Bali's Glamour
Tanah Lot
History:
Tanah Lot is said to be the work of the 15th century priest Nirartha. The story goes that 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 then built and has been an important part of Balinese mythological history for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. It was said that each of the sea temples was to be within eyesight of the next so that they formed a chain along the south-western coast.
At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard this temple from evil spirits and intruders. There is said to be one giant snake which also protects the temple. It is believed that this snake was created from Nirartha's scarf when he established the island.
Posonous snakes live nearby caves to “guard” the temple and contribute to the temple’s dangerous repuutation
The area leading to Tanah Lot is highly commercialised and people are required to pay to enter the area. To reach the temple, visitors must walk through a carefully planned set of Balinese market-format souvenir shops which cover each side of the path down to the sea. On the mainland cliff tops, restaurants are built for the tourists to relax.
Sunset is the best time to visit Tanah lot, when the golden red skies frame the temple and waves crash into the rocks.
It is advisable to avoid the tourist crush here as it can be severe.
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