In religious rituals, certain cloths are believed to contain supernatural powers that protect
the wearer from evil influences. They also function as a link between the present and the next world as in the case of cremations, where hundreds of meters of expensive cloth are turned to ashes to accompany the soul of the dead in its journey to the next world. In addition to living (and dead) flesh, rich fabrics are also used to clothe buildings, shrines, statues, altars ancestor stones.

In the past, women from royal families competed with each other to create the most dazzling textiles using sumptuous materials. Balinese women are the keepers of the knowledge of making textiles, passed down from one generation to another. Such knowledge includes the secret ingredients of certain dyes and a vast collection of sacred motifs. An important duty of a Balinese mother is to pass her precious knowledge of textiles to her daughter.