Tirta Empul Temple, The Holy Pool of Beautiful Self Purification in Bali

The Holy Water Tirta Empul Temple is located just below the Tampaksiring Presidential Palace. Built in 1957 by the first President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Soekarno.

INDEPHEDIA.com - Tirta Empul Temple is located in Manukaya Village, Tampaksiring District, Gianyar Regency, Bali Province, Indonesia. To get to the location, you have to travel about 36 kilometers from the city of Denpasar with a travel time of approximately 1 hour drive.

Tirta Empul Temple is visited by many tourists, both from overseas and domestic tourists. Tirta Empul tourist attraction, one of the vacation spots in Bali that must be visited. At Tirta Empul Temple there are springs and are also used by Hindus for bathing and begging for the sacred.

For the tourism route in Bali, Tampak Siring is usually used as a stopover route for tourists who have visited the tourist attractions of Ubud, such as the Tegalalang Rice Terraces, or tourists who have come from Kintamani tourist attractions, to the tourist attractions in southern Bali.

One thing you need to know, this Holy Water Tirta Empul Temple is located just below the Tampaksiring Presidential Palace. Built in 1957 by the first President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Soekarno. Together with the Presidential Palace, the Holy Water Tirta Empul Temple presents the charm of interesting sights that you can see.

As a Petirtaan center or bathing place, to explore the entire location of Tirta Empul is quite complex and it takes at least 30 minutes to an hour. Just like in temples and other holy places around the island, you need to wear a 'sarong' before entering that place. Holsters are available at the entrance to the temple and can be rented with a small contribution.

Once you enter the temple, you will walk through a large stone gate (known as Bentar Temple). At the end of the page is another Bentar Temple built on the wall that leads to the central courtyard.

This gate is guarded by carvings of two large statues of Dwarapala or guardians that are given a golden color. At the top of the gate there is a Kala carving that is very different from other Kala carvings in other places because it has sticking fangs up and a pair of hands with open arms.

Entering the inner courtyard, you will arrive at the 'Jaba Tengah' area which is the main area of ​​the temple. The holy spring here ballooned into a large crystal-clear pond inside the temple and gushed out through 30 stalks of water to two holy purification pools.

Balinese and Hindu local adherents stand in long lines in the pond waiting to dip their heads under the water funnel in a purification ritual known as 'melukat'.

The bathing starts from the bathing pool on the left side up to the waist under the first water funnel. Once they have cleaned themselves under the first funnel, they join the next queue. This process continues until they clean themselves under each water funnel. However, there are two funnels intended only to clean the dead and are prohibited from being used by people who live for the 'melukat' ritual.

Behind the purification pool is the last part of the Holy Water Tirta Empul Temple, which is called Viscera. Mostly neglected by tourists, the viscera or inner courtyard is a pleasant place to visit and relax after the frenzy of the purification pool. This is where people come to pray.

The front of the yard is dominated by large springs that fill the refining pool. Water sources are filled with green algae and small fish swim between reeds. Behind the springs there is a large Hindu sanctuary. The holy places are brightly decorated, which contrasts with the white clothes of Balinese people who come here to pray.

When you exit Tirta Empul, you pass a large pond containing koi fish. This part of the temple is walled on all four sides of the other complex, which provides a calm and relaxed atmosphere. Fat koi fish swim lazily in the pool waiting for their next meal.

Tirta Empul is dedicated to Vishnu, the Hindu water god. An inscription shows that the founding of this temple existed in 926 AD In Balinese, Tirta Empul which translates means water flows out of the earth, which for this reason Tirta Empul is considered a holy spring.

Tirta Empul Temple includes holy places for Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, and also one for Indra and Mount Batur. This is considered to be one of the five or six most sacred temples in Bali and is considered one of the holy water sources in Bali, and the other is Ulun Danu Temple on Lake Beratan.

Legend of The Creation of Tirta Empul

The Balinese believe the creation of Tirta Empul involves the legend of an epic battle between a powerful and powerful king named Mayadenawa and Lord Indra. Mayadenawa has the spiritual power to transform himself into whatever form he wants. But, he became careless with his strength and used it for black magic.

A priest named "Sang Kulputih" prayed to Lord Indra to end the evil king. Indra and his army succeeded in defeating the Mayadenawa forces, and left the evil king and what was left of his troops volunteered to their lives.

Later, Mayadenawa sneaked into Indra's camp as the army slept. He created a beautiful but poisonous pool that the army would drink after awakening. When Mayadenawa crept into the camp, he walked along the side of his feet so as not to leave footprints - This is believed to be the origin of the name 'Tampak Siring' which is translated as 'sloping footprint'.

In the morning Indra awoke, finding many of his men dead and some sick and dying. At that moment, through his extraordinary power Dewa Indra stabbed the ground with his stick, creating a healing source of holy water which came to be known as Tirta Empul.

Knowing that his plan had failed, Mayadenawa frantically tried to transform himself into a variety of different creatures but was unsuccessful because Indra continued to chase him. When he finally transformed himself into a large stone, Indra blew out his arrows and finally killed the evil king.

Mayadenawa's blood gushing from the rock is believed to have formed the Petanu River, and for centuries the river has been condemned to make rice grow quickly, but it has a terrible smell and is contaminated with blood. Balinese Hindus commemorate Mayadenawa's death every 210 days in the traditional Balinese calendar as the day when Virtue prevails over evil in a ceremony called Galungan. (SBB.IN/ENG/*)