Divine Rage versus Heaven and Hell
Friday, August 10th, 2007 by Sidarta WijayaDivine rage is a belief in which deities and ancestors may punish one for one’s actions, especially in relation with religious ethic or ritual such as failure to perform a cremation, failure to fulfill a promise to the deities, forgetting a particular offering, entering temple while one is in spiritually unclean state, etc. The punishment does not take the form of a judgment in the afterworld, but in the form of illness, misfortune or death.
This idea divine rage (kaduken, or kasalahang) is still feared by most of Balinese. It is provides an effective social and moral controlling device which ensures the obedience of the Balinese to religious ethic and sometimes contribute to the continuity of the performance of the religious ritual and at the end fear of divine rage support directly to the preservation of Balinese culture though in uncomfortable way.
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