Daily worship is not performed in these temples but offerings are laid before the shrines from time to time by those who need the help of the gods and there are several annual festivals.  The object of the ritual is not to honour any image or object habitually kept in the temple but to induce the gods, who are supposed to be hovering round like birds, to seat themselves in the chair provided or to enter into some sacred object, and then receive homage and offerings.  Thus both the ideas and ceremonial are different from those which prevail in Hindu temples and have more affinity with Polynesian beliefs.  The deities are called Dewa, but many of them are indigenous nature spirits (especially mountain spirits) such as Dewa Gunung Agung, who are sometimes identified with Indian gods.

Somewhat different are the Durga temples.  These are dedicated to the spirits of the dead but the images of Durga and her attendant Kaliki receive veneration in them, much as in Hindu temples.  But on the whole the Malay or Polynesian element seemed to me to be in practice stronger than Hinduism in the religion of the Balinese and this is borne out by the fact that the Pemangku or priest of the indigenous gods ranks higher than the Pedanda or Brahman priest.  But by talking to Balinese one may obtain a different impression, for they are proud of their connection with Madjapahit and Hinduism:  they willingly speak of such subjects and Hindu deities are constantly represented in works of art.  Ganesa, Indra, Vishnu, Krishna, Surya, Garuda and Siva, as well as the heroes of the Mahabharata, are well known but I have not heard of worship being offered to any of them except Durga and Siva under the form of the linga.  Figures of Vishnu riding on Garuda are very common and a certain class of artificers are able to produce images of all well known Indian gods for those who care to order them.  Many Indian works such as the Veda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Brahmapurana and Nitisastra are known by name and are said to exist not in the original Sanskrit but in Kawi.  I fancy that they are rarely read by the present generation, but any knowledge of them is much respected.  The Balinese though confused in their theology are greatly attached to their religion and believe it is the ancient faith of Madjapahit.

I was unable to discover in the neighbourhood of Singaraja even such faint traces of Buddhism as have been reported by previous authors,[457] but they may exist elsewhere.  The expression Siva-Buddha was known to the Pedandas but seemed to have no living significance, and perhaps certain families have a traditional and purely nominal connection with Buddhism.  In Durga temples however I have seen figures described as Pusa, the Chinese equivalent of Bodhisattva, and it seems that Chinese artists have reintroduced into this miscellaneous pantheon an element of corrupt Buddhism, though the natives do not recognize it as such.