THE ELEPHANT CAVE IN BALI

-

Image: By rheins, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59447102

The Elephant Cave of Ubud Bali is an ancient temple in which pilgrims can say their prayers or do a mindfulness meditation for achieving inner piece and happiness.

While you’re meditating in that cave, you’ll be aware of the virtuous life of a hermit without being tempted by worldly temptation.

It is situated in Bedulu, Blahbatu subdistrict, Gianyar Regency, Bali. It is about 27 kilometers from Denpasar. Beludu is in fact a unique ancient village in Gianyar. A lot of people believe that it was the center of civilization on Bali Island.

A stone coffin (sarcophagus) was discovered in a villager’s house which proves the existence of prehistoric settlement millions of years ago.

Due to its uniqueness and beauty, it is listed as one of the world heritages by UNESCO.

LC Heyting, the official of Dutch East India made a report to his government in 1923 that he had discovered the Ganesha, Trilingga and Hariti statues. That was a valuable discovery and the research was continued by DR. WF Stuterhiem in 1925.

In 1931, Mr. Conrat Spies found a very artistic three pronged relief of stupa on the collapsed wall at the bottom of Tukad Pangkung valley.

In 1950, the Indonesian Archaeological Department led by JL. Krijgman did another research on this site. During the 1954 – 1979 excavation, found six woman statues with water pitchers at a holy bath pool.

The north part of the temple complex is the place of Shaivism, while the south or the Tukad Pangkung area is dominated by Buddhism.

Stupas in the position of Dhayni Buddha Amitabha and the three pronged relief of stupa can be found at the Buddhist side.

The north temple complex area is closer to the entrance. The Widyadhari and Widyadhara statues are there to greet every visitor who wants to go in to have a look. Each statue holds a water jug with both hands at the belly, where water spouts out from inside the jug.

The manmade cave isn’t so big. There’re natural motif carvings around the mouth of the cave and in the middle of it is a fierce guardian face with its eyes leering at the right.

It is estimated that the temple complex was built in 11th century and only dim light that lights up the inside of this ancient building. The relaxed atmosphere is very suitable for meditation or for anyone who would like to pray for a good living.

There’s the Ganesha statue (Shiva’s son, the god of knowledge) on the west side of the cave, while the Trilingga statue is on the east side. It’s worth visiting as you’ll know more about the story of Ganesha.

The Buddhist tradition is more dominant in the south area of the temple complex. A small waterfall and a clean river present a spiritual atmosphere which causes us to feel that it’s necessary to live in harmony with God, nature and fellow human beings. You’ll understand that love rules supreme in your heart.

Elephant Cave or Goa Gajah is one of the well known historical sites on Bali Island. It was the noble sacred place for Buddhists and Hindus to worship in the days of Warmadewa Dynasty which ruled the Bali Island from 10th to 11th century.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE MAGIC POWER OF SATAM

-
Image
Photo  https://pixabay.com/en/planet-apocalypse-space-science-2967684/ Satam is a kind of stone which is found in the area of the tin mines of Belitung Island. According to various sources of information, the stone was given the specific name Billitonite by Ir. N Wing Easton from Netherlands in 1921. The Billitonite stone or Satam won’t be found easily, an experienced worker will find it in the tin field of the tin mining company. It is said that all the Billitonite stones are the meteorites from outer space. A complex burning process started at the time they entered the earth’s atmosphere. After being buried in the ground for millions of years and they formed themselves into a kind of hard and shiny black stones. The Billitonite stones are usually used as the ornaments and are set in gold or platinum. Some people like to carve something on the shiny surface for more artistic senses. Women will be very glad to wear them when they go to attend their friends’ parties
Read more

THE LEGEND OF JOKO KENDIL

-
Image
Image by Sabrina Eickhoff from Pixabay   Long ago, there lived a poor widow in a remote area of Central Java. She had a son who had a cooking pot shaped physique. In Central Java, the pot used for cooking rice is called kendil. As the boy looked like a kendil, he was named Joko Kendil. The widow didn’t feel shamed or disappointed, though her son looked like a cooking pot. She loved her son with all her heart. When Joko Kendil was a child, he liked joking and was well like by his peers. One day, there was a wedding party in his village and Joko sneaked in the kitchen. A woman praised the beauty of a pot, which could be used for keeping cakes and fruit. He didn’t know the pot she meant was a human being. The woman didn’t know the pot was indeed Joko Kendil himself. After fully filled, Joko Kendil rolled out of the kitchen. The people seeing this strange happening couldn’t help shouting bravo. They struggled to snatch that strange pot.  Joko Kendil was rolling faster to home. After reachi
Read more

THE JAPANESE CAVES IN BALI

-
Image
Image by Marcky Bolung , CC BY 3.0 As Japan had colonized Indonesia for around three and a half years, the Japanese left a number of historical objects. Japanese troops used the caves as bunkers or underground bastion tunnels and those caves are called Goa Jepang or Japanese Cave. Such facilities were built by forced labor, a lot of sad and bloody events had ever happened in that period of time. Most Goa Jepang or Japanese caves were the places for torturing prisoners to death. That’s why such locations are so spooky and visitors will always get goosebumps when they stepped into the bunkers or bastion passages. According to the history, a lot of people were trapped in forced labor during the construction of Goa Jepang. The locals claim that they often see the spirits of the dead near the Japanese caves. Some of them look seriously wounded and walked like zombies. Besides the walking dead, there’re the scary creatures that have the appearance of half human and half animal.
Read more