Dear Mister Madé Wijaya!
Here we are with a new series of fotos.
This time concerning our visits to the temples in the Wos valley. Situated between Campuan (Ubud) and Taro.
We came upon that by our mister Agong Muning, who we already know for some years, but which contact intensified last year. He is the curator of the Puri Lukisan in Ubud.
Working there from the start, 51 years ago. He was the right hand of mister Rudolf Bonnet. And was a good friend of Tjokorda Agung Sukawati.
About that time and about the painters of the Pita Maha he can tell may stories. But about this maybe another time.
In the beginning we called him: "The man who doesn't know his age." Because when you you asked him: " How old are you?" he always gives this answer.
So from last year on we did some trips with him, because he has a fine nose for the special places. And concerning Taro he started to talk about the spiritual journey of the holy Sri (or Resi) Markandya. He introduced us to mister Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa in his royal pavillion in hotel Ibah to hear about the details of the journey.
Ibah, being very close to the temple Pura Gunung Lebah, which temple we already visited some times, because we feel always very comfortable and quiet there to do our own meditations. And we had the feeling: there is something special with this place. But we dont't know what.
Tjok Raka told us that you can consider the place as being the spiritual heart of Bali. Campuan meaning: coming together. As two rivers (one of them the river Wos) are converging there. And Ubud means: medicine. Because many people were healed. Also a reason for Sri Markandya to start from there his famous journey. Mister Tjok Raka told us the the whole story. In short it goed like this. From Jawa (near the Gunung Raung) he saw a light. Coming from the east of Bali, from what is now called Besakih. So he decided to go there with hundreds of people. He had to do the trip two times, because the first trip failed. Many of his followers died. Reason of the failure: they did not do the right sacrifice. They did it right on the second trip and so he established the Shiwa Buddha (or hindu-dharma, the agama hindu bali) on Bali.
From Besakih he travelled to Campuan and erected there the Pura Gunung Lebah, which means the low mountain. From Campuan he opened up the jungle to the north up to Taro. And there he erected the temple of Pura Gunung Raung. Taro means: copy or cliché or follow, something like that. When people are praying in Taro the faces are in the direction of the west, to Jawa, to the Gunung Raung. And he brought the white cow, still being used when there are special sacred ceremonies. And the translation in English of the area is: everything you need, you can get it from there.
During his journey from Campuan to Taro Sri Markandya had some stops. On every stop a temple was erected. Which are still there like the Pura Pucak Payogan (which means: the central place to meditate, it contains the syllables "yoga"). "A very sacred place," according to mister Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa.
And the Pura Suci, not so far from the Pura Pucak Payogan. Also very sacred. Suci means holy.
Starting with the Pura Gunung Lebah, this temple as told above we already visited some years ago. It is located very close to a school. At that time it was Saraswati day. The goddess of learning and arts. So we were very lucky to attend the praying and the offering of the friendly teachers and students.
In the middle there is a statue of Sri Markandya.
Going up north in the direction of Payogan, the road there is called the Jalan Markandya. Close to a bank I made a picture of his statue. It is really his area. Marakandya is everywhere there in the Wos Valley.
The Pura Pucak Payogan we visited last year accompanied by our mister Muning. Indeed a very good place to meditate. At the back the overwhelming green of high trees and the jungle. There several very nice carved world turtles with the two dragon snakes. Not only bearing the padmasana throne, but also as bearers of some shrines with black meru roofs. In fact it is all green inside, which gives it a magical atmosphere.
At the Pura Suci we very lucky to meet there mister Marjana, a painter in the Keliki tradition who has a gallery on the same road. He gave us a good explanation about the temple. And was surprised that we already knew so much. I had prints with me showing pictures which I took from the baliluwih weblog. Fotos of the celebration which took place there in october 2008. The "gedong" now being empty I compared with the picture showing it full of barongs, coming from all the connected temples in the neighbourhood. Between the fotos on the weblog also a picture of Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa. Indeed for the royal family these temples are very important.
Mister Marjana told me he was also there at that time and recognised himself on one of the pictures.
For us as "outsiders" it was very useful to see that all the meru shrines had signs with the names of the gods. One of the shrines was devoted to Ratu Suci.
Just outside the temple, with his branches over the walls, like a big protector: a pule tree. Of this wood the barong masks are being made because of its hardness.
At the other side of the road the nice view of the ricefields.
Passing Keliki we arrived in Taro.
Last year there was a big renovation going on there. We came specially back this year, to see how they progressed. The two entrances were now ready, as being rebuilt completely. Stone for stone. Black paras. As far as we could judge it looked like these workers really knew what they were doing. The architect was also there and mister Muning had a conversation with him.
This year when we arrived there was a celebration going on for the crops in the fields. After that we talked with the friendly priest, whose roots lie in Ubud ... so the circle is completed.
Remarkable are the two long balé agung. The longest is supposed to be the longest one of Bali. Also remarkable are the roofs of bamboo. Normally you find this only in the traditional villages.
And maybe "Taro" is less known as the mother temple in Besakih, it is supposed to be equally old and maybe equally important ..
Dear Mister Madé Wijaya, we are convinced that many as written above you know already. We just wanted to put it in the context of our visits to the temple of the Wos valley as a whole.
Many greetings, Hans Smeekes and Fifi Engelen.
Here we are with a new series of fotos.
