Pura Lingsar

About this place

Pura Lingsar, in West Lombok, is among the island's foremost holy sites. Its walled grounds hold Pura Gaduh, a Balinese Hindu temple, and the Kemaliq, a spring sanctuary held sacred by Sasak Muslims, especially Wetu Telu followers, and honoured by Hindus too. Its yearly Perang Topat ritual has been national intangible heritage since 2020. It is often dated to 1714, under Karangasem's Balinese rulers of western Lombok, though local sources give dates from the 1690s to 1759. A Sasak tradition credits the spring to a 15th-century preacher whose staff drew water from dry ground. At the temple festival, on the full moon of the seventh Sasak month (usually November or December), Hindus and Muslims pray, then pelt each other with ketupat, rice cakes in woven palm-leaf pouches, later taken to the fields to bless the crops. Gateways guarded by statues of giants lead through courtyards, one with two large ponds. Pura Gaduh has shrines to Bali's Mount Agung and Lombok's Rinjani. In the Kemaliq, white-wrapped stones fill one shrine and a statue of Vishnu riding Garuda overlooks the spring pool, whose sacred eels may rise to boiled eggs sold outside. The royal family once washed before prayer in the bathing compound, which has men's and women's sides. Lingsar is 11 km by road from central Mataram, 15 to 20 minutes by car or taxi, and 5 km from Narmada Royal Park, so the two pair easily; allow an hour. Cover shoulders and knees, wear the sarong and sash in the courtyards, and stand aside during prayers.