MAYURA TEMPEL

"Above us the first tropical storm developed as usual in the time of the wet monsoon. Jet-black skies and heavy showers. Yet it remained dry for a while and we visited the water palace of Mayura. It was built in 1744 as a showpiece of the Balinese court. Beautifully landscaped with a beautifully maintained park. The palace played an important role in 1894 when the colonial army established its headquarters there. There they were attacked by the army of the Balinese, known in the Netherlands as the betrayal of Lombok. The ponds are beautiful in tact and one of them is used as a pool."

Mayura Tempel: toegangspoort, vijver en paviljoen

         

The Mayura Temple was built by King AA Made Karangasem in 1744, when Bali ruled over the island of Lombok. It was a beautiful palace. In the beginning it called "the Kelepug Palace Garden". The name came from the sound "kelepug..kelepug" of the strongly flowing water, which bubbled up from the well in the pond of the palace. The name and function changed to Mayura park / temple. The park and the temple around 1866 were renovated. The word "mayura" was derived from Sanskrit, which means "peacock". At that time, many snakes lived around the temple, disturbing the people to pray. Some counsellors advised to breed peacocks around the park and the temple, so that they would consider the snakes as their prey and eat. Since then, the name Mayura Park was born.

Mayura park offers an atmosphere of nature, religion and history. The park area is divided into two parts, park and temple. The park looks neat. If you are, you feel a natural calm. Around the park there are rows of mangosteen trees and a well-kept lawn. There is also a pond in the park. In the middle is a pavilion, which used to be a meeting place to receive guests. The building is called "Rat Kerte" or "gili", which means "small island" in the language of Sasak. At the pond with water lilies there is an entrance gate, which used to be the main entrance to the temple.

In the temple area are four main temples, the Mount Rinjani, Ngelurah, Padmasana and the Gedong temple. The Gedong temple is usually used for prayer and is widely visited by Hindus from around the world.
The Gedong temple is also known as the Jagad Rana temple (jagad means "world" in Sanskrit). There is a strong Hindu atmosphere in this temple.
The temple is not only visited by Hindus. Everyone may enter the temple and visit this historic building. But on certain holidays such as Galungan, Kuningan or other holidays, the temple is closed to the public.

Piece of history:
After having conquered many places in Indonesia, the Dutch wanted to occupy Lombok in 1894. They set up a camp in the courtyard of the Mayura. This was not a smart move from a strategic point of view, as they were surrounded by Balinese soldiers with guns at night. The camp was attacked by hundreds of Balinese in the middle of the night.

Tips:

• Use a shawl around your hips when you visit this temple to cover shoulders and knees.

• Do not bring food or smoke at the temple.

• If you want to ask a monk on duty, do so after prayer.

• There is a donation box in the temple area. Save your rupiah to do it for the maintenance of the temple.

• Come in the morning, if you want to know more. In the afternoon some places such as Rat Kerte are closed.

The temple is located in the center of Cakranegara. There are many offices in the area and the local shopping center is close by. Cakranegara has grown to Mataram.

Het paviljoen in de vijver

"On the coast, local fishermen were catching their daily portion of fish with a trawl. A boat sails out with the nets and sails back with a bow. Both ends are secured and then about eight people start to pick up the net on each side. The catch is poor."