The king of Denpasar lifts his father's spirit effigy onto a BUKUR tower in this 1997 file photo. The gold and white Bukur conveyed the royal effigies from the Pemecutan Palace in Denpasar to Kuta Beach 30 Kilometers away. The masive public NYEKAH, or MALIGIA, rites usually preceed the private Ngenteg Linggih ceremonies by at least a year

BEATIFICATION IN BALI
THE ROAD TO RE-INCARNATION

Avid Stranger readers will recall recent columns on deaths and cremations in my adopted Balinese family. This month, six months after the cremation of the controversial family patriarch Ida Bagus Anom (see Stranger in Paradise February 2000) and almost two years after the death of the young Ida Bagus Ngurah Susila, his much-loved nephew (see Stranger in Paradise January 1999: "Angels and Ashes, the Balinese Way of Dying: Part 83"), the family organized a series of NGENTEG LINGGIH beatification rites. Now, before your eyes glaze over and you turn the page, in search of another gado-gado recipe or info on the newest elastic thrill, I want to tell you that, like my editor, the boyish Justin Eeles, I have "had enough with the cremations already". But for the Balinese there is nothing as important nor as invigorating as a good old burn followed by a blessed beatification.

(Above left to right): a phalanx of Kepaon Brahman ladies at home, cellphones pinned to cumberbunds, on the morning of the procession to Kuta; the beatified spirits leave the house, in effigy, some months later lead by the new patriarch, Ida BagusOka; in the same procession the brother of the deceased (Ida Bagus Susila) and the deceased's son carry the magic Dadap branch (Erythrine Lysistemon) that proceeds all ancestral processions in Bali

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Ngenteg Linggih means "to stand up right" or "to formalize the position of …….".
The goal of the Ngenteg Linggih ceremonies is to purify the newly deified ancestor spirits and then return them, sanctified, to the warm fold of their spirit clan. To the Balinese this all very real. Ancestor spirits, called Dewata 'live' in the family's house shrines, the often-sizeable family house temple, called sanggah or merajan, found in every Balinese home. Beatification ceremonies are rare. In my 28 years of recording 'from the inside' I've never witnessed one; they only occur once every generation i.e. with the passing of a family's patriarch. Little has been written in English about these intensely Brahmanic rites.

As the village heads back home after a melasti procession to the sea, Ida bagus Suteja splashes the effigies with sea water (to invi gorate them—the sea beaing the ource of tirta amerta, the elixir of life).	Back home Mrs. Dharma, the local priestess, welcomes the 'mini-gods' back- with a splash of rice wine on the ceremonial threshold.	Family members perform for their deceased relatives.Dayu Madri, daughter of Ida Bagus Anom, and other ladies dance a spirited Pendet to welcome the souls back.
The Stranger dances the mabiasan/ ngidergumidance which occurs at the very end of important temple rites.	Ida Bagus Alit, a grandson, takes part in one of the many effigy seating ceremonies in the family's house shrine.	Pedanda Sidemen,one of Bali's most respected hidh priests,was particular earnest in his incantations—the re-incarnation of the soul of Ida Bagus Susila (a fellow brahman and almost a pedanda priest at the time of his death) is something he did not want left to chance.
The devoted widow, field-marshall Dayu Gede and Dharma, village priest and former A.D.C. to Ida Bagus Susila, wash his holy bell. The bell will sit in state in the house shrine temple till one day, in the not too distant future, it is deemed that the spirit of its former owner has returned.	Ida Bagus Oka places the padma spirit effigy of his father on the family's sun-altar (padmasana) shrine.

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The Balinese call their island Pulau Dewata. Every Balinese soul one day becomes a Dewata (deified spirit) or even a Bhatara (saint-like god). The following photo essay records some of the important thresholds in the 100 act series of Balinese beatification rites I witnessed this month:

Tourist Guide to Balinese Beatification
1. The Cremation ceremonies (black trappings) are held in the graveyard: they end with the consigning of the ashes to the sea. The Mukur soul purification ceremonies (white and yellow trappings, the colours of Lord Siwa, God of re-incarnation) are held in a special enclosure built on virgin land near the brahman house or princely palace: the rites start with the wafting of the soul back from the sea and end, some days and several purifications later, with another symbolic consigning of ashes to the sea. The Ngenteg Linggih (white and gold trappings) ceremonies start at the house temple (where the demi-deities now sit) then go to the sea, for purification, and then back to the house temple.
2. It is the liege lords or high priests who fashion the spirit effigies from young coconuts, banyan leaves and various gold leaf and floral ornaments.
3. The average Ngenteg Linggih ceremonies costs about US$ 15,000.
4. Cremations are run by the village community. Soul purification rites are strictly a family affair.
5. The ladies costumes for these rites are the most beautiful in all of ceremonial Bali -- rich chequered brocades, exquisite headdresses (photo below, top right).