Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c20.s3.109

v2.c20.s3.109

It was believed that cremation exempted a man from any further change of shape, at least he remained for a certain time as a Pitā (father) in the heaven of the devas and as such demanded the worship and offerings of his surviving relations. But as every family was not able to bear the heavy expenses of cremation, they buried the body instead of burning it. Those who were buried could not enter heaven and assumed all sorts of shapes, and the Balinese specially believed that many of them were metamorphosed into wild dogs. It was, therefore, the bounden duty of every one, who was rich enough, to exhume the dead bodies of his poorer ancestors and burn them.