Across the street from my Guesthouse is Pura Dalem, it’s dubbed the “temple of the dead” and is dedicated to the Shiva. Each village has one; in fact, Ubud has two, one in the East and one on the West. This one is an especially fine example because of the quality of the sculptures adorning it. There are fine wall friezes on either side of the entrance plaza, but what truly sets this one apart are the stair guardians.
Here fierce lions in full roar, and Barong faced warriors form a gauntlet that will easily scare away any evil spirit foolish enough to approach.
But if the evil spirit does make it past; as these unsuspecting tourists have, they must still deal with flying snakes and giant warriors protecting the first entrance gate.
The dangers for evil spirits do not stop here; more horrors await in the passage leading to the inner section. I know if I were an evil spirit, I would be long gone. But did you notice the fresh flowers stuck behind the ears of some these guardians? I think this is an attempt to beautify these stalwart defenders and maybe even a sign of affection by the temple goers, for their fierce and loyal service.
Leaving the main gate, we come upon the public plaza, seen in the picture below. This is where the temple community put on the weekly “Kecak Ramayana and Fire Dance” performance for tourists. My Guesthouse Host’s father is part of the cast.
Finally, past these gates, is the inner sanctum, where locals pray. It’s not quite so fiercely guarded as the entrance; evil spirits should be scared away by now, but snakes, lions and Shiva’s warrior pets are still at the ready.
Making sculptures must have been the only job back then. They do look both vicious and friendly.
Actually, making statues is still a lucrative pursuit. They say “there are more temples than there are houses. Some estimates are even as high as 50,000, in fact.” and a lot of this statuary adorns homes and businesses. Here is a good primer on temples: https://sailingstonetravel.com/an-introduction-to-balinese-temples/