Indonesia · ID

Merajan Alit Dalem Keramas, Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan

In the quiet lowlands of Bebandem, in east Bali's Karangasem Regency, the Merajan Alit Dalem Keramas is a small family shrine rather than a grand public temple—but it is exactly that intimacy that makes it quietly fascinating. The Balinese word *merajan* names the ancestral shrine a lineage keeps for its own forebears, and *alit* simply means "small." This one belongs to the *Dalem Keramas*, a branch of Bali's Kepakisan royal line, and its full dedication names that line's founding ancestor, Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan. So the shrine is less a monument to be toured than a working house of memory, tended by descendants who still honour their kawitan—the shared root from which a Balinese noble family traces itself. For a visitor, its interest lies in what it reveals about Bali's living ancestor religion, set in the un-touristed countryside of eastern Bali.