Religion in Bali by C. Hooykaas

14 Priests: Dukuh
Since this introduction tries to approach the problems from the side of the rural population it is
justified to begin here by relating that in the few folktales telling about a dukuh this priest is
mentioned with a respect and cordiality as are not bestowed upon other priests. Judging from
their name the dukuhs might have been hermits or have lived in new settlements, but in densely
populated Bali such circumstances can not be maintained. In the past they must have been more
numerous and influential than nowadays, as appears from consulting Balinese literature.
I had an opportunity of visiting one in Karang Asem, the province to which they seem to be
confined nowadays, and witnessed his concluding a marriage. He told me that the dukuhs were
an intermarrying community. Some of them follow the ritual of the padanda Siwa, others that of
the padanda Buddha. A treatise dealing with their past and organisation would have been
borrowed for consultation by the regent and not yet have been returned. For several reasons it is
difficult to travel in Bali so that I did not find an opportunity to see one of the few other dukuh,
scattered over Karang Asem, the province which has no sengguhu—there might be a relation
between these facts.
No treatise on the care of the dead will go without containing a long mantra ascribed to Dukuh
Suméru. A writing is ascribed to Dukuh Ampèl Gading, another to Dukuh Kretawarsa, to Dukuh
Sogra, to Dukuh Suchi dnana. The GAGURITAN (poem) DUKUH SILADRI, dealing with this
hermit, has obtained such a notoriety and belovedness that an author who wished to impart a
considerable amount of traditional knowledge to his co islanders used this title as a frame for a
series of not less than ten pamphlets filled with this knowledge.
When the dukuh whom I met conducted us for some distance he assured us that he had taken
care that we would not be hindered by rain. This ability up to that moment I had only found
documented in relation with dalangs, for whom it is of the highest importance. It is called
panerangan; pangujanan, making of rain is the opposite. The formulas used in this connection are
characterised by their presumption. In all other mantra the acting priest beseeches, invites and
offers, but here he boasts that he is the Omni potent, able to annihilate this and crush that.