 

the banjar jaba remains strong. 

The desa adat is further divided into two cosmological divisions known 

as sibak: a male (sibak muni i0 ) and a female sibak (sibak luh). This division 

does not correspond to any residential arrangement. It pertains mostly to 

the ritual domain. A representative of each sibak is needed to take care of 

the shrines of the main village deities, and the participation of members of 

both sibak is required in the preparation of major public rituals 

(Danandjaja 1980:634-48). Each dadia belongs to one of these two sibak. 

At marriage, a couple become members of the husband's dadia'?, sibak. 

The sibak division pertains also to the nature of the leadership of the desa 

adat. In the traditional system of desa adat leadership, there has to be a 

representative of each sibak for each function in the council of elders 

(Danandjaja 1980:267-9). This leadership system runs parallel to the more 

recent system introduced by the Pasek Gelgel and to the system of leadership 

of the administrative village (desa dinas) (Danandjaja 1980:263). 

According to the mythical tradition of Trunyan, both sibak were formed 

by the progeny of the first king of Trunyan and his wives. Members of the 

sibak muni are believed to originate from their male progeny, and members 

of the sibak luh from their female progeny. Membership of the sibak muni 

is exclusively by birth into a dadia included in the category of first 

settlers. All other dadia belong to the sibak luh. Newcomers are integrated 

into the sibak luh through 'adoption' by members of that sibak 

(Danandjaja 1980:132)." 

Origin myths and significant dyads 

Danandjaja collected twelve myths, legends and other narratives on the 

origin and historical past of Trunyan (Danandjaja 1980:40-53). I shall 

consider here only those which explain the village hierarchical order by 

reference to ancestral origin. The first three myths (to be referred to as 

myths A, B and C in this section) teil of the origin of the local population 

and the establishment of the small kingdom of Trunyan. Two other myths 

account for the status of two later arrivals, who are also included in the 

category of first settlers. There is no myth to account for the origin of the 

Pasek Gelgel, who are still considered 'outsiders who came to colonize' 

the area (Danandjaja 1980:123), possessing their own history, separate 

10 I am following Danandjaja's own spelling of muni here, which is usually spelt 

muani elsewhere in Bali, since Danandjaja noted that the Trunyanese dialect differs 

somewhat from ordinary Balinese. 

11 Unfortunately Danandjaja does not specify how this adoption is effected, nor does 

he mention the performance of any ritual to ratify the adoption.


from that of Trunyan, although they have in every other way been 

integrated into the village. 

Myth A. Origin ofthefirst human beings 

In the beginning there was nothing in Trunyan but a large tree called 

taru menyan, a kind of benzoin tree, which exuded a strong and heady 

perfume. Attracted by the perfume, a goddess came down from the sky 

and settled near the tree. One day, while working in the fields, she was 

impregnated by the sun and subsequently gave birth to twins: the firstborn 

was a hermaphrodite with male characteristics and the last-born a 

girl. The goddess subsequently returned to the sky and the twins 

remained on their own on earth. 12 

The first thing this myth does is ratify the claim of the Trunyanese to divine 

origin (Danandjaja 1980:2). Neither the goddess nor the sun have a shrine 

in the Pura Desa. Their structural significance lies in the undeniable association 

of their offspring with the sky. Two significant dyads are presented 

here: male/female and elder brother / younger sister. The first couple 

provides the model for a universal world order based upon the complementariness 

of the male and female principles, a recurrent theme in Balinese 

cosmological thought. In contrast to what is generally found in Bali, 

however, the male/ female dyad is not identical with sky and earth, since 

the original couple both are part of the domain of the sky. As a result, the 

value embedded in this dyad is one of complementariness, which is not 

necessarily based upon the subordination of one element to the other. In 

so far as the myth may be said to account for the origin of the society of 

Trunyan, this gives the male/female dyad an ambivalence which has important 

implications for village institutions, such as the sibak, in which it is 

found, since at that level also it is no longer feasible to speak of asymmetry 

between the groups that constitute them. 

The second dyad presented in the myth is that of the elder brother / 

younger sister. This dyad reflects an ideal world order associated with the 

respective roles of men and women, and with the differential status of the 

first-born and the last-born (see Boon 1990 for similar views). As well as 

reflecting the complementariness of the male/female dyad and of twins, it 

introduces the asymmetry inherent in the elder/younger dyad. Hence this 

dyad asserts both the interdependence of the male and female elements, 

which, like twins, originate from a single source and cannot be separated, 

and the precedence of the male over the female principle when these are 

equated with birth order. Furthermore, the hermaphrodite character of the 

elder brother suggests that the ideal state is a state of union of the two 

complementary opposites, the male and female elements. As a herma- 

12 This is a condensed translation of 'Mite Tentang Dewi Yang Turun Dari Langit' 

in Danandjaja 1980 (p. 40).

Status in the Balinese Village of Trunyan 495 

phrodite combining both male and female aspects, the elder brother is thus 

opposed to his younger sister, while at the same time encompassing her. In 

this respect, the figure of the hermaphrodite elder brother displays all the 

features associated with the progenitor line defined in terms of a woman's 

patrilines. 

/ 

elder brother 

(male) 

hermaphrodite 


(male+male +female) 

younger sister 

(female) 

Figure 1. Nature of the relations in the elder brother / younger sister dyad. 

The elder brother / younger sister dyad conveys notions of origin that are 

of relevance to the social organization of Trunyan, but (again in contrast 

with what is the norm in Bali) is not considered to be conducive to the 

continuity of life. The hermaphrodite characteristics of the elder brother 

ensure that an act of incest, from which ancient Balinese dynasties traditionally 

traced their origin, is impossible in this case. In order for life to 

continue, the elder brother / younger sister pair needs a third element, a 

genitor from the outside. Until its arrival, society remains as yet inexistent, 

although the preconditions for it are there. What the elder brother / 

younger sister dyad does, is provide the model for a hierarchical order 

which is equated with the cosmological order. However, in contrast to the 

previous dyad, which provided the model for a universal order encompassing 

the entire village society, the dyad is concerned with establishing 

the nature of the relations between origin groups within this society. 

Myth B. First alliance and foundation of Trunyan 

The king of Solo, Central Java, had four children: three sons and a 

daughter, his youngest child. The four siblings came to Bali, attracted by 

the perfume of the benzoin tree. They landed on the eastern coast, in 

Karangasem, then travelled north to Gunung Batur. Upon arriving in 

the region of Batur, the younger sister decided to settle in Pura Batur, 

where she still resides today under the name Ratu Ayu Mas Maketeg. 

