THE TANAH LOT SEA TEMPLE IN BALI

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Image by User: Nils at wikivoyage shared, CC BY-SA 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23222855



If you would like to see beautiful sunset in Bali, Tanah Lot is one of the wonderful places to visit.  The sunset at Tanah Lot is a spiritual one and of course the atmosphere is a little different from the ordinary places.

The sunset scene attracts a great number of tourists to go there and spend their vacations with family members, relatives and friends. Although they’ve visited this heavenly temple several times, they’ll never feel bored to come back to admire the sunset again whenever they visit Bali Island.

Legend has it that Tanah Lot was built by a Brahmin called Danghyang Niratha who had the habit of traveling from one place to another. It is said that he needed only a raft to cross the Java Sea. He sat on the raft riding the waves, as if nothing had happened. No matter how rough the sea was, he was always as cool as a cucumber.

In the 16th century, Danghyang Niratha introduced Hinduism to the Balinese and he was quite successful. He was generally regarded as a holy man and the inhabitants had a lot of respect for him.

The king, Dalem Waturenggong, was very pleased and honored the Brahmin a lot. That was why Hinduism was widely spread to the remote villages in Bali.

At the same time, Beraban village was led by an honorable spiritualist. In Balinese language, the honorable spiritualist is called Bendesa Adat. The spiritualist disliked Danghyang Niratha and his teachings of Hinduism. Therefore, he was always willing to drive the Brahmin out of Bali Island.

Danghyang Niratha saw the divine light in the south of Bali Sea. He went to that direction where the bright light appeared and arrived at the beach in Beraban village.

The Brahmin sat on a big rock that looked like a parrot. Later, he used all his supernatural power to move the rock into the sea. The miracle happened soon after the rock was in the sea.

The rock increased in size until it reached the shape of a small island. Soon afterward, it looked more amazing as grasses and trees grew everywhere and covered the entire surface of the magic island.

Since that happening, the spiritualist admitted that Danghyang Niratha was much more capable and intelligent than he was. Finally the spiritualist and the villagers in Beraban became the followers of Hinduism.

Danghyang Niratha gave the Bendesa Adat a kris (a Malayan wavy blade dagger) before he left Bali Island. The kris has a miraculous power to eliminate all the plant diseases.

The kris is kept in Puri Kediri (Kediri Castle) and is usually used in a religious ceremony at Tanah Lot Sea Temple every six months.

As the religious ritual is routinely performed, the welfare of the villagers in Beraban village has improved and the crops grow fertilely all the year round. They enjoy a good harvest constantly and live harmoniously in that prosperous village.

As the number of tourists visiting Tanah Lot has tremendously increased, the tour agents provide the cheap tour packages for pilgrims who want to go to worship and enjoy the sunset at that sea temple.

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