Paying homage and praying to a temple is not just an act of devotion to God for Balinese, it is more than just a religious activity. In socio-political context praying in a temple for a Balinese is also an act to justify his positions in the society, his position in a clan, his position in a village, etc in short praying to the temple is an act of justifying his identity.

Taman Ayun Temple

Justifying identity through worshipping in a temple is possible since most temple membership in Bali is exclusive, that is, only those who are member may worship there. One cannot as in Islam and Christianity, stop in at any temple and pray; for this privilege, in Bali someone must in some sense regular member of the congregation of the temple. From more 20,000 temples in Bali not more than five percents are public temple, where everybody can pray and pay homage and the rest of them are members only. (There are five types of temple in Bali: public temple, territorial temple, functional temple and clan temple).

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Yesterday, I accidentally visit the Pura Sadha (Sadha temple) in Kapal village, Badung regency. A feature in this temple quickly arouse my curiosity, this temple has replicas of sacred mountains in form of multi-tiered-roofs shrines known as meru that can be found in the north and east part of inner courtyard of the temple.

As a matter of fact the replica of mountains and lakes in the form of multi-tiered-roofs shrines (meru) are standard features of South Bali temples, but only when I visited Sadha Temple I realized their significant and function. The main purpose of placing replicas of mountains and lakes in temple is to save the time and effort needed to actually visit them since in the yester centuries pilgrimage to the mountains and lakes need a great deal preparation and time. These replicas serve as representative shrines for the gods who resides in the mountains or lakes all over Bali.

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The island of Nusa Penida which is recently dubbed as renewable energy park offers not just sites of eco-friendly electric plantation for the visitors. For hundreds of years Nusa Penida has become a favorite spiritual tourism destination for thousands of Balinese each month. One of many obligatory spiritual sanctuaries that are visited by the pilgrims is the sacred Giri Putri cave in Suana village. The mouth of the cave is strategically perched on the slope of a hill on the elevation 150 meter above the sea level, overlooking a vast blue ocean and seaweed plantations.

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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.

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Ancestors worship is the core of Balinese-Hindus. Ancestors are deified as spirits who have special affinity for the family, and can be counted upon to protect and help the family in time of disaster or need. The ancestors can help ward of evil forces and insure the prosperity, happiness, and peace.

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Alternately – like most forces in Hindu Bali – they can cause constant trouble, causing just the opposite of the above benevolence. Which of the two, they do depends upon the respect of the family accords them. If the family directs good feeling toward them, if the family invites them into the religious ceremonies, if the family makes regular offerings to them, and if the family maintains the shrines to the limit of their financial ability, then their powers will be turn to aiding the family. If the family neglects these courtesies, the sickness, death, and all sorts of unimaginably bad things may results.

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Pilgrimage, especially to the temple is an indispensable part of Balinese culture and religion. There is an indescribable joy in every Balinese face when they head to the temple especial a far off temple. It is always chance of a life time since death comes at anytime, and we never know whether this pilgrimage will be the last or not.

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There are several kinds of temple pilgrimage that are executed by the Balinese. The most common pilgrimage is “maaturan”, a pilgrimage to pay homage to a temple when there is an odalan (temple anniversary) is held. For a big island-wide temple such as Besakih or Batukaru, hundreds thousands of pilgrimages with beautiful offering will flock to the temple to show their gratitude and deliver silent prayers to the god. When a great ceremony such as Bhatara Turun Kabeh (Gods descend all together) or Panca Wali Krama is held in Besakih temple, all Balinese is required to come at least each family is supposed to send a representative if the entire family cannot make it.

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