Marriage in Balinese Custom Society
Marriage in Balinese Custom Society
Marriage includes family law, family law is the entire legal norms, written or unwritten, which regulate family relations, whether caused by blood relations or certain legal actions. Legal actions such as marriage, adoption of children, etc. Family relations, among others, contain obligations and rights in family life, such as the obligations and rights of children to parents or vice versa.
The existence of customary family law in Balinese Custom Society is still very strong. This means that it is still recognized and followed by the Balinese Custom Society, beyond what has been regulated by Law number 1 year 1974 regarding Marriage.
Family System
The family system that applies in a society is the key to being able to understand the issues that are the scope of family law, especially in relation to marriage and inheritance. The family system here is defined as a way to draw a lineage, so that it can be known with whom someone has a family legal relationship.
The family system that prevails in society in Indonesia is very diverse, due to the plurality of the socio-cultural conditions of the Indonesian people, both in terms of ethnicity, religion, and others. These factors make it difficult to establish a national family law. In general, in Indonesian society, there are three family systems, namely:
- The patrilineal family system. Under this system, descent is traced from the father’s line, such as in Batak, Nias, Sumba, Bali.
- The matrilineal family system, according to this system, kinship is traced from the mother’s line, so that children were born from marriage will get a family line from the mother’s line. As happens in Minangkabau, West Sumatra.
- Parental family system, in this system the lineage is traced from two parties (bilateral), namely both from the mother’s line and the father’s line, so this system is also called the maternal-father family system. Adopt by the people of Java, Sunda, Aceh, Kalimantan, and others.
Balinese Custom Society adhere to a patrilineal family system, which is more widely known as Kapurusa or purusa. As a consequence, in a marriage, the wife will enter and settle in her husband’s family environment and a son is seen as having a more important position than a daughter. As a result, married couples who have not yet been blessed with a son often “feel” that they do not have children yet.
It is also important to mention that the clan (soroh) in Balinese Custom society, which tends to lead to a caste or wangsa system, in the past greatly influenced the customary law in Bali, as reflected in the prohibition of inter-wangsa marriages called asupundung and anglangkahi Karangulu, which in 1951 had been removed.
Marriage System
In Balinese Custom Society, marriage is known by several terms such as pawiwahan, nganten, mekerab kambe, pewarangan, etc. The words “married” in everyday language are called nganten and makerab kambe, which are essentially the same as marriage as regulated in the marriage law. According to Law number 1 year 1974 regarding Marriage, marriage is defined as an outer and inner bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife with the aim of forming a happy and eternal family (household) based on the One Godhead.
Gde Pudja (1975: 15) stated that marriage according to Hindu is a bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife in order to regulate proper sex relations in order to obtain male offspring in order to save the spirits of their parents.
The purpose of marriage according to Hindu teachings is to have children (descendants) in order to atone for the sins of their parents. The description of the importance of having children can be seen from the provisions of Article 161 of Book IX Manawa Dharmasastra. In the explanation of this article, it is explained that the child is likened to a boat that will take someone, namely a spirit who is suffering in hell and to save it, a child with all the consequences must have a son and if he does not have a son, he must replace him with another child. Families who suffer in the afterlife are ancestral spirits floating in hell before the funeral cremation ceremony (pitra yadnya) being carried out by their grandchildren or son.
Form of Marriage
It has been explained above that the kinship system adopted by Balinese Custom Society is a patrilineal kinship system (kapurusa). In line with the kinship system adopted, in Bali there are two forms of marriage, namely ordinary marriage and nyentana marriage. The form of a nyentana marriage is actually an alternative path that can be passed by a married couple who happens to only have a daughter.
Ordinary Marriage
As the name implies, ordinary marriage or nganten biasa, is the most common form of marriage (many or ordinary) is carried out by members of the Balinese Custom Society. Ordinary marriage is a marriage that takes place between a man and a woman and the woman leaves her house, to hold a marriage ceremony at her husband’s residence and then is fully responsible for continuing the obligations (swadharma) of her husband’s ancestors and parents on a daily activity or sekala (real world) also niskala (spirits realms). This marriage is considered an ordinary marriage because it is carried out in accordance with the kinship system adopted in Bali, namely patrilineal (fatherhood).
