The Great Pulaki Temple

Published 1 year, 1 month ago in Guides by Sidarta Wijaya | 1,329 Views

Pura Agung Pulaki, a large, dramatic temple only 25 meters from the sea, is located 30 km of Seririt (48 km west of Singaraja) near the grape-growing village of Banyupoh. This important temple commemorates the arrival of the Javanese saint-priest Nirartha to Bali in the early 16^th century.

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Cliffs tower behind the temple surrounded by jungle and overrun by hordes of simians. Considered sacred, the macaques are well fed by pilgrims. The monkeys on the hills range have existed before the arrival of Danghyang Nirartha. It is said that when he entered the forest of Pulaki he was escorted by those monkey troops. As his respect to those monkeys Danghyang Nirartha then established the Pulaki Temple and the entire monkeys there came to be its guardian.

The Pulaki temple is flanked by several temples which surround the Pulaki Temple as the center of the complex that is called “Pesanakan”, the surrounding temples are: Pemuteran Temple located 1 km to the west popular for its hot spring, Kerta Kawat Temple located 2 km to the southeast, and Pabean Temple 400 meters to the northeast.

Legend has it great village exist here, invisible for its temple. It said when Nirartha lived in Gelgel, he was forced to hide his daughter lest she abducted by the king. He finally brought her to this remote place, rendering it invisible to keep her safe. To this day, the people who occupy the visible village is known as gamang and are said to wonder the countryside.

Black stone gate will greet the pilgrims and visitors to this temple; this gate was built in 1983 and heralded with a great ceremony that need holy water from various places range from east Java in the west to Lombok in the east. As any other temple in Bali, Pura Pulaki is divided into three courtyards, Jaba, outer courtyard, jaba tengah, middle courtyard and jeroan, main courtyard. Not just the gate, the shrines and the ornaments of this sacred temple are also dominated by black color.

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With the sounds of rushing waves nearby and the rustling wind from the hill behind the temple created a serene atmosphere that interrupt only by the squeak of the monkeys.

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