Ngaben, The Balinese Cremation Ceremony

The most remarkable ritual in the Balinese culture that we can see is Ngaben (Balinese cremation), weather it is followed by a cremation of real body or corpse or not. The complex and time, energy and fund consuming ritual have come to the view of society as the bigger load of their life. This type of inflated ritual must have started from royal palace that much possible started from 13th century, then followed by the ordinary people. It is likely also that the priest or pandita have given the hope to the people that by doing such as inflated ritual a promise of Sorga (Heaven) or good life after death.

Other reason it would have been the chaos of castes where each group claimed or traced their progenitors to high person of the past by showing that they performed the great ceremony. This is a fact when a certain family can only use tower with only one roof, 3 roofs, or even 11 roofs on the death body vehicle during the cremation. This is to illustrate the social status of the dead and his family as the high class descendants.

Cremation is a purification ceremony atma (soul) as the first phase of the Hindu Balinese sacred duty to his ancestors by performing procession funeral pyre. 

As I wrote in an article about pitra Yadnya, the human body consists of rough body, soft body and karma. Gross human body is formed of five elements of so called Panca Maha Bhuta ie pertiwi (solid), apah (liquid), Teja (hot substance) wind (wind) and akasa (space). The five elements are fused to form human physical and driven by the atma (spirit). When people die who die are just rough body, Atma was not. Well cremation is the process of purification atma / soul as it leaves the rough body.

 

Procession cremation ceremony performed with a variety of processes and tools in the form upakara sadjen and completeness as well as symbols such as the oft-performed other rituals Balinese Hindus. Ngaben done to humans who died and his body was still there, also people who died there was no dead body was swept away like the sea and ill bodies are discovered the plane crash who had burned his body, or such as the Bali bombing case 1 where some of the bodies could not be identified because it was cut into pieces or so of ash from the explosion.

For cremation procession there is no body who is done by making the symbol and take the fistful of soil location death and then burned. Who performed in many stages of cremation. Starting from bathing the corpse, ngajum, burning and nyekah. Each stage uses a means of offerings (offerings) that is different. When there's decedent, his family would face on the pastor to ask when there is a good day to carry out the cremation. Usually the reply will be given time no more than 7 days from the day of death.

Having obtained the day (funeral pyre), then the family will spend the first ritual that is Nyiramin layon (bathe the corpse). The body will be bathed by the Brahmins as clusters because of their social status have an obligation to it. Finished bathing, the bodies will be subject to a complete Balinese traditional clothes. Next is a procession ngajum, the procession of releasing the spirit by making use of cloth pictorial simbol2 unsur2 purification of the spirit.