LO-TEK
design by radical indigenism
JULIA WATSON
Balinese farmers have long regarded volcanoes as the home of goddesses who bring fertility and protection to their fields. Guided by the Balinese outlook on life known as the 'Tri Hita Karana' philosophy, which translates to 'the three causes of prosperity, two cultural systems have been established to sanctify the rice terraces: Tribuana, a tripartite spatial division of the cosmos into three worlds, and the Nawa Sanga, a cosmological system relating different levels of sacredness to upstream and downstream locations.
Supreme sacredness and protection are applied to the forested volcanic mountain peaks, which are essential to the health of the rice terraces as they stabilize the volcanic soils, which are transported by the monsoon rains to fertilize the terraces. The religious aspects of the subak stem from the belief that irrigation water is a gift from the goddess of Lake Batur, Dewi Danu. subaks are entrusted with the management of this hydrological gift and farmers contribute a small portion of their harvest each year to religious rites in subak temples, which are dedicated to Dewi Danu and other deities associated with the fertility of the land. These temples provide a venue for cooperative water resource management, distributing water to the subak watersheds.
