Culture and history info
Historical legend of Tenganan Pegringsingan
According to legend, the people of Tenganan Pegringsingan were selected by the god Indra to administer a territory that was conceived in accordance with his divine plan to be a microcosm of the world. They were instructed to use every means to keep it pure and clean. The concept of territorial, bodily and spiritual purity and integrity is of paramount importance in the village.
Another variation of this legend is of the magical horse Uccai Srawa, of King Udayana, king of the 10th century kingdom of Swa Prabhu centered in Pejeng, Bedulu. The horse was to be sacrificed but escaped. The king was distraught and sent search parties out to find him. A group of ten trusted servants, men from the Peneges family were assigned to search the eastern area of the island in the area of Klungkung. The king had promised a huge reward to whoever found Uccai Srawa, however when they did find him, he had died of exhaustion. The king promised the finders that he would gift them the land for as far as the smell of the dead horse could be detected. The men of Peneges dismembered the horse and carried the parts to various places around the place where the horse had died. Unbeknown to the king's men, the Peneges men also slipped a portion of the horses penis into the clothes of the kings soldiers, so the scent of the dead horse followed them everywhere. The Peneges men brought their families to the place called ngetengahang which means middle of the low plains surrounded by hills, now known as Tenganan.
