It is hard for a tourist, even a Bali first-timer, to visit the island of Bali and not visit a temple.
Agama Hindu, the religion of the Balinese, derived from the great religion of India but tempered with their ancient animist beliefs and influenced by selected parts of religions brought by early traders from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Japan, is not a weekend or four-times-a-year religion but a natural and active part of Balinese life every single day of their lives from their first awakening.
It is often said, with as much truth as jest, that there are more temples and shrines on Bali than there are people. Certainly every house has its family temple in the corner of the property closest to the mighty Mount Agung (2567 metres) and every little village and every big town has three temples, the one nearest Mount Agung for the ancestors and the gods and the one furthest from Agung for the demons and the dead. As well as these every district has its main temple and the whole island has the remarkable 'mother temple' of Besakih, high up on the slopes of Mount Agung, the home of all of the gods.
Many of the temples, spectacularly constructed and usually
spectacularly located, are tourist drawcards providing both a place of worship
and a source of income for the local inhabitants. Chief amongst these is
probably the 'Mother Temple' called Besakih, chief of the nine 'directional'
temples which include also;
* Pura Sambu also on the slopes of Mount Agung,
* Pura Ulun Danau at Kintamani on the top of the active volcano Mount Batur,
* Pura Lempoyang on Mount Bisbis near Tirtagangga,
* Pura Goa Lawah near Goa Lawah the Bat Cave on the Padang Bai coast,
* Pura Masceti near the town of Gianyar, once a seat of a powerful king of Bali,
* Pura Ulu Watu (Uluwatu) fearfully perched on the overhanging edge of the 200
metre limestone cliffs of the southern Bukit Peninsula,
* Pura Luhur at fresh water springs on the slopes of Mount Batu Karu.
* Pura Ulun Danau actually in the water of Lake Bratan at Candikunning near
Bedugul.
Pura Luhur, also called Pura Batukaru from its location
high up on the side of Mount Batu Karu is at the end of a road to nowhere. By
contrast to other temples it is quiet and not often visited by the 'bule' ('white faced
ones).
It is just
beyond the very small village of Wangaye that is perhaps not much changed from
the days when it might have been a small collection of the local farmers'
shelters on a rough track beside the small stream, the stream that began at the
springs just a bit higher up the mountain side, the springs that would have
originally determined the location of this temple.
Village life still centres around the rough track which is a still narrow but
now sealed
road lined with slightly better shelters, some road-side stalls selling produce
and essential goods.
People cluster in groups to talk, dogs and chickens sleep
and scratch at the roadside, vehicles - now motorised rather than pulled by oxen
- rest in a parking disarray, tall, curved bamboo 'penjor' from the last village
celebrations decorate and define the dividing line between public and private
land, their ornately carved fronds dried by time. A modern touch is temporarily
provided by the flags of the nations competing in the World Cup Soccer
(football) contest in Germany at the time.
The entrance to the temple complex is dominated by a large ;kul kul tower, the tower with the wooden alarm drum in its top. The drum is a large log, hollowed out and with a slot cut down one side into the central hollow. Hung upright by its end it produces a low booming sound when struck by a wooden pole, the note reverberating along the river gully and up the sides of the hills. Originally a warning drum in ancient times, a call for the village men to leave their fields and assemble to repel raiding warriors, the drums soon took on a variety of functions with different drum beats conveying different messages. Like the essential three temples, every village still maintains the traditional kul kul tower.
Driver Made at the base of the Batu Karu kul kul tower. The vertically hung log drum can be seen partly wrapped in black and white 'poleng' cloth up under the alang alang grass roof. The black and white poleng cloth is a religious reminder of the need to balance good (white) and evil without destroying or weakening either.
On the opposite side to the kul kul is the temple
attendant's office and rooms and shelter for priests who may be in attendance.
The temple attendants are local villagers who are all required to devote a
proportion of their time to temple duties.
The attendant hires us each a sarong and a temple sash so that we are properly
dressed to step into the holy compound.
Just inside the split entry gate, the candi bentar, there are several 'bales', raised and roofed platforms which might be covered with colourful offerings on days of temple ceremonies but our visit did not disturb one of the local dogs.
The white flag hanging from the roof beam is a religious text fixed there at the time the structure was dedicated, enlarged at right. It is written in ancient, ornate, flowing Sanskrit, the language of the ancient ones now only used by the priestly caste and the scattered enclaves of Bali Aga, the original Balinese who have not changed their ways as Bali developed around them. Modern Balinese recognise the meaning of the language but can not read it.
To the right of the bales there is a sacred lake, fed by several od the springs that gush or seep from the mountain side. In the centre of the lake is a shrine reached by the priests on a pontoon pulled across the lake from the left bank. Recent additions of electrical power here have not stood the tests of time and neglect, a common situation all over Bali where maintenance is not seen as important.
The level of the lake is controlled by a modern steel and cement dam gate. This would have originally been a device of sawn logs fitted against rammed dirt and rock-faced banks.
Around the higher side of the lake, where the springs feed into it, there are quiet and leafy walks between the trees and the little ditch. The temple is home to a group of priests and it is not hard to imagine them in silent meditation along this walk.
One of the remarkable features of the temple is the soft silence. Surrounded by tropical gardens and forest all sounds of the outside world are cut off and even the wind only just manages to make itself heard amongst the trees.
Also fed by the mountain springs are two bathing enclosures, one seen here. I admire the devotion of the faithful who bathed here; the water was freezing!
Up the garden path were the holy 'merus' each dedicated to a god with the number of roofs (always an odd number from three to eleven) signifying the status of the god.
Further up the long and steepish steps is the rather
modest candi bentar leading into the main temple enclosure. One half of the gate
seen here at the top of each flight of steps.
We were not allowed inside, perhaps we were not clean enough and certainly for
my part not willing to endure that bathing water, but I prefer to think that it
was so we would not disturb a group of three priests sitting in a central bale.
The links below will take you to some photos of other parts of our holiday.
Not all will be ready and active straight away but they will evolve as July rolls in to August and so on.
The pillow case run to the NEGARA ORPHANAGE.
Stuff we took, the flight and the airport taxi fare board.
The orphanage for children with handicaps, Panti Asuhan Kesa Yanikang Papa in Gianyar.
Friends including the girls on the beach, little Kadek, the feet and fingers, driver Made and family including the newly-weds, waitresses and food, and of course the old boat builder of Jimbaran Bay.
The Baleka Beach Resort and the Baihai.
Rice and the Subak Museum at Tabanan.
Silver jewellery and bead shops, Handbags, woodcarving and leather.
Food, glorious food.
Kintamani and the crater and lake of Mount Batur.
Kites and batik quilts, tea/coffee/spices plantation.
Back to the 2006 contents page, 'The Year of the Pillow Cases'?
Right back to our home page for the shoppers Cheat Sheet, the first visit to the Negara Orphanage, a long Bali story (the 2003 'Rushed Trip'), the details about Bali's peoples, rices, religion and culture or history or things to do and see in Ubud as well as many others.
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