Meru as a Hindu Sacred Building with a High Roof and Resistant to Earthquakes in Bali, Indonesia

Introduction

Meru is one of the sacred buildings for Hindus in Bali, which is very grand, majestic and monemental, full of symbolic meaning and religious power contained therein. Meru is found in large temples in Bali with its characteristic high-overlapping roof (the roof reaches 10 m or more) and the number of roofs is always odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11) and only one roof overlaps 2 , so Meru became a landmark in a temple in Bali. Meru as a very great local work, not only found in temples in Bali, but can also be witnessed at cremation ceremonies (cremation) in Bali as sawa or watang (corpse) containers at the Pitra Yadnya Ceremony.

Meru is a very beautiful sacred building that is built based on the accuracy of proportions, the logic of construction techniques and the beauty of decoration, which adheres to local wisdom (local genius) Traditional Balinese Architecture (Kosala Kosali Hasta, Bumi Hasta, Andha Buana Lontar, Lontar Jananthaka, etc). Meru construction is earthquake resistant construction that has proven its reliability compared to temple buildings or other forms. A very powerful earthquake with a very large force that ever happened in Bali (such as in Seririt, Buleleng), where many modern construction buildings collapsed, but the sacred buildings in Bali, especially Meru still standing sturdy, strong, stable, and upright (Dwijendra, 2009).

The Meaning of Meru as a Symbol of Mountain - Worship of Gods and Ancestors

Based on the information in Lontar Andha Bhuana that meru has two symbolic meanings, namely meru as a symbol of the forerunner of ancestors and symbolization or symbol of the universe.

The meaning of Meru, based on quotations listed in the lontar-ancestral heritage, as stated in the Lontar Andha Bhunana, explained that the symbolic meaning or philosophy of meru is as follows; "Maan nyan meru mateges, me, meme memar, ngaran mom, yang pradana tattwa; ru ru, the teacher's memorial, the father's memorial, the purusa tattwa's remembrance, the singular is the basi memaran plot. Meru ngaran pratiwimbha andha bhuana overlap patalaning bhuana agung alit ride "Meaning:" therefore meru comes from the word, me, means meme = mother = pradana tattwa, whereas ru, means teacher = father = purusa tattwa, so that the meru from meru has the meaning batur keletak plot (forerunner to ancestors). Meru means the symbol or symbol of andha bhuana (universe), the level of the roof is a symbol of the level of the natural layer, the great bhuana and bhuana alit ".

Further explained that Meru has two meanings, namely: first, Meru as a symbol or manifestation of "Mount Mahameru" and the mountain is a symbol of the universe as a stana of the Gods, Ida Sang Hyang Widhi (God Almighty) or Papulaning Sarwa Dewata. Meru has the symbolic meaning of the mountain also described in the Tontar Tontar performance, Kekawin Dharma Sunia and Usana Bali. In this case, Meru as a Pratista God is functioning as a place of worship or pelinggih of the Gods. Meru as Dewa Pratista is found in a complex of pretenses such as: Pura Sad Kahyangan, Kahyangan Jagat and Kahyangan Tiga.

Second, Meru symbolizes "Mother and Father" as outlined in the Lontar Andha Bhuana. Mother implies the meaning of "Mother Earth" which is the element of tattwa pradhana and Father implies the meaning of "Aji Akasa" which is the element of the purusa tattwa. The development of pradhana and purusa is the great power that is the source of everything on earth. This is the basis of Meru's function as a place of worship of ancestral holy spirits in the Pura-Pedakman Besakih Temple complex. In this case, Meru as Atma Pratista is functioning as a place of worship of ancestral holy spirits or as a stana of the God of Pitara. (An ancestral spirit is said to be sacred when it has passed through the ceremonial process, which is the first cremation then followed the measuring ceremony which is the ceremony of the atman, and the last order of ceremony is the departure of the God of Pitara. After this last level ceremony Meru - Gedong Kemimitan was made.

Philosophy of Levels Contained on the Roof of Meru

The beauty and majesty of Meru is highlighted by the beauty of its stratified roof forms called the overlapping roof, and can be distinguished into: Meru Tumpang One, Meru Tumpang Dua, Meru Tumpang Tiga, Meru Tumpang Lima, Meru Tumpang Tujuh, Meru Tumpang Sembilan, Meru Tumpang Sembumpang Eleven.

