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THE VILLAGE and temple of Lingsar are located in the heart of the western plain of Lombok, due south of a mountain informally called Gunung Nudaya (Northern Mountain), which lies on the westward side of the northern chain of mountains whose culmination is Gunung Rinjani. There are two major water springs at Lingsar, and irrigation dikes are built to use this water and rainwater to irrigate the rice fields throughout much of West Lombok and parts of Central Lombok. Each of these water springs is connected to one of the temples that comprise the Lingsar temple complex: the spring on the east side lies within Pura Ulon (“head temple”) and that on the west side lies within Pura Lingsar. The temples are a bit over a hundred meters apart, and festivals are celebrated at them simultaneously . Additional water springs have created a small lake, and the Lingsar temple land, which consists of fifteen hectares (hectare = 2.47 acres), includes a garden and yields substantial biannual rice harvests. Balinese and many Sasak agree that Pura Ulon is older than Pura Lingsar. Pura Lingsar is almost an exact replica of Pura Ulon; other near-duplicates are found in various parts of Lombok, generally at water springs. Most teachers state that either the last king of Lombok, A. A. Ngurah Karangasem (r. 1839–1894) or one of his sons built Pura Lingsar as a larger duplicate to expand and glorify the state ritual that the festival had become and to better unify the Sasak and Balinese participants and ethnic groups in general. One other reason is clear: Karangasem descended from a different lineage of nobles than that celebrated at Pura Ulon, and he wanted to create a new and distinct temple that nevertheless embodied all 44 C h a p t e r T h r e e Myths, Actors, and Politics the main altar structures of Pura Ulon. Both temples have second courtyards called kemaliq (sacred place of supernatural sanctions) that include shrines of sacred rocks and ponds built over the two sacred water springs.1 These water springs are a primary focus of folklore, and their discovery or creation is a central issue in the local Balinese and Sasak battle over history and temple designation. The myths of Lingsar reveal how the past is incorporated into contemporary cultural identity; they also help inform the interpretation of the performing arts. The arts cannot be properly understood without exploring the respective myths; in fact I submit that to participate in a rite or a performing art is to participate in myth. These myths embody codes and imageries that are activated and referenced by the performing arts, called into the present, and manifested within the festival. Participants appear to interpret the arts using the same modes of conceptualization as they use to interpret history. MYTH AND HISTORY COMPLEX Eliade (1963:5–6) defines myth as a sacred story that narrates a sacred history relating to events that took place in primordial time, how, “through the deeds of supernatural beings, a reality came into existence.” By knowing the myth, one knows the origin of things and can control and manipulate inherent elements. This knowledge can be experienced by ceremonially recounting the myth or by performing the ritual for which it is the justification. One “lives” the myth, which becomes “a charter for ritual performance” and a religious experience in mythological time (Leach 1972:239). The figures in myth become contemporary in ritual as one is transported into that time. Myth “expresses, enhances, and codifies belief,” reveals moral wisdom, and provides a statement of reality “by which the present life, fates and activities of mankind are determined” (Eliade 1963:20). Contents and meanings of myths change over time when necessary, or, as Campbell (1988:135) suggests , myths and culture heroes evolve as culture evolves. Levi-Strauss (1963:209) explains that the “operational value” of a myth “is timeless” and “explains the present and the past as well as the future.” He states that if “there is a meaning to be found in mythology, it cannot reside in the isolated elements which enter into the composition of a myth, but only in the way those elements are combined.” Thus the constituent units of a myth can be isolated and their relationships to other units can be examined to determine the structure of the myth—what makes it tick, what gives it meaning. Because he felt that any myth consists of all its versions...

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