This time concerning our visits to the temples in the Wos valley. Situated between Campuan (Ubud) and Taro.
We came upon that by our mister Agong Muning, who we already know for some years, but which contact intensified last year. He is the curator of the Puri Lukisan in Ubud.
Working there from the start, 51 years ago. He was the right hand of mister Rudolf Bonnet. And was a good friend of Tjokorda Agung Sukawati.
About that time and about the painters of the Pita Maha he can tell may stories. But about this maybe another time.
In the beginning we called him: "The man who doesn't know his age." Because when you you asked him: " How old are you?" he always gives this answer.
So from last year on we did some trips with him, because he has a fine nose for the special places. And concerning Taro he started to talk about the spiritual journey of the holy Sri (or Resi) Markandya. He introduced us to mister Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa in his royal pavillion in hotel Ibah to hear about the details of the journey.
Ibah, being very close to the temple Pura Gunung Lebah, which temple we already visited some times, because we feel always very comfortable and quiet there to do our own meditations. And we had the feeling: there is something special with this place. But we dont't know what.
Tjok Raka told us that you can consider the place as being the spiritual heart of Bali. Campuan meaning: coming together. As two rivers (one of them the river Wos) are converging there. And Ubud means: medicine. Because many people were healed. Also a reason for Sri Markandya to start from there his famous journey. Mister Tjok Raka told us the the whole story. In short it goed like this. From Jawa (near the Gunung Raung) he saw a light. Coming from the east of Bali, from what is now called Besakih. So he decided to go there with hundreds of people. He had to do the trip two times, because the first trip failed. Many of his followers died. Reason of the failure: they did not do the right sacrifice. They did it right on the second trip and so he established the Shiwa Buddha (or hindu-dharma, the agama hindu bali) on Bali.
From Besakih he travelled to Campuan and erected there the Pura Gunung Lebah, which means the low mountain. From Campuan he opened up the jungle to the north up to Taro. And there he erected the temple of Pura Gunung Raung. Taro means: copy or cliché or follow, something like that. When people are praying in Taro the faces are in the direction of the west, to Jawa, to the Gunung Raung. And he brought the white cow, still being used when there are special sacred ceremonies. And the translation in English of the area is: everything you need, you can get it from there.
During his journey from Campuan to Taro Sri Markandya had some stops. On every stop a temple was erected. Which are still there like the Pura Pucak Payogan (which means: the central place to meditate, it contains the syllables "yoga"). "A very sacred place," according to mister Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa.
And the Pura Suci, not so far from the Pura Pucak Payogan. Also very sacred. Suci means holy.
Starting with the Pura Gunung Lebah, this temple as told above we already visited some years ago. It is located very close to a school. At that time it was Saraswati day. The goddess of learning and arts. So we were very lucky to attend the praying and the offering of the friendly teachers and students.
In the middle there is a statue of Sri Markandya.
Going up north in the direction of Payogan, the road there is called the Jalan Markandya. Close to a bank I made a picture of his statue. It is really his area. Marakandya is everywhere there in the Wos Valley.
The Pura Pucak Payogan we visited last year accompanied by our mister Muning. Indeed a very good place to meditate. At the back the overwhelming green of high trees and the jungle. There several very nice carved world turtles with the two dragon snakes. Not only bearing the padmasana throne, but also as bearers of some shrines with black meru roofs. In fact it is all green inside, which gives it a magical atmosphere.
At the Pura Suci we very lucky to meet there mister Marjana, a painter in the Keliki tradition who has a gallery on the same road. He gave us a good explanation about the temple. And was surprised that we already knew so much. I had prints with me showing pictures which I took from the baliluwih weblog. Fotos of the celebration which took place there in october 2008. The "gedong" now being empty I compared with the picture showing it full of barongs, coming from all the connected temples in the neighbourhood. Between the fotos on the weblog also a picture of Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa. Indeed for the royal family these temples are very important.
Mister Marjana told me he was also there at that time and recognised himself on one of the pictures.
For us as "outsiders" it was very useful to see that all the meru shrines had signs with the names of the gods. One of the shrines was devoted to Ratu Suci.
Just outside the temple, with his branches over the walls, like a big protector: a pule tree. Of this wood the barong masks are being made because of its hardness.
At the other side of the road the nice view of the ricefields.
Passing Keliki we arrived in Taro.
Last year there was a big renovation going on there. We came specially back this year, to see how they progressed. The two entrances were now ready, as being rebuilt completely. Stone for stone. Black paras. As far as we could judge it looked like these workers really knew what they were doing. The architect was also there and mister Muning had a conversation with him.
This year when we arrived there was a celebration going on for the crops in the fields. After that we talked with the friendly priest, whose roots lie in Ubud ... so the circle is completed.
Remarkable are the two long balé agung. The longest is supposed to be the longest one of Bali. Also remarkable are the roofs of bamboo. Normally you find this only in the traditional villages.
And maybe "Taro" is less known as the mother temple in Besakih, it is supposed to be equally old and maybe equally important ..
Dear Mister Madé Wijaya, we are convinced that many as written above you know already. We just wanted to put it in the context of our visits to the temple of the Wos valley as a whole.
Many greetings, Hans Smeekes and Fifi Engelen.
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Pura Gunung Lebah
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Pura Puncak Payogan
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Pura Suci
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Pura Gunung Raung
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