A
short distance from Bedulu stands the
mysterious Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave.
A fantastically carved entrance depicts
entangling leaves, rocks, animals, ocean
waves and demonic human shapes running
from the gaping mouth which forms the
entrance to the cave.
The
monstrous Kala head that looms above
the entrance seems to part the rock
with her hands. Similarly decorated
hermit cells are also found in Java.
The large earrings indicate that the
figure is that of a woman. The T-shaped
interior of the rock-hewn cave contained
niches which probably served as compartments
for ascetics.
Recent
excavations carried out in 1954 unearthed
bathing places in front of the cave
with six female figures, representing.
nymphs or goddesses holding water spouts.
An energetic clamber down rocks and
rice terraces fifty meters behind the
cave leads to the fragments of a fallen
cliff face with the enshrining two ancient
Buddha statues.
An
old Javanese chronicle written in 1365,
some twenty years after the Majapahit
conquest of Bali, says that one of the
two Buddhist bishops in Bali at that
time had his hermitage at Gwa Gajah,
the "elephant river", which
probably alludes to the Petanu River
which flows nearby in its deep gorge.
