Against the sky, with its solitary black towers and the contours of the eroded stone, the site striking silhouette boars the delicate quality of a Chinese painting. In its centre a natural source emerge, believed to yield holy water, which the resident priest will happily bless you with.
At low tide the distance between land and the little island can be crossed easily on foot, however when the tide comes in, water feels the various caves and the black and white stripped sea snake that inhabit them come out to feed on the fish brought in by the water. A colony, should hearsay be believed, reigned over by an enormous sea serpent that dwells inside one of the shrines, protector appointed by Nirartha himself, reported alive to this day.
It is believed that during his travels along the south coast of Bali, the high priest Nirartha saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bringing gifts, invited him to stay at their hut. Nirartha refused, saying he preferred to spend the night on the little island. That evening he spoke to the fishing folk and advised them to build a shrine on the rock, for he felt it to be a holy and fitting place to worship the Gods.
The temple was built and named Tanah Lot literally "Land in the Middle of the sea" in Balinese language. One of the seven sea temples around the Balinese coast, it is said that each of them was to be within eyesight of the next, to form a protective chain along the south-western coast.
Indeed from the Tanah Lot, one clearly sees to the east the cliff top on which resides Pura Uluh Watu and to the west the undisturbed sea shore leading to Pura Perancak, near Negara.
Nirartha came to Bali from Kediri is East Java, in 1537, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Majapahit empire. Legend has it that he made the crossing from Java on leaf of the keluwih tree. The newly arrived high priest, believed to hold powerful magical aptitude was invited to settle in the ascendant royal court of Gelgel. From there and with the blessing of the King, he embarked throughout the rest of his life upon several missionary journeys through Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa. His travels saw the founding of many temples.
Further yet, the children of his several marriages, both in Java and in Bali, became in time the progenitors of important Brahman clans, whose descendants still rank among the most important Brahmana families in Bali today.
- Posted by Stephanie Robert |
