Besakih Temple

Pura Besakih
Pura Besakih, the holiest of all Balinese Hindu temples.
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General information
Type	Pura
Architectural style	Balinese
Location	Besakih, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia
Address	Besakih, Rendang, Karangasem Regency, Bali 80863
Coordinates	8°22′28″S 115°27′03″E / 8.374368°S 115.450936°E / -8.374368; 115.450936
Estimated completion	15th-century
Website
www.besakihbali.com

Besakih Temple (Balinese: ᬧᬸᬭᬩᭂᬲᬓᬶᬄ) is a pura complex in the village of Besakih on the slopes of Mount Agung in eastern Bali, Indonesia. It is the most important, largest, and holiest temple of Balinese Hinduism,^[1] and one of a series of Balinese temples. Perched nearly 1000 meters up the side of Gunung Agung, it is an extensive complex of 23 separate but related temples with the largest and most important being Pura Penataran Agung. The temple is built on six levels, terraced up the slope. The entrance is marked by a candi bentar (split gateway), and beyond it, the Kori Agung is the gateway to the second courtyard.^[2]

The precise origins of the temple are unclear but its importance as a holy site almost certainly dates from prehistoric times. The stone bases of Pura Penataran Agung and several other temples resemble megalithic stepped pyramids, which date back at least 2,000 years.

It was certainly used as a Hindu place of worship from 1284 when the first Javanese conquerors settled in Bali. By the 15th century, Besakih had become a state temple of the powerful Gelgel dynasty.^[2]

The temple is on the slopes of Mount Agung, the principal volcano of Bali.^[3]

Pura Besakih is a complex made up of twenty-three temples that sit on parallel ridges. It has stepped terraces and flights of stairs that ascend to several courtyards and brick gateways that lead up to the main spire or Meru structure, which is called Pura Penataran Agung. All this is aligned along a single axis and designed to lead the spiritual person upward and closer to the mountain which is considered sacred.^[4]

The main sanctuary of the complex is the Pura Penataran Agung. The symbolic center of the main sanctuary is the lotus throne, or padmasana, which is therefore the ritual focus of the entire complex. It dates to around the seventeenth century.^[5]

A series of eruptions of Mount Agung in 1963, which killed approximately 1,700 people^[6][7] also threatened Pura Besakih. The lava flows missed the temple complex by mere meters. The Balinese people regarded the saving of the temple as miraculous, and a signal from the gods that they wished to demonstrate their power but not destroy the monument the Balinese faithful had erected.

Each year there are at least seventy festivals held at the complex since almost every shrine celebrates a yearly anniversary. This cycle is based on the 210-day Balinese Pawukon calendar year.^[5]

It had been nominated as a World Heritage Site as early as 1995 but was pulled out in 2015.

In 2013, foreign visitors accounted for 84,368 persons (77.2 percent of all visitors), while domestic visitors accounted for 24,853 persons (22.8 percent).^[8]

CNN reported that illegal donations were extorted by local youths from surrounding villages and from visiting tourists.^[9]

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  The main temple of Besakih
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  Pura Besakih
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  Pura Besakih
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  Pura Besakih
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  A prayer ceremony at Besakih Temple
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  Bali view from Besakih/Mother Temple's main gate

• Indonesian architecture
• Balinese Hinduism

• I Nyoman Darma Putra and Michael Hitchcock (2005) Pura Besakih: A world heritage site contested in Indonesia and the Malay World, Volume 33, Issue 96 July 2005, pages 225 - 238
• Stuart-Fox, David J.(2002) Pura Besakih: temple, religion and society in Bali KITLV, Original from the University of Michigan (Digitized 5 September 2008 into Google Books) ISBN 90-6718-146-3, ISBN 978-90-6718-146-4 . 470 pages

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pura Besakih.

• Besakih travel guide from Wikivoyage