Balinese Meru: Shape, Position and Meaning

The term “meru” as a name of a religious building in Bali refers to the word Meru used as the name of the highest mountain in Hinduism and Buddhism teachings. The mount is believed to be the core and main buffer of the whole universe surrounded with the planets and stars. The peak of this holy mountain of Meru is believed as the nirvana that has several levels as the final journey of human beings upon his/her biological death. At the highest level of nirvana where all the gods and goddesses reside, there grows Kalpataru, the sacred tree of life and happiness. In Hindu mythology, the mount Meru is pictured as the main buffer of the universe that has two peaks on its two poles. The first peak, called Sumeru, located on the northern pole, is the nirvana for gods (the sura), whilst the second one, called Kumeru, located on the opposite southern pole, is the hell –the dwelling for the enemy of the gods (the asura). While the nirvana has Kalpataru, at Kumeru grows Shalmali, the evil tree of eternal torture, the place to punish those sinful souls. This concept of Meru as the holiest mountain in Hinduism and Buddhism, is often referred to in real life to the mount Mahameru or the mount Everst, the highest point in the world.

Figure 1 : Meru at Pura Kehen, Bangli Regency

In relation to the concept of Mount Mahameru in Hinduism, an old Javanese work of literature entitled Tantu Pangelaran presented a classical story indicating the spread of Hindu religion in the past from India to Java and Bali islands in Indonesia. During its moving process, some parts of Mahameru spilled and became several mountains that were later considered sacred by Hindu followers in Java and Bali, among others, the main peak fell in East Java and became Mount Semeru and in Bali island the spilled part constituted Mount Agung that has so far become a center of orientation for religious ceremony to Hindu religious community all over Bali (Sura, et.al., 2003:144-148).

Based on the Hinduism conceptions of bhuwana agung (macro-cosmos) and bhuwana alit (micro-cosmos) that reflect the existence of symbolical harmonious relationship between nature and the forming elements of bhuwana agung and bhuwana alit, it could be concluded that the presence of Meru element lies on respective levels of the universe. On the earth level as bhuwana agung, Mount Everest is considered to be the highest mount in the world which is believed as an “imitation” of Mount Meru. Besides, on the environmental level, the island that could be considered as bhuwana alit, the existence of holy mountains are recognized and are believed to be the imitation of mythological mount Semeru, like Mount Semeru in East Java and Mount Agung in Bali. In Bali, on the smaller level of bhuwana alit - i.e. the level of architecture – there has been an effort to present the shape and position of Mount Meru in an architectural work, taking the form of Meru, a holy building established in the area of temples or other holy areas.

As a main holy building, meru architecture is generally placed in the jeroan area, the holiest area in the temple in Bali together with other main holy buildings that are placed in a row but oriented toward the middle point.  In Balinese traditional concept of architecture in general, a temple complex is divided into three areas based on the level of holiness including (1) jaba sisi (non sacred area), (2) jaba tengah (semi-sacred area), and (3) jeroan (the most sacred area) that becomes the area for main activity in religious ceremony. The determination of jeroan, jaba tengah, and jaba sisi positions usually refers to mountain direction (kaja) and the sea (kelod) that respectively become sacred and profane orientation for the temple concerned. Pay attention to the position of meru architecture in the area of Taman Ayun temple in Mengwi, Badung regency below.

Figure 2 Meru architecture in the area of Taman Ayun temple

Figure 3 Orientation of Meru and Javanese candi

The basic sketch of Meru is quadrangle with each side designed to be in balance to one another. This concept in fact, is parallel to the representation of Meru’s four sides as to refer to the four main cardinal points which related to the concept of creation and development of the universe growing to the four directions evenly. It is also in line with the symbolization of lord Brahma who is known as the god of creation in Hinduism teaching, has four faces each facing a different point.