Critique of Religious Commodification in Geguritan Pan Bungkling

A Sociology of Religion Study

Abstract

This study examines the cultural critique of religious commodification and the formalization of ritual practices in Geguritan Pan Bungkling, a traditional Balinese literary work. It focuses on how the character Pan Bungkling employs humor and satire to question the legitimacy of religious authority and expose the relationships among ritual practices, economic interests, and power structures. Using a qualitative approach, this study combines textual analysis with hermeneutic interpretation. The primary data are drawn from Geguritan Pan Bungkling, held in the collection of the Lontar Library Institute, Faculty of Letters, Udayana University, under inventory number Krp. 183, as transliterated by I Gusti Ngurah Bagus (1986). The analysis focuses on stanzas composed in Pupuh Sinom that satirically address religious authority, ritual practices, and power relations within the narrative. The analysis proceeded in four stages: identifying and selecting relevant stanzas; interpreting their meanings in linguistic and narrative contexts; examining the relationship between individual stanzas and the narrative as a whole through hermeneutic reading; and interpreting the findings through Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital, particularly symbolic capital. The findings reveal three major patterns. First, the text depicts the interconnections among ritual practices, economic interests, and power structures. Second, humor, satire, and trickster strategies serve as narrative devices through which Pan Bungkling challenges the legitimacy and consistency of religious authority. Third, the narrative emphasizes tattva as a form of philosophical and spiritual understanding that cannot be reduced to formal compliance with ceremonial practices. These findings suggest that Geguritan Pan Bungkling functions as a site of cultural critique of dominant religious authority and articulates the possibility of democratizing religious discourse. This study contributes to Balinese literary studies and the sociology of religion by examining how spiritual knowledge, religious authority, and ritual practices intersect within the text.