Her three brothers continued their journey to the shores of the lake. The 

youngest brother settled in Kedisan and the middle brother in Abang 

Dukuh. The eldest brother moved on. Eventually he came to where the 

benzoin tree stood. There he saw the daughter of a goddess and, 

overcome with passion, united with her under the tree. He then went to 

her hermaphrodite elder brother to request his permission to marry his


younger sister. This was granted on two conditions: the son of the king 

of Solo was to move in with his wife, and he was to become the 

founding ruler of Trunyan. Having accepted these conditions, the 

couple were duly married. The Javanese prince became king of Trunyan, 

bearing the title Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagat Bali, or Powerful Root/Axis 

of the World of Bali, and the younger sister became the tutelary deity of 

the lake, bearing the title Ratu Ayu Pingit Dalam Dasar, or Sacred Inner 

Source/Origin. The hermaphrodite elder brother continued to reign as 

originator of the ancestral laws and customs. 13 

This myth can be divided into two parts. The first part establishes the 

character of the relation between the village of Trunyan and the region of 

Gunung Batur, in accordance with the idiom of the elder brother / younger 

sister dyad. It also merges the figures of the younger sister and the wife of 

the son of the king of Solo as more or less identical tutelary deities of the 

lake. 14 The settlement of the area of Batur by the four siblings suggests the 

existence of a regional network between Trunyan, the other two villages, 

and the temple of Gunung Batur, but this is not explored further in 

Danandjaja's book. Their relevance for the present paper lies in the articulation 

of dyads which recur in other Trunyan myths. 

The myth explains the settlement of the region of Batur and the foundation 

of Trunyan in terms of a recurrent pattern in which men are associated 

with society and women with the natural environment and water. In this 

context also, the male/female dyad imparts to other dyadic relations an 

ambivalence that is not resolved. From the perspective of the hierarchy of 

temple of Trunyan 

(elder brother) 

Batur regional temple 

^ (younger sister) 

temple of Abang Dukuh 

(middle brother) 

Figure 2. Temple hierarchy. 

temple of Kedisan 

(younger brother) 

13 Taken from 'Legenda Tentang Anak-anak Dalem Solo Yang Mengembara 

Mencari Sumber Bau Harum' (Danandjaja 1980:40-2). 

14 The ambivalence of the sister and wife is a recurrent Balinese motif; it has been 

noted by Boon (1990) and myself (Ottino 1993) in the context of first- and secondcousin 

marriages.

Trunyan 

(elder brother) 


Abang Dukuh 

(middle brother) 

Batur 

(younger sister) 

Figure 3. Elder/younger dyad. 

Kedisan 

(younger brother) 

temples, Pura Batur, as the regional temple of the younger sister, takes 

precedence over the temples of the villages in which each of the three 

brothers reside, whereas from the perspective of the asymmetry that is 

inherent in the birth-order dyad, the three brothers take precedence over 

their sister. 

As the two middle brothers are subordinated to their first-born brother, a 

further dyad comes into play, namely that of the first-born son who 

becomes king of Trunyan, and the last-born daughter who governs the 

lake. 15 The asymmetrie relations inherent in all these dyads remain undecided, 

according to whether it is the regional temple that is given precedence 

over the state temple of the small kingdom of Trunyan, natural fertility 

over society, first-born over last-born, or female over male. 

The second part of the myth consolidates the hierarchical order proposed 

in the first part. It affirms two points: the positive value of exogamy 

for the continuity of the ancestral line, and the precedence of the progenitor 

line over the genitor line. A distinction is made in myths A and B 

between the origin of life which results in non-productive twins but 

establishes a social order subordinating the life-bearing line (the younger 

sister) to the progenitor line (the elder brother), and the continuation of life 

which requires the intervention of a third party, the genitor line, in the 

person of the in-coming husband. It is only in so far as incest is rendered 

impossible because of the hermaphrodite character of the elder twin that 

the precedence of the progenitor line over the genitor line can be maintained, 

since it is only then that an outsider is required. The hermaphrodite 

attributes of the elder brother therefore constitute an essential element in 

the legitimation of social hierarchy, as well as representing a statement on 

the ideal of the union of the male and female principles. 

The mythical union between the younger sister and the son of the king 

of Solo is a reversal of the accepted norms of ordinary marriages. Whereas 

15 However, as Danandjaja did not investigate the links between Trunyan and the 

regional temples of Batur, it is not possible to pursue this point further.


in Bali women are usually identified with the earth and men with the sky, 

in this case the wife comes from the sky while the husband, through his 

father the king of Solo, belongs to the earth. 16 The union also is a nyeburin 

marriage, a reversed marriage of the type commonly practised in Bali, in 

which the husband moves to his wife's house yard. In nyeburin, the incoming 

husband marries with the ritual and legal status of a female {mawak 

luh, literally: has the body of a woman), while his wife acquires the status 

of a male {mawak muni: has the body of a man). The value of nyeburin is 

linked to Balinese ideas relating residence to ancestral identity; the incoming 

spouse is always subordinated to the spouse in whose ancestral 

space the couple reside. Nyeburin marriages occur for many reasons - 

usually to do with inheritance - but this type of union can also be used to 

enable a man to enter a prestigious and powerful group in order to gain 

access to a high-status position. 17 This seems to be the case here, as the 

Javanese prince leaves his ancestors to enter his wife's prestigious 

ancestral line of purely divine origin and become the founding ruler of the 

kingdom. 

The myth thus offers a model for the precedence of the progenitor line 

by suggesting that the in-coming husband rules in the name of the line of 

the elder brother. Nyeburin transforms the in-coming husband into a 

medium for the perpetuation of that line. This is an important dimension of 

the marriage, which supports the idea that the myth is primarily about 

explaining the hierarchical order. Since, as a hermaphrodite, the elder 

brother cannot marry his own sister, this means that he cannot rule as a 

king either, since fertility (the purpose of marriage) and kingship are 

seemingly related in the myth. However, he can do so through the medium 

of another man, but only under the conditions entailed by a nyeburin. 

When these are fulfilled, the inability to ensure the continuity of life gives 

the elder brother access to political power. 

The reverse marriage has important consequences for the male/female 

dyad as well as for the relations between first settlers and later arrivals. By 

virtue of her superior position in the marriage, the younger sister / wife 

partakes of female and male values, while her in-coming husband takes on, 

as well as the male value, the female value that his subordinate position 

entails. However, as well as establishing the asymmetry between progen- 

16 The association of the king of Trunyan with the earth is reinforced in the next 

myth, which describes how his effigy grows out of the soil where the dead are buried. 

17 I must refer here to my own forthcoming study of strategie alliances in a village 

of Gunung Batukau, where my findings show that nyeburin, which accounts for more 

than a third of all marriages, is sometimes contracted between parallel cousins in 

order to reunite property divided one generation earlier or to keep family assets such 

as esoteric knowledge or temple guardianship within the family. Nyeburin marriage 

within a powerful family can also enhance a man's status and enable him to have 

access to positions of political or ritual leadership which would otherwise not be open 

to him.


itors and genitors, the marriage fuses the two lines together so that they 

become indissoluble. This has important consequences for the ideology of 

unity fostered in the ritual village. 

hermaphrodite 


(male+male+female) 

younger sister / wife 

(female+male) \ 

in-coming husband 

(male+female) 

Figure 4. Hierarchical order established by the nyeburin marriage. 

