Balinese Temples. Bruce Granquist

      Of Gods and Men

      Unlike their Indian counterparts, Balinese shrines and sanctuaries do no: generally include a physical representation of the deity to whom they are dedicated. There are, however, exceptions, as i the case of the Pura Penulisan, situated high on the crater walls surrounding Gunung Batur, where one finds this fine example of a stone lingga (below). In Hindu iconography, the lingga is a representation of the god Siwa, the phallic symbolism of the image being a celebration of the creative aspect of the deity. The veneration of the Hindu god Siwa plays an important role in Balinese religion, but lingga are usually found only in the oldest sanctuaries. Evidently the disappearance of a physical representation of the deity is something that happened after the introduction of Hinduism to Bali.

      There are literally tens of thousands of temples and shrines on the island of Bali, a proliferation of religious architecture which probably is not equalled anywhere else in the world. Glimpsed through a screen of trees, or.across a swathe of verdant rice fields, the Balinese temple seems almost to be a part of the natural order of things. Closer to hand, the crumbling brick work and lichen-cohered statuary convey a sense of considerable antiquity, while the astonishing sculptural repertoire of demonic masks, multi-limbed deities and lurid depictions of sexuality that confront the Western eye, conjure up an exotic otherness of 'lost' civilisations and licentious natives—the 'Mysterious East' of all good Orientalist fantasies.

      But Balinese temples need not be quite so mysterious if one takes an informed look at the underlying logic which determines the layout of the sanctuary and the symbolic significance of individual structures in the temple precincts.