The Spread of Hinduism to Indonesia

Hinduism had a significant impact on Southeast Asia’s cultural development and history. As Indic scripts were introduced from India, people in Southeast Asia entered the historical period by producing their first inscriptions between the first and fifth centuries CE.

Today, the majority of Hindus in Southeast Asia are overseas Indians and most famously, the Balinese. There are also Javanese (as well as other Indonesian minorities) and the Balamon Cham minority in Cambodia and southern Vietnam who practice Hinduism. This article will shed some light on the history and current status of Hinduism in Bali and Indonesia as a whole.

Hinduism is practiced by 1.7% of Indonesia’s total population today. According to the 2010 census, Hindus make up 83.29% of the population of Bali and 5.75% of the population of Central Kalimantan, an Indonesian province on Borneo. However, Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced by the majority of the population between the 4th and 15th centuries. This was in addition to indigenous native animism and dynamism beliefs that revered natural and ancestral spirits. Islam had supplanted Hinduism and Buddhism as the majority religion in the Indonesian archipelago in the 15th and 16th centuries. Hinduism has had a significant impact on the culture of Bali, Java, and Sumatra. Bali has become the last remnant of this once-large Hindu-dominated region.

Hindu influences first arrived in the Indonesian archipelago in the first century. The kingdoms of Kutai in East Kalimantan, Tarumanagara in West Java, and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java were among the early Hindu states established in the region in the 4th century. Mataram Kingdom (famous for the construction of Yogyakarta’s majestic 9th-century Trimurti Prambanan Temple), followed by Kediri, Singhasari, and the 14th-century Majapahit, the last and largest of the Hindu-Buddhist Javanese empires.

Hindu civilizations have had a strong impact on Indonesian culture. The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana became enduring traditions in Indonesian art forms, manifesting themselves through wayang shadow puppets and dance performances to this day. Many Indonesian names are Sanskrit-based, and Sanskrit loanwords abound in Bahasa Indonesia. Both the Garuda Pancasila national emblem and the flag carrier national airline, Garuda Indonesia, are named after Vishnu’s vehicle, Garuda.

Today, along with Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, the Indonesian government recognizes Hinduism as one of the country’s six officially sanctioned religions.

In Java, Hindu communities tend to cluster around built temples (pura) or archaeological temple sites (candi) that are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship. Pura Mandara Giri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt. Bromo, Java’s highest mountain, is a prominent Hindu temple in eastern Java. Another Hindu temple is associated with the Kingdom of Blambangan, Java’s last Hindu polity, as well as Pura Loka Moksa Jayabaya (near Kediri), where the Hindu king and prophet Jayabaya is said to have attained spiritual liberation (moksa). Pura Pucak Raung in East Java is another prestigious site. In Balinese literature, this is mentioned as the location from which Maharishi Markandeya brought Hinduism to Bali in the 14th century.

Trowulan, near Mojokerto, the capital of the legendary Hindu empire Majapahit, was an example of a resurgence around major archaeological remains of ancient Hindu temple sites. A local Hindu movement is battling for control of a newly excavated temple building, which they want to be restored as a place of active Hindu worship. The temple will be dedicated to Gajah Mada, the man credited with transforming Majapahit, a small Hindu kingdom, into an empire. 

Although East Java has a strong history of anti-Islamization sentiment, Hindu communities are also growing in Central Java, near the ancient Hindu monuments of Prambanan. The grand Abhieka sacred ceremony was held in this temple compound from November 9th to November 12th, 2019. This Hindu ritual was performed for the first time in over a millennium, 1163 years after the Prambanan temple was originally built in 856. The Abhieka ceremony was intended to cleanse, sanctify, and purify the temple. This indicates that it is more than just an archaeological and tourism site, but has also been restored to its original function as a center of Hindu religious activity.