Besakih Temple

Mother Temple

Over a thousand years old, Besakih Temple is known as the "Mother Temple of Bali" Perched on the slopes of Mount Agung, at a lofty 1,000 meters (3,000 feet) Besakih is the biggest and holiest of all the Balinese temples. Named after the Dragon God believed to inhabit the mountain, it's said to be the only temple where a Hindu of any caste can worship.

Eighteen separate sanctuaries belonging to different regencies and caste groups surround the three main temples dedicated to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu. To the Balinese, visiting the temple sanctuaries is a special pilgrimage. The mountain top setting gives it an almost mystical quality. Steps ascend through split gates to the main courtyard where the Trinity shrines, dedicated to Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu, are wrapped in cloth and decorated with flower offerings. There are are number of temples but many of their inner courtyards are closed to visitors. If travelling on your own, try reach Pura Besakih before 9am, when many tourist buses start to arrive, so that you can take in the lovely temple in the quiet Balinese morning.

The Mother Temple of Besakih, or Pura Besakih, in the village of Besakih on the slopes of Mount Agung in eastern Bali, is the most important, the largest and holiest temple of Agama Hindu Dharma in Bali. Indonesia and one of a series of Balinese temples.

The temple probably dates to the fourteenth century. It was built on the south slopes of Mount Agung, the principal volcano of Bali. The temple is actually a complex made up of twenty-two temples that sit on parallel ridges. It has stepped terraces and flights of stairs which ascend to a number of courtyards and brick gateways that lead up to the main spire Meru structure, which is called Pura Penataran Agung. All this is aligned along a single axis and designed to lead the spiritual upward and closer to the mountain which is considered sacred.

The symbolic center or main sanctuary of the complex is the Pura Penataran Agung and and the lotus throne or padmasana is the symbolic center of the main sanctuary and ritual focus of the entire complex. It dates to around the seventeenth century.

A series of eruptions of Mount Agung in 1963, which killed approximately 1,700 people also threatened Puru Besakih. The lava flows missed the temple complex by mere meters. The saving of the temple is regarded by the Balinese people 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.

Annually there are at least seventy festivals held at the complex each year since there is a yearly anniversary celebrating almost every shrine. This yearly cycle is based on the 210-day Balinese calendar system.