The Taru Menyan

A story about a magical tree and the birth to Balinese culture. Indonesia.

By Marcin Konkel

November 7^th, 2022

Nov, 2022

Trunyan is a village that is called the birthplace of Balinese culture. Its people have long lived isolated under the steep hills of Mount Batur, a still active volcano. The village, before finally settling where it is today, was initially spread out in two other places where, to this day, people still reside. One of those places holds a cemetery where the rite of passage is unlike anything else in the world.

The place contains a unique tree nowhere else found on the island. Its name is the Taru Menyan tree, from which the village has taken its name. The tree kills the smell of decomposing bodies that are left on the cemetery. It's said that it's main root changes colour to pink when a new body if left on the site and sources it's vital juices from it.

Read the full story below.

People keep observing me, not yet accustomed to seeing someone outside of the village. I smile at them. Some smile back, and some stand in amusement. I've just arrived in the oldest village in Bali. A place where the Bali Aga people (mountain Balinese) live and who settled this area well before Hinduism or Buddhism came to the island.

According to copper plate inscriptions found in one of the shrines of the main temple of Trunyan, the temple dates back to at least the 10th century AD (833 saka). The village is believed to be much older than the temple.

- source Wikipedia

For a very long time, the Bali Aga people were separated from others. The village is tucked away between the hills of Mt Batur, an active volcano. The only way to the village was by boat. In 2016, a road to Trunyan was constructed, opening the village to the world. The road is challenging and prone to frequent landslides during the rainy season.

Apart from the village, the cemetery which I was to visit was accessible only by boat as a road could not be built there.

Crossing the Styx

The speakers used for ceremonies, spread out across the village, shouted out that two rowers were needed to take me and my fixer I Wayan Sukarja (aka Yansu), to the cemetery. The voice echoed throughout the hills as if it was warning people about another landslide or an earthquake. It was a surreal experience.

These rowers came to be Wates and Temon, two local men who were to take us to where it all started.

The old blue boat with parts of paint falling off started slowly moving towards the adjacent bay. There was no shore where a foot could stand. Only the steep hill next to us. I noticed the electricity cables running through the trees' canopy. For a moment, I feel like crossing the mythological river of Styx. Thankfully, Heron was absent, and I was in the good company of newly met friends.

In few moments, I was to see a tree that is, as they say, unlike any other on Bali.

After seven minutes, the bay holding the cemetery showed itself to us. The narrow shore was empty, yet the aforementioned tree could be seen from a distance. A distinct smell in the air only intensified when we came next to it.

The magic tree

Yansu has been kind enough to tell me the story:

"The story of Taru Menyan has been passed down through generations. Over 1300 years ago, people were looking for the source of this beautiful sweet smell that the tree was producing all over Indonesia. These were people from different kingdoms. One man, who came from Java, was also curious about where the source was.

He and his brothers and sisters embarked on a journey towards Kintamani and lake Batur [region of Bali] as the smell was getting stronger. One of them has made it to the tree. He then started asking people to settle there with himself, creating a small kingdom.

When that happened, he was still worried that people from other kingdoms might also make the discovery. His idea was to place the dead bodies of people who passed away next to the tree as a warning sign for anyone wanting to get close and kill the scent. That did not go exactly as he thought as the tree neutralised the smell and the bodies took over the sweet scent."

The Taru Menyan (Taru means tree, and Menyan means scented) is a fig tree called Banyan that can indefinitely spread outwards. It can develop additional trunks, so one cannot tell which was the first. The tree on the cemetery is thought to be unique, and nowhere else to be seen on the island.

There were attempts by local residents to plant the tree outside of the village but without success. The tree is believed to be hundreds or even a thousand years old. It is sacred, according to locals but also outside.

Although it has dozens of branches - one caught my attention.

It is said that when the new body is brought and layed next to the tree, it reaches out to it and changes the colour of the branch to pink until the body is fully decomposed.

As proof of that, a residue of roots can be observed in the skulls and on some of the bodies still rotting. It can also be proof that one life gives life to something else. Everything comes back to mother nature.

The rite of passage

The cemetery has space for eleven bodies. People are placed in a bamboo cage, wrapped in cloth, and left to decompose. This practice is used to secure that no larger animals will cause any damage.

There are specific rules to whose body can be placed there. The person needs to be a native of the village, married, died from natural causes and without an open wound. If any of those conditions are not met, the bodies are buried in the ground in one of two other cemeteries. One for people who died young or have not been married and the second for those who died of unnatural causes.

The ceremony of moving the body to the space under the tree is expected to be as lavish as possible. It can be hard to achieve as the economy is based on small-scale agriculture. This makes people (and dead bodies) leave waiting for the proper wealth to accumulate to carry out a formal ceremony.

If eleven bodies are already residing, and a village member has passed away, one of the oldest cages is removed. The skull is then moved to a particular 'shelf' while the remains are thrown together with their possessions. That said, if nobody from the family of the old body was present during this process, the whole remains and the skull is placed on the side.

Locals do not have the custom of visiting or remembering the dead. When a body is placed in the cemetery, it is forgotten, yet not entirely. Balinese regard the body only as a vessel. The soul is reincarnated to another creature - be it human or animal. Thus there is no need to visit the body. The soul reincarnates and lives among villagers soon after.

Once the body is placed under the tree, nothing can be taken from the cemetery.

Different but one

Many traditions of the Bali Aga (and regular Balinese) are not written in books apart from the religion. The customs are passed from generation to generation and repeated similarly to the ancestors.

This also corresponds to many other places and customs in Indonesia. This country of close to 18 000 islands is so diverse that one lifetime would not suffice to experience it all. To respect that diversity, Indonesia has an essential slogan as part of the country's set of values:

"Different but one" (id. Bhinneka Tunggal Ika)

It comes from "Kakawin Sutasoma", an Old Javanese poem from the 14th century that teaches religious tolerance. This expression exists on the symbol of the Republic of Indonesia. The "Garuda Pancasila" bird, which is the emblem of the country, grips by its feet a ribbon with the same expression.

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Recently, the government has built a large building complex that has yet to be officially open. It's next to the cemetery with space for a few shops, a large waiting room and two piers - one on the spot and one in the village (solid concrete). Allegedly, the money will go mainly to Jakarta. It will commercialise the experience and contribute to the vast tourism business of Bali.

The once secluded village will become a booming centre selling yet another set of souvenirs yet without the tranquil experience of where it all started.