The Lingsar Festival on Lombok, Indonesia: A Picture Story

By DORISEA researcher Volker Gottowik, University of Heidelberg

Lingsar is a rural community in West Lombok, situated at the foot of Gunung Rinjani. It is widely known for a temple complex (Pura Lingsar) that was built on extensive water springs and is jointly maintained by Hindu-Balinese and Muslim-Sasak. Their shared responsibility for this sacred site finds its symbolic expression in a festival (Pujawali Lingsar) that the two distinct ethnic and religious groups jointly organize every year.

The following pictures of this festival were taken between 2011 and 2013. They focus on ritual activities like, for example, processions, offerings and services that display concurrently commonalities and differences between Muslim-Sasak and Hindu-Balinese. The undisputed climax of the festival is a mock battle between the participants in the festival (Perang Topat) that is staged with rice cakes.

I would like to thank Pemangku Sasak Soeparman Taufik, Jero Mangku Putra and I Ketut Toya for the support they have given me. I am grateful in particular to Mohammed Azmy, who assisted my research on Lombok.

Stick fighting (Presean) between Sasak	Loser and spectators
Purification of sacred stones (Batu Kremat)	Sasak and Hindu priests work hand in hand
End of the first procession (Mendak Tirtha)	Prayer service at a crossroads
Main altar in the Gaduh courtyard	Main altar decorated with offerings
Hindu-Balinese women with offerings	Prayer in the Gaduh courtyard
Hindu-Balinese dancers (Rejang Dewa)	Preparations for appearance
Performance in the Gaduh courtyard	Rejang Dewa performance
A joint sacrifice by Sasak and Balinese	Spectators and an official banner
Baris performance by Sasak	Telek performance by Sasak
Procession of Balinese and Sasak	Preret player and Gendang Beleq drummer
Hindu-Balinese service in the Kemaliq	Pedanda Ranu Tawang in the Kemaliq
Hindu and Sasak priests prepare for prayer	Joint prayer in the Kemaliq courtyard
Soeparman Taufik and I Gede Renjana	A ritual meal (Begibun) of the Sasak
Sasak enter the Kemaliq in procession	Hindu-Balinese pray in the Kemaliq
Official banner in Lingsar	West Lombok regent Zainy Arony
Production of baskets for rice cakes	Preparation of rice cakes by Sasak
Procession with rice cakes	Distribution of rice cakes (Topat)
The rice cake war (Perang Topat)	A mock battle between Sasak and Balinese
Balinese priests in the final procession	Final procession of Balinese and Sasak
Final prayer service of Hindu-Balinese	Final blessing by a Sasak priest
Soeparman Taufik with sacred water	I Ketut Toya with sacred water (Tirtha)