Myth C. Establishment of the present-day village 

This myth explains the origin of the effigy of Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagat 

(known also as Batara Da Tonta), which occupies the main shrine in the 

temple of origin of the village. According to it, Trunyan used to be located 

further south, where Cimelandung is today (see map 1). The site on which 

the Pura Desa now stands was then known as the Dalem, the place where 

ancestral spirits go after the last purificatory rites have been performed 

after death, though the myth makes no mention of a temple - only of a 

tree, the tantan buni, used today to hang the placenta and other 

substances connected with birth in. 

One day a farmer hunting at the Dalem with his dog found a small statue 

emerging from the ground. The statue began to grow, soon reaching its 

present height of four metres. Eventually a shrine was built over it. At 

fïrst the shrine had a roof with eleven mem (a mark of the highest status 

in Balinese society), but - so the myth goes - the growing statue 

pierced through the roof of the shrine and knocked four meru down, 

leaving only seven. In time, the Pura Bali Desa Pancering Jagat Bali was 

built around the shrine, which nowadays stands in the inner sanctum 

(penaleman jeroan) together with the shrine of the wife of the former, 

Ratu Ayu Pingit Dalam Dasar (see map 2, shrines 42 and 39). 18 

This myth reinforces the identification of the ruler with the earth which 

was implied by the nyeburin marriage in the previous myth. It also asserts 

the stabilizing effect of the establishment of the kingdom on the world, 

and places the status of this kingdom within the Balinese political order. 

The appearance of the statue initiates a considerable conceptual 

18 Taken from 'Legenda Mengenai Ditemukannya Patung Ratu Sakti Pancering 

Jagat', Danandjaja 1980:44-6.


transformation in the village environment, which until then was considered 

unstable for want of a centre. As the symbolic centre of the new kingdom, 

the in-coming husband becomes identified with that kingdom altogether. 

This is congruent with the privileged status accorded to this deity in the 

village ritual life, where the figure of the king as Batara Da Tonta 

encompasses the entire society. The fact that the shrine has lost some of its 

original meru suggests also the possibility that Trunyan may have 

undergone a drop in status in the past, since the number of meru is an 

index of the status of an origin group in the Balinese hierarchical order. 

Eleven meru is the largest permitted number, nowadays allowed only for 

high-caste rulers. Seven is the number of meru allotted to high-status 

commoner groups such as the Pasek - which may refer to the 

consequences of Pasek rule in the past. More importantly for the present 

purpose, however, the myth affirms the precedence of the progenitor line 

over the genitor line. The statue is not merely a representation of the first 

king of Trunyan. Since it grew out of the soil of the Dalem, the place 

where the ancestors reside after purification, it is also an iconic 

representation of the fusion of the king's genitor line with the line of the 

progenitors symbolized by the soil of the Dalem, where the ancestors 

associated with the primordial twins are buried. 

Through the symbolism of the growing statue, myth C repeats the statement 

made in myth B in a more forcible manner: the ideal world order is 

based upon the precedence of progenitors over genitors, although the two 

are fused together in such a way that they cannot be separated. While 

myth B postulates the positive value of this order as the source of fertility 

and life, myth C underlines its value as the source of social stability and 

prosperity for the whole community. In both myths, however, the 

ambivalence in the male/ female dyad remains unresolved. Female fertility 

in the nyeburin marriage takes precedence over male political power, but it 

is subordinated to the male authority of ancestral customs and order 

represented by the hermaphrodite elder brother figure. 

Social organization; Structure and articulation of dyads 

The dyads formulated in the myths discussed in the previous section are 

echoed in the social organization of Trunyan. They serve to determine the 

inner structure of the dadia as well the differential status of each dadia in 

the village hierarchical order. 

Structure of the dadia 

Internally, the dadia of Trunyan exhibit the following characteristics: they 

are ramified 19 and they are ideologically endogamous. The ramified 

19 In this respect, the dadia are remarkably similar to the Polynesian ramage 

described by Marshall Sahlins in Social Stratification in Polynesia (Sahlins 1958: 

ch.8). Both are non-exogamous and internally stratified patrilineal descent groups,


structure is related to the ranking of brothers in elder/younger categories 

within the family, and the differential ranking of elder/younger lines within 

the descent group. 20 

In spite of the nature of the mythical marriage of the village founders, 

nyeburin is not a form of marriage reported by Danandjaja as being 

practised in Trunyan. Membership of the dadia is reckoned exclusively by 

descent through the male line. Yet, although descent is patrilineally 

reckoned, a man must nevertheless maintain a ritual connection with his 

wife's ancestors, whether she comes from another dadia or from his own, 

and his sons must perpetuate this ritual connection during their life-time. 

This suggests, at this level also, an awareness of the importance of the 

progenitor line (wife's father's and mother's brother's line) as the lifegiving 

line for the family. First-born children, both sons and daughters, 

take precedence over other siblings in the ritual domain. They have 

important functions to fulfil during their adolescence, as servants of the 

king of Trunyan and his first wife. Young unmarried men (teruna) serve 

the king and young unmarried women (debunga) his wife. Last-born sons, 

however, take precedence over first-born sons in the commensal domain. 

They inherit the parental house or compound, and look after their parents 

after thèir retirement. They also take over the leadership of the family 

compound and take charge of the ritual duties pertaining to the ancestral 

cult within the family (Danandjaja 1980:190). 21 

Dadia are known by the name of their current leaders. Unfortunately 

Danandjaja does not make any mention of the procedure for the transmission 

of leadership in the dadia, although he does refer to the existence 

of a core line. This core line may be connected with the original dadia, 

which acquires the status of elder line vis-a-vis offshoots (younger lines), 

or, if the dadia came into existence through the fusion of two or more 

unrelated descent groups, with the highest-ranking dadia. For instance, 

the dadia Pasek Gelgel (also known as dadia Guru Kawidana, after the 

present leader) is made up of three sub-dadia: the sub-dadia Pasek, the 

whose criterion for stratificatiun is the distance of the senior line of descent from the 

common ancestor (Sahlins 1958:140). In each case the system of ramification is also 

based on the principle of seniority in the family; in Trunyan, furthermore, this 

principle also determines the socio-political status of each dadia in the village. 

20 As the terms of address show, hierarchical notions permeate every facet of the 

social relations of the Trunyanese. Within the family a distinction is made between the 

terms of address for individuals older and younger than ego in ego's generation, and 

for individuals older and younger than ego's parents in the generation above ego's. 

In ego's generation, siblings and cousins older than ego are addressed as bli (elder 

brother) or mbok (elder sister), whereas siblings and cousins younger than ego are 

addressed as adi. In ego's parents' generation, male and female siblings older than 

each parent are addressed as iwa, while male siblings younger than each parent are 

addressed as nanang and female siblings as memen. 

21 See also Fox 1990:13 for a similar pattern of inherited functions between firstborn 

and last-born sons on Roti.


sub-dadia Panyarikan and the sub-dadia Tangkas, originating from three 

different ancestral lines corresponding to three official functions in the 

customary village. However, the dadia Pasek Gelgel supports only one 

origin temple (sanggah) and forms a single ritual unit. The possibility of 

fusion thus belies any idea of strict patrilineal descent (Fox, personal 

communication). 

