Bali Artilce

Building a Balinese house is a much a ritual process as it a practical undertaking. Correct aligment with the sacred mountain, Gunung Agung, is an important consideration but many other ritual prescriptions govern the orientation, building methods and dimensions of every kind of built structure in the Balinese architectural lexicon.

Asta Kosali

The rulers relating to the ritual and practical aspects of Balinese architecture are codified in sacred texts deposited with the village priests. The ancient documents, inscribed by hand on lontar palm manuscripts, are called the Asta Kosali or Kasta Kosalia. The title probably derives from the Sanskrit words, hasta (hand) and kausalya (skill).

The Asta Kosali is consulted and interpreted in realition to specific circumstances by the undagi, or local architect-builder, who is an expert in rituals relating to architecture. Every aspect of construction and design, including shape, size, directional orientation and position of buildings in relation to other structures, is exhaustively documented in this Balinese building manual, which even prescribes the type of social background from which the builders of a particular type of structure should be recruited.

These text are usually written in what is known as Jawa Kuno or Kawi, a semi-sacred language used in prayers and invocations to the gods. Kawi is never use in daily life and, though related to Balinese, is virtually unintelligible to anyone who has not received a formal education in it. Although these building regulations available for inspection by anyone who wishes to consult them, the arcane nature of the language means that in practice only language experts and priests are likely to do so. Instead carpenters and builders generally learn their trade by a kind of informal apprenticeship and the sacred texts are usually referred to only when there is disagreement about procedures or when constructing rarely-erected types of building.

Building for the Future

The design and construction of a Balinese dwelling is literally seen as determining the fate of its future occupants and the Asta Kosali provides a detailed account of the unfortunate consequences that will result from disregarding the rules. Failure to adhere to the prescriptions of the Asta Kosali is always dangerous and typically involves the contraction of some awful disease, death by accident or murder, unfaithful spouses, poverty, and the loss of the affection of the gods. These are indeed dire consequences and any mistakes in the process of construction must be carefully rectified in the prescribed manner in order to avert ill effects. Conversely, good fortune and prosperity will come to those who stick closely to the regulations. These benefits include the accumulation of wealth in the form of gold and silver, family health, a faithful wife, loving children, and loyal servants.

Most of the rulers have to do with the size and proportion of individual buildings and their relationship to one another in terms of the distance between them and their positioning inside the residential compound.

These regulations extend to the internal dimensions of a building: room sizes, thickness of walls and so forth. Some measurements have both good and bad connotations requiring difficult choices on the part of the house builder. For example, the unit of measurement known as patokan tujuh rasa will encourage the accumulation of material wealth but is also likely to foster disobedient and ill-mannered children.

The Human Body as a Ruler

In many Indonesia societies, the human body provides a metaphorical model for representing divisions of space within the house. In the case of the Balinese residential compound, the family shrine is identified with the head; the sleeping quarters and pavilion for receiving guests with the arms; the central courtyard with the nevel; the hearth, with the sexual organs; the kitchen and the granary, with legs and feet; and the refuse pit in the backyard, with the anus.

This anthropocentric frame of reference extends to include units of measurement that are based on bodily dimensions derived from those of the house owner`s own body. These standard measurements are used to determine both the size and position of a building within the residential compound and also to calculate the dimensions of individual structural elements. Each measurement has a specific name and symbolic significance attached to its use.

The basic unit of the measurement is called depa asta musti, which is a combination of the distance between the tip of the arms are stretched out horizontally on either side of the body (depa), plus the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger (hasta), plus the width of the first with thumb extended (musti).

These dimensions are recorded on a length of bamboo, which serves as a kind of yardstick for laying out the compound and the buildings within it.

Other critical units of measurement include the span of an outstretched hand from the thumb to the tip of the little finger (lengket) and the width of a closed hand with the thumb placed over the first finger (a musti). The Balinese also measure in feet, both lengthways (tampak) and by width (tampak ngandang).

Mantra

The Asta Kosali also prescribes the type of mantra, or incantation, that should be recited to company each and every stage of construction.

Particular attention is paid to the process of selecting the timber. These are the lengthiest mantras and involve descriptions of all the types of trees that may be employed for building, while invoking the blessings of the many gods and spirits associated with tress and forests, the earth and the sky.

There are also mantras to bless the plot of land prior to commencing building. These praise the major Hindu deities of the Balinese pantheon.

Special attention is paid to the blessing of holy water used in the consecration of the site.

The recitation of mantras is usually accompanied by a litany of all the dangers and misfortunes associated with incorrectly carrying out the prescribed procedures.

It is emphasized that neither the rituals nor the construction itself can be effectively conducted by those whose thoughts are less than pure.