Hundreds of thousands attend Bali royal cremation (AFP)

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UBUD, Indonesia (AFP) - The remains of two Balinese royals werecremated Tuesday before some 250,000 loyal subjects after beingcarried through this hillside town in huge spinning pyresrepresenting the universe.
The bodies of Ubud royal family head Tjokorda Gde Agung Suyasa, whodied in March after a long illness, and a lesser relative werecremated near their palace here in one of the largest royalfunerals in local memory.
"This is the biggest ceremony that I have ever seen in mylife. I don't think there'll be anything like this again until Idie," said artisan Wayan Suta, 42, who was in the crowd withhis six-year-old son.
"They are our kings so I needed to attend to express myrespect."
Thousands of people from all walks of life took part in thepreparations, including the construction of the papier-mache pyretowers which formed the centrepiece of the spectacular funeralprocession.
The two-kilometre (1.3 mile) funeral march took the bodies from thetown's main temple, where they had been lying in state sinceSaturday, to the royal cemetery where the pyres were set alight.
The royal family of Ubud, the heartland of traditional Balinesearts, is one of the most revered on the mainly Hindu island.
It is descended from royalty from the neighbouring island of Javawho fled the fall of the Hindu Majapahit Empire in the 15thcentury.
Until Saturday the bodies had been lying in state at the palace,waited on by members of the royal family with offerings of food andcoffee.
The remains of 68 commoners, many also dead for months, wereexhumed and cremated on the weekend for inclusion in theprocession.
The royal remains were loaded via bamboo gangways into themulti-tiered, demon-covered towers called bade which symbolise thethree levels of the Balinese Hindu universe.
Carried by hundreds of bearers, each tower -- the tallest of whichis 28 metres (92 feet) high -- was spun during the procession toensure the spirits of the dead were too disoriented to return home.
Also winding through the streets was the Naga Banda, aseven-metre-long "dragon" reserved for the highestroyals.
In preparation for cremation, the bodies were placed in sarcophagirepresenting black bulls bedecked with gold foil, which were thenwrapped in the Naga Banda.
Priests in white poured holy water on the bulls and royal womenbrought offerings of fruit and incense in bowls on their heads.
Then the pyres were set alight, sending flames soaring into theevening sky and, according to local belief, return the body to thefundamental elements of fire, air, water, earth and void.
The souls were then released to God before being reincarnated.
Organisers said the ashes would be taken to eastern Sanur beach andcast into the sea later Tuesday night.
"(The soul) doesn't stay in the body, it's probably around thebody," explained Tjokorda Dge Raka Kerthyasa, the successor asUbud's royal head.
"The process of cremation separates the attachment of the soulto the physical being, the world. I think... I haven't died yet soI don't know."
Tjokorda Raka Swastika, nephew of the late Ubud royal family head,said "only the blue bloods" were honoured with acremation featuring the Naga Banda.
"(The family) is not only respected in Bali, we are related tothe royal families in Java, South Sumatra, all over Indonesia ...Our family is respected by great people all over the world,"he said.