The Besakih Temple

"The Mother Of All Temples" or the "Centre of Temples" is what the Besakih Temple, located in the hills of Mt Agung, is more commonly known as.It draws over 100,000 devotees to its 100+ chapels, each year in massive numbers every day. Balinese Hindus consider themselves lucky to still have these places of worship which some date way back to the prehistoric era. In 1963, Mt Agung erupted, destroying a number of villages all around it, miraculously leaving the shrines untouched.Naga Besukian(Dragon God)was said to inhabit the area as far back as before the 11th century. However, at the dawn of a new century, it became a temple of the state and the evil seemed to have been washed away. It is continued to be helped by the government even to this day.The are of worship is made up of a number of patios and altars dedicated to different Gods of the Hindu religion. The devotees believe that the Gods have specific days on which they visit the temple, which is when the people flock to the area to offer their prayers and hold large festivals. From the numerous other temples around the island (Lempuyang Luhur, Gua Lawah, Batukaru, Pusering Jagat, and Uluwatu), the Besakih Temple is the most cherished temple, not because it lies 3000 feet above sea level and up in the mountains, but because it is the most scared to the Hindus.
Hinduism in Bali consists of a fewer fragments as compared to that found in modern India today. Here the people worship one, Brahma, the creator, in various different forms and personalities. The Hindu Gods Siwa, and Visnu (Shiva, Vishnu) are a form of The Great Brahma. Besakih is more devoted to the form of Visnu as compared to the other temples though the main worship is done in front of the TRIMURTHI (Brahma,Vishnu,Shiva). The strong devotion of the Hindus in Bali has kept Islam at bay, even though Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.It has however, absorbed the animism and the adoration of its ancestor Malay culture along with aspects of Buddhism and Mahayana.
The anniversary of the Temple, ODALAN, is an excellent day to visit, to capture it at its best, but one must be prepared to be part of a hundred thousand plus crowd.This usually happens in the month of April.