The dadia fosters an ideal of endogamy. As dadia forebears are 

believed to reincarnate into their descendants, it is dangerous to marry a 

woman from another dadia, as this will leave open the possibility that 

one's ancestor will reincarnate into the wife's dadia. The thought of this 

is anathema to the Trunyanese, for whom the idea that such an ancestor 

may, as a child in another reincarnation, be beaten by individuals who 

were inferior to him in a previous existence is particularly distasteful. 

However, although dadia endogamy is highly prized, one should not 

marry too close. There is an incest prohibition on marriage with the 

patrilateral parallel cousin (FBD). Marriage with the patrilateral crosscousin 

(FZD) is allowed, without being particularly encouraged. Marriage 

with the MBD or MZD is allowed if it involves a woman from the same 

dadia. The best marriage - that is, the marriage which combines safety 

with preservation of the ideal of dadia endogamy - is marriage with the 

second cousin if she is a woman from the same dadia, though it must be 

noted that Danandjaja does not specify whether a distinction is made 

between patrilineal and matrilineal second cousins. Oblique marriages are 

forbidden, with the exception of marriage between a man and the 

daughter of his first cousin (whether parallel or cross unfortunately is not 

known). This union is considered particularly fertile and is compared to the 

taro offshoot growing better under the protection of its parent plant (kladi 

ngutup panak: the taro covers its child) (Danandjaja 1980:162). 

The taboo upon marriage with the FBD possibly contributes to maintenance 

of the inner ramification of the dadia, which would be blurred if 

the son of a younger brother married the daughter of an elder brother. 

While marriage between an elder brother's son and younger brother's 

daughter reinforces the ramified structure, other forms of endogamous 

union singled out as possible or desirable can fulfil the requirements of 

endogamy without the inconvenience of being so close. More importantly, 

however, since a man retains ritual obligations towards his wife's and 

mother's forebears, marriage with the FBD would also blur the asymmetry 

between the progenitor and genitor lines which is presented in the myths 

as a fundamental dimension of the world order. 

Dadia ranking and hierarchical structure of the village 

The dadia are also status lineages hierarchically ordered according to the 

following criteria: first settlers (pribumi in Danandjaja's text) take 

precedence over later arrivals, and the descendants of the village rulers are 

purer than the rest of the population. As the village rulers are distinct from


the first settlers, having arrived comparatively late in the history of 

Trunyan, this means that no single group has supreme status in the village 

hierarchy. Rather, this status is contextual and is shared between two main 

protagonists: a high-status dadia of first settlers who are identified with 

natural fertility and the younger sister / wife in the myths, and the Pasek 

Gelgel, who, having 'appropriated' the person of the hermaphrodite elder 

brother, now control this fertility and impose their own political order (or 

at least, did so until the arrival of the Dutch). The negotiation of status 

between these two groups brings into play the asymmetry implied by the 

elder/younger, first-born/last-born and inside/outside dyads in the various 

contexts in which one group may claim precedence over the other. This is 

cancelled, however, at the level of the sibak, where the relations between 

sibak muni and sibak luh (male and female sibak), which are shaped by 

the value of complementariness inherent in this dyad in the myths, prevent 

the supremacy of any one group. 

The ranking of each dadia is directly related to the status of its apical 

ancestor among the progeny of the king of Trunyan. All dadia are 

connected to the ritual village {desa adat) through a temple of ancestral 

origin {sanggah dadia) erected on public land outside the Pura Desa, 

where the lineage ancestors are venerated anonymously along with a 

mythical apical 'ancestor' with whom no genealogical ties exist, who is 

believed to be one of the descendants of the first king of Trunyan and his 

several wives. This ancestral figure has no connection with a founding 

forebear, since, when a sub-dadia branches out of the mother dadia and 

builds its own sanggah, a new apical ancestor can be produced to support 

its autonomous status. Danandjaja reports one such instance of a dadia 

severing its ties with its original group recently by claiming to be descended 

from another son of the king of Trunyan, albeit one of lesser 

standing (Danandjaja 1980:653). The apical 'ancestor' worshipped in the 

sanggah dadia must therefore be placed in a category of his own. His 

primary function is to institutionalize the dadia's ranking within the 

village hierarchy, in accordance with the principles of birth order and the 

differential status of the king's wives. In other words, the apical ancestor 

anchors the origin group to the ritual village. In this respect, he is not a 

founding ancestor so much as a marker of status, an index of the position 

of the dadia within the social hierarchy, and a point of reference by means 

of which a dadia can enforce its claim to a given rank and have it 

accepted by other dadia. One effect of this is that the dadia are 

subordinated to the ritual village (desa adat) in accordance with an idiom 

of parent/child relationship which preserves the precedence of the village 

community over individual groups. 

The status of each dadia is also reflected in the number and importance 

of the shrines it supports in the Pura Desa, apart from its apical ancestor. 

The dadia with the largest number of shrines are considered the most 

powerful, as are the dadia which support the shrines of important deities


such as the tutelary goddess of the lake. There is one significant exception 

to this: the shrine of the king of Trunyan is supported equally by every 

dadia. At the time of Danandjaja's research, three dadia were competing 

for supremacy of status and power. These were the dadia Mangku 

Seripen, the highest-ranking first-settler origin group, the dadia Nang 

Jebut, descended from the first rulers of Trunyan, and the dadia Guru 

Kawidana, descended from the Gelgel rulers (Danandjaja 1980:121) - 

although none could be said to have achieved absolute supremacy. 

Descendants of the Pasek Gelgel 

This origin group comprises one dadia, the dadia Guru Kawidana, which 

is made up of three sub-dadia corresponding to the three functions of 

leadership in the desa adat (Danandjaja 1980:129-30), and whose 

members tracé their ancestry to the rulers of the village. The Pasek Gelgel 

introduced a system of political leadership based on the functions of pasek 

(village treasurer), panyarikan (secretary/scribe) and tangkas (a kind of 

village police), which was retained until the arrival of the Dutch this 

century (Danandjaja 1980:123). Members of this dadia are found 

exclusively in the main residential settlement of Trunyan. Before the partial 

destruction of Trunyan during the 1963 Gunung Agung eruption, they 

resided inside a walled enclosure known as banjar jero, with the 

remainder of the population living outside the enclosure, in the banjar 

jaba. 

The dadia Guru Kawidana supports the largest number of shrines in the 

Pura Desa, including one of the most important (Danandjaja 1980:123). 

