Balinese Temple (pura)

It is not surprising that Bali is called the island of the thousand temples. Everywhere you see a temple.

There are so many temples that the Government does not bother to count them. There are small temples, very small temples with only a very few shrines; there are large temples, very large temples with more than 50 shrines, such as the Temple of Besakih, the mother temple of Bali. There are even lonely shrines on the oddest places where one does not expect them at all. Every family, every compound, every clan or society has a temple; you mention a society or organization and has a temple. In the compound where the family lives there is the family temple. The desa, village itself must have at least three temples;

Pura Puseh

Pura desa and

Pura Dalem

The clan has its own temple. Subak or irrigation organization has a temple, called Pura Subak or Pura Bedugul. Every place where the water to irrigate the rice field is divided has a temple or at least a shrine. Bali has a whole has a temple, the pura Besakih or the mother temple, where every sect and nobility have their own temple.
The balinese are worshippers of ancestors. The family does this in the family temple or house temple. The village does this in the Pura Puseh and all Bali does this in the temple of Besakih.
In South Bali the house temple is always in the North-East corner of the compound in regions South-West of Mount agung. The reason for this is that the top of Mount Agung is the highest spot in Bali and the highest is for God, Ida Sanghyang Widhi.

Because the people should pray towards and God lives on the top of Mount Agung as the highest spot in Bali and Mount Agung happens to lie in the East that is why in South Bali the house temples is in the North-East corner of the compound. In North Bali it is the South-East corner where the house temple is built.
The number of shires in the house temple depends on the wish of the family and it also depends on where the family originally comes from. That is why the visitors in one house temple sees only a few shrines and in another, right next to it, much more. But in a house temple there must be at least two shrines, the “Sakti Kemulam”; the Kemulan is for God and the purified ancestors and the Sakti is for the producing power of God. No matter how poor the compound is the house temple is there. This house temple can be very temporary built only of bamboo, but it can also be very elaborate; the shrines are very nicely carved and painted with gold leaves.

Only the purified dead, that is to say the dead, who have been cremated, join God in the Kemulan shrine in the house temple. With some high caste people the family makes a shrine for every ancestor who in his life had done a great service to the family, and accordingly in the house temple of such a family there are more than one ancestral shrine.
Near the entrance to a compound there is always a guardian shrine in front of or behind it; sometimes there are two shrines in front of it, flaking it. The guardian shrine is for the spirit that has to guard the primes.
As told before a full-fledged village has to have at least three temples:

Pura Puseh, where the founders of the village are worshiped, always lies in the Kaja sphere, towards the mountains, so it lies on the highest spot in the village; Lord Brahma the Creator resides there.

Pura Desa, the village temple, is built in the center of the village, where Lord Wisnu, the maintainer, is worshipped, because in Pura Desa the activities of the village manifest to maintain the welfare of the village and its inhabitants. In old societies, Pura Desa always has the Bale Agung, a long wooden building where the villagers monthly come together and sit to discuss village matters. The Bale agung is also the place where the Ngusabha ceremony, a ceremony to honor Dewi Sri, the rice Goddess is held. Pura desa with a Bale agung is called Pura Bale Agung, because not every Pura Desa has a Bale agung.

In the Kelod share, towards the sea, so on the lowest part of the village, lies the cemetery. Near it the pura Dalem is built. This is the right place for Pura Dalem, because it is the temple of death or the temple for the dead. Of course Lord Siwa, the Destroyer, resides and is worshipped there.

The site of the three main temples is in accordance to the deep belief of the Balinese that the mountains are for god; the plains, the center of the country, are for the people and the sea, the lowest part of the country, is for the demonic forces.
Besides the three main temples there is the clan temple, called Pura Ibu, Pura Pemaksan or Pura Panti. Outside the village out in the rice fields, is the Subak temple, maintained by the organization of irrigation and farmers, where naturally Dewi Sri, the Rice Goddess is worshipped.

Temple Celebration
The dedication or inauguration day of a temple is considered its birth day and the celebration always takes place on the same day if the “Wuku” or 210 days calendar is used. When new moon or full moon is used then celebration always happens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ. The religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temples celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it last for 11 days, depending on the importance of the occasion. The celebration is very colorful. The shrines are dressed with pieces of cloths and sometimes painted brocade; salangs, decorations of carved wood and sometimes painted with gold and Chinese coins, very beautifully arranged, are hung in the four corners of the shrines.
In front of the shrines are placed red, white or black umbrellas depending which Gods are worshipped in the shrines. In front of important shrines one sees, besides these umbrellas spears, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In fron of the temple gate people put up “penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully with ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. These “penjors” give the place a very festive look.
Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kind of fruits and colored cakes, to the temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which they carry their load on their heads.
The offerings in some areas are high as the carriers. These offerings are put in front of the shrines where the owners want to worship. A priest officiates and after he has recited his prayers he sprinkles holy water on the offerings and the people, blessing them in this way. For the people the ceremony is over and they carry their offerings back home and have feast later. Only a small tray with petals of flowers is left behind.
In the evening the ceremonies continues with “pendet” dances or rejang dances. This is done in Sukawati. These pendet or rejang dances are done by young girls, led by the priests and elderly women, assistants to the temple priests.
In most cases on the anniversary day before the ceremony begins the deities are taken to a holy spring for a cleansing bath. In a beautiful and colorful procession “pratima” carved wooden animals, seats of Gods, are carried by colorfully dressed girls to the springs. At the head of the procession boys walk with the paraphernalia of Holiness, such as spears, flags and umbul-umbul, followed by girls carrying offerings.

Then the girls with the “pratima” come. The procession is closed by the musicians who make the procession a joyous affair. Pratima are carved animals, all kinds of animals, which are the mounts, seats, of the gods. Sometimes one sees a statuette or two statuettes perched on them. These statuettes represent the Gods. The Balinese say that the gods have a bath, a cleansing bath, “masucian” in Balinese.
When the procession returns and before the deities are entered into the temple a welcoming ceremony takes place in front of the temple gate. In some places, such as Krambitan, the procession is met by pendet dances. People spend the whole night in the temple. To entertain them or to keep them wake there are dance performances, free for everyone to see.
A cockfight is a integral part of religious ceremony. Because of this a cock fighting although it is a gambling has to be allowed and to restrict it is licensed.
It is an unwritten obligation for the villagers to keep fighting cocks to contribute them to the cockfight that follows every religious ceremony in the village. During the hottest parts of the day one sees a group of men sitting in the shade. Surely enough one will see them with their fighting cocks in their hands. They caress them, massage them and occasionally they let them fight each other. This is opportunity to train them. Cockfights originated in blood sacrifices; it is still a ceremony of blood sacrifice, but now days cockfights are more gambling then ceremony.