In the ordinary marriage, the children who were born will follow the lineage of their father. Generally, Balinese-Hindu people tend to have ordinary marriages. Therefore, problems rarely arise regarding the implementation of this form of marriage, both related to how to carry it out, the implementation of the ceremony and when the bride and groom complete the marriage administration (marriage certificate) at the Population and Civil Registry Office.
Nyentana Marriage
In addition to the usual/ordinary form of marriage, it is also known as a form of nyentana marriage. The main difference between these two forms of marriage lies in the legal status of the bride and groom. In an ordinary marriage, the groom is in the position of male legal status, while in the nyentana marriage, the bride is in the position of the male legal status. Nyentana marriage is a marriage that is carried out between a man and a woman in which the man leaves his house to hold a marriage ceremony at his wife’s residence and then is fully responsible for continuing the obligations (swadharma) of his wife’s parents and ancestors, on a real world/daily activity (sekala) and niskala (unseen/spirits realms).
In the ordinary marriage, the woman who leaves her family, while in nyentana marriage, the man who leaves his family and becomes a member of his wife’s family. This form of marriage is chosen in the condition that the family only has a few daughters without having a son. Under this circumstance, one of the daughters will be confirmed as a “boy” or male legal status (purusa status). The girl who has male legal status is known as sentana rajeg. If a sentana rajeg marries a man who comes from a family consisting of several sons, she will not leave her house nor won’t go with her husband, on the contrary the husband who goes with his wife, and then resides in his wife’s place of residence. In this case, the husband is called meawak luh (female legal status/predana status) while his wife is meawak muani or has male legal status (purusa status).
This marriage took place at the residence of his wife. Therefore, when the marriage takes place, women’s families are relatively busy compared to men’s families. The busyness of the marriage ceremony includes completing the marriage administration. The male family mostly waits (madia) or follows a series of ceremonies according to the order in which the marriage ceremony is held as determined by the female family.
This form of marriage is less common among Balinese-Hindus than the ordinary form of marriage. It means, it is only carried out by families who are not blessed with a son. Therefore, it made sense when at the beginning of the enactment of Republic Indonesia Law number 1 year 1974 regarding Marriage, there are several families who had conducted a nyentana marriage, experiencing difficulties in completing the marriage administration (marriage certificate) at the Department of Population and Civil Registry, because a nyentana marriage which places the wife as male legal status (purusa status), is apparently not in line with the format of the marriage certificate as specified in the rules on marriage.
Thankfully the authorities (in this case the Bali Provincial Government, in particular the Population and Civil Registry Offices in all Bali regencies), had not implemented the Marriage Law purely and consistently, so that the completion of the marriage administration (marriage certificate) for couples who had nyentana marriage can be completed wisely, namely by adding a “note” in the marriage certificate which explains that “… and Ni Made Yuliani, S.Sos, (name of the bride) as purusa status/male legal status then the problem is solved.
Perhaps because of this changes in status, the woman is changed her status to meawak muani or male legal status and the man is changed his status to meawak luh or predana or female legal status, causing this marriage to be less attractive to some men.
Once again, it needs to be emphasized that nyentana marriages are generally carried out by families who are not blessed with a son. The nyentana marriage was chosen with the intention that all the responsibilities and obligations (swadharma) that this family had to carry out are still carried on. However, in some cases, even though a family has been blessed with sons and daughters, they still feel they need to have a nyentana marriage for their daughter. This happens when the parents very love to their daughter and the groom agrees to choose the form of nyentana marriage.
Marital status as mentioned above, is closely related to the issue of inheritance later in life, as well as the lineage for children who then born. In the case of ordinary marriages, the children born will follow the father’s line with the status of purusa/male legal status, while in the nyentana marriage, the children born will follow the line of the mother, who has the status of purusa/male legal status. Another consequence of a nyentana marriage is that the man is legally considered to have left the house/throne (ninggal kedaton) or has broken up relationship with his family, so that all his rights to continue the inheritance according to Balinese Customary Law are also considered null and void.
