Trunyan village is located on the bank of lake Batur just on the foot of the mount Abang. Their unique tradition from the rest of Balinese is their tradition of not burying their dead member. They have 3 cemeteries. One is for the normal dead, second is for abnormal death such as fall from the wood during harvest of greenery for the cattles, or certain sickness which is considered very dangerous, and cemetery for the children.
For the normal dead person the corp is not buried like the rest of Balinese, but just put on the narrow spot of land on the foot of hill and just exposed to the atmosphere until the whole flesh dissolve from the body and left only the bones. There is really strange because the exported dead body in Trunyan normal cemetery is not radiation bad smell. Many people say that it is just because of the water absorb the bed smell or probably the tree that is known to name Maja tree can absorb the bed smell. As a matter of fact Trunyan village has been recorded on king charter in the 10th century. A temple dedicated to the God of Bhatara Datonta is clearly mentioned 1000 years ago to be maintained and worshiped.
Weather in the Trunyan village is very cool, averaging 17 degrees Celsius and sometimes down to 12 degrees Celsius. Lake Batur to 9 km in length and width of 5 km is one source of water and a source of agrarian life of the people of Bali south and east. The uniqueness of the Trunyan village is treat the bodies of people who have died. Different with the Bali Hindu people in general who solemnize Ngaben for burning the body. In the Trunyan village, the body does not burn but only placed in the graveyard in a forest area. Strangely, the body will not stink out, despite being there for many months. Trunyan residents believe that it absorbs the bad smell of the corpses is Taru Menyan tree.
Trunyan Burial of the way there are 2 kinds namely :
- Mepasah, the corpse placed above ground with the open air. Bodies are only given a fence made of bamboo. This is so that these bodies are not eaten by animals. The people who buried the way of mepasah, they are is dead at the time were men who had been married, people who are still single and children who have escaped his young teeth.
- Buried in the ground. The people who died were buried after their handicapped body, or at the time of death there are wounds that have not healed (eg. the patient's body smallpox, leprosy and others), people who die by unnatural as killed or committed suicide, and child who has not loose his young teeth.
For the purposes of burial, in the village there are 3 kinds of Trunyan graves, namely :
- Sema (cemetery) Wayah for citizens who natural death. Most northerly location.
- Sema Muda to bury infants and small children or people who have grown but not married.
- Sema Bantas for residents whose death was not natural, such as accidents or suicides
- Sema Wayah and Sema Muda located a little far away from the village, while Sema Bantas situated near the village of Trunyan. If a trip to the Trunyan village, do not be surprised if there are lots of human skulls scattered along the street. Because it's skulls that is the main attraction of Trunyan as ancient village and regarded as a Bali aga village. Also, do not ever take things that are here, because the stuff belongs to the people buried here.
Unlike the Balinese people, the people of Trunyan do not cremate or bury their dead, but just lay them out in bamboo cages to decompose, although strangely there is no stench. A macabre collection of skulls and bones lies on the stone platform and the surrounding areas. The dead bodies don't produce bad smells because of the perfumed scents from a huge Taru Menyan tree growing nearby. Taru means 'tree' and Menyan means 'nice smell'. The name of Terunyan was also derived from these two words.
The women from Trunyan are prohibited from going to the cemetery when a dead body is carried there. This follows the deeply rooted belief that if a woman comes to the cemetery while a corpse is being carried there, there will be a disaster in the village, for example a landslide or a volcanic eruption. Such events have been frequent in the village's history, but whether women had anything to do with it is a matter of opinion.
You can visit both the village of Trunyan and the Kuban cemetery by chartered boat from Kedisan. Sadly, nowadays the boat trips are now blatant tourist traps, as touts and guides strongly urge you to donate your cash to the temple project or leave a do