Dogs have varied roles in complex Balinese society
Dogs have varied roles in complex Balinese society
DENPASAR (JP): Calling someone a dog in Indonesia will usually
result in a black eye. But in Buleleng, North Bali, calling
someone a dog is a friendly greeting reserved for close friends:
"Cicing keleng cai, keken kabare? Tumben icing nepuk cai." ("You
old dog, how are you? It's been a long time since we last met.")
Cicing is a lower form of the Balinese language for "dog" and
is generally considered rude -- especially if it is directed at a
person. Asu is high Balinese for "dog" without any concern for
the kind of dogs. However, they usually call dogs according to
their color.
Dogs are a unique phenomenon in Bali. Though considered dirty
animals, they make useful pets for some and nice meals for
others. Whatever their position, they are here to stay.
It has been said that Bali would be paradise if it weren't for
all the dogs. Reading a dog count in tourist publications is not
uncommon in Bali, usually using the road between Denpasar and
Ubud as a reference -- possibly counting hundreds of canines in
one trip.
It's no laughing matter when one hears the question, "Do you
like dog satay?" This delicacy can actually be found in food
stalls in certain areas. According to proponents of dog eating,
the meat has a curative property for epilepsy and is thus a cheap
and easy medicine to find.
The Balinese sometimes use dogs for sacrifices in ceremonies,
especially for the bhuta yadnya ceremony to placate the evil
spirits called belulang bungkem. Dogs which have a brown stripe
are ideal for such ceremonies, although this kind of dog is rare.
Dogs are in fact intelligent. They understand signals, protect
those they care about, and can be trained to play sports such as
frisbee. However, you won't find any dogs chasing frisbees in
Bali because Balinese dogs are just a part of the environment.
The Balinese dog cannot be separated from its role in the
daily life of the Balinese. The Balinese care for their dogs,
which provide a cheap form of security. Almost every Balinese
household has at least one dog as a pet for security.
Dogs have good logical reasoning and a good sense of smell and
hearing. Even if someone is far from the house the dog will start
barking to warn his human hosts, as well as hundreds of neighbor
dog-friends, starting the infamous chorus of barking. Have you
ever walked around Ubud late at night? This is not advised for
those with heart conditions.
For Balinese, dogs are not just cheap security for their
owners but also for chicken breeding farms in rural areas. At
night hungry civets come down from the hills looking for their
favorite prey, the chicken. A civet can catch sleeping chickens
on tree branches, which they eat with the noise Balinese describe
as krepet-krepet-krepet. On a bad day, the civet will climb down
from its dining tree into the waiting jaws of the infamous
Balinese dog which has honed in on the unique krepet-krepet-
krepet sound.
In Kintamani people don't just sell daily necessities in the
pasar, or market, they also trade puppies, nice fat ones usually.
In fact, Kintamani is well-known for its unique, highly sought
after dog breeds.
Theoretically, dogs shouldn't be allowed to enter temples. But
does this stop them? Of course not, they have no sense of
etiquette. They urinate where they want, without thinking twice
about peeing on a sacred temple wall. So why is such uncouth
behavior tolerated?
Loyal animal
In the great Mahabarata epic when the Panca Pandawa (five
Pandawa brothers) leave the universe for the realm of the gods,
the dog is portrayed as a loyal animal. In fact, more loyal than
humans. Its strength is equal to Dharmawangsa, the oldest brother
of the five Pandawas. In the middle of the Pandawas' journey, one
by one the brothers dies, leaving only Dharmawangsa and a loyal
dog. Only the two of them could proceed to heaven. Once in
heaven, the gods welcomed Dharmawangsa and granted him great
powers. But the gods would not allow his dog so a debate broke
out. Dharmawangsa explained the loyalty, honesty, virtue, and
justice of the dog and demanded that the gods give the dog a
similar position in heaven. However, before their discussion
ended, the dog transformed itself into Dharma, the God of Virtue.
So it happened that the God of Virtue took the form of a dog to
test the loyalty, fairness, justice and honesty of those he
encountered.
Despite the exalted position of the dog in this instance, one
would not want to be a dog in Bali for fear of winding up
literally as a hot dog in the form of dog satay.
There is an interesting game of bravery that dogs love to
play, which is to chase after moving motorcycles, trying to bite
the scrumptious bare legs of the poor souls just trying to get
home. However, motorists these days are usually prepared with an
arsenal of stones to throw at the dogs or at least a nice pair of
shoes to kick the dog while driving by. So it seems that dogs are
losing this game -- although not from a lack of motivation.
Dogs are even moving into the Balinese art world. They have
become objects of art in themselves by having their tails shaved
by their gracious hosts. This is a new and unique art form with
the resulting (or perhaps revolting) creature being called antik
(perhaps something similar to a human mohawk).
In conclusion, a suggestion for the traveler to Bali: Please
be careful at night when walking or riding a bike because a dog's
greatest pleasure, far beyond lying in the middle of a busy road
for a nap, is to chase any helpless human being, or to just bark
at anything passing by to scare the victim senseless. You need
not kick or stone them, however, as they don't usually bite ...
too hard.