Funeral procession in Bali

This painting depicts a few of the many rituals involved in the complicated process that purifies the soul of the deceased and releases it from the bonds of the material world. The series of events may take years to complete.

Set against a lush landscape is a village scene densely packed with activity. In the background, flooded rice terraces climb the slopes of a sacred volcano. In the foreground, a funerary procession winds its way past the brick walls and gates of a temple. On the far left a man scales a tree to beat a slit drum, calling the villagers together. A tall cremation tower is borne aloft by a group of men laboring to maneuver the wide lattice of bamboo poles at its base. The tower itself has seven pagoda-like roofs reaching toward the sky. The body of the deceased is hidden from view under a white cloth shaded by two parasols. The ornate tower is decorated with the face of the protective deity Bhoma.

In the center a priest in a tall headdress and white lower garment aims an arrow at a mythical dragonlike snake, a figure that appears only in rituals for members of royalty. Its symbolic killing aids the release of the soul of the departed. On the right side of the painting, a palanquin holding a boy and a girl—relatives of the deceased—leads the procession toward the cremation grounds. Ahead of them, under a small pavilion, is the bull sarcophagus in which the body will be placed for cremation.

The painting teems with other aspects of village life: A farmer leads ducks to the fields; seated on a water buffalo another farmer plays the flute; women carry offerings.

Like many artists creating paintings for the tourist market, I Made Djata chose to depict one of the most spectacular funerary rituals, an event that fascinated (and still fascinates) visitors to the island.