Bali is Small Island and the mountains of the interior are never far away. They give the Balinese a point of orientation which is intimately bound up with religion, culture and modes of behavior. The direction towards the mountains is kaja in Balinese (kaler in the high language) which generally speaking is north in south Bali, south in north Bali, almost west in the eastern tip of the island. The opposite of kaja is kelod, the direction towards the sea, for mountain and ocean are two poles of Balinese sacred symbolic geography. Essentially these two poles are ever-present symbols of the high and low, up and down. Throughout the world, it seems, the high is associated with the divine or rather one aspect of divine, the other being the land itself and the powers of fertility and growth. The mountain partakes of both earth and heaven, and in Bali and Indonesia generally, is a dominant locus of divinity. The summits of the mountains are sacred, the dwelling place of the high guardians of life and land, and of the spirits of the ancestors, who can grant prosperity to mankind, or withdraw it, and in their anger can bring death and destruction. In Bali mountains stretch from east to west across the middle of island. In the center is the live volcano Mt. Batur and the lake beside it both within a vast crater formed the bulk of central Bali and gave the land its steady slope. More to the east is Mt. Agung, the great Mountain at 3142 meters or 10,309 feet, the highest in Bali. It too is a live volcano with a long history of eruptions, the earliest ones of mythological times bringing forth the great Gods of Bali, the latest in 1963 devastating the land and killing hundreds. The awesome power of erupting volcanoes further strengthened the belief in the divine power possessed by the great mountains. So too perhaps did their pure bold forms soaring to the skies.Almost every hill and mountain in Bali has its shrine, the higher the mountain the more important the sanctuary. Because of their height and the arduous climb to the top, and the limited space at the summit, sanctuaries were built on the sides of the mountains where the deity of the mountain is worshipped in great ceremonies, attended by large crowds. In former days the larger mountain temples were controlled by the princely court, replaced now by regency or provincial government. Together with the larger sea and lake temples, the mountain sanctuaries are classified among the group of Balinese temples with district or island-wide status rather than just village status. Among the great mountain temples in Bali are Pura Batukaru, Pura Puncak Mangu, Pura Batur, Pura Andakasa, Pura Lempuyang, and Pura Besakih, all but the last named after the mountain on which it is situated. Mt. Agung as the highest mountain has given Pura Besakih a very special status in Bali. The traditional Lontar texts often call the mountain To Langkir (to – man, langkir – highest, uppermost), suggesting it was the dwelling place of a mighty spirit or ancestor, Hyang To Langkir. In other texts the deity of Mt. Agung is called Putranjaya, eldest son of the great Hindu deity Pasupati, or is equated with Mahadewa, the Great God. In time Indian belief harmonized with original Balinese beliefs, became fused in a manner impossible to separate. Interlocking elements of Hindu dogma accrued to the old beliefs. Mt. Agung became in Bali the symbol of Mt. Mahameru, in Indian beliefs the very axis of the world. A succession of Hindu holy men, major personages in Balinese history, further moulded Pura Besakih, its structure and ceremonies. the mountain became more consciously a symbol of the One God and Besakih a place to worship Him.
Pura Besakih lies on the southwest slope of the mountain at an altitude of about, 1000 meters. It is situated in the village of Besakih, in the Rendang district of Karangasem regency, about 22 km north of the town of Klungkung. Pura Besakih is the ‘Mother Temple’ of Bali, the holiest temple in the island. Its greatness lies not only in its size and the number of structures (198 by one count), but also in a spiritual sense. It is the essence of all places of worship in Bali, where at the Triple Lotus shrine, Hindus pay homage to Sanghyang Widhi Wasa, The One God, in His manifestation as Tripurusa (Siwa, Sadasiwa, Paramasiwa), the lords of the Three Worlds (Tri Bhuwana), the lower, middle and upper worlds. Besides that, Pura Besakih functions as the unifying center or worship for all Hindu Balinese, for despite the thousands of family, clan, and village temples. Balinese Hinduism is fundamentally homogeneous. At Pura Besakih, all Balinese from whatever clan worship together. Interspersed among the villagers’ homes and gardens covering a section of slope cut by two streams, usually dry, are some two score temples: the 18 public temples, four special subsidiary temples, many temples honoring deified ancestors, besides the clan and family temples of the local villagers.