According to some of Danandjaja's informants, the ancestors of this dadia 

appropriated the shrines forcibly when they took over the leadership of 

the village. They include the shrines of the Pasek gods in the Kepasekan 

Complex (see map 2) and that of Ratu Sakti Meduwe Gama Ujung Sari, 

the hermaphrodite elder brother, maker of the awig-awig (shrine 51), 

whose son Ratu Wayan Manik Genta Dalam Pejasan is also its apical 

ancestor. The dadia thus traces a privileged relationship to the most 

elevated mythical origin, which gives them access to the status of first 

settlers through the persons of the elder brother and his son, as well as that 

of village rulers. From this perspective, the dadia Guru Kawidana may be 

said to have the highest status within the village hierarchy, a status 

maintained in the past by its ability to enforce its political superiority over 

the other groups. Significantly, this dadia does not claim to be descended 

from the first king of Trunyan but from his wife's elder brother's son, thus 

proclaiming exceptional status and superiority over other origin groups by 

aligning itself with the progenitor line. This is congruent with its claim to 

greater purity embedded in the inside/outside dyad articulated by the 

caste-like distinction between the banjar jero and banjar jaba. Members 

of the Pasek Gelgel belong to the banjar jero, consider themselves to be 

purer than the rest of the village population, and enforce restrictions on


behaviour and marriage whose non-observation in the past was liable to 

bring down severe sanctions upon the members of the banjar jaba 

(Danandjaja 1980:125). The dadia also takes charge of the Kentel Gumi 

temple, which was built by the ancestors of the Pasek Gelgel when they 

settled in Trunyan (Danandjaja 1980:644). It possesses its own body of 

customs (awig-awig) with regulations specific to this group. 

At marriage, jero men acquire the title of gum - although their wives do 

not. This is true regardless of whether the wife is ajero or zjaba woman, 

and it may go back to a time when the newly arrived Pasek rulers married 

local women - although Danandjaja is silent on this point. Formerly it was 

taboo for ajaba person to articulate aloud the personal name of a member 

of the banjar jero. Jero children were also distinguished by their birthorder 

names. Jaba children did not receive birth-order names, but were 

known simply by their personal names, prefixed by I for a boy and Ni for a 

girl. This is no longer the case, but the birth-order name Made is still not 

used by members of the jaba, Nengah being used instead, while I and Ni 

continue to be prefixed to the birth-order names (Danandjaja 1980:130). 22 

Until recently hypogamous unions, i.e., marriages between ajero woman 

and ajaba man, were forbidden and punishable by death. Although they 

are no longer liable to the death sentence today, hypogamous unions are 

still widely discouraged. When they occur, the jaba husband must observe 

certain taboos, such as not being at his wife's side when she gives birth. 23 

The jaba woman who manies a jero man must undergo a rite of purification 

before marriage. 

First settlers 

The category of first settlers comprises four unrelated dadia and their 

offshoots. They include the original population, about whom nothing is 

known except that their origin is identified with the foundation of 

Trunyan, a group of Pande consisting of three unrelated sub-dadia, the 

descendants of the original population of Bunut, which was annexed by 

Trunyan at some stage in the past, and a low-status origin group which 

probably came from Bangli and about which little is known. All these 

origin groups support the shrines of female deities associated with natural 

fertility, cultivated plants, food and fecundity. 

The highest-ranking origin group is the dadia Mangku Seripen, a dadia 

made up of the descendants of the first people to occupy the area, who 

have the status of most direct descendants of the mythical village 

founders. lts apical ancestor is the first-born son of the first king of 

22 Similar practices are found in the region of Gunung Batukau, in the villages 

located on the traditional (adat) territory of Wangaya Gede in Tabanan. 

23 This is contrary to the Trunyanese custom, which requires a husband to be present 

at the birth of his children and participate by holding his wife against his chest while 

she is giving birth.


Trunyan and his first wife. This deity, known as Ratu Gede Dalam Dasar, 

has an 'assistant' (penitera), Ratu Ayu Mas Panyarikan, who is also his 

first cousin. She is his mother's hermaphrodite elder brother's daughter 

and the sister of the Pasek Gelgel's apical ancestor (Danandjaja 1980:652; 

see also figure 6 below). The status of Ratu Gede Dalam Dasar is 

somewhat different from that of the apical ancestors of other dadia. He is 

the leader (perbekel) of the apical ancestors of all the other dadia in the 

village, and a collective deity in the same way as the deities housed in the 

Pura Desa (in Danandjaja's words, a god 'bersifat nasional'), possessing a 

somewhat similar status. In addition, this god governs the waters of the 

lake, together with his mother (Danandjaja 1980:650). Thus, this apical 

ancestor plays two roles: as perbekel he encompasses all the other dadia 

ancestors, and is therefore associated with the village society as a whole 

and with male values, while as one of the two tutelary deities of the lake, 

he partakes also of the female values associated with fertility and life. This 

gives the dadia Mangku Seripen a status similar to that of the dadia Guru 

Kawidana, a point which is left unresolved in Danandjaja's ethnography. 

The dadia Mangku Seripen supports the shrines of two female deities 

associated with fertility in the Pura Desa, namely the younger sister / wife 

and Betari Sri, goddess of cultivated plants and food, as well as the shrine 

of a female deity known as Ida Ayu Maspait or Ratu Sakti Gangga, the 

goddess of sound (see map 2, shrines 35 and 43, and shrine 13), who is 

also associated with life. 

Two sub-dadia have recently split off from the dadia Mangku Seripen 

and have since built their own sanggah dadia. One of these severed its 

ties with the mother dadia by building a shrine dedicated to another son 

of the village founders, whom it now claims as its apical ancestor (Danandjaja 

1980:653). However, both offshoots continue to share caretaking 

duties with respect to the shrines supported by the mother dadia in the 

Pura Desa. The fact that segmentation entails a loss of status by the subdadia 

supports the view that the apical ancestor is employed primarily as 

an idiom for speaking about the ranking of a group within the social order. 

The second origin group included in the category of first settlers is the 

dadia Nang Jebut, a high-ranking group tracing its origin to the Pasek 

Kayu Selem, the first rulers of Trunyan, who were later defeated by the 

Pasek Gelgel. This dadia occupies an ambivalent position in Trunyan. As 

original rulers, they help support all the Pasek shrines with the Pasek 

Gelgel and partake of the male values associated with political leadership. 

As members of the category of first settlers, however, they help support the 

shrine of the goddess of sound (shrine 13) with the dadia Mangku 

Seripen and one of its offshoots, dadia Mangku Madias, and partake of 

female values. In accordance with the female status of the first settlers, the 

Pasek Kayu Selem also traces its ancestry to a woman, the sister of an 

ancestral elder brother / younger sister pair. A myth accounts for this. 

According to it, the brother, Pasek Nyoman Trunyan, fulfilled the function


of minister at the court of the first king of Trunyan. One day the king sent 

him to his father's court in Solo to fetch a gamelan for his brother residing 

in Tirta Empul and buffaloes for himself. The king of Solo entrusted 

Nyoman Trunyan with the gamelan and a gourd containing, he said, 

buffalo seeds (bibit kerbau). Unfortunately Nyoman Trunyan, who could 

not believe that such a small container could hold buffaloes, surreptitiously 

opened it to check, whereupon the buffaloes escaped. Feeling remorseful, 

Nyoman Trunyan presented the king of Trunyan with the gamelan, 

instead of giving it to his brother. On hearing what had happened, the 

king of Solo became so angry that he cursed Nyoman Trunyan's descent 

line into extinction. As such, the Pasek Kayu Selem are descended from 

the line of Nyoman Trunyan's sister (Danandjaja 1980:124). This myth is 

all the more interesting as it duplicates the pattern found in the origin 

myths of Trunyan. In each case the elder brother's line is non-productive - 

either because the elder brother is a hermaphrodite or, as in this instance, 

because he is cursed - and the group traces its origin to the younger sister. 

