The temple that keeps the largest bronze kettledrum ever cast in one piece: the Moon of Pejeng, 186.6 cm high and 160 cm across the head, which en.wikipedia dates to about 300 BC and the Dong Son culture, though the origin is argued.
In Balinese legend the drum fell as a wheel of the chariot that pulls the moon across the sky and glowed in a tree until a thief put it out. The campaign board says it is already an object of worship rather than use in 1200 and a thousand years older than the kingdom that keeps it; the drum was first reported to the West by Rumphius in 1705. Pejeng is with Bedulu the seat of the old Balinese kings (Bedulu and Pejeng).
Who holds it
- Title
- Priests of the Pejeng temple
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No priest is named.
Overlord
the queen and her son, as the heirs of the Pejeng line (inference)
What it holds
- The drum and the temple court
How it was acquired
The drum is ancient; how it came to Pejeng is not known (en.wikipedia).
Allies and rivals
The court at Bedulu and Pejeng.
How things stand that morning
In use as a temple on the campaign board's word; nothing is dated.
Wealth
Offerings; no figures.
Places of note
- Pura Penataran Sasih: The temple of the drum (the campaign board point).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The drum is certain and its age argued; its worship in 1200 is the campaign board's word.
"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.
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), Moon of Pejeng (read in this pass): bronze kettledrum at Pura Penataran Sasih, 186.6 cm high, 160 cm across, largest single-cast drum, dated about 300 BC on the page; first reported to the West by Rumphius in 1705
- 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.