Pura Pasar Agung, several kilometers to the east, is also intimately related to Pura Besakih. Every temple at Besakih has its own name. The term Pura Besakih refers to the whole complex, and especially the great central temple of Pura Penataran Agung which consists of a series of terraced courtyards containing dozens of shrines and Meru (pagoda), wherein or associated with which are held the greatest of the Besakih festivals. Although at first glance the temples are spread over the slope without seeming order, there are in fact relationship between some of them based on important Hindu doctrines. These relationship are not modern impositions but date back to the 16th century, if not before. In Hinduism Panca Dewata (the five gods) of the four cardinal directions and the center play a very important role, each being associated with a particular color. This macrocosmic structuring of the universe is manifested at Besakih in the relationship between five temples that form a rough cross on the landscape. These temples are Pura Gelap (Temple of Lightning) representing Iswara in the east (white), Pura Kiduling Kreteg (Temple south of the bridge) representing Brahma in the south (red), Pura Ulun Kulkul (Temple of Origin of the Slit-gong) representing Mahadewa in the west (yellow), Pura Batu Madeg (Temple of the Standing Stone) representing Wisnu in the north (black), and in the center representing Siwa (multi-colored) the Pura Penataran Agung. All the Besakih temples, being oriented towards Mt. Agung rather than the exact points of the compass, lie on a north-east-southwest axis. For ritual purposes Pura Gelap, or in other words Mt. Agung, is designated east, and so on, though in everyday speech the direction towards the mountain (kaja) tends to be associated with north, as it does throughout south Bali.
These five temples are linked together in series of important ceremonies, one in each temple, that have a special name: Aci Pangenteg Jagat in Pura Gelap, Aci Panyeed Brahma in Pura Kiduling Kreteg, Aci Pangurip Jagat in Pura Ulun Kulkul, Aci Panaung Bayu in Pura Batu Madeg, and Aci Bhatara Turun Kabeh (The Gods descend all together) in Pura Penataran Agung. For this last festival all the temples are decorated with cloths and banners whose colors follow the scheme outlined above: Pura Kiduling Kreteg is decorated with red cloths, and so on. Of these five temples, Pura Kiduling Kreteg, Pura Batu Madeg and Penataran Agung are considerably larger than the others. These three temples represent the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity of Brahma the Creator, Wisnu the Preserver and Siwa the Dissolver who are respectively associated with earth/ magma, water, and air, and with various other triads. The great central temple of Pura Penataran Agung we will look at in detail in the next chapter. Of the other two, Pura Batu Madeg is the more interesting. It is more compact than Pura Kiduling Kreteg and has a fine series of Meru which are strikingly beautiful seen from afar through the bamboos that grow near the temple. It also possesses some interesting antiquities: stone Lingga (symbol of Siwa), statues of Ganesha (the elephant-headed son of Siwa), and some megalithic shrines. These remains and the very name of the temple suggests that originally Pura Batu Madeg may have been a prehistoric megalithic sanctuary that only later became associated with Hindu deities. One traditional classification of the Besakih temples divides them into two groups: those “Soring Ambal-Ambal” (below the terrace) and those “Luhuring Ambal-Ambal” (above the terrace). The dividing line is the space in front of the Pura Penataran Agung where the great Bhuta Yadnya ceremonies of Panca Wali Krama and Eka Dasa Rudra are held. The temples lower down the slope fall into the first group, those higher up into the second group.
Of the eleven temples in the lower group, several are associated with the underworld. These include Pura Bangun Sakti dedicated to Anantabhoga, the cosmic Naga (serpent) associated with the earth and its fruits; Pura Basukian dedicated to Basuki, the cosmic Naga associated with the waters of the earth, who was the rope around the mountain in the story of churning of the milky ocean to produce Tirta Amerta, the elixir of life: Pura Goa which is also connected with Naga Basuki; and perhaps Pura Manik Mas whose God, according to one interpretation, should be associated with Bedawangnala, the cosmic turtle, who supports the universe on his back, around whom the cosmic naga twine. The upper group of seven temples includes Pura Penataran Agung, Pura Kiduling Kreteg, Pura Batu Madeg, and Pura Gelap, discussed earlier, together with Pura Tirtha, Pura Pangubengan, and Pura Paninjoan. Three Besakih temples are considered the counterparts of the set of temples called Kahyangan Tiga found in almost every village in Bali: Pura Basukian as the Pura Puseh (temple of origin), Pura Penataran Agung as the Pura Desa (temple of the community) and Pura Dalem Puri as the Pura Dalem (temple of dead, of all potentially destructive forces, where Durga, wrathful of Siwa’s spouse, is enshrined). However instead of serving a village community, these Besakih temples serve the whole community of Hindu Balinese.
