Prasasti Blanjong : Sanur Bali
Prasasti Blanjong is the site of one of the oldest man-made objects in Bali. Today I callled my friend mike who lives in Sanur, to see if he was interested in checking out Prasasti Blanjong. The small temple and shrine and Prasati Blanjong, are located on Jl. Danau Poso, across from the Circle K. There is no entrance fee, or indeed anyone else there. After a 10 meter pathway, you’ll come to a glass enclosed stone pillar, which is 2 meters tall and inscribed with ancient text. The middle section of the pillar is wrapped in cloth, but we did see extracts of the worn inscriptions.
Prasasti Blanjong is the oldest written history of Bali, dating back to 913AD. Not sure exactly what language is used on the pillar, most likely old Javanese (kawi), and it tells the story of a king who came from Java, in order to set up a Mahayana Buddhist government. Fascinating how Bali / Indonesia, had / has all these local belief systems, and has been influenced by various waves of cultural / religious movement, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam (when Scientology gets here I’m leaving). The glass casing was supposedly built in the 60’s, which is good. Mike and joked that it was just as well, as we definitely don’t want some rich art collector from California, snapping the thing up to stick in front of his gallery. Mike and I wore sarong out of respect, and the Prasasti Blanjong can be viewed in a little as 5 minutes.
By Nick | Permalink
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[...] Sanur is one of the main beach resort areas on the south coast of Bali, located NE of the airport in Tuban. Sanur’s history goes back a long way, with some of the oldest recorded writing on the island still preserved at the small temple at Prasasti Blanjong on Jl. Danau Poso. The ancient text, dating back to the 10th Century, is inscribed on stone pillar locked in a glass cabinet only about 10 meters from the street. Wrapped in cloth, you can just manage to see a bit of the writing sticking out. The inscriptions detail the arrival of a Javanese king in Bali of the Mahayana Buddhist kingdom, another cultural / religious influence. Located 18km from the airport, Sanur is a a handy place for a new arrival. Airport taxis might charge around 70,000rp to Sanur and the journey is around 20-25 minutes. For people choosing Sanur over Kuta or Nusa Dua, the advantages are a less intense atmosphere than Kuta and a more genuine one than Nusa Dua. Sanur was the location Bali’s first large scale hotel, the Grand Bali Beach, but so far that is the only one of it size. The hotel suffered a fire in 1992 destroying much of the hotel. One room was totally untouched and the Balinese dedicate that room as a shrine, never to be occupied. Being a fishing village traditionally, Sanur retains its local flavour even though the busy Bypass Ngurah Rai passes through and the main street, Jl. Danau Tamblingan is wall to wall shops and restaurants. [...]