The Melukat Purification Ceremony at Pura Mengening in Bali. Photo / Sarah Pollok
From sacred ritual to viral Instagram trend, Bali’s Melukat water blessing is more than just a tourist attraction – if you do it right, writes Sarah Pollok
I’ve done many things in the name of spiritual wellbeing but plunging my head under 12 consecutive waterfalls in the middle of the jungle is certainly one of the more unusual ones.
However, in Bali, Melukat (a Balinese Hindu water purification ritual) is anything but bizarre and involves using holy water (“tirtha”) to cleanse one’s body, mind, and spirit of negative energy and imbue it with health and happiness. I’m not Balinese or Hindu but I’m certainly not the first visitor to participate in the ceremony, for which there has been a significant uptick in interest in the last few years by those seeking an immersive cultural experience or a spiritually satisfying one.
I first encountered Melukat as far as one can get spiritually from a temple, on Instagram. In the video, a young woman is filmed yelling and sobbing under a waterfall as a Balinese woman splashes her with water. It’s one of countless videos people have shared of Melukat online and whether promotion was intended or not, it’s become a must-do tourist experience for those eager to cleanse their body and soul while on holiday.
Made Warnata, director of spa and recreation at Anantara Ubud and my guide at Pura Mengening, has seen the hype first-hand.
“It’s getting more and more popular,” he tells me outside Pura Mengening temple in Seresada Village. Tourists trickled into temples around 2001 when the Balinese Government began promoting cultural tourism. However, social media has since propelled it into the mainstream.
“Nowadays, it’s become boom, so popular,” Made said, mimicking an explosion with his hands. We ourselves are here because the activity is offered by Anantara as part of its dedication to helping visitors not just see Bali but experience its unique way of life beyond the crowded hotspots. Case in point, instead of going to the “busy temples” most tourists visit, Made drives us 45 minutes through the lush jungle to Pura Mengening, where there are a handful of fellow visitors.
With patterned sarongs and tangerine sashes firmly wrapped over swimsuits, we enter the temple and follow crumbling stone steps that snake down into the dense forest and between several terraced pools of natural spring water. Some are interconnected, another holds a crowd of fat koi glinting in the sun and one is reserved for royalty, Made explains as he talks us through the temple’s historical and spiritual significance.
At the bottom of the staircase we’re directed to a small block of damp yet functional changing rooms and black metal lockers for belongings. Next, Made hands out canang sari and incense for the first step of the ritual: prayer and offerings. Kneeling in a small, tiled pavilion, he slowly guides us through six prayers, ensuring we all follow the correct hand movements and positions. Prayers offered, we place the canang sari between a dozen others on the altar and immediately collect a second to place on a rock in the first pool of water.
At this point the sarong clings to my thighs under the fierce sun, sweat beading along my back and stepping into the clear but icy pond is a delicious relief. Step two involves cleaning negative energy in the first pool, which has one large waterfall for full-body purification and smaller spouts dedicated to washing away anger, envy, sadness, and ego – one many of us later laugh about lingering under.
We’re instructed to pray at each fountain then splash our face, hair and mouth (those wary of Bali belly can skip this step, Made assures us) three times before plunging our entire head under the torrent of water for as long as is comfortable.
As he explains, I watch two women haphazardly mosey through the waterfalls. Skipping moments of prayer, they dunk themselves randomly while a guide stands by filming it with their phones. I’m suddenly thankful for Made, who turns what can be a cheap experience into one rich with education and an understanding of the Balinese way of life.
One by one we move under the fountains and Made calls out “prayer!” after I forget to pause a moment before one of the spouts. Cleansed of all the bad, we graduate to the second pool where the water imbues us with healing, positivity and strength, before ending with a final prayer back in the pavilion. Admittedly, my mind is somewhat distracted by a question I’ve held since watching the performative Melukat videos on Instagram: why participate in a ritual from a religion you don’t belong to?
If foreign tourists filmed themselves getting baptised for TikTok or if tour operators offered Jewish mikveh (a ritual bath) packages, it would seem unusual. Yet, Westerners have an undeniable curiosity about Eastern religions.
One explanation is that, in these destinations, there tends to be a “primary religion”. In Bali, almost 90% of people are Balinese Hindu, so the religion’s rituals give us an intimate understanding of the narratives, beliefs and practices that animate their culture and way of life. Of course, a traveller’s curiosity can result in cultural commodification; using your status as a money-spending individual to enter sacred spaces, which can edge out locals (as in temples packed with tourists) or cheapen a practice’s integrity.
Fortunately, I’m visiting with an expert well equipped to answer such questions, so I ask Made his thoughts about visitors who aren’t Hindu or Balinese participating in Melukat at local temples.
“We allow you to experience everything in Bali based on our culture, our tradition or even our religion,” he said, describing Hinduism and Balinese culture as open-minded and receptive to curious, respectful travellers.
“For us it’s not necessary for you to follow [the religion] from A to Z, the thing that we would really like to show is the authentic side of our culture and the immersion of our tradition.”
This, I realise is what travellers of any creed or spiritual condition can get from an immersive experience led by a local expert. Did I sob cathartically as I felt the water strip my bad karma away like mud under a hot shower? No. Was that moment a dog ear in the novel of my life, after which I experienced supernatural abundance and peace? Also no, but to be fair, I don’t believe in the gods this ritual petitions, so I wasn’t expecting a supernatural awakening.
What I did experience, thanks to Made’s commitment to thoroughly educating us about the practice and ensuring we followed correct protocol, was a tangible understanding of the systems and stories Balinese people orient their lives around.
It’s one thing to read about a ritual and quite another to smell the woody incense as it curls around altar offerings or feel icy water swirl around your sarong. One thing to watch a documentary but it’ll never be the same as standing beside strangers, surrounded by nature, as we humbly offer tender prayers to something larger than ourselves.
Ubud, Bali
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Denpasar’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport direct with Air New Zealand or with a stopover in Australia with Qantas or Jetstar. Anantara Ubud is then a 90-minute drive from Denpasar Airport.
DETAILS
Guests staying at Anantara Ubud can book several exclusive cultural experiences, including a visit to Pura Mengening. For more information, visit www.anantara.com.
The writer visited Bali as a guest of Anantara Ubud.
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