Bathing the Holy Springs at the Tirta Empul Temple in Bali

INDEPHEDIA.com - If you visit Bali, Indonesia, do not visit the Tirta Empul Temple, Manukaya Village, Tampak Siring District, Gianyar Regency, Bali. Inside the temple complex there are sacred springs which are now part of the area of ​​worship of Balinese Hindus.

Tirta Empul which in Balinese means water spurting out of the ground, a spring that the local community has sacred Apart from being a place to purify themselves from illnesses and other bad things, it is also a place of efficacy for those who want their prayers and hopes fulfilled.

According to the story of the local community, this place is part of the legend of the enmity of the Lords of Bhatara Indra with a powerful but greedy king named Mayadanawa. Lords of Bhatara Indra managed to shoot and kill the King even though the King had tried to outwit the God by turning himself into a sandstone.

This battle that killed King Mayadanawa who was greedy was the reason for the commemoration of Galungan Day by Balinese people who described the victory of dharma (goodness) over adharma (evil).

Because of the sanctity and efficacy of these springs then a bathing pool was made during the time of King Sri Candrabhaya (around 962 AD) and Pura was also built on it during the reign of Masula King Masuli who ruled around 1178 AD. Next to the Tirta Empul Temple Complex there is also the Tampaksiring State Palace which was built by the first Indonesian President, Ir Soekarno, in 1957.

When visiting the Pura Tirta Empul complex, we will be asked to use kamen or sarong, which is commonly used for worship by the Balinese Hindu community as a form of respect for the sacred complex of worship buildings. (WS.IN/ENG/*)