Hansomat: Winter 2019 - 34. Royal Temple

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Winter 2019 - 34. Royal Temple – Taman Ayun

34. Royal Temple – Taman Ayun

Entrance to the Temple Grounds

Naturally, the deified ancient Royals needed their own temple. Well this ‘beautiful Garden’ (Taman Ayun) is the spot that the old Dynasty or Kingdom of Mengwi declared as their temple. It is a family temple, a special place ONLY for the Royals. No costs were spared to make this place special. There are lots of towers (five, seven, nine and eleven tiered Merus,) each one declaring the superiority over the other gods represented in this temple.

Entrance to the Next Level (More Holy) Part of the Temple

The tallest Meru is the most sacred. Most of what is here was built in the 17^th century (1634 AD) with a restoration recorded in 1750 or so. This is ancient, old Bali.

Entrance to the sanctum for the public is only possible on very high holy days, but the walk around the outside of this complex is memorable. The water features, fountains and canals add to the atmosphere and elegance. The park or garden is kept in prime condition, the grass is cut, the bushes trimmed, it is still very royal looking. One cannot see the

Merus Represent a Mythical Mountain For the Gods

actual temple from the road. There is no parking allowed nearby, Agung had to park our car far away and walk back, after he dropped us off, or course.

Tallest Meru

Only Royals Can Use This Gate

We took this tour with Agung again; he seems to know Bali very well. His demeanor is perfect for a guide. I liked Agung a lot.

Beautiful Stone Carvings Everywhere

I found a list of Royals and Dynasties on line which helped me to get a time line. Note the earliest recorded king is from AD 914. Before that, Bali was mostly farm lands without kings in the modern day sense, just tribal elders and some ‘kings’ who controlled the harbors and water-ways. Still Bali is ancient. The riches, the real rich and opulent way of living, displayed in buildings and art and ceremony, only came about when the Royals of Java moved to Bali in or around 900 AD.

This ‘holy’ temple with all the Merus is in the center of this park (garden). We had to walk a bit from the street towards the sanctum.

Simulation of Cock Fighting

On the edge of the grounds, near the road is an open-sided building that was traditionally used for cock fighting. Cock fighting is part of Bali. See next blog (# 35.)