As published on Hello Bali magazine December 2001
Pura Luhur—literally high temples or ascension temples—which become the focus for massive pilgrimages during three or five day odalan anniversaries. The photogenic Tanah Lot and the Bat Cave temple, Goa Lawah, are also Pura Luhur. Not all Pura Luhur are on the coast, however but all have inspiring locations, overlooking large bodies of water.Pura Luhur, Uluwatu is also one of Bali’s important Sad Kahyangan temples, in which dwell major deities—in Uluwatu’s case; Bhatara Rudra, God of the elements and of cosmic force majeures.
In the 15th Century the great pilgrim priest Dhang Hyang Dwijendra, who established the present form of Hindu-Dharma religion, chose Pura Uluwatu as his last earthly abode: history records that Dwijendra achieved moksa (oneness with the godhead, in a flash of blazing light) while meditating at Uluwatu. The temple is regarded, by Brahman’s island wide, as his holy ‘tomb’. Legend also tells us that Dwijendra was the architect of the beautiful temple, as well as many other major temples on Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa.
Behind the main pagoda of Pura Uluwatu’s small inner sanctum, a limestone statue of a Brahman priest surveys the Indian Ocean—it is said the statue represents the founding priest Dwijendra. Another shrine within the complex represents the boat on which Dwijendra travelled from, then, Hindu Java. According to legend he arrived at Pura Peti Tenget, north of Kuta.
Uluwatu temple was, until 1983, quite hard to reach—nestled, jewel-like, high on a sharp, jagged prominontory, at the end of a 20 kilometer long dirt road. The Bukit area is now the Nusa Dua tourist zone, and a Jakarta developer’s playground: it is well-serviced by well-paved roads.
The temple now sprawls, rather aimlessly, down the hill—a testament to limestone veneer and streetscaping (as if Dwijendra had not left a legacy of excellence in landscape design). It is also a testament to the huge attraction that Pura Uluwatu has become: up to 100,000 pilgrims visit a day during the odalan week—a huge increase from the small groups who trekked through the forests of the Bukit Peninsula during the classical era. Uluwatu Beach is known for its surf and, in nearby hostelries, its full moon rage parties. It rages at the temple too but in an orderly way, thanks to the royal house of Puri Agung Jero Kuta, Denpasar, who are the temple’s hereditary pangemong (custodians). Hundreds of nobles from this family, and many ‘devotees’ (pengayah) and village pemangku priests from nearby hamlets, ensure that every seven months (on Anggar Kasih Medangsya by the Wuku Calendar, to be exact) the festival is run efficiently, and most elegantly. The palace is proud of its ancestral role: it manages the awesome logistics with fitting dignity.
Uluwatu temple was, until 1983, quite hard to reach—nestled, jewel-like, high on a sharp, jagged prominontory, at the end of a 20 kilometer long dirt road. The Bukit area is now the Nusa Dua tourist zone, and a Jakarta developer’s playground: it is well-serviced by well-paved roads.
The temple now sprawls, rather aimlessly, down the hill—a testament to limestone veneer and streetscaping (as if Dwijendra had not left a legacy of excellence in landscape design). It is also a testament to the huge attraction that Pura Uluwatu has become: up to 100,000 pilgrims visit a day during the odalan week—a huge increase from the small groups who trekked through the forests of the Bukit Peninsula during the classical era. Uluwatu Beach is known for its surf and, in nearby hostelries, its full moon rage parties. It rages at the temple too but in an orderly way, thanks to the royal house of Puri Agung Jero Kuta, Denpasar, who are the temple’s hereditary pangemong (custodians). Hundreds of nobles from this family, and many ‘devotees’ (pengayah) and village pemangku priests from nearby hamlets, ensure that every seven months (on Anggar Kasih Medangsya by the Wuku Calendar, to be exact) the festival is run efficiently, and most elegantly. The palace is proud of its ancestral role: it manages the awesome logistics with fitting dignity.
Year by year one notices small changes. This year the palace priests, whose incantations accompany the wave after wave of prayers, were sounding more like commentators at a racetrack than solemn spiritualists. But such is the spirit of Bali, which adapts to the times, to keep everything moving.
