In the north of the island of Bali, close to the village Bedulev Goa Gajah cave is surrounded by rice fields. According to archaeologists modern look Cave acquired about 1022. Although the cave itself is much older.

Its history originated in the 9th century BC, a mixed drevnebuddiyskie and Hindu origins. Some researchers believe that Goa Gajah manually dug Hindu priests, and later used the cave as a refuge or sanctuary. Inside the cave there are 15 niches that could be used for meditation and housing. There is also evidence that the cave had a special religious significance and the early Buddhists: they found many Buddhist relics. Goa Gajah is still fraught with a lot of puzzles and mysteries to solve which has yet to be.

Of interest is the entrance to the cave - a large stone bas-relief, carved into the rock in the form of a demon head, vaguely reminiscent of an elephant's head. Open mouth framed the entrance to the cave itself. The researchers have not agreed how and why the cave got its name. In one version of the bas-relief decorating the entrance could symbolize the elephant. According to another - "elephant" cave called because it stands in the statue of Ganesh, the Hindu god of prosperity, is depicted as a man with an elephant's head.

If you walk through the cave, you can see three lingam (symbol) of Shiva - black half-meter tall cylinders on a common podium in the eastern part of the cave.

The territory of Goa Gajah cave is not limited to: near the entrance to it is a fountain with statues. The statue represents a female figure holding a pitchers from which constantly pours water into the pool. Historians believe that this pool could be used as a bath to bathe before meditation. On the ground of this part of Bali's first European to set foot in the early 20th century, and the baths were found only during the excavation in 1954.

There are many more interesting things to find in Goa Gajah, to shed light on the history of the Balinese people, who lived here for nearly a millennium ago.