The Death of Terunyans - Lake Batur, Bali, Indonesia

Human skulls lined on higher ground

We hired our boat from the counter at this jetty

The Terunyan village is one of the oldest village located on the edge of Lake Batur, Kintamani. Teruyans are the original Bali descendants. What attract tourists to this village is the way they treat dead bodies.  We hired a private boat for 600,000 Rupiah to Terunyan Village to see how dead bodies are treated. It took about 15 to 20 minutes to reach there. We could hire a shared boat but considering we might not want to stay that long, we decided to take a private boat and our guide Eduardo came along. 

Our boatman waiting for us

As our boat approaches the rustic jetty, the ambiance was spooky. We alighted and was guided by the man who is a Terunyan himself to the 'Cemetry located slightly up the hill.  Eduardo had told us, "Don't be surprise, the corpses have no smell." We were wondering if that is possible! Surprisingly the dead bodies were not buried but placed on the roots of the huge Tarumenyan tree and the tree absorbed the smell of the corpses  perfectly that we smell nothing.

The entrance of the graveyard

Not every Terunyan can be placed on this ground, only those who are "purified", married and young are chosen to be here.  Each time only 11 corpses can occupy the space and with some of their personal items used during their life time, they are laid on the foot of the Tarumenyan tree to rest. After the corpses perished, their skulls are arranged on higher grounds. From the conical bamboo casing we could see that some of the bodies were rotting but amazingly, there was no smell.  Looking at the condition of the body, we felt eerie and decided to leave the cemetery.

Tarumenyan Tree

Tarumenyan Tree

The bodies are placed on the burial grounds 

Their personal items are laid with them

Their personal items includes cooking utensils, plates and cups

The rotting body in the bamboo cage

The teeth of the corpse was visible

Another dead body

Closer look at the dead body

Picture of the deceased

The cemetry

Lines of conical bamboo cage filled with dead bodies

Visitors scattered coins on the graveyard

Just before we left a group of visitors came

The resting place of all faiths - Mirogoj, Zagreb

The entrance of Mirogoj

When traveling, we always look for a new experience and a place different from our backyard at home. At times, my curiosity in the history of the dead is equally intriguing as the living. This had brought me to Mirogoj; in search for the Muslims who was buried in this burial ground many years ago. Mirogoj was once the burial ground of all faith and religions in Zagreb. When I told everyone that we were going to the cemetery, all eyes were on me! The only words I said, "Come on, you'll enjoy it!" 


From the Tomislav Square, we walked straight up the steep hill towards the Zagreb Cathedral (Kaptol) and from there we took bus number 106. It is not far- about 2.5 km away from the city, we got off after four stops. There is actually a bus and tram that goes up the hill but asking around would take time since not many Croatians speak English. While waiting for the bus, we met a friendly old man who tried to communicate with us but unfortunately we couldn't make sense of what he was trying to say. He got on the same bus and we realized that he was going to Mirogoj too when he got off the bus with us. He then spent his quiet moment sitting in a secluded area of the park; perhaps he found peace in Mirogoj. 

The friendly Croatian man

Mirogoj Cemetery is noted as one of the most beautiful cemetery parks in Europe and a well known landmark in the city of Zagreb. Once upon a time the cemetery is a burial ground of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and others. It is also the last resting place of many famous Croatians. The cemetery was created in 1876 and most parts were completed by 1929.

The fact that  the first Muslim was buried in the Zagreb Mirogoj cemetery in 1883 marked the beginnings of a Muslim community and his tomb indicated the start of the oldest Muslim cemetery in central Europe.  The census in 1910 recorded the existence of a small 35-strong Muslim community in Zagreb which grew to 2000 permanent inhabitants in 1941.A special feature of the Muslim cemetery is a two-metre high Islamic monument from 1873. We went searching for the Nišan of the Ferhatović family in the Mirogoj cemetery but unfortunately we could not locate the Muslim quarter. After a few hours at the cemetery we had to leave. The next day, Mirano told us that he could locate the Muslims section of the cemetery but unfortunately we didn't have the time to go to Mirogoj again.