THE FAMILY

          AFTER THE WORLD, the mountains, and the cardinal directions were created, and here were trees, fruits, and flowers, the gods made four human beings out of red earth, whom they provided with utensils to work with and houses to live in. Batara Siwa, the Supreme Lord, next made four mature girls for wives of the four men. The god of love, Batara Semara, made mating a pleasure so that the women would be fertilized, and eventually the four couples had many children: 117 boys and 118 girls, who grew, became adolescent, married, and bad children. But there remained a girl without a husband. Broken-hearted, she went into the forest and there found the stump of a jackfruit tree (nangka) which Siwa had carved, to amuse himself, into the likeness of a human being. The girl made love to the wooden figure and became pregnant. Out of pity for her, Semara gave life to the figure so that she also could have a husband, and the couple became the ancestors of the ngatew6l clan," whose totem is the nangka tree

Another legend tells us that the gods concentrated to make human beings and produced two couples; one yellow in color: Ketok Pita and Djenar; another red: Abang and Barak. From the yellow couple was born a boy, Nyuh Gading, "Yellow Coconut" and a girl named Kuning. The second couple had also two children, a boy named Tanah Barak, "Red Earth" and a girl Lewek. Yellow Coconut married Lewek; Red Earth married Kuning; and their descendants did the same until the population of Bali was created."

 

There are endless tales like these relating the origin of the Balinese to magic or ordinary unions of the eternal male and female principles, elements of great importance in the religion around which their life revolves. Their supreme deity is Siwa, the esoteric combination of all the gods and all the forces of nature, he who is the hermaphrodite ("hindu") in the sense that within him are the male and female creative forces, the complete, perfect unity. Men and women must imitate their gods to attain some of that divine " completeness " by uniting to form families that worship common ancestors in the family shrine of each Balinese household. The various families that compose a village all worship in turn a common ancestor, the village god represented by the " Navel," the pus6h, the temple of common origin. Family ties are consequently the most important factor in Balinese life; a continuous sequence that relates the individual to his family, to his community, and to the total of the Balinese people in a relationship that represents race and nationality to them. A woman who marries a Chinese, a Mohammedan, or a European automatically ceases to be a Balinese.

A Balinese feels that his most important duty is to marry as soon as he comes of age and to raise a family to perpetuate his line. A bachelor is in Bali an abnormal, incomplete being devoid of all social significance since only settled married men can become members of the village association. Even pedandas, the high priests, do not conform to the ascetic abstention favoured by orthodox Hindus And invariably marry.

Thus every Balinese ccntres all his bopes in having children, preferably male children, who will look -after him in his old age and most important of all, sons who will take the proper care of his remains after be is dead, performing the necessary rites to liberate his soul for reincarnation, so it will not become an aimless wandering ghost. From paintings and temple reliefs, they are familiar with the fate that awaits the childless in Hades, the swarga, where a woman who dies without children is condemned to carry a gigantic worm suckling at her useless breasts. A man who does not obtain children from his wife has the right to divorce her and get back the money he paid for her; or if she dies or runs away, he remarries as soon as possible. Often the sterile wife will herself suggest and even provide for a second wife for,", her husband. There are, however, many childless couples that,"" because of personal attachment or for economic reasons remain monogamous and are content to borrow or rather be given a child,by a neigbbour or a relative to bring up as their own.