Pura Besakih is the paramount Hindu temple on Bali. Located high on the slopes of the volcano Mt Agung, it has developed over more than a thousand years into a great complex of 22 separate temples, the largest and central being Pura Penataran Agung. The annual cycle of more than seventy rituals, which symbolically link the temples into a whole, culminates in the centenary ceremony called Ekadasa Rudra (last held in 1979). The temple complex, state-supported at least since the fifteenth century, has undergone a series of architectural and ritual changes. This study combines an analysis of textual and historical sources with the fieldwork methods of anthropology in creating a unified interpretation of this great temple.

Stephen Headley's new book explores contemporary religious change in the Surakarta region of Central Java. In his analysis of the Durga ritual complex, the author sheds light on one of the most unusual court traditions to have survived in an era of deepening Islamisation.

Balinese style villas and resorts are popping up everywhere--from Ibiza to St Barts to Singapore. But what is Balinese architecture? And why is it so popular today? Traditional Balinese houses, temples and pavilions are designed to allow man to exist in harmony with the natural forces of the universe--reflecting core Balinese beliefs about man's place in relation to the cosmos, the gods, the ancestors, and the world around him. Innovative local and Western architects have been designing resorts and villas on Bali for decades, drawing their inspiration from these local traditions. In this one-of-a-kind book, author Julian Davison provides a comprehensive guide to Balinese architectural forms, the Balinese belief system, the rituals associated with building, the materials and construction techniques, and the intricate ornamentation used. Over 100 watercolor illustrations and photographs provide a clear picture of the island's architecture as well as an eye-opening look at a culture and a people that have captivated the world's imagination.

The rich religious tradition and architecture of Bali are on display in this informative guidebook. Bali is an island with literally tens of thousands of temples, a proliferation of religious architecture probably not equaled anywhere else in the world. Each temple is like a model of the universe in miniature, reflecting Balinese assumptions about the nature of the universe and man's place in relation to the gods, the ancestors, and the rest of creation. This book is intended as a general introduction to the architectural symbolism of the typical Balinese temple and the cosmological significance of its layout. The informative text is complemented by dozens of watercolor illustrations and will provide a useful guide to many of the temples that the reader is likely to visit during a stay on the island.

Presents a new approach to heritage formation in Asia, conveying the power of the material remains of the past.

A listing of five hundred sites new and old, famous and unknown, that have been used to connect humanity with its gods.

Balinese texts, temples, theatre performances and rituals, in seven essays, are placed into specific political contexts in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the changing relations between state and society on the complex island of Bali. How have local communities been linked to various claimants to state sovereignty through Bali's history? What have been the forms and functions of the institutions that have joined peasants with kings and bureaucrats? How have these institutions changed and in what ways have they remained the same over the centuries? How have these relationships been represented by Balinese to themselves? And, how should research on these issues be carried further forward? The contributors to this volume—I Gusti Ngurah Bagus, Hildred Geertz, Henk Schulte Nordholt, Raechelle Rubinstein, David J. Stuart Fox, Adrian Vickers, and Carol Warren—represent the disciplines of anthropology, literature and history, but all of them cut creatively across disciplinary lines. In contrast to previous Bali research, these studies put more emphasis on historical background and pay close attention to local Balinese perspectives. Early and colonial history form the frame of several papers, while others deal with major changes in the recent past. While each paper taken alone has its own specialized concerns, if the set is read as a series an outline can be discerned, not only of Balinese history and culture, but also of some characteristic features of the new research on Bali being carried out in the 1980s. The interdisciplinary approach of this volume makes it challenging reading for a wider audience of Southeast Asianists.