CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AND SACRED LANGUAGE: BALINESE VERNACULAR IN THE CONTEXT OF HINDU MODERNITY

Abstract

This study explores the intricate interplay between sacred language, ritual adaptation, and cultural transformation within the Balinese Hindu tradition, focusing particularly on the expression of linguistic devotion through vernacular Balinese in contemporary Karangasem. The research is grounded in qualitative ethnography, combining participant observation, semi-structured interviews with ritual specialists (pemangku and serati banten), and textual analysis of lontar manuscripts and oral traditions.

Findings indicate that the Balinese vernacular (basa Bali) continues to serve as a potent medium for sacred communication and moral education, even as global modernity reshapes modes of religious expression. Ritual speech forms such as mantra, sesontengan, and tutur dresta—while once transmitted solely through oral lineages—are now being recontextualized through digital recording, social media, and educational institutions. This linguistic shift demonstrates not a dilution of sanctity, but rather a strategic re-articulation of sacred meanings within evolving communicative environments.

The study argues that this ongoing transformation embodies the Balinese philosophical principle of desa kala patra, which legitimizes contextual adaptation without abandoning theological integrity. Sacred language thus becomes a living continuum—simultaneously ancient and modern, textual and digital, local and global. Through this lens, linguistic devotion emerges as a vital force sustaining spiritual identity, reaffirming that Balinese Hinduism negotiates modernity not by resisting change, but by re-sacralizing it.

Ultimately, the research highlights that vernacular sacredness functions as both a form of cultural resilience and a spiritual pedagogy, nurturing continuity between generations while preserving the metaphysical essence of Balinese cosmology. The case of Karangasem reveals that in the heart of modernization, basa Bali remains the soul of ritual communication—bridging divine order (tattwa) and human expression (karya).