Thus, besides integrating the Pasek Kayu Selem into the category of first 

settlers, its origin myth also repeats the ideal pattern by asserting the 

precedence of the progenitor line (elder brother) over the genitor line (the 

younger sister's husband, who, in the present myth, remains unknown). 

The ambiguous status of this origin group is further borne out by the 

fact that, although they are included in the category of first settlers, the 

Pasek Kayu Selem are not connected with the mythical village founders 

by an apical ancestor. They support, with the Pasek Gelgel, a shrine named 

Jero Sangyan Melinggih or Ibu (map 2, shrine 52), dedicated to a deity 

who is credited with having built the kepasekan complex (Danandjaja 

1980:636). 

Two further dadia are included in the category of first settlers. The first 

is the dadia Nang Megati, a member of the Pande origin group, which is 

unrelated to any other origin groups in Trunyan. This dadia is made up of 

three similarly unrelated sub-dadia, each with their own origin temple 

(sanggah) (Danandjaja 1980:651). As a member of the group of first 

settlers, this dadia helps support the shrine of the younger sister / wife 

(shrine 39), as well as the twin shrines of the goddess of food and 

cultivated plants, Dewi Sri, and her companion, the god of Gunung Agung, 

Ratu Sakti Gunung Agung / Gunung Emas (shrines 45 and 47). lts apical 

ancestor, Ratu Agung Muter, is not connected in any way with the village 

founders. The second dadia is the dadia Nang Kremi, a group whose 

apical ancestor is the anonymous son of the youngest wife of the king of 

Trunyan, the daughter of Batara Kehen from Pura Kehen in Bangli. She 

brought with her a dowry of irrigated rice fields located in the village of 

Jehem, near Pura Kehen, whose produce is shared between Trunyan and 

Jehem. Her marriage is said to have terminated a feud between Batur and 

Bangli, arising from Batara Batur's refusal to allow Batara Kehen Bangli a 

share of the water from the lake for irrigation. When she moved to


Trunyan, the young wife brought with her iron eels, which she threw into 

the lake. Since then, water has been flowing freely into the region of 

Kehen. She assumed the title Ratu Ayu Mekulem upon marriage, and her 

shrine is located in the Komplex Maspait (see map 2, shrine 18). As befits 

her status as youngest wife, she has the task of providing food for her 

husband and his guests on the occasion of temple festivals. 

The links between the dadia Nang Kremi and Bangli are not made 

explicit. However, Danandjaja makes a passing reference to some conflict 

between this group and the village about the allocation of rice from the 

Jehem fields, which suggests that their status was not clearly defined then 

(Danandjaja 1980:128-9). They support the shrine of their tutelary 

goddess and provide a priest with the title Dangka - unique in Trunyan - 

for that shrine. 

Comments on dadia ranking 

The status of each dadia is articulated in an idiom of siblingship between 

the respective apical ancestors, bringing into play the elder/younger and 

first-born/last-born dyads. Accordingly, the highest-ranking first-settler 

dadia, the dadia Mangku Seripen, validates its claim to supremacy by 

identifying itself with the first-born son of the king of Trunyan and his first 

wife, thereby combining the superior status of elder, male and first-born. 

Via this deity, the dadia can be said to control human fertility through 

descent, since its apical ancestor fulfilled the function of perbekel for the 

apical ancestors of all the other dadia, as well as through natural fertility, 

symbolized by the waters of the lake, over which this god rules together 

with his mother. Yet, although it is connected directly to the genitor line, its 

connection with the progenitor line remains at best indirect. It is brought 

about in two ways: at the level of the village, via the person of their apical 

ancestor's mother's hermaphrodite elder brother, and at the origin-group 

level, via the hermaphrodite elder brother's daughter, who acts as penitera 

- a term meaning 'secretary' and 'clerk' but also having connotations of 

representation, delegation and active power - to her cousin, the dadia's 

apical ancestor. The relation between the two cousins is interesting, since it 

does not quite fuse the progenitor and the genitor lines together, but 

merely suggests the existence of a connection based on co-operation 

between the two key origin groups. Furthermore, it reverses the asymmetry 

at the level of the village between the village rulers and the first settlers. 

However, because of the ambiguity created in the previous generation by 

the nyeburin marriage, which gives the wife male status, the union of Ratu 

Gede Dalam Dasar with his first cousin would have had the status of a 

marriage with a parallel cousin, which is considered incestuous in Trunyan 

and is strictly forbidden. The consistent avoidance of incest in the mythical 

tradition of Trunyan is sociologically significant enough to be mentioned 

again here, as it implies an awareness of the value of admitting outsiders to 

the village society, either through exogamous alliances in the myths or by


hermaphrodite 

elder brother younger 

sister 

nyeburin 

ïn-coming 

husband 

assistant 

daughter son son 

1 I 

dadia Mangku Seripen 

and sub-dadia 

dadia 

Nang Kremi 

daughter 

Kingof Bangli 

Figure 5. Ranking of fïrst-settler dadia in village hierarchy. 

the integration of new-comer groups through 'adoption' in social life. In 

this respect, it is in contradiction with the ideology of endogamy professed 

by the dadia. 

The supreme status of the first settlers is challenged by the dadia Guru 

Kawidana, which by-passes the genitor line altogether by claiming the son 

of the hermaphrodite elder brother as its apical ancestor. As this god also is 

the cousin of dadia Mangku Seripen's apical ancestor, and the brother of 

his 'assistant', it is difficult to establish a definite hierarchical order between 

the two dadia. To the ex tent that both dadia are connected to the 

progenitor line, their status would appear to be more or less similar. In fact 

this is not the case. By identifying itself solely with the hermaphrodite 

elder brother's line, the dadia Guru Kawidana denies any direct association 

with the first settlers, personified by the younger sister / wife. This 

is congruent with the caste ideology fostered by the Pasek Gelgel in the 

past, which is reflected in the jero/jaba division; but it does not refer to 

any restrictions on marriage between them and the village population, 

since Pasek Gelgel men could marry jaba women. What the identification 

of the dadia Guru Kawidana with the elder brother's son does rather, is 

assert the supremacy of the male principle associated with control of 

political power and, by extension, the superiority of this group over the 

groups identified with female values. This gives added significance to the 

relation between the apical ancestor of the dadia Mangku Seripen and his 

cross-cousin, the sister of the apical ancestor of the dadia Guru Kawidana.


