PART IV: STATE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS REFLECTED IN THE TEMPLES
State and Economic Development as Reflected
in the Temples
As should have become clear in the course of this study, social changes have always
caused a restructuring of the temple system or are discernible in it. It can be shown
for recent times how closely the phenomena are connected. The combination of two
formerly autonomous villages into a single one, and later into three different units,
also affected the temple organization. The three desa dinas — Sanur Kaja, Sanur
Kangin, and Sanur Kauh — were in 1979 set on different levels within the adminis-
trative hierarchy of the state: Sanur Kaja and Sanur Kauh remained desa, whereas
Sanur Kangin, where most of the hotels are located, became a kelurahan and thus
accessible to direct intervention by the government. The place where the new ad-
ministration center, kantor kelurahan, was built shows how traditional spatial
strategies continue to survive (cf. Hauser-Schiublin n.d.) and have an effect: the
center 1s situated east of the settlement nucleus and therefore also east of the Jero
Abian Timbul. Whenever immigrants took possession of land, it happened according
to certain principles. One is that, as a rule, the core of the new settlement of a higher
ranking group was established toward the ‘north’, kaja, or the east, kangin, the most
highly valued (ritually as well as socially) direction. Thus a new socio-spatial hier-
archy was set up, since the palace of the former sovereign became located in an
inferior position in relation to the palace of the new ruler.
Today the government is the new ruler of Intaran, although the traditional struc-
tures of rulership are still valid in the adat. Nevertheless, the building of a temple
belonging to this administration center shows that the dividing line between adat and
the modern form of government and state can be crossed. In this new temple, all the
‘subjects of the new superordinate system of rulership, the state, are united, as was
formerly the case in the royal temples (e.g., Pura Agung). The 'subjects' are the civil
servants of Intaran and Sanur. They have established a communal temple, the
P. Indra, a small sacred ground situated next to the administration center, which
stands in the territory of Taman Sari. The temple is found north of the
administration offices and the head office of the Bank Desa Sanur. And in the same
territory, the Bendesa Adat of Intaran has its office. To the east of this complex lies
the Griya Taman.
It is also interesting that the sacred ground, which has a padmasana as its center,
is dedicated to Indra. He is held to be the 'principal god', combining the variety of
gods and their power. He is also thought to be the counterpart of Siwa. Siwa is
above all a symbol of the Brahmana, especially of the Brahmana priests. Similar
concepts, as with Gunung Agung, are associated with Indra; and in fact, the P. Indra
is comparable to the P. Agung, the 'state temple' of the last ruling dynasty of Intaran.
288