Bengkala, village touched by a god

Bengkala, village touched by a god

Jagadhita, Contributor, Buleleng, Bali

They can neither speak nor hear, but the Balinese revere these people as they believe they are protected by the gods.

They are 33 kolok (deaf and mute villagers) who form a community in Bengkala village, Kubutambahan district, Buleleng regency. They have existed for many years. Why Bengkala, outsiders may ask. But there is no scientific explanation for why so many babies here are born deaf, despite some research that have been conducted in the area.

The village has a population of some 3,000 people, who are mostly farmers, and is located 250 meters above sea level, 17 kilometers from Singaraja town. There are two hamlets in Bengkala: Banjar Adat Bengkala Kajanan and Banjar Adat Bengkala Kelodan. Kelodan is also called Desa Kolok or Desa Bisu, which literally means the mute village.

"The deaf-mutes are treated no differently than anybody else. They have rights and obligations," said I Made Cincin, a village official.

He said that some of the deaf-mutes had been recruited as hansip (civilian guards) or pecalang (traditional Balinese security guards).

They are more disciplined than other guards, he stated. "If we ask them to come to work at 7 a.m., they usually come earlier. And they also have a good memory of the history of our village," he said.

He also claimed they could become very aggressive if they witnessed acts of unfairness.

"If someone cheats during a cock fight, the kolok will not hesitate to hit him. If the kolok catch a thief, they might beat him up badly, because they don't hear his screams," he claimed.

However, he said, the kolok were generally patient and loyal. "Even if someone pesters them, they don't react. Sometimes we tap them on the shoulder to attract their attention, they don't seem to mind," he explained.

They communicate in sign language, which many of the other villagers are also skilled in. Cincin said that deafness was not hereditary and there was no reason to assume that a deaf baby must have deaf parents.

Cincin said that many researchers had failed to explain why there were so many mute people in the village.

People in Bengkala village believe that the kolok are protected by Bhatara Kolok (the god of mutes). The god is believed to reside in a local graveyard, which is also a pelinggih (sacred area). Many residents have reported strange events in the graveyard.

Dana, a deaf-mute, for example, said he had been working in a field not far from the graveyard when a friend approached. When Dana turned his head, the friend had disappeared.

The next day, Dana met him again and asked why he had left without saying anything. But his friend said he had never been in the field that evening as he had been at a cock fight.

After the incident, Dana suddenly fell ill and could not be cured. A balian (spiritual healer) told him to apologize to Bhatara Kolok because his family had never left an offering for the god. Dana got better after following the healer's advise.

In another case, a woman was desperately unhappy as her babies always died shortly after birth. A balian told her husband, Warta, to visit the graveyard at midnight and take home a sanggah (woven bamboo leaves usually placed in graveyards with offerings).

Before night fell, Warta visited the graveyard and saw many sanggah. But when he returned at midnight, he could not find any. Suddenly a friend of his, who is a deaf-mute, appeared in the darkness to hand him a sanggah.

That day, Warta visited his friend to thank him, but was surprised to learn that he had not been in the graveyard at midnight and certainly had not handed him a sanggah.

Two months later, Warta's wife gave birth to a healthy baby. Another interesting aspect of this village is that the people used to eat cat meat. Cincin said that as civet cats had eaten the resident's chickens, the people thought it was only fair to trap the civet cats and eat them -- which, as it turned out, were quite tasty.

One day, they found a domestic cat in a trap. The residents ate that too and declared it more delicious than the civet cats.

Thus, on holidays such as Galungan and Nyepi the people ate cats, although nowadays the tradition is not upheld as people can afford to buy beef and fish.