Cremation rites were probably
not introduced into Bali until the time of Majapahit, about the
‘thirteenth’ century but the ancient Balinese animists
already believed that their life fluid was immortal and that after
death it returned to animate other beings. They practiced the
obliteration of the corpse by 'burial or, as is still done in
the primitive village of Sembiran, simply by abandoning the bodies
in the forest at the edge of a ravine to be eaten by wild animals.
A man in Bali is born into a superior state - a higher caste -
if his behavior on this earth has been good; otherwise he will
reincarnate into a lower stage of life to begin over again the
progressive march towards ultimate perfection. A man who is guilty
of serious crimes is punished by being reborn, often for periods
of thousands of years, into a tiger, a dog, a snake, a worm, or
a poisonous mushroom.
Between incarnations, until the time comes for its return to this
Earth, the soul goes to Indra's heaven, the swarga, a reservoir
where "life is just as in Bali, but devoid of all trouble
and illness." But this process does not go on forever; when
the individual has attained the highest wisdom and has reached
the highest position among men, that of a Brahmana who has been
ordained as a priest, he hopes to obtain liberation from this
cycle of births and become a god. The man of low caste attributes
his state to former misconduct, redeemable in future lives only
through a virtuous existence, which entitles him to be reborn
into a higher and higher caste.
A mans life on this earth is but an incident in the long process
of the soul's evolution.
The grand send-off of the soul into heaven, in the form of a rich
and complete cremation, is the life-ambition of every Balinese.
He looks forward to it often making provision during life with
savings or property that can be pawned or sold to finance his
cremation. The greatest happiness that comes to a Balinese family
is to have, in this way, accomplished the liberation of the souls
of their dead but complete cremation ceremonies are so costly
that a family of limited means have to wait often for years haunted
by the fact that their dead are not yet cremated, and are sometimes
obliged to sacrifice their crops and their lands in order to pay
for the ceremonies. The expenses of a cremation are enormous;
besides the priest's fees, the great amounts of holy water used
and the costly towers coffins offerings and so forth there is
the food and entertainments provided for days for the hundreds
of guest and assistants that help in the ceremonies.
A rich-cremation adds greatly to the prestige o a well-to-do family,
giving occasion for gay, extravagant festivities that are eagerly
anticipated despite the financial burden they represent |
