Yeh Pelu is another of Bali's historic sites that just makes you ask,

    "How did they do that?" or, "

    How long did it take?" or, "

    What does it all mean?"

Only about 2Km from the well known Goa Gaja or Elephant Cave, which itself is not much more than 5Km from the very heart of Ubud, Yeh Pelu is a pleasant walk on a sealed path across rice fields and along a small river bank which drops out of the forest in a small waterfall. Access is from a rather tight car parking area at the bottom of a short 50m, but fairly steep unsealed road that our driver preferred to reverse down so that he didn't have to turn around down there at the bottom.

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Located in a corner of the quiet and "gracious backwater" (1) of Bedulu Village you are in the heartland of some of Bali's earliest history (and close to the family home of Bali's most famous artist, Gusti Nyoman Lempad) and confronted by another of Bali's mysteries upon which the experts often agree only to disagree.

The carvings here are unusually clear and deeply incised for Bali. They have lasted so well ( from somewhere between the 10th and 14th century) and for so long because they were originally well cut and are in hard, granite type stone which is much more resistant to wear than the soft, grey, volcanic stone so often seen in temples and civic buildings. Because of the continuity of style and regular spacing and dimensions they are believed to be the work of only one person, a religious aesthetic probably, who lived virtually all his life in a small recess cut into the rock face while he devotedly worked on his masterpiece to his gods.

The rock face is over 90 feet or 30 metres long and over head high. The figures are generally close to life size given the height of the Balinese at the time the carving was done. It is generally agreed that the series tells a story from an old Indian epic story of the young, and at times mischievous Krisna, son of the revered god Wisnu. Krisna is seen as a handsome man who was aware of his appeal to women and was not deterred in his interactions with them by his godly ancestry.

The first figure is perhaps of young Krisna, (at the left in the photo above) appearing to hold up a hand in welcome to the visitor although some interpret this figure as displaying one of his favourite party tricks; tearing up the sacred mountain and holding it above his head, impressing the ladies but annoying the gods no end one might guess.

A little further along, past this figure of a woman sneaking a quick look out of her front door (to catch a glimpse of Krisna perhaps?) is a small figure that seems to be a bit out of scale to the rest of the work, below. There is some speculation that this is a self portrait of the original carver, a sort of a signature by the artist. It is the clear turban on the head of this figure that leads to the belief that there is a link to the early Indian religious forays into Bali that accompanied the trade expeditions.

Next in the series might again be the figure of Krisna, mounted on his horse and on a pig hunt with three of his friends, all on foot.

One of his friends has been a bit too ambitious, or simply careless, and the boar has bitten his hand. Another hunter holds the boar's tail while waiting for Krisna to ride up to kill the pig and rescue his friend.

One of the final scenes might well be the woman peeking from her door earlier in the series, now trying to boldly hold back the departing Krisna by pulling on his horse's tail.

At the end of the carvings is a small bale with two red brick, walls built in the old Balinese manner where the bricks are carefully lapped together so that the joints are almost invisible, so saving on the use of scarce and expensive mortar. Here the priest of the day carefully assembles temple offerings to the gods, his skin almost the same colour as the walls of the shelter. His wife (perhaps?) has collected flowers from the rice fields and the edge of the surrounding forest to be added to the offerings.

(1) - 'Bali, A Travellers Companion'.

For more of our Bali travels and more information have a look in the contents list on our Home Page.