The Symbolic Cremation of Agricultural Pests: Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in the Subak System of Bali
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2026.v16.i02.p10Keywords:
ritual mrateka sarwa marana, subak, traditional ecological knowledge, sustainable agricultureAbstract
The symbolic cremation ritual for agricultural pests (Mrateka Sarwa Marana), constitutes an important component of Bali's Subak system for sustaining agriculture through indigenous knowledge and collective ritual practices. This study examines the ritual process and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) embedded in the Mrateka Sarwa Marana ritual. Employing a qualitative religio-cultural ethnographic approach, the research was conducted in Bedha Village, Tabanan, Bali. Data were collected through participant observation, semi-structured interviews with key informants, and library research. The findings show that the Mrateka ritual functions as a collective mechanism integrating ritual purification, ethical pest management, symbolic cremation, and community participation to strengthen ecological balance and social cohesion within the Subak system. The tradition also preserves TEK through irrigation management, synchronized planting, environmental sanitation, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and the complementary use of modern agricultural technology. The study proposes an integrative framework demonstrating how ritual, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and the Subak institution collectively contribute to sustainable agriculture and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Downloads
References
Annas, J. (1993). The morality of happiness. Oxford University Press.
Ardana, P. D. H., Suparwata, D. O., Sudrajat, A., Chatun, S., & Harsono, I. (2024). The Role of Bali’s Traditional Subak Farming System in the Preservation of Natural and Cultural Resources. West Science Nature and Technology, 2(1), 31-38. https://doi.org/10.58812/wsnt.v2i04.754
Aristotle. (2009). Nicomachean ethics (W. D. Ross, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Arshiniwati, N. M., & Peradantha, I. B. G. (2025). Reviving the Sanghyang Grodog Ritual Dance: Promoting Social Harmony and Sustainable Cultural Tourism in Nusa Lembongan Island, Bali. Jurnal Kajian Bali (Journal of Bali Studies), 15(1), 61-91. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2025.v15.i01.p03
Astuti, N. N. S. (2018). Designing Bali tourism model through the implementation of tri hita karana and sad kertih values. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture, 5(1), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.21744/ijllc.v5n1.461
Balan, B. (2025). The Bali (Offering) Rituals Among the Māvilans of Southern India. Oriental Anthropologist, 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972558X241312645
Berkes, F. (2012). Sacred ecology (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. University of California Press.
Boelens, R., Escobar, A., Bakker, K., Hommes, L., Swyngedouw, E., Hogenboom, B., Huijbens, E. H., Jackson, S., Vos, J., Harris, L. M., Joy, K. J., de Castro, F., Duarte-Abadía, B., Tubino de Souza, D., Lotz-Sisitka, H., Hernández-Mora, N., Martínez-Alier, J., Roca-Servat, D., Perreault, T., Wantzen, K. M. (2023). Riverhood: political ecologies of socionature commoning and translocal struggles for water justice. Journal of Peasant Studies, 50(3), 1125-1156. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2022.2120810
Cai, H. (2024). The predicament of social sciences in the 20th century: a dialogue with Clifford Geertz’s essay “Thick description: toward an interpretive theory of culture” (Part I). International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology, 8(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41257-023-00102-2
Citra, I. P. A., Zakaria, A. R., Dwipayana, M., & Suryana, I. G. P. (2025). Dolphin Ecotourism: Applying the “Tri Mandala” Framework to Balance Tourism, Conservation, and Culture in North Bali. Jurnal Kajian Bali (Journal of Bali Studies), 15(3), 1222-1266. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2025.v15.i03.p12
Danugroho, A., Rustinsyah, R., Adib, M., Ardyawin, I., Idris, U., & Habib, M. A. F. (2025). Ritual, ecology, and climate change: An ethnoecological study of agricultural communities in East Java. Social Sciences and Humanities Open, 12(June), 102061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.102061
De Haas, R., Nijdam, A., Westra, T. A., Kas, M. J. H., & Westenberg, H. G. M. (2011). Behavioral pattern analysis and dopamine release in quinpirole-induced repetitive behavior in rats. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 25(12), 1712–1719. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881110389093
Dewi, I. G. A. A., Dewi, I. G. A. A., Kustina, K., & Prena, G. (2018). Culture of Tri Hita Karana on Ease of Use Perception and Use of Accounting Information System. International Journal of Social and Humanities, 2(2), 77-86. https://doi.org/10.29332/ijssh.v2n2.131
Djufri. (2025). From Ritual Practice to Community Resilience: An Ethnographic Study on Local Cultural Strategies in Urban Makassar. Indonesian Journal of Social Development, 3(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.47134/jsd.v3i1.4538
Durkheim, É. (1995). The elementary forms of religious life (K. E. Fields, Trans.). Free Press.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.
