Tanah Lot means "Land Sea"
and is claimed to be the work of the 16th-century janitor baratha.
celestial
During his
travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and
rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent
the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them
to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese
sea gods.
The Tanah Lot temple was
built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one
of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples were
established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western
coast.
At the base of the rocky
island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits
and intruders. A giant snake purportedly protects the temple.
In 1980, the temple's rock
face was starting to crumble and the area around and inside the temple started
to become dangerous. The Japanese government provided a
loan to the Indonesian government of approximately USD $130 million to conserve
the historic temple and other significant locations around Bali. As a result,
over one third of Tanah Lot's "rock" is actually cleverly disguised
artificial rock created during the Japanese-funded and supervised renovation
and stabilization program.
The highlight of my day!
Was only toped by the fact that my travel mates had waited for me with dinner. So we went together and had a lovely time. So *happy*. I love it when you can leave each other some space and still be together...
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