Page 222 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

220 ASIA Pura Ulun Danu Batur, Bali

One of Bali's most popular and spiritually significant
PHJUPPill£5 religious complexes, the nine-temple Pura Ulun Danu Batur
has a vital association with Danu (Lake) Batur, a volcanic
PAC/ FIC
• IYIAIAYSIA OCEAW crater lake, but it is uncertain when it w as built. It is
Modan
Bali's guard ian temple of water supplies, since it controls
INDONESIA
the irrigation system of much of the island. From a
<Oo distance, the temple's silhouette can be seen on the
PURA ULUN
DANU BATUR,
BALl rim of the vast Batur caldera.
!Nf)IAII OCEAN
AUSTRALIA

TRADITIONAL BELIEFS Y Canang. or daily flower
offerings, made to the spirits
Animism, ancestor worship, and a sense of the
supernatural permeate Balinese life. The term
sekala niskala (vis ible-invisible) sums up the idea
that the physical world interacts with a spirit
world. Loosely described as "gods" and
"demons," the spirits are believed to dwell in
natural objects such as stones or trees. Shn nes
are built for them and they are honored wrth
offenngs of flowers and other materials ~ Inner Courtyard
Ancestors are deified in complex rituals and The inner courtyard is the most
sacred. Three gateways lead from
venerated at temples. Guardian spirits, such
one courtyard to the next.
as the Barong, are invoked in sacred perform-
ances to restore a village's cos mic balance.
THE GAME LAN OR CHESTRA
In Bali, and neighboring Lombok, traditional
mus ic is performed by a game/an orchestra,
a percussion ensemble consisting largely of
bronze metallophones (instruments 111/ith tuned
metal keys), led by duns (kendanlj). Bronze
~Gold-painted Doors
gongs of various sizes form the heart of the
The great tirrt>er doors of the
orchestra Struck wth mallets, they produce main temple gateway are reserved
resonant sounds that punctuate the keyed for the use of priests on imp()(tant
instruments' melodies. There are also a few ~i!O~tJii ;::;a~~~~il rei igiou s occasions.
wind and stringed instruments, including
bamboo flutes 12uling). Most villages own a
set of game/an instruments for ritual occas ions;
some are sacred and pi ayed only at religious
ceremonies. Temples have a pavilion called a
bale gong to house the instruments.

BALINESE TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE
A Balinese pura (public temple) is a sacred
endosure where Hindu de ities are periodically
invited to descend into prauma (effigies) kept in
shrines. Their arrangement follows a consistent
patte rn, with structures oriented along a
mountain-sea axis. The outer courtyard and
central courtyard have secondal)l shrines and
pavilions, including the kulkul (watchtower),
which houses a drum that is sounded when
the deities have descended. The jeroan (imer
courtyard) contains shrines to the temple's
core derties, and often to deities of the lakes,
sea and mountans, too. lhe padmasana, or
lotus throne shrine, in the temple's holiest
corner, has an empty s eat on top signifying
the S upreme God. The meru shrine symbolizes
the mythical Hindu peak, Mount Meru.