Cremations in Bali come at a cost

By Garrett Kam

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, another shark swims by and makes life dangerous once more. Only this time, the attack is on death, specifically cremation rites in Bali.

The dust has barely settled from the uproar about non-Hindu foreigners getting married Balinese style, but now a new and even more serious matter is being discussed: Can non-Hindus have Balinese-style cremations? While the obvious answer should be a resounding no, there is a lot of debate going on now between religious officials, intellectuals, priests and villagers.

Just what is the problem?

Foreigners witnessing a Balinese cremation are taken by the spectacle of a beautiful tower of wood, bamboo and colored paper carried by dozens or even hundreds of villagers. They marvel at the wooden animal, especially ones in such fanciful shapes as winged lions and elephant-headed fish, which receive the mortal remains and rise in a glorious blaze.

Then there is the search for bone fragments, the journey to the sea for dispersal and the secondary cremation to purity the soul. But there is very little understanding of what all of this really is about and what it involves.

Even the Balinese are overwhelmed by the amount of work, money and time that goes into a cremation. They don't take this ceremony lightly; death is a dangerous event for family friends, and the community. Every precaution is taken along the way to ensure that no one else will be affected by the death in a negative way.

Sure, Balinese cremations seem to be such joyous events, with so much noise, smiles, movement, processions and offerings. But the Balinese are human, just like the rest of us. Yes, they do weep and mourn, but mostly in private, although some of them do lose control now and then and show their emotions in public. It depends on the circumstances of death and who died, especially if a child was killed in an accident or struck by a serious illness.

But to mourn openly is a sign of weakness and disturbs the journey of the soul to the netherworld. Any kind of attachment to the physical world of the living makes the soul reluctant to leave. It is for this reason that the mortal remains, the physical vessel that the soul occupied in this life, is actually destroyed or done so in effigy and returned to the cosmos. With the body gone, the soul is released and able to be reincarnated or united in eternal bliss with the divine.

Just imagine now, for a moment, if a rich foreigner is to be cremated Balinese style. First of all, a tower and sarcophagus can be ordered; many Balinese do this today. Then the offerings and ritual implements can be bought from a specialist, or even at the market if the request is made ahead of time. Even food for the reception can be catered.

But there the money part ends. Different kinds of holy water must be obtained from all the temples of which the deceased was a member, for these are poured over the corpse for passage to the afterlife. In the case of the non-Hindu foreigner who never worshiped, participated or helped out with the temples, where will the holy water come from? How about from all the swimming pools at the hotels where he or she stayed, or the person's favorite brands of bottled drinking water?

What priest will make the death shroud, letters to the guardians of the underworld and perform the necessary prayers without precise information on the caste and clan of the deceased? To attempt this would be foolish on the part of the priest, and a misuse of his sacred knowledge and power for monetary gain or publicity. Even if the ritual was by some remote chance completed, that soul would wander about the community and haunt the living for it would have no place to go, no family in which to reincarnate.

Who would worship this unknown foreign soul? Disaster would befall the village where the ritual was performed. It would set off a chain reaction of unwanted effects in everything from private family ceremonies to temple celebrations, even to the Galungan holiday when the souls of the ancestors are welcomed home by their descendants.

Case

One such case received wide public attention when it was reported in the local newspaper several years ago. A foreigner who had gotten to know a Balinese man very well later died back in his home country. In his will he had asked for this man to carry out his cremation in Balinese style, and had set aside money from his estate for that purpose.

A blunt no was the answer when the Balinese man asked his village authorities for permission to have this dead foreigner included in the upcoming collective cremation. Then this man had the nerve, stupidity perhaps, to go to a nearby town to ask the rich royal family there if he could include the body in their exclusive cremation. He was laughed out of town.

This royal family, by the way, bought everything necessary for the cremation. They paid people and insured them against injury to carry the enormous towers and serpent effigies, not to mention giving sums of money to the women who served refreshments to guests. They also paid double time to men who came after midnight to kill pigs and chop ingredients.

A non-Hindu foreigner could do all of this, the things that money can buy. But there is no denying that the royal family still had a proper cremation in every respect. Expensive, yes, but correct, for the deceased were Balinese Hindus with all their religious ties and social obligations. Yet even by most foreign standards, an average Balinese cremation can be inexpensive, for death is a costly business in the West and in many Asian countries.

If any foreigner can buy a Hindu cremation ceremony, then the meaning of it will be lost to the Balinese, especially if a foreigner can afford a grander and more expensive one. This will not only lead to a disintegration of the family, but also of the whole social, cultural and religious fabric of the island.

Bear in mind, however, that if the deceased person was not particularly liked for whatever reasons, the community has its own ways of showing their displeasure. While required to help out with the cremation, villagers will take their time and consume copious amounts of coffee, cookies, cigarettes and whatever. The coffin might be to big to fit through the housegate.

The tower may be poorly constructed to break intentionally, spilling the body out onto the ground where it is roughly handled and, in extreme cases, even dismembered. The body might be too large for the sarcophagus, and the wooden animal itself might not even fit on the burning platform or under the pavilion. There are many other ways villagers can finally take their revenge on the deceased. Corpses of foreigners would not be exempt from such treatment, and might be mishandled by jealous villagers who did not get something from the deceased.

Of course, anyone can be cremated at the crematorium in Badung. In fact, tourists who died while on vacation in Badung have been cremated at the facility on request of their families. The ashes can then be sent back to the home country, much easier than transporting a corpse, or scattered off the tourist's favorite beach.

Foreigners have been cremated back home in a crematorium, and then someone has brought their ashes here for dispersal at whatever beach is designated in their will. That is fine, and many clandestine scattering of ashes have taken place and still occur off the island's coasts. There are no offerings, no Balinese ceremony, no tower, no carved sarcophagus, no Hindu priest, no community involvement. That should be the limit, and nothing more should be granted to non-Hindu Balinese, no matter how much they loved the island.

Speaking of love, a Balinese-style wedding ceremony can be declared illegal if performed for non-Hindus, or it may end in divorce by itself. But one can remarry as often as one likes as long as there is mutual consent and money among those involved, and society and religion permits.

This is not so with a death ritual; once a body is cremated and the soul released, it cannot be undone or repeated in another way. It would be unthinkable for a non-Christian to have a funeral in a church that he or she liked, or to be buried in a church's cemetery reserved for members of the congregation simply because it is beautifully landscaped or located in a nice place.

Balinese Hindu ceremonies should be for Balinese only, and any outsider who wishes the same should first of all formally convert, then live for an extended period on the island. They should participate in every aspect of community activities to really gain a full understanding of Balinese religious and social life. Only then would they qualify for these sacred rituals.