Religion in Bali by C. Hooykaas

in these pages, but an endeavour is made to be fair to the different components of Balinese
culture in general and of its religion in particular [16].
During the nineteenth century the northern fringe of Bali had some purely political contacts with
the Netherlands' Indies' Government. In the first decade of this century the island lost its political
independence. As early as twenty years later, for the first time, fear for loss of culture was felt by
the Netherlands' Indies' Government. Allegedly palm leaf manuscripts were sold to tourists. To
counteract this, a library of such mss., publicly accessible and much visited, was founded in the
capital. Undoubtedly the loss of independence and the institution of a new kind of government
must have shocked the population and will have exercised a growing influence. The decade 1940
'50 will have shaken it considerably more [21]; to some extent the door to Indonesia had been
opened but now it was opened to the world.
Those most accessible to Indonesian and European or American thought may be expected to
become the leaders to the future and in the future and to become the most important people.
When in an introductory pamphlet like this their minority does not yet find the room to which it
might feel entitled already now or in a few decades' time, it is because this book in the main has
to deal with traditional religion of the majority during the preceding ages [12].