Yet, Balinese Hinduism is facing multiple threats.

From Islam, of course, firstly. Although Indonesia is a secular country and there is, and has been, genuine attempts at giving the country's multiple provinces some kind of federalism, two hundred thousand Hindus were massacred in terrible pogroms in 1965 by the Indonesian army. Bali's extremely deadly Islamic bombings in 2002, which targeted Westerners, as well as Hindus, have also given a serious jolt to Balinese Hindus.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world and the three million Hindus of Bali stand fragile and vulnerable in the face of this huge majority, which allowed Abu Bakar Bashir, the so called 'spiritual leader' of the 2002 bombers to receive a very light sentence and be released in 2006.

As the Chinese did in Tibet, the Indonesian government is also quietly encouraging immigration of Muslims to Bali, particularly from Java. Today, Hindus comprise only 60 per cent of the population of Denpasar, Bali's capital, whereas they were 91 per cent in 1990. Mosques, which were a rarity in Bali, are now springing up everywhere.

Image: Balinese women carry fruit offerings on their head at a temple in Kuta in southern Bali. Image: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images