What is the Mukur part of the Balinese death rites about?
Mukur, also known as Nyekah or Mesiwa, is the ceremony held for the final purification of the soul. There is normally one family who hosts the ceremony (usually high caste); nonetheless many souls (perhaps more than one hundred) of any caste may be purified together on this occasion, as such a ceremony is very expensive. The ceremonial area for Mukur is called Piadnyan, derived from the word “yadnya” meaning holy sacrifice.
The ceremony has several parts to it:
1. Ngangget Bingin (“picking leaves from a banyan tree”).
The Balinese believe that the soul of the deceased still lingers in the death temple (Pura Dalem) after the cremation. This rite symbolizes gathering the soul from the death temple, which is believed to be the abode of Siwa.
2. Nganun
Enticing the soul to come to a place built especially for them. This place is called daksina – a round basket woven from coconut leaves.
3. Nguyeg (“grinding”)
The banyan leaves are burned and ground up and placed in a yellow coconut. They are then decorated as if they are a person and given offerings of flowers and money.
4. Mapurwadaksina
The daksina is then placed on a family member’s head and carried three times around the Piadnyan. After this, it is put back in its original position.
5. Nganyud
The daksina is taken to the beach and thrown in the sea. Offerings such as money are retrieved and the basket and the coconut is left to wash away. Here, the soul has the opportunity to take leave from heaven and from the God of the Sea (Bhatara Segara).
6. Nuntun
Three days later, the soul is picked up by the family at the beach and taken back to the family temple.
7. Ngotonin
After being placed in the family temple, a birthday ceremony is made and the soul is believed to be reincarnated. Now the ancestral soul may be called upon and worshipped by the family.
