Deviant rituals still occur in Balinese Hindu community

Deviant rituals still occur in Balinese Hindu community

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The Balinese Hindu community, which is
strongly fused with religious and traditional ceremonies, has
deviant rituals that still occur on the island.

Thousands of Balinese people gathered at Puri Gianyar to hold
the cremation of the late King of the Gianyar aristocracy, Ida
Anak Agung Gde Agung recently. But at the same time a middle-aged
man, Nengah Gading, held a very unusual ritual called ngaben
idup-idup, a cremation for the living in the village of Juukmanis
in Karangasem, east Bali.

He conducted the ceremony to honor the souls of his sixteen-
year-old son Nengah Sutama and his brother Mangku Duduk, 60. Such
ceremonies have been carried out 11 times by the group in the
last three years.

Nengah Gading acknowledged that he belongs to the Tri Murti
group, which, he claims, has numerous fanatic followers.

Gde Artama, a resident of the village who witnessed the
ceremony, said the event started at 10 p.m. when two live bodies
were cleansed and wrapped with white fabric. The bodies were then
taken by a bamboo carriage to a nearby cemetery.

Prior to the event, dozens of faithful Tri Murti devotees
prepared various offerings and held prayers and meditation
sessions similar to those performed in the ngaben ceremony.

Upon arrival at the cemetery, they unwrapped the fabric. The
hair and nails of the "corpses" were cut and formed into two
dolls. The dolls were thrown in the river to symbolize leaving
souls.

The scene in the cemetery was as frightening as an act out of
a Calonarang story. Nengah Gading and his followers hysterically
shouted Leak (the evil spirit in the cemetery) and challenged it
to fight.

Gading explained he received pawisik (an order) from the
supernatural world to hold the ritual in order to save the world
from disaster.

The odd ritual has sparked controversy among community
members, especially Hindu religious leaders from Parisada Hindu
Dharma (the Hindu Council) in Karangasem. They consider the
ritual against pure Hindu teachings.

Based on several ancient Lontar manuscripts, the ngaben
(cremation) ritual was held to respect the Pitra Yadnya (soul) of
the dead.

Most Juukmanis villagers were still confused and doubted the
validity of such a ritual in Hindu practice. However, the
people cannot do anything to prevent Gading and the Tri Murti
devotees from holding such a ceremony.

This might be one of the reasons why the ritual has been going
on without any interruption from community members. After being
exposed by the media and having created polemic among religious
leaders, the villagers have taken stern actions against Mangku
Duduk and Nengah Gading, both pemangku (assistants) who help
organize various religious ceremonies at the village pura (Hindu
temple). The two men were released from their jobs.

The implementation of ngaben idup-idup and other religious or
unusual rituals have confused both religious leaders and the
community.

In Bali, religious and traditional ceremonies are tightly
linked together. In almost every region of the province, ritual
and traditional celebrations vary in accordance with the Sima and
Dresta concepts which are in line with the philosophy desa-kala-
patra, which means traditions must be adjusted to place, time and
situation.

Gde Tunas and other people in Juukmanis are of the opinion
that Gading's ngaben ritual is on the contrary to the sima. "But
if the community does not object to this activity, I personally
don't mind," he said.

Ketut Wiana, an executive on the Hindu Council, argued if the
cremation ceremony is intended for the living, it is against
Hindu teachings.

"But if I read all the reports from the media, it appeared
that ngaben idup-idup was a kind of melukat (purification
ceremony)," said Wiana, the author of Ngaben, a book on the
Balinese cremation ceremony.

The controversy was sparked because of misleading concepts of
the Hindu ceremonial term. Ngaben is usually referred to the
ceremony for the dead.

Wiana also hoped that religious and community leaders would
not punish people as sternly as the case of Nengah Gading and
Mangku Duduk.

"We have to provide them with guidance and hold a dialog on
how to practice religion in an appropriate way in line with Hindu
teachings," Wiana said.

He acknowledged that the Hindu Council's research and
development agency had not anticipated the escalating problems
faced by Hindu followers.

"Financial and bureaucratic procedures have prevented the
council from studying the ongoing issues in the lives of Hindu
followers," Wiana explained.

It is reasonable to assume that the Hindu Council was never
able to solve most of the controversial problems because it has
never studied or evaluated them.

Aside from the case of ngaben idup-idup, there are many more
disputed issues which occur among the Hindu community in Bali.

When asked whether the agency had documented all the issues,
Wiana said lightly, "It might have been reported and recorded by
the local Hindu Council."