Geria, I. M., Nastiti, T. S., Handini, R., Sujarwo, W., Dwijendra, A., Fauzi, M. R., & Juliawati, N. P. E. (2023). Built environment from the ancient Bali: The Balinese heritage for sustainable water management. Heliyon, 9(11), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21248
Gertner, A. K., Franklin, J., Roth, I., Cruden, G. H., Haley, A. D., Finley, E. P., Hamilton, A. B., Palinkas, L. A., & Powell, B. J. (2021). A scoping review of the use of ethnographic approaches in implementation research and recommendations for reporting. Implementation Research and Practice, 2, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2633489521992743
Ghozi, A., Purwasito, A., Warto, & Rais, W. A. (2025). The Architecture of Sunan Bonang’S Tomb: Commodification of Sacred Zones in Religious Tourism. Journal of Islamic Architecture, 8(4), 883-899. https://doi.org/10.18860/jia.v8i4.26328
Gould, R. K., Martinez, D. E., & Hoelting, K. R. (2023). Exploring Indigenous relationality to inform the relational turn in sustainability science. Ecosystems and People, 19(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2023.2229452
Husserl, E. (1970). The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology: An introduction to phenomenological philosophy. Northwestern University Press.
Husserl, E. (1983). Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy: First book (Ideas I) (F. Kersten, Trans.). Springer.
Jin, S. (2022). Representing and Experiencing Islamic Domes: Images, Cosmology, and Circumambulation. Religions, 13(6), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060526
Jung, Y. (2025). Reshaping landscapes and human–environment relationships through geotourism. Tourism Geographies, 27(8), 1580-1599. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2575314
Lansing, J. S. (2006). Perfect order: Recognizing complexity in Bali. Princeton University.
Lansing, J. S., & Fox, K. (2011). Niche construction on Bali: The gods of the countryside. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1566), 927-934. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0308
Ma, Y., Luo, B., Zhu, Q., Ma, D., Wen, Q., Feng, J., & Xue, D. (2019). Changes in traditional ecological knowledge of forage plants in immigrant villages of Ningxia, China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 15(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-019-0333-0
Mekonnen, Z., Kidemu, M., Abebe, H., Semere, M., Gebreyesus, M., Worku, A., Tesfaye, M., & Chernet, A. (2021). Traditional knowledge and institutions for sustainable climate change adaptation in Ethiopia. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 3, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100080
Muller, S., Hemming, S., & Rigney, D. (2019). Indigenous sovereignties: relational ontologies and environmental management. Geographical Research, 57(2), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12362
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press.
Putra, I. K., Saad, G., Saraswaty, A., & Jayadi, I. K. (2025). Bulian Saa: Exploring the Distinct Characteristics of Ritual Language of North Bali’s Indigenous Community. Journal of Bali Studies, 15(2), 472-495. https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2025.v15.i02.p02
Ramstedt, M. (2014). Discordant temporalities in Bali’s new village jurisdictions. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 46(1), 60-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.2014.893722
Roth, D. (2014). Environmental sustainability and legal plurality in irrigation: The Balinese subak. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 11, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2014.09.011
Roth, D., & Sedana, G. (2015). Reframing Tri Hita Karana: From ‘Balinese Culture’ to Politics. Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 16(2), 157-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2014.994674
Rusadi, N. W. P., Pitana, I. G., Sunarta, I. N., & Arida, I. N. . (2024). Farmer Perspectives on Sustainable Urban Farming Tourism: A Case Study of Bali’s Subak Lestari Program. Jurnal Kajian Bali (Journal of Bali Studies), 14(1), 93-117. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2024.v14.i01.p05%20
Santoso, T. R., Rahayu, R., & Setiana, A. R. S. (2023). Political interest of religious ritual: The Sundanese Nyangku ritual in Indonesia. IAS Journal of Localities, 1(2), 123-137. https://doi.org/10.62033/iasjol.v1i2.16
Schutz, A. (1967). The phenomenology of the social world. Northwestern University Press.
