Sundanese Religion
SUNDANESE RELIGION. Although the Sundanese of West Java, Indonesia, consider themselves Muslims, many pre-Islamic ideas still permeate their religious life. A key point in understanding Sundanese relations to the supernatural is the relationship between the soul and a creative or generative power that animates the universe. This power, anu ngayuga ("that which creates") is limited and is contained to varying degrees in the elements that make up the cosmos. The amount of power in a person is determined by ancestry and the time, place, and conditions of birth. It may further wax or wane according to the state of ritual or moral purity of the person (see Anderson, 1972).
Soul
The Sundanese have two ideas of soul: nyawa and semangat. Other words such as roh and jiwa are occasionally used, but these are adoptions from the Arabic and Sanskrit, respectively, and overlap in meaning between nyawa and semangat. Nyawa is simply life or breath, existing only while the person lives. Semangat, on the other hand, is that aspect of soul that connects a person to the ancestors and gives him or her various capabilities and strengths. It is the whole of a person's spiritual life. Provencher (1975) relates semangat to the Melanesian and Polynesian mana.
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