Pulaki Temple or Pura Pulaki is a Hindu shrine located in the hill bank and in front of the beautiful beach in north part of Bali. It is one of the biggest Hindu temples in Bali situated in the coastal side west part of Singaraja town or 1 hour drive to the west from the town. This temple is set on the flat land with stone hill bank as a back drop meanwhile the blue ocean is just in front of the temple.
Pura Agung Pulaki, a large, dramatic temple only 25 meters from the sea, is located 30 km of Seririt (48 km west of Singaraja) near the grape-growing village of Banyupoh. This important temple commemorates the arrival of the Javanese saint-priest Nirartha to Bali in the early 16th century.
Pulaki Temple is a famous temple among the Hindu people in Bali located in Singaraja regency, north part of Bali.
There are the group of monkeys dwell the hill forest around the temple and it usually standing around the temple in the day time. The beautiful beach with black sand and calm seawater is one of the fascinations to visitor to come to this temple. We can find the beautiful hill bank and beaches along the coastal road.
Cliffs tower behind the temple surrounded by jungle and overrun by hordes of simians. Considered sacred, the macaques are well fed by pilgrims. The monkeys on the hills range have existed before the arrival of Danghyang Nirartha. It is said that when he entered the forest of Pulaki he was escorted by those monkey troops. As his respect to those monkeys Danghyang Nirartha then established the Pulaki Temple and the entire monkeys there came to be its guardian.
The Pulaki temple is flanked by several temples which surround the Pulaki Temple as the center of the complex that is called “Pesanakan”, the surrounding temples are: Pemuteran Temple located 1 km to the west popular for its hot spring, Kerta Kawat Temple located 2 km to the southeast, and Pabean Temple 400 meters to the northeast.
Legend has it great village exist here, invisible for its temple. It said when Nirartha lived in Gelgel, he was forced to hide his daughter lest she abducted by the king. He finally brought her to this remote place, rendering it invisible to keep her safe. To this day, the people who occupy the visible village is known as gamang and are said to wonder the countryside.
Black stone gate will greet the pilgrims and visitors to this temple; this gate was built in 1983 and heralded with a great ceremony that need holy water from various places range from east Java in the west to Lombok in the east. As any other temple in Bali, Pura Pulaki is divided into three courtyards, Jaba, outer courtyard, jaba tengah, middle courtyard and jeroan, main courtyard. Not just the gate, the shrines and the ornaments of this sacred temple are also dominated by black color.