  In 1904, there was an event that initiated the
banning of masatya. When the son of King Ngurah Agung of Puri Tabanan was preparing to
cremate his father, the King's widows indicated that they were ready to undergo the satya
ritual. The Dutch colonial government tried to stop the event by sending two warships to
blockade the south beach at Tabanan.
The prince went ahead with the ceremony, which took place on 20 October
1904. Eventually, however, strong pressure from the colonial press and government urged
the prince to sign a contract agreeing to the outlawing of widow-burning.
Since that time, regular Balinese cremation ceremonies - with their
accompanying beleganjur orchestras and the burning of the lembu and the wadah, have become
major tourist attractions. At the same time, the tourism industry as a whole, with its
big-time capital investment and resort development, has worked to change the social
structure of Balinese society and as such has had serious implications for the
commercialisation of the cremation ritual.
Cremation becomes commercialised
There has probably been little change in the cremation rite between the
1930s, when Covarrubias witnessed the mass cremation of around 250 bodies in Kerobokan,
Kuta, and the current time. Now, as then, the practise of the cremation ritual has been
based on the legitimacy of the caste system, and functions to strengthen the hierarchical
relations between the high-caste brahmana with Balinese of lower castes. The New Order
government, making use of existing social hierarchies to further its political interests,
has praised the 'traditional' cremation rite and espoused its perservation. In the New
Order context, the cremation rite became a communal space, in which people worked together
to prepare for the ceremony. Such preparation could involve hundreds of people, take
several days, and cost millions of rupiah. Many Balinese families find they have to either
hock or sell pieces of land in order send their ancestors off with due respect. And it is
tour operators who have most benefited from the increasing and overwhelming hype
surrounding cremation ceremonies.
According to Prof Ngurah Bagoes, a professor in the Faculty of Letters
at Denpasar's Udayana University, such hype is rarely accompanied by a deep understanding
of religious essentials. Indeed, a number of religious scholars have registered complaints
about the conflicting trends towards increasingly elaborate rituals on the one hand and
the erosion of basic religious knowledge on the other. Some see the ever more complex
ritual and offerings as evidence of Balinese peoples' creativity and artistic skill. To
deprive Balinese Hinduism of its aesthetic, they say, is to destroy the very core of the
island's culture. Others, however, argue that it is a waste of natural and human
resources. Indeed, the majority of Balinese are not opposed to the simplification of the
cremation rite. In fact, in recent years, certain changes have already taken place.
In the seventies, wood was used to feed the fire. Nowadays, due to the
expense and difficulty of obtaining enough wood to burn the body, gas burners are used
instead. Using gas, the body can be burnt in only 2 hours. Other changes have taken place
in the process of construction of the lembu and the wadah. Whereas making the processional
towers used to be a communal effort, now people can buy them from a traditional architect
or undagi. Similarly, the offerings used in the ritual can either be made by the women of
the house or simply purchased from the high priest who is to lead the rite. Such
commercialisation, it seems, is difficult to avoid, even if many are concerned about its
potential to undermine village solidarity.
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