The sanctuary high on the south-west flank of Gunung Agung, which Balinese reckoning makes the centre of the world and the direction from which every orientation is taken (board).
Its early history is undocumented: en.wikipedia says its origins are unclear and that it is in use by 1284, and the campaign board agrees that the standing buildings are all later. Agung is 8 deg 20.5 S, 115 deg 30.5 E (en.wikipedia list), the highest peak of the island. The mountain is not in doubt; what stood at Besakih in 1200, who served it and what it owned are not pinned.
For the game: a great sanctuary may exist, with priests who keep the order of the island's water and festivals, but no document of 1200 shows it.
Who holds it
- Title
- Priests of Besakih
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No priest of Besakih is named in a source we read.
Overlord
the queen and her son, as patrons of the island's sacred places (inference)
What it holds
- The mountain sanctuary and its terraces (inference)
- Any estate is not known
How it was acquired
Origins unclear (en.wikipedia).
Allies and rivals
The water temples of the island and the lake temple at Batur (Batur).
How things stand that morning
Likely in use; not shown by any source.
Wealth
Offerings; no figures.
Threats
- Eruption of Gunung Agung (no date)
Places of note
- Gunung Agung: The sacred volcano.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry besakih-agung says 'likely'. We agree: the mountain is certain and the temple is not documented before 1284.
Evidence: Origins unclear on en.wikipedia; the standing buildings are later.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A disc round the temple site.
Primary sources for Bali
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Old Javanese Charters (the Brandes and Krom corpus), including the Kediri inscriptions of Kamesvara and Srngga, Various (the Kediri kings and their officers), edited by J. L. A. Brandes and N. J. Krom (inscriptions of the 8th to 15th centuries; edited 1913). Kediri (Panjalu) in 1200 is known from a few royal charters on stone and copper, which this corpus first printed: the records of Kamesvara (about 1182 to 1194) and of Srngga, that is Kertajaya (from about 1194 to 1222), among them the Kamulan charter of 1194 and the Palah (Panataran) record of 1197, with the king's titles, his seal, the officials of the court and the villages freed from tax.
- The Description of the Country, called the Nagarakretagama, Mpu Prapanca (1365 at the Majapahit court). A Majapahit court poem of 1365 listed here only for its retrospect. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia (en), Pura Besakih (read in this pass): origins unclear, certain use by 1284
- Wikipedia (en), List of volcanoes in Indonesia (read in this pass): summit coordinates of Semeru, Bromo, Arjuno-Welirang, Penanggungan, Kelud, Lawu, Merapi, Merbabu, Sumbing, Sindoro, Slamet, Dieng, Muria, Batur, Agung, Rinjani, Tambora, Sangeang Api and others
- Wikipedia (en), History of Bali (read in this pass): Blanjong pillar 4 February 914, Jayapangus plates, Kertanegara 1284, Gajah Mada 1343
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.