Matunggu Marriage
Citing the research results of V.E. Korn in his book entitled Het Adatrecht van Bali (1932), Pangkat (1971) suggests that matunggu or ninggonin marriage is a form of marriage in Bali. This form of marriage is chosen if the husband cannot pay his wife’s petukon (buyer price), therefore he is forced to wait at the house of the father in-law. There he works, usually working in the fields without wage, until the petukon money is paid in full or calculated with wages or results that must be part of the husband (father in-law).
Paselang Marriage
According to Artadi (2009), a paselang marriage, also known as a ditoroni marriage, is a form of marriage that is commonly practiced among the Balinese Puri (royal family), with the aim of preventing the lost of successor generations/heirs in the Puri (Palace). As is known, the number of caste people (the Puri group/royal family) is relatively not as much as the average person, so that often happens, it’s difficult to find a mate for a single daughter, who happens to have a fate of “difficulty to find a soulmate”, while Puri’s (royal) inheritance are so many in both immaterial and material that must be borne, so that the continuation of the lineage is an absolute must in the castle. If it is difficult for a girl to find a mate, until her time is over and she is burdened with the obligation to continue her descent in Puri (castle), any way is impossible, including the way to raise a child, because she has not yet married, so the only “exceptional” way is to do a paselang marriage. Paselang marriage is a marriage by borrowing (paselang) a married man from another castle for the purpose of fertilization of offspring for the continuation of inheritance in the woman’s house/castle.
It was further stated that regarding the procedure for implementing the paselang marriage, there’s no explanation had not been found. However, the decision of the Kerta Court in Denpasar Number 2/1948 dated 3 February 1948. In connection with the decision of the Denpasar District Court Number 23/Pdt.G/2007/PN. Dps dated 18 September 2007 and upheld by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia Number 1042 K/PDT/2008, dated 21 October 2008 stated that the paselang marriage was legal.
In the paselang marriage, two sons were legally adopted, namely the biological child of the paselang man in his marriage to his other wife. The two sons then legally inherit in the new castle and the continuation of the inheritance is declared valid by the jurisprudence mentioned above.
Pada Gelahang Marriage
It has been stated above that the most common form of ordinary marriage is held in Bali and there are relatively no problems in relation to the ceremony or the completion of the marriage certificate. The form of nyentana marriage is actually an alternative path that can be passed by husband and wife couples who are only blessed with daughters and are not blessed with male offspring. The question is, what form of marriage should be chosen if there is a family with only one son, intending to marry a woman who also happens to be the only child in the family? Or in the case that one family is blessed with several children but it is believed that only one of the children may take care of and continue the inheritance left by their parents, for some reason. Based on several cases found in several custom villages in Bali, such a situation was overcome by choosing the form of pada gelahang marriage, which means “duwenang sareng” or “shared ownership”.
There are several terms used to describe the form of pada gelahang marriage, such as the marriage of negen dua (Banjar Pohmanis, Penatih, Denpasar), mepanak bareng (Banjar Kukub Perean, Tabanan, Banjar Cerancam, Kesiman, Denpasar), negen dadua mapanak bareng (Banjar Kerta Buana neighborhood) Denpasar, Peguyangan Custom Village, Denpasar), nadua umah (Krambitan, Tabanan), makaro lemah (Gianyar Custom Village, Gianyar), magelar warang (Sangsit, Buleleng and Melaya, Jembrana). There are also those who call it a fairly long phrase, such as “nyentana (nyeburin) marriage with an agreement without a farewell ceremony”, as it is known in Kerobokan, Denpasar. In the words of I Gusti Ketut Kaler (1967), this marriage is called “parental marriage”.
Source:
Dr. Wayan P. Windia, S.H.,M.Si, dkk, 2009, Perkawinan Pada Gelahang di Bali, Denpasar, Udayana University Press.
Dharma Na Gara
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