In teh Balinese culture, when someone has been deceased, they will be proceeded through an unique, traditional cremation ceremony, Ngaben. Ngaben is one of the most important ceremonies in the Balinese culture and is probably the most significant in a life of a Hindu Balinese. The ceremony is a centuries-old tradition, culminating in the cremation of the deceased body. This ceremony in Bali is very famous not only in Indonesia, but also worldwide. The cremation ceremony is also done by other religious besides Hindu, however, it is only in Bali that the ceremony is done uniquely, vibrantly, majestically, and artistically. The word Ngaben is initially a term used in publuc society in the Balinese social culture, but the actual word comes from the Balinese word Ngabuin or Ngabu which means “turning into ash”, meanwhile for the nobles and royal family, it is called pelebon, which derives from the word pelebuan, which also has the same meaning, which is “turning into ash”.
The history of this sacred ceremony began when Bharatayuddha (the descendants of emperor Bharata) in india around 400 B.C. believed that this cremation ceremony would bring back the deceased body into the natural foundation of the body (water, heat, wind, earth, and ether). Hindu people also believes that this cremation ceremony would also free the soul from their bad deeds while they are still alive, and it will accompany them to heaven and reincarnate as a better person. The Balinese Hindu theology holds that there is a competition between evil residents of the lower realm to capture this soul, and a proper cremation enchanes the chance that it may reach the upper realm. In this modern era, this holy ceremony is still performed and has become an unique tradition that can not be separated away from the Balinese Hindu.
In Balinese culture, people go through an interim state, where they bury the dead for a while usually near Pura Prajapati, pool funds and cremate many recently dead on the same day in an elaborate community-based Ngaben ceremony. Once the families are financially ready, they would select an auspicious day and prepare bade (coffins) to carry the deads and announcing the event in the village. The families would also make a patualangan to cremate the body in, which is either a lembu (bull) to burn with dead, or a wooden wadah (temple-like structure). Once the corse is ready for the cremation ground, it is washed and then dressed in Balinese attire. Family and friends pays their last goodbye with prayes and the mouners take it for cremoation. In the ceremony, they would carry the corpes with rites, dressed in traditional attire, accompanied with gamelan music and singing, to the cremation grounds. If the path to teh cremation grounds, passes through major road crossings, the coffin is rotated three times to confuse the evil residents of the east to the south or from left to right three times, which has the symbol of utpti, stiti, and pralina, while singing kidung as the symbol of “status improvement” with a hope that the soul of the deceased could get a good place and then could reincarnate as a better person or even moksha.
At the cremation ground, the corpse is placed into the bull-shaped lembu or temple-shaped wadah, final hymns are recited and the cremation pyre lit, while the corpse is burning, the Balinese music team plays the beleganjur music, a battle song symbolizing the soul’s fight with evil underworld to reach the worry-free upper realm. After the cremation ceremony and the burning, there is still another step because the atman (spirit) still have the other part or elements that needs to be eliminated, which is called Panca Karmendria (five major sin). It consists of Padendria (sin from path of life), Payundria(sin from food in life), Panendria (from hands), and Upastenindia (sin from sexual behavior). To remove these five mjor sins, an additional ceremony needs to be carried out, which is called as “Nyekah”. After caarrying out the Nyekah ceremony , it wont be able to erase and be free from all the sins, but is actually a recap of all the sins. The result of the recap will then be a report for the soul, whether the soul of the individual be reincarnated or not. This report itself is called as Karma Wasana.
As Hindus, Balinese believe in the cycle of life and death, that teh soul of teh deceased is eternal and has to return back to the physical world time and time again, working through its karma until deemed pure to reach eternal rest. The Ngaben ceremony enables the soul to be free from the shackles of the body, and ushers the soul to the next life. After the cremation, the soul could be given another physical body an continue the cycle of life, or achieve moksha, a final rest in heaven. The preparation to do this one ceremony for an individual is not a joke. The ceremony needs a lot of effort, money, and tme, so the process could be long. To ease the burden of the cost, effort, time, nowadays Balinese peop;e often do a miss Ngaben, this way it is more affordable for people with low economial condition. If it is calculated, using this method. Balinese people could save a lot of money. If commonly, each family or person needs around 15 – 25 million rupiah for an individual ceremony, while with mass ngabe they will only spend no more tha 5 million rupiah in total with a complete ceremony, but for the family with financial suffiency, the ceremony could be done as fast as possible. However, they still need to wait for the best day according to Balinese calendar, family agreement, and permission from Pedanda (Hindu priest). Until it is the determined day, the body will be kept at home.
From the explanation above, it shows that Ngaben in Bali is a way of Balinese to respect their belived ones and shows us how important it is that mortality is not the end of life, but it is also the beginning of new better life. Thus, the death of the one they love must be accompanied with prayer, sincerity, and joy to set him/her free the wordly ties.