The word for temple on Bali is Pura. There are many types of them. Every Balinese houses have a special house temple, that is reserved for religious ceremonies.

Temples and other places of worship are always build in a special direction: sea direction (South) means KELOD, and Gunung Agung direction (North) means KAJA. Even the place of the bed in the bedroom is stipulated by this axis. The head shall be lead down in the KAJA direction.

Every villages have at least three temples:

• PURA DALEM, the temple of the dead, at Kelod direction outside the village.
• PURA DESA, the village temple, in the middle of the village. Dedicated to god Wishnu.
• PURA PUSEH, the temple of origin, dedicated to the ancestors and the gods, at Kaja direction.

There are a lot of other temples with a special meaning or dedicated to a special god, such as PURI MRAJAN, where one worships his ancestors. There are also temples dedicated to Gunung Agung, the holy mountain.

LAYOUT
Each temple is devided into three courts; fore court, central court and inner court where the altar and the bales for communal offering are placed. At the corner, there is kul-kul, a hollow wooden block or bamboo, working like a mosque drum, beated in festivals or for an emergancy call to all villagers.