Hyang
Encyclopedia
Hyang is an unseen spiritual entity that has supernatural
power in ancient Indonesian
mythology. This spirit
can be either divine
or ancestral. The reverence for this spiritual entity can be found in Sunda Wiwitan
, Kejawen, and Balinese Hinduism. In modern Indonesian
this term tends to be associated with gods, devata, or God
. The realm where the hyangs resides is called kahyangan; now is a synonym for svarga
or heaven
in modern Indonesian.
and Bali
for more than a millennia ago. However this term actually has an older origin, it has its root in indigenous animism
and dynamism
beliefs of Austronesian people
that inhabit Indonesian archipelago. Native pre-Hindu Buddhist and pre-Islamic Indonesian venerated and revered ancestral spirit
, they also believe that some spirit
may inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or any sacred places. The "hyang" concept is indigenously developed in archipelago and considered not originated from Indian
dharmic religions.
Before the adoption of Hinduism
, Buddhism
and Islam
, the natives of Indonesian archipelago believe in the powerful but unseen spiritual entity that can be both benevolent or malevolent. They also believe that the deceased ancestor is not gone away or disappear completely. The ancestral spirit may gain godlike spiritual power and still involved in their offspring's worldly affairs. That is why the veneration and reverence to honor ancestor is an important element in the belief system of native ethnic groups, such as Nias
, Dayak
, Toraja
, Papuan
ethnic groups, as well as many ethnic groups in Indonesia
.
In ancient Sundanese
, Javanese, and Balinese
society, this unseen spiritual entity is identified as "hyang". This ancestral divine spirits is believed to inhabit high places, such as mountains, hills, and volcanoes. This mountainous regions is considered as sacred realm, as the abode of gods and the resting place for the soul
of the ancestors.
, the term "nga-hyang" means "disappear" or "unseen". It is suggested that the word "hyang" has linguistic relation with the Malay
or Indonesian
word: "hilang" which means "disappear". In its development, the term "hyang" become the root word for many terms that still known and used in modern Indonesian:
s.
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
power in ancient Indonesian
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
mythology. This spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
can be either divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
or ancestral. The reverence for this spiritual entity can be found in Sunda Wiwitan
Sunda Wiwitan
Sunda Wiwitan is a religious belief system of traditional Sundanese. It venerates the power of nature and the spirit of ancestors ....
, Kejawen, and Balinese Hinduism. In modern Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
this term tends to be associated with gods, devata, or God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. The realm where the hyangs resides is called kahyangan; now is a synonym for svarga
Svarga
In Hinduism, Svarga is a set of heavenly worlds located on and above Mt. Meru. It is a heaven where the righteous live in a paradise before their next reincarnation...
or heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
in modern Indonesian.
Origin
The term "hyang" now widely associated with Balinese Hinduism developed in ancient JavaJava
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
and Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
for more than a millennia ago. However this term actually has an older origin, it has its root in indigenous animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
and dynamism
Dynamism (metaphysics)
Dynamism is a metaphysical concept conceived by Gottfried Leibniz and developed into a full system of cosmology. Dynamism in metaphysical cosmology explains the material world in terms of active, pointlike forces, with no extension but with action at a distance...
beliefs of Austronesian people
Austronesian people
The Austronesian-speaking peoples are various populations in Oceania and Southeast Asia that speak languages of the Austronesian family. They include Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Madagascar, Micronesia, and Polynesia,...
that inhabit Indonesian archipelago. Native pre-Hindu Buddhist and pre-Islamic Indonesian venerated and revered ancestral spirit
Ancestor
An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
, they also believe that some spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
may inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or any sacred places. The "hyang" concept is indigenously developed in archipelago and considered not originated from Indian
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
dharmic religions.
Before the adoption of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, the natives of Indonesian archipelago believe in the powerful but unseen spiritual entity that can be both benevolent or malevolent. They also believe that the deceased ancestor is not gone away or disappear completely. The ancestral spirit may gain godlike spiritual power and still involved in their offspring's worldly affairs. That is why the veneration and reverence to honor ancestor is an important element in the belief system of native ethnic groups, such as Nias
Nias
Nīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....
, Dayak
Dayak people
The Dayak or Dyak are the native people of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily...
, Toraja
Toraja
The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 650,000, of which 450,000 still live in the regency of Tana Toraja . Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk...
, Papuan
Papuan peoples
Papuan is a cover term for the various indigenous peoples of New Guinea and neighboring islands, speakers of so-called Papuan languages. They are often distinguished linguistically from Austronesians, speakers of a language family introduced into New Guinea about three thousand years ago, but this...
ethnic groups, as well as many ethnic groups in Indonesia
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
There are over 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia. 95% of those are of Native Indonesians ancestry.The largest ethnic group in Indonesia is the Javanese who make up 41% of the total population. The Javanese are concentrated on the island of Java but millions have migrated to other islands throughout...
.
In ancient Sundanese
Sundanese people
The Sundanese are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Indonesian island of Java. They number approximately 31 million, and are the second most populous of all the nation's ethncities. The Sundanese are predominantly Muslim...
, Javanese, and Balinese
Balinese people
The Balinese population of 3.0 million live mostly on the island of Bali, making up 89% of the island's population. There are also significant populations on the island of Lombok, and in the eastern-most regions of Java The Balinese population of 3.0 million (1.5% of Indonesia's population) live...
society, this unseen spiritual entity is identified as "hyang". This ancestral divine spirits is believed to inhabit high places, such as mountains, hills, and volcanoes. This mountainous regions is considered as sacred realm, as the abode of gods and the resting place for the soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
of the ancestors.
