Puri Cokorda: Palace in Tabanan Bali

The word for temple is pura, the word for palace is puri. On the western edge of Mengwi is the Puri Cokorda, containing a carved bell tower. I arrived by riding down the main street through a local market that had just finished. Parking outside, I donned my sarong and purple sash, realizing there was an attached temple. The grounds of the palace contained a neat array of small Balinese building structures, rather like a large family compound in Ubud. In some places, doorways and windows were decorated with elaborately carved frames, painted in gold and red.

Chatting with a couple of guys who seemed to work there, they didn’t seem to think there was too much to look at, so I passed into the side entrance of the jeroan, the inner compound of the attached temple. Grounds were very neat, with the usual array of important temple structures such the Padmasana, or raised throne, and the Gegong Paruman, an empty pavilion were the Gods are invited to assemble.

One feature I found interesting, was the use of China plates in the Padmasana. The Padmasana structure , is nearly always located in the top right corner of the temple, and is reserved for the Supreme Deity, Sanghyang Widi Wasa. Here at Mengwi, plates with flower patterns brightened the entire structure. Imagine if the guys who built the throne had plates from the Denpasar Hotel, maybe we’d be looking at a permanent advertisement.

Anyway my visit was short, there were no other tourists and no one was attempting to sell me anything. Here’s some more info on the history of the Mengwi area.