This beautiful temple is located in the center of Ubud, and stands out for having a couple of ponds full of floating lotus flowers and thousands of fish inside. Pura Taman Saraswati honors the goddess of knowledge, learning and the arts, hence the name of the temple. The temple is a perfect place to escape from the crowd that almost always occupies the main streets of the city.
PURA TAMAN SARASWATI, AN ESSENTIAL TEMPLE TO SEE IN UBUD, BALI
Between 1930 and 1940, the royal family promoted Ubud to become an art center attracting many artists. This temple was commissioned by the Prince of Ubud in honor of Saraswati and was built by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, a prolific Balinese architect and artist.
Decorated with fine traditional carvings, outside the temple we will find a three-meter-high statue of the mythological demon Jero Gede Mecaling. Inside we see a Padmasana altar (a stone seat for the Supreme God to sit on as he descends from heaven during religious ceremonies), giant masks, and statues of goddess Saraswati.
The maintenance of the Saraswati temple is done by local volunteers who clean the ponds and make sure that this place of worship remains intact.
Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, the arts, wisdom, and nature. It is part of the trinity of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati that helps Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, respectively, to create, maintain and regenerate the Universe.
Every 210 days Saraswati Day or Knowledge Day is celebrated, in honor of the goddess and in which it is celebrated that we must maintain our commitment to learning regardless of our age.
Responsible traveler: You can participate in the party and join the celebration. If you do, respect tradition as much as possible, do not stand out and do not invade privacy by recording all those people who come to pray to the goddess.
I hope you make the most of your time in Ubud, you can continue reading about all the places you cannot miss in the Ubud area and the rest of the Bali Island.
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I hope you enjoy your trip to Bali very much and that this article has been useful to you. You can continue reading many more related articles on the blog.
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A hug and see you soon!