Meru as symbolic or symbolic of the universe, the level of the roof is symbolic of the layers of nature, namely the great bhuana and bhuana alit (large and small nature or macrocosm and microcosm) from the bottom up as many as eleven levels. These levels are: 1. Sekala, 2. Niskala, 3. Cunya, 4. Taya, 5. Nirbana, 6. Moksa, 7. Suksmataya, 8. Turnyanta, 9. Ghoryanta, 10. Acintyataya, 11. Cayen. But there is also a meru with a roof of 21, but it is very rare and usually this meru can be seen in the container (bade) at the Ngaben (Pitra Yadnya Ceremony) in Bali, which has the understanding of Dasa Dewata as the basic basis, then added 11 atma stairs as it goes

Furthermore, the levels of the roof of the meru are symbolic of the adoption of the dasa script (the union of the ten holy letters) as the soul (urip) of meru or the universe. The ten holy letters are urip bhuana, which is located in the ten corners of the universe, including the middle, the ten letters are the sacred letters of Sa, located in the East, the God Iswara and the color is white; the sacred letters Ba, located in the South, the God Brahma and the color red; the sacred letter Ta, it is located in the West, its God is Mahadewa and its color is yellow; the sacred letter A, located in the north, is God Vishnu and the color is black; the sacred letter I, located in the middle, the God of Ciwa and the colors are mixed (five colors); the sacred letter Na, located in the Southeast, its God Mahesora and its color pink (dice); the sacred letter Ma, located in the Southwest, the God Rudra and the color orange; Si holy letters, located in the Northwest, Sangkara's Dew and green color; Wa sacred letters, located in the Northeast, Sambu's God and the color is blue and the last is the sacred letter Yes, it is located in the Middle Middle, Ciwa's God and the colors are also mixed (five colors). While the ten letter singularity becomes a symbol of the sacred scriptures for Hindus, namely Omkara (the sacred letter of Sanghyang Widi Wasa, God Almighty).

How do Meru's Structure and Construction Make It Resistant to Earthquakes?

Meru is a parahyangan building where the shape of the building uses the form of overlapping roofs. Meru's building structure uses a highly efficient frame structure system to withstand the load in the presence of a pole (saka) as a distributor of vertical loads and sineb-emblem beams, diagonal beams as a pedestal pole (titimamah) as a horizontal load divider.

On the roof, the construction consists of ribs (usuk) with dimensions and installation distance that is able to withstand the weight of the roof made of palm fiber. Then the existence of disasters (ridge beams) as a binder of ribs (rafters) on the top of the roof overlap which has a very large role in holding the load so that the dimensions of the disaster are generally made with large enough dimensions.

Overlapping construction is placed on the beam (pedestal beam) which is the pedestal of the overlapping mast load channel that decreases upward at each overlap. The corners of the pyramid roof with the pyramid form are stuck. The roof body on it stands on the roof of the roof below, the pillar rests on the beam. The roof at the top has one peak with a bond in the form of a calamity which is closed murdha as the top of the roof covering.

Considering that titmamah has a very important role as a distributor of loads on it, the placement must be exactly in line with sukat (the dimensions of traditional Balinese size) and the planned meru roof overlap pengurip, so that even though the overlap is a little the proportion will still give the impression of mounting. In some areas in Bali, Meru roof overlaps, especially those with high lifts, in addition to titimamah bonds, some also use beti poles, one main room in the middle of the trunk as a whole roof overlap to overcome large wind loads that will endanger the construction whole.

After that, the load will be channeled to the sineb beam and the symbol as a horizontal load channel, which then the load is channeled to a pole (saka) made with dimensions according to the rules from top to bottom considering saka as a large vertical channel distributor. In the traditional Balinese rules (Hasta Kosala Kosali), the cross section of the pole (saka) is of amusti size, along the grip and the base line to the tip of the finger ± 15 cm (Gelebet, 1986). Then the measurements of the distance of the pile to the pile and the height of the pile at each overlap level and other parts are determined from the multiple of the rai or cross section of the pile at the very bottom. Overlapping levels above the proportion also decreases to the top. Each measure of the multiple of the cross-section of the pillars called rai, is given an excess called pengurip (soul) from the parts of the fingers.

Meru construction with bonding holes reinforced with pegs or wedges without nails. Roof construction with clasps and ties. The bottom frame is a series of four corner pillars and reinforcement, stiffener and complement constructions. For large meru, in addition to the angle pole, there is also a side pole. The row poles are another supporting edge of the roof below.

Part of the gedong as a place of worship and place of pratima, formed by four corner pillars arranged by the grass-bow below and the symbol of the sineb above. The board walls are on the back and right and left sides, while the front is the entrance to the gedong with traditional Balinese form and construction. But in some areas, worship spaces are formed by walls made of solid stone or brick. The shape of the sunduk and lait is usually completed attractively so that it has aesthetic value in the building. Likewise, between the sineb-symbol and the pole (saka) connected by supporting beams called canggahwang so that it adds strength in bearing the burden and has beauty. As for sub-structures, meru's foundation uses local foundation at the point of placement of the pillar (saka) and a continuous foundation around the boundaries of the boulders that are affixed with rocks and paddy rocks.

All elements of the structure are made with dimensions that are in accordance with the procedures or rules of Hasta Kosala-Kosali and good quality materials so that their construction is able to withstand the burden of both wind, earthquake, thermic, and other loads very effective, sturdy, strong and stable . Besides that, the completion of some parts of structural elements that have very beautiful shapes so that the elements are not only sturdy and stable withstand the load but also have a very high aesthetic value.

References

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.13354.2377

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