Hyang

A hyang (Kawi, Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese) is an unseen spiritual entity that has supernatural power in ancient Indonesian mythology. This spirit can be either divine or ancestral. The reverence for this spiritual entity can be found in Sunda Wiwitan, Kejawen, and Balinese Hinduism. In modern Indonesian this term tends to be associated with gods, devata, or God. The realm where the hyangs reside is called kahyangan; now is a synonym for svarga or heaven in modern Indonesian.

Origin

The term "hyang" now widely associated with Balinese Hinduism developed in ancient Java and Bali more than a millennia ago. However this term actually has an older origin, it has its root in indigenous animism and dynamism beliefs of Austronesian people that inhabit Indonesian archipelago. Native pre-Hindu Buddhist and pre-Islamic Indonesian venerated and revered ancestral spirit, they also believe that some spirit may inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or any sacred places. The "hyang" concept is indigenously developed in archipelago and considered not originated from Indian dharmic religions.