Etymology
In SundaneseSundanese language
Sundanese is the language of about 27 million people from the western third of Java or about 15% of the Indonesian population....
, the term "nga-hyang" means "disappear" or "unseen". It is suggested that the word "hyang" has linguistic relation with the Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
or Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
word: "hilang" which means "disappear". In its development, the term "hyang" become the root word for many terms that still known and used in modern Indonesian:
- Reverence. If the word "hyang" attached with prefixes attribute Sang-, Dang-, Ra-; to form the word Sanghyang, Danghyang, or Rahyang, it is meant to honor ar revere gods or the deceased ancestors. For example Sanghyang Sri PohaciDewi SriDewi Sri, or Dewi Shri , Nyai Pohaci Sanghyang Asri is the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese pre-Hindu and pre-Islam era goddess of rice and fertility, still widely worshipped on the islands of Bali and Java...
and Sang Hyang WidhiAcintyaAcintya, also Atintya , also Tunggal is the supreme god of Hinduism as practiced in Indonesia , and most of all in the island of Bali, equivalent to the concept of Brahman...
refer to gods, while the stylized name Rahyang Dewa Niskala refer to the name of late king of Sunda kingdomSunda KingdomThe Sunda Kingdom was a Hindu kingdom located on the western part of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering areas of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Central Java...
. The term Danghyang or Danyang is refer to the guardian spirits of certain sacred or haunted places. The name of SrivijayaSrivijayaSrivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
n empire founder, Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa, also contained the name "hyang" which suggested that he possessed supernatural power. - Place. Kahyangan, from the word ka-hyang-an, is the realm where hyangs resides. Because of the belief that hyang prefer high places, some mountainous regions is considered as the abode of hyang. For example ParahyanganParahyanganParahyangan or Priangan or Preanger is the mountainous region in West Java province on the island of Java in Indonesia.It covers the regencies of:* Bandung* West Bandung * Cianjur* Garut * Purwakarta...
refer to mountainous region of West JavaWest JavaWest Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...
. Originated from combined words para-hyang-an; para indicate plural, while the suffix -an shows the place, so Parahyangan means the abode of hyangs. The term parahyangan is also used as the type of PuraPura (Balinese temple)A pura is a Balinese Hindu temple. and the place of worship for the adherents of Balinese Hinduism in Indonesia. Most of the puras are found on the island of Bali, as Hinduism is the predominant religion in the island; however many puras exist in other parts of Indonesia where there are significant...
or Balinese temple. Pura parahyangan is Balinese temple that located in mountainous region as the counterparts of pura segara; Balinese temple located by the sea. Dieng PlateauDieng PlateauDieng Plateu, is a marshy plateau that forms the floor of a caldera complex on the Dieng active volcano complex near Wonosobo, Central Java, Indonesia. Referred to as "Dieng" by Indonesians, it sits at 2,000m above sea level far from major population centres...
in Central JavaCentral JavaCentral Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
also shared the same origin, it is from the combined words di-hyang which also means "hyang's place". - Activity. The word sembahyang in IndonesianIndonesian languageIndonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
or MalayMalay languageMalay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
is synonymSynonymSynonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
with Islamic shalat ritual. Actually it is originated from combined word sembah-hyang which means "worship the hyang". The Balinese SanghyangSanghyangSanghyang is a sacred Balinese dance, based on the idea that a force enters the body of an entranced performer. The force, identified as hyang, is important spiritual entities in ancient Indonesian mythology. Sanghyang dedari is a dance performed by pre-pubescent girls, similar in some ways to the...
Dedari sacred dance involved some pre-pubescent girls dances in tranceTranceTrance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
condition. Through complex rituals to summons the hyangs spirits, it is believed that the spirits possessed the girls and made them unconsciously dance with complex movements. Sanghyang Jaran is Balinese name for Kuda LumpingKuda LumpingKuda Lumping is a traditional Javanese dance depicting a group of horsemen. Dancers "ride" horses made from woven bamboo and decorated with colorful paints and cloth. Generally, the dance portrays troops riding horses, but another type of Kuda Lumping performance also incorporates trances and...
dance that also involving performer being entrancedTranceTrance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
by spirit.
Characteristics
In Bali, Hyang are said to only move in straight lines. Accordingly, traditional Balinese buildings have a wall called an just inside the doorway, which keeps the spirits out because they only move in straight lines, and hence bounce off. Similar beliefs are found in other spiritual traditions, as in British corpse roadCorpse road
Corpse roads provided a practical means for transporting corpses, often from remote communities, to cemeteries that had burial rights, such as parish churches and chapels of ease...
s.
See also
- ApsaraApsaraAn Apsara , also known as Vidhya Dhari or Tep Apsar in Khmer, Accharā or A Bố Sa La Tư , Bidadari , Biradali , Widodari and Apson , is a female spirit of the clouds and waters in...
, divine celestial maiden - Devata, deities, divine beings or lesser gods in Hindu-Buddhist belief
- DivinityDivinityDivinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
- DiwataDiwataIn Philippine mythology, a Diwata , also known as Encantada, is a mythological figure similar to fairies or nymphs. They are nature spirits and live one with mother earth...
, similar concept in the Philippines - KamiKamiis the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
, similar concept in Japanese ShintoShintoor Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
faith