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.