Summary: | The pilgrimage ritual on Gunung Kawi (Mount. Kawi) is a phenomenon in
religion and belief as well as in economics and politics. The pilgrimage on
Gunung Kawi has developed from a sacred tomb to diverse rituals surrounding
the place which is in line with the increasing number of visitors to the place, from
Chinese and Javanese ethnic groups as well as interfaith and cross-region. It has
developed into a center of ritual and further into an economic center. The
pilgrimage on Gunung Kawi subsequently led to a variety of economic
enterprises that rely on pilgrim rituals, either in services such as tour guides,
lodging/hotels, parking, trading in form of stalls, spontaneous traditional market,
etc., or the ritual itself that produces economic income in a large scale. All the
activities are associated with ritual activity and generate material profits /
economic directly and indirectly know as �ritual-economic activity�.
The development of Gunung Kawi as a ritual center and later as an economic
center has resulted to economic competition and political arena. This condition
initiated from early in the history of the pilgrimage until now, in which the parties
compete for roles to dominate the strategic position economically and politically
in the �ritual-economic activities�. In the competition, there is a political
economic rationality associated with a person or a party to achieve their
objectives and retain what they have earned. Political economy in ritualeconomic
activity is a hidden rationality, not open to the public, in contrast to the
view that rationality of berkah that all income gained from ritual economic
activity is �berkahe Eyang� (blessings from the sacred being) and other forms of
economic activity such as keeping the ritual places as Jurukunci, Cantrik, Modin,
inn keepers and so on are a form of �devotion�.
Political and economic dynamics that occur in the pilgrimage on Gunung Kawi
ultimately form a social structure that organizes pilgrimage activities and ritualeconomic
activities there. Pesarean (ritual area) as the ritual and economic center
has been organized and managed in such a way to be a pattern that is similar to a
state or �Pesarean state� managed by Ngestigondo Foundation in which the
management consists of the chairperson by a �perdana menteri� or �prime
minister�, a �king� by a Jurukunci, the �apparatus� by the employees and the
people by the merchants.
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