Pura Lingsar

Pura Lingsar, about 20 minutes east of Mataram, is the most historically interesting site on Lombok and one of the more unusual religious buildings in Indonesia. Built in 1759, it is a single temple compound shared by two faiths.

The higher courtyard, Pura Gaduh, is Balinese Hindu, with shrines oriented toward Mount Rinjani, Mount Agung on Bali, and the sea. The lower courtyard, Kemaliq, is a Wetu Telu shrine — the syncretic Sasak tradition that blends Islam with older animist and Hindu-Buddhist practice. Both are actively used, in the same walled compound, by both communities.

The pond at Kemaliq holds albino eels, considered sacred. Visitors buy hard-boiled eggs from vendors at the gate to coax them out of the stonework; whether one appears is treated as a matter of luck.

Each year, usually in November or December at the end of the rainy season, the two communities meet here for Perang Topat — the "rice cake war", in which participants pelt each other with ketupat, packets of rice steamed in woven palm leaf. It is celebratory rather than combative, and it is a genuine act of shared ritual: the thrown ketupat are afterwards collected and scattered on fields as a blessing for the harvest.

Entry is a small fee, a sarong and sash are required and available at the gate.

Why is Pura Lingsar unusual? It is a single 1759 temple compound shared by Balinese Hindus and Sasak Wetu Telu Muslims, with both communities actively worshipping in their own courtyards.

What is Wetu Telu? A syncretic Sasak tradition that blends Islam with older animist and Hindu-Buddhist practice, still followed in parts of Lombok.

What are the sacred eels at Pura Lingsar? Albino eels living in the pond at the Kemaliq shrine; visitors buy boiled eggs at the gate to coax them out, and seeing one is considered lucky.

What is Perang Topat? The annual "rice cake war" held at Lingsar, usually in November or December, where Hindu and Muslim participants pelt each other with packets of steamed rice that are afterwards scattered on the fields.

Do you need to cover up at Pura Lingsar? Yes — a sarong and sash are required and are available to borrow or rent at the entrance.