The Balinese Artistic Equipment for Corpse's Place

Ngaben or the Balinese Cremation Ceremony is the ritual performed to send the dead through the transition to the next life. This is the unique ceremony and you see it only in Bali. Many equipments was used in this ceremony, one of them is Bade. Have you heard it before?


Bade is one of Ngaben Ceremony equipment for the place of corpse before bring it to Setra (the cemetery). The shape of bade is like candi or building. Bade is decorated with variety of Balinese ornament or Balinese Patra Punggel Ornament. Patra Punggel is the style of curving which was taken from leaves or plants and assembled in buildings. Patra punggel decoration in buildings of bade which can provide the terms of artistic value and complexity and eerie and magical impression in the procession of death as the path that we cannot avoid.

Bade has 3 parts, the foot, body and head. The foot part is palih bacem,bedawang, gunung tajak, and gunung gelut (it become the buffer of The Bade) . The body part is palih padma negara, sancak gede, taman gede, and padma sari. The head part is badan dara, rongan, and tumpang (the place to put the corpse). 

If it is related with the Catur Warna in the concept of the profession of human groups in Bali, there are special rules to use bade for example, any offspring that may use bade tumpeng (like the roof) solas (11), sanga (9), pitu (7), lima (5) , telu (3), and besik (1). If you from the Brahmana usually use Bade tumpeng 11 or 9, Ksatria use Bade tumpeng 9 or 7, Waisya use Bade tumpeng 3, Sudra use Bade tumpeng 1. The person who make bade is called by Undagi. 

Balinese will use sanan for lift up the Bade to bring it to cemetery. Sanan is made from bamboo which arranged to form a square. After arriving in cemetery, the bade was burned at the same time with the corpse.

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