International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 16

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES SPRING 2016
of the town . These communities further support the continuity of Balinese society , and form an essential component of the traditional community that sustains the meaning of every cremation ritual . The basic concept of the banjar community is sukha-dukkha , from Sanskrit meaning ‘ pleasant-unpleasant ’ ( Monier-Williams & Cappeller , 1889 : 483 , 1220-21 ). The term conveys the respect and sympathy for each community even in difficult and challenging times . Without this , it is unlikely that the family of the deceased would be able to prepare the cremation ceremony and use the cemetery in a meaningful way .
From what I can ascertain there is no evidence of a conflict or friction in the use of the cemetery or other facilities in Tabanan village today . Banjar community members participate in the cremation rituals , and the onlookers are still eager to witness the route of the religious festival and cremation ritual processions , treating these as a part of their culture and life . The members still carry the tower / bade , sarcophagus and stair / trajang on their shoulders toward the cemetery , though in other places these ceremonial structures ( the ‘ ritual equipment ’ I referred to earlier ) are transported on wheel-bearing floats rather than being carried . Because of the extension of the Tabanan village area , the distance between the deceased place and the cemetery has increased by more than 1 km . The use of wheel-bearing floats for these parades in Tabanan helps the participants to more efficiently transport the sarcophagus , even though it may be less spectacular for the onlookers .
The religious procession in relation to the civic life of the community
The symbolic meanings of sacred arts , their ethical dimensions and the respect for nature , are basic principles for Balinese life in actualising their religion , culture and tradition . For instance , a festival procession to collect holy water in the place of a wellspring , the priest temple and the village temples for purification of the dead body , does not reveal the totality of the procession , but merely pays homage to the gods and the power of nature at these specific places . In addition , as I have already indicated , three traditional orchestras participate in the cremation rituals and festivals in Tabanan namely angklung , gong and gambang , whose names contain syllables that invoke sacred symbols .
As Bandem ( 1986 ) argues , every tone of Balinese traditional music has its own character and place , such as ; dang , ding , dung , deng , dong or ang , ing , ung , eng , ong that relate to the cardinal directions ; east , west , north , south , centre . The sacred Hinduism symbol of ‘ OM ’, or ‘ ONG ’, signifies the universe and is derived from three letters ; A , U , M or Ang , Ung , Mang ( in Bali ). These letters also symbolise three worlds : mother , father , and heaven world , and the sounds emanating from the orchestras derive from the words ang , ung , mang and ong , each of which has symbolic connections to the deities Brahma , Vishnu , and Shiva ( Bangli , 2005 : 104 . The angklung orchestra consists of two words ; ‘ ang ’ and ‘ ung ’, meaning that this orchestra is only used for cremation and temple ceremonies . Gong , on the other hand , derives from ‘ ong ’, a word which is used in most kinds of rituals . Gambang contains ‘ mang ’ and is the orchestra that direct the soul to the heavenly realm which consists of five players , placed near the pavilion of the deceased . Bangli ( 2005 : 114 ) also
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