As I mentioned in the previous section, this relation can only be of a 

contractual nature, acknowledging the co-operation between the first 

settlers and the village rulers. If this sister had married her cousin, the son 

of the younger sister and her in-coming husband, their marriage not only 

would have reversed this situation, but also would have fused the two 

groups together, blurring the distinction between first settlers and village 

rulers, a distinction which appears to be crucially important in the 

hierarchy of Trunyan. Although the function of assistant suggests a 

position of subordination, this distinction is nevertheless preserved. 

Marriage between the two cousins, on the other hand, would have implied 

a cancellation of the hierarchical order proposed in the origin myths. This 

cannot possibly take place without endangering access to the sources of 

life and fertility, which is based upon the fundamental distinction between 

the progenitor line and the genitor line, and the precedence of the former 

over the latter. 

hermaphrodite 

elder brother younger 

sister 

nyeburin 

assistant 

son daughter son 

pasek 

Gelgel 

in-coming 

husband 

1 

dadia Mangku Seripen 

and sub-dadia 

Figure 6. Negotiation of status between the highest-ranking 

fïrst-settler group and the political rulers. 

Sibak division; The male/female dyad and the abolition of hierarchy 

between origin groups in the ritual village 

The sibak division is linked to the idea of complementariness between the 

male and female principles and the positive value of their union for the 

society of the village. It is based on the cultural image of the husband/wife 

pair as the unit of reproduction and productivity, and the brother/sister 

pair as the unit of co-operation and solidarity. These perceptions permeate


the values attached to the sibak, whose main purpose, according to 

Danandjaja's informants, is to stop the Pasek Gelgel securing predominant 

power over the other origin groups. Indeed, while the sibak ideology 

fosters an ideal of the complementariness of tasks, village solidarity and 

ritual unity, in the domain of traditional leadership in the ritual village 

(desa adat) it tips the balance of power in favour of the first settlers. 

The sibak division pertains to the domains of desa adat membership, 

traditional leadership, and the sharing of ritual duties. It is also a cosmological 

division, by means of which the village population is classified into 

two ideal groups, each with characteristics associated with the male and 

female principles. Members of the male sibak are supposed to be darkskinned, 

with wavy or curly hair and abundant body hair. They are tall 

and strong, with well-built bodies. By contrast, members of the female 

sibak should be light-skinned, fine-featured, with straight hair and no 

body hair. The male sibak is associated with the right and the seaward 

(kelod) direction and the female sibak with the left and the mountainward 

(kaja) direction. Each dadia belongs to one or other sibak. A couple 

enters the sibak of the husband's dadia on completion of the marriage 

rites, and remains there until their children are married or one spouse dies, 

unless an unmarried child of the same sex as the deceased is available to 

take over. What is important is to keep the male/female unit intact. 

Membership of youth associations is a corollary of the parents' sibak 

membership. In order to be able to become a member of such an 

association, a youth must have a counterpart of the same sex in the 

opposite sibak. First-born sons and daughters enter these youth 

associations to serve the village founders. Boys become teruna and serve 

the king of Trunyan; girls become debunga and serve his wife, the tutelary 

goddess of the lake. 

Traditional leadership of the desa adat is based upon the male/female 

and elder/younger dyads. In accordance with the precedence given to 

female values in the mythical tradition, the desa adat'?, highest-ranking 

leader is a woman, the balean desa, whose role is that of a ritual officiant 

and medium for the village deity, Ratu Sakti Pancering Jagat. This function 

is in a category of its own, however, as the balean desa's primary purpose 

is to provide a body for the village deity to communicate with his descendants, 

and it could be argued that in this context the balean desa acts as 

the female counterpart and complement of the male deity. This is 

supported by the fact that the balean desa should remain unmarried. 

Below her, the leadership is organized dualistically, per sibak, and functions 

are held exclusively by men. They include, in descending order, two 

kubayan, two bau mucuk, two bau madenan, two bau merapat, and so on 

(Danandjaja 1980:269). All members of the desa adat become part of the 

council of elders (krama desa) in accordance with the position of their 

dadia in the sibak, and they are eligible for leadership positions on the 

basis of seniority. In principle, one moves up as the eldest member of the


krama desa retires or dies; in practice, however, the move requires the 

performance of costly rituals, which are not always performed. Hence, as 

Danandjaja noted, the top functions are not always filled (Danandjaja 

1980:265). 

The sibak division is central to the organization of work involved in the 

preparation and performance of rituals in the two desa adat temples, the 

Pura Desa and the Pura Dalem. It plays a particularly important role in the 

performance of Batara Berutuk, the fertility rite conducted in the Pura 

Desa during Saba Gede every alternate year (Danandjaja 1980:389-421, 

especially 396-8). On this occasion, two young men from the teruna youth 

association enact the original union of the ancestral founders. The 

representative of the male sibak plays the part of the king of Trunyan, 

while the representative of the female sibak plays that of his wife. Both 

actors stand in a well-defined space outside the Pura Desa, the wife on the 

kangin side and the husband on the kauh side. The wife tries to escape 

from the space occupied by her without getting caught by the husband. If 

she succeeds, sterility and droughts are feared to ensue. If she is caught, 

however, they go through the ritual re-enactment of the original mythical 

union to ensure rainfall, fertility of the crops and fecundity of women for 

the forthcoming year. 

Integration in the sibak and village hierarchy 

The sibak division links each origin group to the social order in accordance 

with the value embedded in the male/female dyad. In this connection, 

members of the sibak muni (male sibak) tracé their origin to the male 

offspring of the village founders, and members of the sibak luh (female 

sibak) to their female offspring. Membership of the male sibak is exclusively 

by birth into a dadia which belongs to that sibak. It is restricted to 

three origin groups in the first-settler category: the dadia Mangku Seripen, 

the highest-ranking origin group, which traces its origin to the first-born 

son of the village founders, the dadia Nang Megati, the Pande origin 

group, and the dadia Nang Kremi, which traces its origin to Bangli. All 

three dadia claim descent from the male offspring of the village founders 

and, in this context, are considered as being of equal status. It is important 

to note, however, that it is not possible to equate the sibak muni with the 

category of first settlers (pribumi in Danandjaja's text), since not all firstsettler 

dadia are included in it. Low-status first-settler dadia and offshoots 

of the three dadia in the sibak muni are integrated in the sibak luh. 

Membership of the female sibak is open to all new-comer groups. They 

include the Pasek Gelgel origin group, the descendants of the population 

of Bunut, the Pasek Kayu Selem origin group, and various low-status 

minor dadia. Integration into the female sibak is articulated in an idiom of 

adoption of the new arrival by the other dadia (Danandjaja 1980:132). 

