This work is based on my ANU PhD thesis which was submitted to the Department of Anthropology in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies in 1995. The completion of that thesis was made possible through a Columbo Plan scholarship award with financial support from the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB). I am grateful to the Australian Government for this funding and also for the kind assistance I received from AIDAB officers, especially Mr Hashem and Mrs Alicia Curtis of the ACT Regional Office in Canberra.

My supervisory committee that brought this work to fulfilment was made up of Professor Dr James J. Fox, Dr Soepomo and Dr Penelope Graham. To these persons I wish to convey my considerable thanks. In this respect, I owe an invaluable debt to my primary supervisor, Professor Fox, whose teaching and painstaking guidance contributed a great deal to the production of this thesis. His efforts in finding additional financial support meant very much in bringing this work to a conclusion. Moreover, to my family who stayed with me to share both happiness and sadness in Canberra, Professor Fox was more than my professional supervisor. My children prefer to call him as “Mbah Jim”, meaning “grand-father Jim”. When we were in Jakarta, I was rather jealous because for their own reasons, my children's personal attachment had been closer to their grand-parents than to my wife and myself, their own mother and father. Their reference of Mbah Jim to Professor Fox thus reflects their closeness to him. I am pleased and proud to have this “jealousy” repeated in Canberra. For all this, I can only express my greatest gratitude and “nyuwun pangestunipun panjenengan dalem, nggih, Mbah Jim”.

In many ways, especially through sharing ideas and perspectives, the staff and students in the Department of Anthropology in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies and the Department of Archeology and Anthropolgy in the Faculty  of Arts have also contributed to this thesis. My first acquaintance with anthopology was through my teachers in the Faculty of Arts. Dr Nicolas Peterson, Dr Ian Keen, Dr Don Gardner Dr Douglas Miles and Dr C. Gregory, are among those to whom my respect will never cease. My thanks and gratitude is also extended to all individuals whose advice and suggestions have contributed to shaping this work. Among these are Dr Radin Fernando, Norma Chin, Dr Kathy Bellingham, Dr John Rudder, Don Porter and Dr Arlette Ottino, to mention only a few. Included in this list are my fellow Indonesians such as Yunita Winarto, Tom Therik, Jamhari Makruf and I Gde Pitana.

The help from the administrative staff in the Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies have been equally instrumental. Considerable thanks go to Susan Toscan, Ria van de Zandt, Margaret Tyrie and Anne Buller. Their share in providing facilities and technical support in an informal and familial atmosphere has been very impressive and without their assistance, this work would have been more difficult.

It is hard to imagine that I could have produced this thesis without enthusiastic support from many people in Cirebon where I carried out my research. Pak Shofie and his family, to whom I shared a home and to whom I express my thanks, occupy a place of special importance. It would be a long list if I mentioned here the names of all the distinguished Kyai from various Pesantren, kramat custodians, kraton personnel, government officials and generous villagers to whom I should also convey my thanks. I should, however, express my thanks for support and encouragement from Dr Zamakhsyari Dhofier, the reference from Professor Richard Pearse, my former supervisor at Macquarie University, and the permission from my superior in the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jakarta to undertake this study.

Finally, I cannot conclude these acknowledgements without mentioning Nur Eko Prabawaningsih, my wife, Monita Cahyaningsih and Emmyliana Suryaningsih, my daughters, and Mohammad Heikal Ariestianto, my son. Their endless love, passion and patience as well as their sharing in both happiness and sadness have motivated my every effort and inspiration in producing this thesis. It is to them I also wish to convey my considerable thanks, and it is also to them I would like to dedicate this work.

A.G. Muhaimin