Bali - Part Three - Besakiah Temple / besakiah 3/12/01

Ceremony within. I was allowed to photography this.

The Balinese religion is based on Hinduism, but incorporates a lot of pre-Hindu, animist beliefs (primarily ancestor worship). In ancient times the founder of a village was revered as a god after his death by the village people. When the Hindu princes from Java occupied Bali (see ">Short Overview of the History of Bali) their form of worshipping their dead kings as gods came very close to the old Balinese ancestor worship. The many different gods of Bali (gods of Earth, Fire, Water, and Fertility) were now all viewed as different manifestations of the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and the destroyer Shiva.

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