Chapter 7 Sacred Waters: the Lingsar Site among Lombok’s Hindu-Muslim Community

In: Numinous Fields: Perceiving the Sacred in Nature, Landscape, and Art
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Abstract

Lingsar is a sacred site consisting of natural springs located in Mataram, Indonesia, that is shared by two communities of different religious affiliations, Islam and Hindu. The site is commonly described as a syncretic religious space. Yet the contrasting beliefs of Muslims and Hindus require continuous re-negotiation in the way their members perceive and access the spring waters at Lingsar for ritual purposes. This paper questions the presupposition that Lingsar is a site where the practices of the two religions combine in a syncretic manner. Rather, it seeks to examine how the significance of Lingsar is an outcome of a very complex cultural process, set against a long historical background, where both communities have consistently sought to maintain their individual identities. The paper looks at perceptions of place, space and territory at Lingsar that have evolved over time to accommodate the expectations of devotees who believe the tangible human and the intangible unseen realms share responsibility to mutually interact together for the care of the environment at the Lingsar springs. These perceptions have found expression through the evolution of three distinct levels of ritual activity to ensure the demarcation of space for the harmonious use of the site at different times and occasions. Each activity, associated with specific Muslim or Hindu ceremonial cycles, permits varying degrees of access for viewing by non-participating spectators in order that each community’s sense of religious integrity and the use of public space interact effectively together with the minimum possibility for conflict.

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