Balinese religion in search of recognition: From Agama Hindu Bali to Agama Hindu (1945-1965)

This article describes the struggle of Balinese religious and intellectual leaders to obtain the recognition of their religion by the Indonesian Ministry of Religion, between 1945 and 1965. By focusing on the disagreement opposing Balinese reformers, not only over the strategy to be pursued but even more so as regards the very conception of their religion, it retraces through which processes and within which contexts the Balinese religion resulted in being construed, first as Agama Hindu Bali, and finally, after protracted debates, as Agama Hindu.