Rites of Passage

a once in a lifetime experience that transformed Ubud into the biggest ceremonial procession ever witnessed in Bali

On the 15th of July, the royal house of Ubud held the climax of its biggest cremation ever. It was by all accounts an exceptional event, which made the nightly news throughout the world. At last Bali was advertised – as it used to be, for its culture, instead of its bomb makers.

For those who did not attend what is to westerners merely a show, one simply has to imagine the pageantry: a huge, colourful 28.5 metre cremation tower, including one for the Ubud prince Cokorde a Sutyasa, carried by hundreds of cheering local youths as the devilish rhythms of a bleganjur gamelan orchestra set the scene. Ahead of the cremation towers, gigantic gilded bulls with golden horns and a long golden dragon (a symbol of wordly attachment) are paraded down the streets carried by shouting villagers and accompanied by no less than sixty eight smaller sarcophagi for villagers intent on following their prince to his journey to the abode of the gods. Add dozens of priests and thousands of spectating tourists and you have a once in a lifetime experience that transformed Ubud into the biggest ceremonial procession ever witnessed in Bali. Yet, if the particulars of this cremation are known, little is usually said of the philosophical background and symbolic purpose of the ceremony.

At the root of the event is the fact that humans are, to the Balinese, considered 'microcosmic' duplicates of the 'macrocosmic world'. The aim of life is for the person involved to blend back upon death into this macrocosm. The rite of cremation in this context very literally and symbolically enacts the process of final release. The body is treated in such a way so as to rejoin the material body of the world, the Panca Maha Bhuta five elementials. Whereas the soul is is taken in parallel with the physical body through a succession of ritual steps, to a journey 'back home' to the 'old country' of the deified ancestors (tanah ane wayah).

The cremation's purpose (be it the big cremation of the prince laying in state at the palace, or that of the corpses of commoners freshly exhumed on the morning of the event) is to symbolically set off the long process of the separation of the soul from the body. First the corpse is transferred from the 'low' part of the palace (semanggen) or the house, to the 'low' part of the village, (the setra or cemetery). After the corpse is burned, the bones are collected, made into an effigy and released into the sea, the 'lowest' part of the world. In other words the bodily elements blend into the physical world. When the ashes are thrown away into the sea the soul is provisionally entrusted to the god of the sea - Baruna. The body is sent to sea on a miniature boat. This cleansing into the sea is often associated in popular lore with the sojourn into hell, which is said to be located on the east of the ocean horizon. But the separation of body and soul is not yet deemed complete at this stage. After twelve days (referred to as ngorasin) or a variable length of time decided by calendar computations, the soul will be called back (ngulapin) through a small ceremony on the beach. Then will come the big 'post-cremation' or 'purification' ceremony of meligia (a sort of repeat, minus the body, of the cremation) at the end of which the soul will be definitively separated from all earthly bonds. It is precisely this ceremony, meligia punggal, that took place in Ubud on the 27th July. The soul then takes the path to the mountain, through a succession of ceremonies (nyegara gunung and meajar-ajar), which eventually takes it to the temple of origin of the clan (pedharman), located in the temple complex of Besakih, at the foot of Mount Agung - the mythical abode of The Gods. The soul of the dead, is sent to the 'old country' to become a deified ancestor (batara), but the ritual process is not over. The dead soul is prepared a place back home among its living descendants.

Therefore an effigy is prepared, and an ultimate ceremony, the 'ngenteg linggih' enshrines the soul as the newly deified ancestors of the family temple (merajan). From now on, the soul of the deceased has its place among the other ancestors in one of the thatched shrines of the family temple. The ancestor will now be ready to come back to visit during temple festivals, and to protect his/her kin.

They are also ready to come back to Bali in a new eventual human guise: the reincarnation. This makes clear that the cremation (or pengabenen) is but one particular moment in a long succession of rites that aim at liberating the soul.

The cremation tower (bade) is the symbol of the macrocosm (Bhwana Agung). Its upper part, with eleven merus, symbolizes the heavenly world (swah), its lower part the earthly/chthonian while the middle part represents the human middle world (bhwah). The corpse is laid to rest in the middle part, because humans are dwellers of the middle world. During the procession, a 'sentana' (heir, usually a son) climbs next to the corpse accompanied by a brahmin holding in his hands a manuk dewata - a bird of paradise, which symbolizes the soon to be delivered soul. The lower part of the cremation tower is decorated with figures from the Hindu-Balinese mythology. At the lowest level is the cosmic tortoise, Bedawang Nala, who is the support of the world. Entwined around her are the two cosmic dragons Anantaboga (the symbol of earth), and Basuki, the symbol of water: they also symbolize the physical needs of Man. Just above is Bhoma's head. Bhoma, who is also represented on temple lintels, is Wisnu's son from his rape of the goddess of earth Pertiwi, and he symbolizes vegetation. The tiered merus, (eleven for royal families) symbolize the level of heaven the deceased's soul is expected to reach. The four wooden pillars on which the meru rest symbolizes the deceased's cosmic brothers (kanda pat), with whom he is going to unite in the after world. On their outer side are leaves symbolizing the human world (bhwah).

The bull (lembu) or other sarcophagi for the non aristocratic dead is the vehicle of the deceased to her heavenly abode. The corpse is burned inside this bull. Under the cow is drawn a representation of Balinese hell/purgatory, where the deceased soul may be tortured and cleansed before an eventual reincarnation. A Naga Banda symbolizes the earthly bonds. It is symbolically killed by an arrow from the bow of a pedanda high-priest, symbolizing, again, the process of release.

The social aspects of the cremation are no less important than the philosophical and religious ones. Thousands of people have been involved for months, including relatives, banjar members and members of related or dependant clans. Fifteen villages are called upon to assist with the preparations and implementation of the puri Ubud cremation. Some prepare offerings while others help with building the implements, such as the cremation towers for carrying the corpse to the cemetery, or the sarcophagi where the body will be burned. Others play ritual music or recite holy manuscripts, each following a tightly defined division of labour and scheduling of activities. A big question hangs over this participation.

Why do they do it? The feudal system has disappeared, and the royals have no power over their former subjects. Two sets of reason can be invoked here. First the princely families still have control over many local temples, in the temple festivals of which commoners are also participating. This gives them a strong, indirect power over the people. And many local people owe their land to a 'gift' made to them by the ancient princes. They got their land against the promise they could be called to contribute to ritual events.

What we, as western observers see, is the vibrant culture of the Balinese brought to life in such ceremonies, the delight of the Hindu religion in the theory of re-incarnation and the rites of passage to the next world.