Pura Dalem Puri, although a small temple (of the lower group), on its festival day in seventh lunar month draws crowds as large as those at the yearly Bhatara Turun Kabeh festival. The area surrounding the temple is called Tegal Panangsaran (field of suffering) and often it is here rather than in the temple that people come to ask that souls of their dead, after the prescribed death rites have been performed, be granted favor in the afterworld. Besides the public temples four special subsidiary temples associated with particular clans have an intimate relationship with Pura Penataran Agung. These are Pura Ratu Pasek, Pura Dukuh Segening and Pura Penyarikan to the right of Pura Penataran Agung, and Pura Ratu Pande to the left. When the Gods of Besakih leave the temple for the sacred bathing place or for the seaside, the deities of these four temples always lead the procession. Also to the right of Pura Penataran Agung is the complex of Padharman temples which honor the defied ancestors of particular clans. The largest and most noteworthy of these is the Padharman Dalem whose series of Meru honors the defied rulers of the Gelgel dynasty. This temple was rebuilt in 1978.
In 1977 a comprehensive plan was drawn up to restore and beautify the whole Besakih complex. This included construction of parking lots at the bottom end, an arrangement that returned to the former tradition of always proceeding on foot beyond Pura Manik Mas. Left of the entrance to Pura Penataran Agung an elaborate Wantilan complex called Mandapa Kesari Warmadewa was built for meetings and communal activities. Besakih at times is quite, yet never deserted. Everyday white-robed temple priest (pemangku) present offerings, and prepare and give out holy water to individuals or more commonly family or clan groups, when they visit Besakih in connection with some temple festival or death ritual. Always they worship at the triple Lotus shrine in the Pura Penataran Agung. There are many ceremonies held on a regular basis in the various temples. A recent publication list 55 ceremonies held yearly in the 18 public temples, some directed to the Gods of particular shrines, others to the Gods of a temple, and in the Bhatara Turun Kabeh ceremony in Pura Penataran Agug to all the Gods of Besakih. Just over half these ceremonies are reckoned according to the Javanese – Balinese 210-day pawukon calendar, the rest according to the lunar calendar. Many of these ceremonies are quite small and are performed routinely by the pemangku without outside assistance. Others are larger and must be performed by brahmana, high priest (padanda). The main yearly festival and the climax of Besakih festival year is Bhatara Turun Kabeh (The Gods descend all together) held on the full moon of the tenth lunar month (usually falls in 4th week of March or 1st week of April). Theoretically at least every 10 or 100 years respectively the two greatest ceremonies that can be held in Bali are celebrated – the Panca Wali Krama and Eka Dasa Rudra.
As the major temple of Bali, the upkeep of Pura Besakih and the ultimate responsibility for the ceremonies rest with the state. In 1967 the Government of the Province of Bali, representing the state, handed over control of Besakih to Indonesia’s central Hindu Council, Parisada Hindu Dharma, which in turn formed the Prawartaka Pura Besakih. This body now oversees all activity at Besakih, though a heavy burden is placed on the villagers of Besakih who provide labor and on the ten official pemangku, each having one or more temples in his care. For larger ceremonies the Prawartaka takes a leading role, and for such massive ceremonies as Panca Wali Krama and Eka Dasa Rudra a special committee is formed under the Governor of Bali. The state continues its traditional role by providing much of the necessary finance, and regency government support certain of the subsidiary temple e.g. Karangasem regency supports Pura Kiduling Kreteg, Bangli regency supports Pura Batu Madeg, and so on. Besides direct government cash grant, Indonesian Hindus through Parisada Hindu Dharma also contribute funds, and Pura Besakih itself owns some 14 hectares of rice-field to help defray costs.

Source: Besakih Temple and One a Century