Bali Aga

The Bali Aga, Baliaga, or Bali Mula, are the indigenous people of Bali. Linguistically they are an Austronesian people. Bali Aga people are predominantly located in the eastern part of the island, in Bangli especially the mountains Kintamani, East Buleleng, East Karangasem, but they can also be found in north-western and central regions. The term Bali Aga or Bali Pegunungan (Mountain Balinese) is regarded as an insult with an additional meaning of "the mountain people that are fools"; therefore, they prefer the term Bali Mula (lit. 'Original Balinese') instead. Bali Aga people who are referred to as Bali Pegunungan (Mountain Balinese) are those that are located at Trunyan village. For the Trunyan Bali Aga people, the term Bali Aga or Bali Pegunungan (Balinese: Mountain Balinese) is regarded as an insult with an additional meaning of "the mountain people that are fools"; therefore, they prefer the term Bali Mula (lit Original Balinese) instead. The Bali Aga/Bali Mula still maintain their old beliefs called folk Hinduism which has slight differences with Hinduism of the Balinese people one of them is not performing Ngaben cremation what most Balinese people do is to burn the bodies of people who have died, on the other hand, the Bali Aga/Bali Mula people leave the bodies lying on the ground on a tree which they call Taru Menyan until the corpse becomes only bones, the Bali Aga/Bali Mula people believe that the corpses do not smell bad because they are placed around the Taru Menyan tree, This is one of the traditions of the Bali Aga/Bali Mula community in Trunyan village and has become a unique phenomenon.