Ilm-in Islam, CAMEA, University of Adelaide

Naar: Ways of Seeing in Islamic Cultures

10 October 2017

The Visual Construction of Lingsar Site: Perceptions

of Meaning & Dynamics of Social Interaction

Muchammadun
Dept. of Islamic Community Development,
Faculty of Dakwah and Communication Science
State Islamic University of Mataram
INDONESIA
On Lombok there
are two major
ethnic groups:
[1] Indigenous
Sasaq Muslims
[2] Hindus of
Balinese descent.
Islam and
Hinduism are
primary markers of
religious and
cultural identity on
the island.
 Bayan mosque founded in 17th century, North Lombok.

Lombok is an unusual example of a pre-dominantly

Muslim population once ruled by Hindu kings.

Hindu temple relief of

Twalen the divine fool at Pura Lingsar
18th century.
 Lingsar entrance way One of the large pools fed by Lingsar springs
at the entrance to the sacred site

Lingsar means spouting water

It is among the largest sources of spring water on Lombok
The spring is both a significant resource for agriculture, leisure activities and
a ritual focus for religious activities on the island.
 The Lingsar holy spring is believed to descend
from the sacred volcano Rinjani

The shrines collection of natural stones , wrapped in cloth to indicate their sacred status, likely
date from pre-historic times

From pre-historic times, Lingsar has been an important sacred site.

Today, due to different ways of seeing the significance of this site,

Lingsar has become a contested space.
 The Lingsar springs are sacred site
for the Hindu Balinese.

They are the descendants of the

Karangasem Kingdom of East Bali
which invaded Lombok in 17th-18th
century.

The last Balinese king of Lombok exiled by the Dutch to Batavia (Jakarta )
1894
Collection: Tropen Museum
The Balinese temple (pura) at the site of the Lingsar
holy spring was erected in 1714 by Balinese king Anak
Agung and displays many classic features of Balinese
Hindu religious architecture of the pre-colonial period.

Main gateway Pura Lingsar, c. 1925

Collection: Tropen Museum

Main gateway Pura Lingsar, 2017

 Holy water is considered
sacred by Hindu people and

used in many rituals.

Hindu devotees bathing in holy springs at the 13th century temple

of Tirta Empul, Bali , 2017.
Balinese Hinduism
believes holy water was
magically created by the
gods at the beginning
of this world.

Churning of the Ocean of Milk depicting the creation of holy water. Artist: Pan Ngales, 1920, Bali.
Collection AGSA.
 Muslim Wetu Telu people also consider
spring waters as sacred.
The water is used in many rituals similar to
the reverence for Zamzam springs, Mecca

Historical photograph of the holy Zamzam well

in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Source: Pinterest

Sasaq men and women using Lingsar springs to

purify their bodies before prayer (wudhu)
 Wetu Telu sect is Sasaq
indigeneous interpretation
of Islam combining beliefs
in ancestral realms with
orthodox Islamic teachings.

Sasaq Quran with box depicting ancestor figure

19th century.
Collection: AGSA
 The Sasaq believe Datu
Watu Milir, a student of
the famous sixteenth
century Javanese Sufi
saints, travelled to
Lombok.

The holy man

miraculously achieved
shohibul ghaib (bodily
transcendence) to
A Muslim taking wudhu in the spring water create the springs.
at Kemaliq Lingsar.
 Lingsar is a sacred site shared by Muslim and Hindu communities.

Lingsar festival procession with Muslim (right) and Hindu (left) devotees.
Source: Pinterest.

The two communities of separate religious affiliations, Muslim and Hindu, have
contrasting perceptions of the Lingsar sacred space.
Lingsar is often described as a syncretic religious site but the contrasting beliefs often
require continuous re- negotiation in community ways of seeing the site.
 Spring water used for taking wudhu bath before prayer A designated place for sholat (daily prayer) with prayer mat

For example, despite the strong Hindu architectural elements, the religious leaders of the
two communities sometime in the past agreed to maintain a Muslim prayer-space for
sholat.
 Balinese devotees at prayer Public feast during Muslim religious festival

The differing origin stories and different religious practices at Lingsar have become a
source of conflicting modes of viewing the sacred springs and rights of access to the
sacred site.

Hence, space territories developed

The formation of space territory within the same sacred architectural location of
Lingsar ensures different activities can occur at the same place.

It is a place where three types of distinctive communal activities happen...

Hindu Gaduh Muslim Kemaliq

 [1] Different spaces are
used at different times

For example, the annual

Hindu Galungan Festival is
celebrated exclusively by
Balinese in the Gaduh
enclosure of the Lingsar

site.. of space territory

Hindu devotees entering Gaduh for Galungan celebration

Source: kepercayaanIndonesia.blogspot
 [2] Different spaces at the same
time.

For example, the Sasaq rice

harvest festival is celebrated in
the Islamic Kemaliq enclosure of
Lingsar.

Sometimes this occurs while

Balinese are also celebrating
festivities but the Muslim and
Sasaq females wash rice for the rice harvest festival. Hindu ritual spaces, separated by
Source: kepercayaanIndonesia.blogspot

courtyard walls, do not intersect.

 [3] The same space is used at the same
time

The most famous festival shared together

by the Muslim and Hindu communities is
the annual Perang Topat Festival.

It is often promoted to tourists as

symbolising religious harmony but is it?

Perang Topat means rice cake war and

may represent ritualised re-enactment of
actual ancient conflicts.

Source: kepercayaanIndonesia.blogspot
 Social sciences debate the perceptions of sacred sites
that are seen as significant to more than one religion
and whether these sites become either shared or
contested.

Multi-religious sites are not necessarily syncretistic

but locations where communities view their differing
beliefs and social relations as negotiable.

Two ceramic jars containing

Lingsar spring water in the
courtyard of the Hindu Gaduh shrine,
Pura Lingsar

Source: kepercayaanIndonesia.blogspot