Divine inspiration chooses religious leader

While democratic elections have become the mandatory way of selecting Indonesia's political figures, in the village of Batur in Bangli, locals appoint their religious leader by going into a trance.

The Nyanjan Jero Mangku ceremony usually takes place at a local temple, Pura Ulun Danu and the mediums who communicate with ancestral spirits are called the premade.

South Batur village head Wayan Sukaida said the spirits told the premade who would become the new religious leader or pemangku of Pura Ulun Danu.

During the Nyanjan ritual, the premade are believed to have magical powers. They cannot be burned by fire or wet by water and no sharp weapons can hurt them.

Unusually, the premade do not speak in Balinese to converse with ancestral spirits but in a mixture of Chinese and Sanskrit. Another person also in a trance interprets what the premade say.

The premade then discuss who of their number will become the group's speaker and has the right to name the new religious leader.

Once the leader is named, the village people go to him and ask him if he is willing to take on the role.

Sukaida said he knew of a villager who had turned down the role. Three days later, he suffered from a strange disease and his genitals became swollen. When the man agreed to become a pemangku he immediately recovered. Suffice to say, he was very relieved.

"(Now) no one dares to say no if he is appointed during the Nyanjan ritual, even if he is only a boy."

It's no surprise then that three boys in Pura Ulun Danu lead religious ceremonies.

The youngest is Jero Mangku Kadek, born on April 5, 1995. The boy, a second-year student of an elementary school in Batur village, was appointed as a pemangku four months ago. He is now able to conduct several rituals and has some knowledge about offerings.

Kadek said he still had some problems learning all the rituals and mantras but was optimistic he could master them with time. He has never complained that unlike the other children, he has to study at the temple.

"I find peace when I am in the temple even though it is more difficult to learn the mantra in Sanskrit than following the lessons at school," he said.

Kadek said three days before he was appointed as a pemangku, he had a dream about wearing white clothing, the same clothes worn in temple rituals.

"It seemed the dream was a sign from the ancestors. Besides, I also always wanted to go to the Ulun Danu temple of Batur," he said.

Jero Mangku Budhayana also had a strange dream before he became a pemangku. In his dream, a priest whispered in his ear telling him he was to become a spiritual leader. Budhayana ignored the dream. But two days before the Nyanjan ritual, his neck began to ache and he had a desire to take a bath and go to the temple to join the Nyanjan procession.

Before going to the temple, he went to borrow a destar (a headband worn by a man who performs a prayer) from his brother. His brother offered him a red one but he refused it. Budhayana also refused when the brother offered him a black destar and his mind was troubled with questions.

Budhayana could not understand why he wanted a white destar, normally worn by religious leaders. "Surely laymen shouldn't wear such clothing," he wondered.

Finally, he went to the temple without wearing a destar at all.

Not long after he arrived, he was appointed as a religious leader. When he accepted the job the pain in his neck suddenly disappeared.

A senior religious leader, Jero Gede Alitan, who is now 70 years old, still remembered the day he was appointed a pemangku in 1958.

He was working as a personal driver and he was changing the oil in his car when several people wearing traditional outfits dragged him out from under the vehicle.

Alitan was confused as the people cleaned his body and dressed him in white clothes, topped off with a white destar. They told him he had been appointed as a pemangku for the Ulun Danu temple. Even though he was shocked and felt he was not ready for the duty, he accepted the offer.

It turned out, however, Alitan became so stressed in his new job that he escaped from the temple during the fasting month of mabratha. When the villagers found out, they immediately hit the kentongan (a bamboo tube) to raise the alert. Alitan was captured a short time later and afterwards the temple was tightly guarded.

Alitan said it took him six months to face up to his new reality. He was no longer restless and felt peaceful instead.

"I think the boys who are appointed as a pemangku must also initially suffer from mental distress but the power from the other world, from God, means this suffering fades away in time," he said.

Asked about the education of the children who become pemangku, Alitan said they had to go to school like other children.

"Those who cannot afford to pay their school fees will be subsidized by the temple so they can go to, at least, senior high school. But I try to ensure they continue their education to university," he said.

Children who become pemangku and have been "baptized", however, have to wear a special destar in school in order to ensure they are not bullied by other students. -- N. Jagadhita