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

Status in the Balinese Village of Trunyan 501
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.