Members of the female sibak claim descent from the female offspring of the 

village founders. Offshoots of the male sibak dadia lose their status and


become integrated into female sibak as 'new-comers'. This suggests the 

awareness of an asymmetrical relationship between the sibak muni and 

sibak luh, which gives precedence to the male over the female sibak. This 

is true in the sense that, in so far as the descendants of the male offspring 

are considered superior to those of the female offspring, the sibak division 

preserves the superiority of the first settlers in the domains of ritual and 

traditional leadership. In this respect, the sibak division may be said to 

reverse the asymmetry established by the inside/outside (jeroljaba) 

division in the domain of political leadership, and consequently to restrict 

the power of the Pasek Gelgel. This is supported by the fact that, in the 

domain of traditional leadership of the desa adat, a representative of each 

sibak should be appointed to every function. Since membership of the 

sibak muni is reserved exclusively to the three high-ranking first-settler 

dadia, these dadia provide correspondingly more leaders than the dadia 

of the sibak luh. Hence, in this context at least, the sibak division ensures 

that the balance of power and authority remains in favour of the first 

settlers. As such, it counterbalances the hegemony of the system of 

leadership established by the Pasek Gelgel, according to which access to 

the functions of pasek, panyarikan and tangkas is reserved exclusively to 

members of the dadia Guru Kawidana. 

It is important to note, however, that the sibak division was probably 

introduced before the jero/jaba division, which came about at a later date, 

during the ascendancy of the Pasek Gelgel, who were the second rulers of 

Trunyan. This raises the possibility that the purpose and meaning of this 

institution have undergone some degree of transformation over the 

centuries in response to the changing political conditions in Trunyan. It is 

obvious that the sibak today fulfils a political role for which it was not 

initially designed, in that it preserves a balance of authority and power 

which respects local notions of equity within the confines of the village. 

Sibak Muni Sibak Luh 

1. dadia Nang Seripen 4. dadia Guru Kawidana (Pasek Gelgel 

(highest-ranking first settlers) origin group - three sub-dadia) 

2. dadia Nang Megati (Pande 5. dadia Nang Jebut (first rulers 

origin group - three sub-dadia) of Trunyan - Pasek Kayu Selem) 

3. dadia Nang Kremi (low- 6. dadia Mangku Madias (first 

ranking first settlers associated settlers - offshoot of dadia Nang 

with Bangli) Seripen) 

7. other minor dadia 

Figure 7. Ranking of dadia in the sibak division.


However, because of the ambivalence inherent in the male/female dyad, 

where neither element can be said to take precedence over the other, it is 

impossible for any one sibak to claim superiority in the desa adat - 

although from the perspective of the dadia this can be done on a private 

basis, and by reference to values pertaining to other dyads. Thus, although 

the first settlers play a greater role in the traditional leadership system, the 

ideology of the sibak explicitly denies the importance of this fact, just as it 

denies the superiority of the Pasek Gelgel. From this perspective, the sibak 

are interdependent and complementary, and are not mutually related in an 

asymmetrie manner. This is underlined repeatedly in the origin myths, 

namely by the fact that each of the deities with whom these groups are 

identified - the hermaphrodite elder brother, the nyeburin wife / younger 

sister, and the in-coming husband - displays both male and female 

characteristics. It is also emphasized on ritual occasions, when the council 

of elders sits in the assembly hall, with the female sibak in the elevated 

direction {kaja) on the left, and the male sibak in the lower direction 

(kelod) on the right. Although a priori this looks like a reversal of the 

accepted world order, it is in fact congruent with the mythical direction of 

the flow of the water of the lake, a direction which is symbolically equated 

with the flow of life. The water flows from Songan, in the kangin direction, 

to Abang Dukuh, in the kauh direction (see map 1). The council of elders is 

seated in such a way as to form a single body facing the kauh direction, 

with kangin in the back, kaja to the left and kelod to the right. Although 

this point is not pursued by Danandjaja, it suggests that the sibak is 

conceived as a single unit made up of two complementary but indissoluble 

parts, a conception that is congruent with the values expressed in the 

male/female dyad. It also suggests that the relevant domain of the sibak is 

that of the preservation and improvement of this flow of life, maintained 

mostly through the performance of rituals in the public temples. 

Conclusion 

The data presented in this paper highlight several important aspects of the 

social organization of Trunyan. The village society is characterized by the 

co-existence of two levels, one of which is subordinated to the other, 

which encompasses it. The subordinate level is that of the dadia, where 

purity of descent, exclusiveness of membership and distinction of origin 

are emphasized. At this level, the elder/younger, first-born/last-born and 

inside/outside dyads are mobilized to legitimate the competition for 

supremacy of status and power on the part of unrelated origin groups. The 

superior level is that of the desa adat, where an ideology of cohesion, 

solidarity and unity is fostered through the values embedded in the 

male/female dyad. The distinction between these two levels is not an 

abstract notion. It is reflected in the spatial distinction made by the 

Trunyanese between the pantheon of the village deities, who are


accommodated in the Pura Desa and whose identity is related to collective 

concerns, and the apical ancestors of the origin groups, who are housed in 

the private temples (sanggah dadia) outside the Pura Desa. It also corresponds 

to the allocation of caretaking duties with respect to the shrines of 

the village deities. While the shrine of a deity associated with the origin or 

social function of a particular origin group is supported exclusively by that 

group, the shrine of a common village deity, such as Ratu Sakti Pancering 

Jagat Bali, the mythical founder/king of Trunyan, who symbplizes the 

ultimate unity of the desa adat, is supported by the entire community. 

The two levels stand in a relation of opposition: the ideology of 

distinction and separation fostered by the origin groups is opposed to the 

ideology of unity and cohesion found at the level of the desa adat. This 

reflects the conflicting concerns of the dadia and of the village as a whole. 

At the same time, however, the desa adat ideology encompasses the 

ideology of the origin groups, which is subordinated as well as being 

opposed to it. In Dumont's terms this means that one should expect the 

desa adat ideology to encompass every aspect of social existence at the 

subordinate level (Dumont 1979:400-2). This appears in fact to be the 

case. Since the desa adat ideology is expressed in terms of the values 

inherent in the male/female dyad, and the values of this dyad permeate all 

the other dyads, clearly the values of unity and cohesion which constitute 

the ideology of the desa adat take precedence over the concern of the 

dadia to preserve their respective status within the village hierarchy. 

This situation is not peculiar to Trunyan. It is typical of many Balinese 

villages, and explains why these societies, which are so conflictive in many 

respects, can hold together and show so much resilience to the divisive 

effects of the struggle for status among their various origin groups. The 

case of Trunyan is unique only in that, besides being particularly well 

documented, notions of hierarchy here, far from being restricted to the Tri- 

Wangsa castes, are seen to permeate all layers of Balinese society, including 

the supposedly egalitarian Bali Aga. This is all the more significant as 

the society of Trunyan has long been regarded as the archetype of Bali 

Aga society. I have tried to show in this article that such broad categories 

as 'Bali Aga' are no longer adequate. Hierarchy permeates all facets of 

village life, and this in turn reflects the uneasy cohabitation of origin 

groups which do not conceive of themselves as being related to each 

other in any way other than through shared residence and fate. From the 

data presented in this article it appears that the egalitarian values for which 

the Bali Aga have become famous constitute an ideology fostered by the 

village which enables it to retain its position and its identity within 

Balinese society as a whole.


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A. Ottino Origin myths, hierarchical order, and the negotiation of ...

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