Probing the mystery of Pura Tanjung Sari

Probing the mystery of Pura Tanjung Sari

By Myra Sidharta

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): When the Protestant minister J.F.G. Brumund visited Bali in the middle of the 19th century, he encountered a rich Chinese businessman who was also a chief of the Chinese community with the title of captain. This captain had an ancestral altar at the center of his house where he prayed daily for his ancestors and for the gods of Heaven and Earth to protect him from evil spirits.

However, Brumund was surprised to see some Balinese shrines in the garden where the wife of the captain brought her daily offerings of flowers, rice grains and coins. "Husband and wife, each their own God" he wrote in his report.

This phenomenon can still be seen all over Bali. Along with a friend, I went on a research trip recently visiting many Chinese temples and met with some temple elders and priests and saw that they too had Balinese shrines in their homes, because they had either a Balinese mother, grandmother or wife.

There are also Balinese temples (called pura) all over Bali where Chinese shrines are present.

One such shrine is at Pura Tanjung Sari near Padang Bai, a coastal village where ferries from Bali depart for Lombok island. Tanjung Sari is one of three pura around Padang Bai, the others are well-known Pura Silayukti, and the Pura Penataran Agung.

We would not have ventured to this place if my travel mate had not received a photograph of a wooden tablet from a person who wanted to know the meaning of the inscription. However, the Chinese inscriptions in the photo were not clear and part of them were covered with red cloth. Thus we set out to solve this problem but when we reached the temple there was no sign of the plaque, nor were there any shrines that looked Chinese. But then we noticed one of the shrines had a different top, a stupa, which indicated it was a Buddhist shrine. We also noticed that there were Chinese joss sticks nearby.

A priest told us that Tanjung Sari had been a Buddhist temple before the Hindus arrived in Bali. That is why the shrine was devoted to Buddha. The Chinese started to come there after a ship ran aground. The sailors saw the temple and decided to pray for their safety. Since then, many sailors and traders have come to pray for a good voyage or just for good luck.

On another visit we had more luck, as two men arrived on a motorcycle and told me to contact a shopkeeper in the village. This shopkeeper, Niek Wijaya, told us that the tablet was safely stored in a place where all other treasures of the temple were kept. He said it was considered sacred and could only be seen on certain holidays. He could not tell us about the writings since he did not read or speak Chinese, but if we wanted to see the tablet, we would have to come during on designated holidays, and no pictures would be allowed to be taken.

He then took us to another shrine at the entrance of Pura Segara, a small Balinese temple in front of the harbor. The red shrine had four Chinese characters inscribed on it, meaning "The grand old man of the Enormous Wind". Inside the shrine were some joss sticks in an incense burner, some burned-out candles and a wooden tablet saying: "Guardian of the Kongco" (ancestors). A friend of Niek Wijaya's, who had worked on boats bringing cattle to Singapore and Hong Kong said that Padang Bai used to be a busy port where Chinese junks came to load cattle destined for other parts of Indonesia or for export to Singapore and Hong Kong. The sailors would pray for good winds and bring offerings before they set sail.

To solve the problem of the writing we had to contact a certain Mr. Liu in Denpasar. We found him in a "hut" filled with packets of incense. He told us one night he had a dream of the four characters and that a voice had asked him to write the characters on the shrine. When he asked to whom the voice belonged, it said it was not a human being but the wind. Mr. Liu who had no idea where the shrine was but searched until he found it. Being an ex-school teacher he was able to write it on the shrine.

Since that time Mr. Liu's business has been booming. His incense is now sold in gift shops of five-star hotels and exported all over the world. He is currently trying to raise money to build a Chinese shrine inside Pura Tanjung Sari to give the Grand old man a better place.