Pura Goa Lawah - The Bat Cave Temple

Pura Goa Lawah, the Bat Cave Temple, is located along the coast of southeastern Bali, The Bat Cave Temple indeed lives up to its name, Lawah is Bat in Balinese language, for three – tier structure stand at the entrance to a large cave. The cave is inhabited by thousand of flying bat that hang from the rocky ceiling by the day  and depart on food hunts in explosion of black wings every evening. These large fruit bats are believe to be the temple’s guardians and are considered sacred  - as are the large python that live in the neighboring rocks. The bats’ lair is rumored to lead underground all the way to Pura Beakih; other stories have in tunneling beneath the Badung strait to the Pura Peed temple on Nusa penida. This sacred temple was founded in 1007 by the holy Sage from Java, Mpu Kuturan. The temple is one of Sad Kahyangan (six great temples of Bali). the temple and the cave is an obligatory site of Nyekah (deification of the deceased family member soul) pilgrimage. Balinese believe the cave harbors an enormous dragon, Naga Basuki, the mythical serpent of universe and the caretaker of the earth’s equilibrium. A tale is told how a prince of Mengwi actually entered the sacred cave to prove that he was the rightful descendent of Mengwi king, and emerged at Besakih, but his feat was never duplicated – entering the cave is now forbidden.