Besakih Temple, the biggest temple complex in South East Asia.

The location of Besakih temple or Pura Agung Besakih is at Besakih village, Rendang district, on the south west of mount Agung. It is about 1000 meters above the sea level, 44 kilometers from Amlapura, 13 kilometers from the closest city of Klungkung and 62 kilometers from the main city of Denpasar.

Perched nearly 1000 meters up the side of Gunung Agung is Bali’s most important temple,
Pura Besakih. In fact it is an extensive complex of some 23 separated but related temples, with the largest and most important being Pura Penataran Agung. It is most enjoyable during one of the frequent festival, when hundreds perhaps thousands of gorgeously dressed devotees turn up with beautifully arranged offerings. The panoramic view and the mountain backdrop are impressive too.

History

Besakih was built on a terrace site where prehistoric rites, ceremonies, and feast once took place. Perhaps it was here where the spirit of the great, angry mountain, which loomed menacingly above the island, received pagan sacrifices. Certain timeworn megaliths in some of the bale are reminiscent of old Indo-Polynesian structures.

Hindu theologians claim the temple was founded by the 8^th century missionary Danghyang Markendya, a priest credited with introducing the tradition of daily offerings (bebali) and the cocepf of a single god. His son, Empu Sang Kulputih, was the first temple’s high priest.

The first record of the temple’s existence is a chronogram dated AD 100, possible describing the death ritual for king Udayana’s queen, Mahendradatta. The inscriptions also reveal that Besakih was used as Buddhist sanctuary. “Lontar” books dating from the Majapahit kingdom indicate Besakih’s significance during the 14^th century, and several 15^th century wood tablets refer to state support of Besakih, confirming its preeminence.

Besakih’s central Pura Penataran Agung, the largest on the island, functioned as an ancestral temple for the Gelgel dynasty’s deified kings and as the central state temple for the entire island. Gelgel rulers are today enshrined in they own temple here, the Padharman Dalem. For centuries worship at Besakih was the exclusive privilege of rajas, not commoners, and the difficult trek here in former times reinforced the ardor of the devotional act.

The great 1917 earthquake destroyed the temple complex, but it was subsequently restored by the Rajas and people of Bali with the Dutch donation to its original form (only two structures survived this quake). Besakih was again heavily damaged on 17 March 1963 by a Gunung Agung eruption. The complex has since been extensively restore and now encompasses a mix of old and new buildings.

The layout and design of Besakih is a very complex architectural structure venerating the holy Hindu trinity. Via a series of long stairways, the temple group ascends parallel ridges toward Gunung Agung, the honored birthplace of Bali’s deities, tantamount to heaven. The temple is continually enlarged as municipalities, regencies, and wealthy honored Brahman families, add more shrines. In fact, each caste and kin group, as well as various sect, artisan guilds, and aristocratic families, maintain its own temple inside the complex.

About 22 separated sanctuaries contain a befuddling array of over 60 temples and 200 distinct structures (a map is posted at the top of the road leading from the parking lot). Given the Balinese passion for covering surfaces with carving or paint, its remarkable most of Besakih’s sanctuaries are constructed simply of wood.

The sun god (Bhatara Surya), the god of the sea (Ratu Waruna) and every major figure in the Balinese pantheon is represented here. Each of the island’s nine regencies also maintains its own temple within this complex. Curiously , the small, relatively inconsequential “rajadoms “ like Blahbatuh and Sukawati are assigned proportionally large sections, while major regencies like Badung and Gianyar are meagerly represented. The historical importance of the Gelgel kingdom is evidence, however, by its assignment to the innermost, central courtyard.

Beyond the great unadorned split gate, a broad terrace leads to a ‘Gapura’ which open onto 50 black, slender, pagoda-like ‘Meru’ temples, the more roofs, the higher-ranking the god or deified ancestor to whom the Meru is dedicated. Long flight of stone steps lead to the main central temples, Pura Penataran Agung, which consists of six rising terraces built on a slope, all connected by the gateways. In the third inner court of the central temple is the Sanggar Agung, a beautiful decorated 17^th-century triple lotus stone throne representing the dive triad. This is the ritual center of Besakih. Through the clear, fresh air of topmost terrace, over 900 meters above sea level, is an unsurpassed view over spectacular rice terraces. Behind, thick white clouds hiver over Gunung Agung.

Besakih’s three main temple, which stretch for over a kilometer, are Pura Penataran Agung ( in the symbolic center), dedicated  to the paramount god Shiva, or Sang Hyand Widi Wasa; Pura Kiduling Kreteg, honoring Brahma, and Pura Batu Madeg, dedicated to Wisnu. The longitudinal axis of this complex points directly ‘Kaja’ toward Gunung Agung’s peak to the northeast.

Farther up the mountain is another compound, Pura Gelap the “Thunderbolt” temple. Highest in the pine forest of Agung’s southwest slope is austere Pura Pengubengan.