Awaiting the Message of the ‘Batara’

Kompas/Haris Firdaus

Officers and volunteers of a joint evacuation team evacuate an elderly woman with paralysis from her home in Duda village, Selat district, Karangasem regency, Bali, Monday (25/9). Villagers are being evacuated to safety amid the looming threat of the eruption of Karangasem’s Mount Agung, which has been declared the highest alert level of “danger”.

Despite requests to evacuate, many residents living in the danger zone of the looming Mount Agung eruption chose to stay. The residents stayed for ngantosan, or to await a message from Ida Batara Gunung Agung, even though they risked their lives to do so.

According to local Hindu beliefs, ngantosan means to await a message/signal from Sang Ida Batara Gunung Agung, the spiritual guardian of Mount Agung. Such an activity was performed by residents in Kubu village, part of the area in the red zone of the predicted eruption, where they chose to stay to pray.