Tanah Lot Temple, temple with astonishing sunset view

It is located at Braban Village, Kediri District, Tabanan Regency. It is about 13 kilometers from the closest city of Tabanan, about 30 kilometers from the main city of Denpasar. It can be reached by motorcycle and road fairly good.

The spectacular Tanah Lot is possibly the best known and most photo-graphed temple in Bali. The tourist crowed here are phenomenal, especially at the sunset, and commercial hype is terrible. Tanah Lot tours are heavily promoted in all tourist areas. The temple perched on the little rocky islet, look superb whether delicately lit by the dawn light or starkly outlined at sunset. But can it ever live up to the hype.

For the Balinese, Tanah Lot is one of the important and venerated sea temples, like Pura Uluwatu at the southern end of the island. The Name of Tanah Lot temple in tourism bibliography about Bali almost never absent. The name of Tanah Lot is probably from “Tanah Laut” means land in the sea.

It is the fact that the strong sea abrasion has separated the temple area with Bali mainland, so it looks that the temple nest on the small speck of rock building up on the ocean. Despite the fact that strong hit of the sea wave but the site is still standing while the whole sides have disappeared by the raged waves of hundred of years.

No historical record is found so far to construct the history of the temple. Scripture of Dang Hyang Nirarta had visited the temple and ask the around the area to build shrine. While the priest also educates the fisherman there in making fish trap.

The temple as a whole is dedicated to the god of sea. Fishermen pray to get fish and prosperity. A story mentions that one of the shrine at Batukaru was lost, and was found here standing at Tanah Lot temple complex, It was very probable that the temple was built by the Mengwi kingdom as the sea temple. A kingdom in Bali normally had three main temples, one located near the sea, one in the city or near the palace, and one on the mountain or near the mountain. This concept of three temples has also influenced the smaller unit of Balinese settlement called “Banjar”. Every Banjar in Bali has also three main temples dedicated to the trinity and ancestor’s spirits.

Now only three villages that responsible for the temple those are nearby villages of Braban, Kelating , and Tibu Ayu and still as the temple  of Mengwi palace. The ceremony is performed every six month based on Hindu-Java calendar.

For tourist, it is not only the traditional magic of the temple is interesting but the Location in the natural setting, especially during the sunset, the temple changes into silhouette again the sunset above Indonesian ocean.