Scobie, K., Lambin, X., Telfer, S., Rasahivelo, M. F., Raheliarison, R. N., Rajerison, M., & Young, J. (2023). Living with rodent pests: Unifying stakeholder interests to prioritise pest management in rural Madagascar. People and Nature, 5(2), 713-725. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10438
Sedana, G., Yastini, N. N., & Maulina, N. M. I. (2021). Roles of local farmers’ organization in supporting food security: Case of Subak in Bali, indonesia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 911(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/911/1/012083
Surata, S. P., Jayantini, I. G. A. S., Arjaya, I. B., & Zen, I. (2025). Visual and Narrative Engagements with the “Subak” System: A Thematic Analysis of Sustainability Learning through Creative Interpretation in Bali. Jurnal Kajian Bali (Journal of Bali Studies), 15(3), 1300-1330. https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2025.v15.i03.p14
Suyitno, I., Pratiwi, Y., Andajani, K., & Arista, H. D. (2023). The Cultural Meaning in Ritual Traditions for the Character of Osing People Banyuwangi, Indonesia. Qualitative Report, 28(7), 2058-2074. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6156
Toye, F., Belton, J., Hannink, E., Seers, K., & Barker, K. (2021). A Healing Journey with Chronic Pain: A Meta-Ethnography Synthesizing 195 Qualitative Studies. Pain Medicine (United States), 22(6), 1333-1344. https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnaa373
Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Aldine Publishing.
Vipriyanti, N. U., Rustiarini, N. W., Andayani Citra, M. E., & Sedana, G. (2025). The cultural landscape heritage sustainable strategy: integration of agriculture and tourism in Bali. Discover Sustainability, 6(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-00789-7
Wahyuni, M., Santosa, I., Irfansyah, & Julianto, I. N. L. (2023). The Concept of Water Exaltation in the Subak. Journal of Law and Sustainable Development, 11(2), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.55908/sdgs.v11i2.345
Wijayanti, P. U., Wayan, N., Artini, P., & Susrusa, K. B. (2025). Implementation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy as a Local Regulatory Mechanism for Sustaining Subak Anggabaya, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Agro Bali: Agricultural Journal, 8(3), 930-941. https://doi.org/10.37637/ab.v8i3.2250
Wirawan, P. E., & Rosalina, P. (2024). Enhancing Cultural Heritage Tourism Through a Spiritual Knowledge: The Implementation of Tri Hita Karana in Taro Village Gianyar Bali. Jurnal Kajian Bali (Journal of Bali Studies), 14(1), 215-233. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24843/JKB.2024.v14.i01.p10%20
Wiryawan, I. W. (2024). Implementation of Balinese Tri Hita Karana Concept for Environmental Conservation of Cultural Heritage of Land Consolidation Arrangements. International Journal of Conservation Science, 15(1), 597-614. https://doi.org/10.36868/IJCS.2024.01.15
Xie, J., Li, X., Li, Y., Lin, B., & Qiao, Z. (2026). What accounts for the charm of collective tourism attraction? An explanation from the interaction ritual chains theory perspective. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 39(101043), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2025.101043
Yulisinta, F., Murniati, J., & Eigenstetter, M. (2024). Spiritual Ecology and Indigenous Wisdom: Cultural Foundations for Sustainable Environmental Practices in Indonesia. Religious: Jurnal Studi Agama-Agama dan Lintas Budaya, 8(3), 185-202. https://doi.org/10.15575/rjsalb.v8i3.20237
Zen, I. S., Surata, S. P. K., Titisari, P. W., Ab Rahman, S. A., & Zen, S. (2024). Sustaining subak, the balinese traditional ecological knowledge in the contemporary context of Bali. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1306(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1306/1/012034
Zhu, H. (2025). Understanding and optimizing Cultural-Ecological patterns in protection Zones: A case study from Qiang CEPZ. Ecological Indicators, 179(May), 114084. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114084
