Gala-Gala Underground House in Bali

Balitraveldiary.com – In addition to the beauty of the beach and the sea, Nusa Lembongan Island has a unique cultural attraction. On the south side of the island, there is an underground cave made by human hands. Local people named this place the Gala-Gala Underground House. This artificial cave was once a home as well as a hermitage of the creator.

The Gala-gala Underground House is a relic of a Hindu hermit named Made Byasa. He is a farmer, dancer, as well as a puppeteer who pursues Hindu teachings in depth from the puppet stories he brought. One of the stories that inspired him was Mahabrata, especially the part where the Pandava family retreated into the forest after losing gambling with the Kauravas. In his exile, they built a hiding cave called the Gala-gala.

From the story of the Pandavas, Made Byasa then made a branched underground corridor of 500 square meters. The manufacturing process began in 1961, when he was 75 years old. By only using tools such as hammers and chisels, Made Byasa completed this underground house in 15 years. The puppeteer lived and meditated in it until he died in 1984.

Gala made by Made Byasa is a series of branched aisles with an entrance at the southwestern tip. Through the entrance, the road will then go down as deep as about 3 meters and then enter a corridor as high as approximately 150 centimeters. On the north side of the entrance, there is a two-storey room. The lower room is a well while the upper one is a meditation room. To the east, there is a living room furnished with circular stone tables and chairs and a kitchen. Meanwhile, to the north of the two rooms, there is a bedroom and aisle leading to the exit on the northeast side.

This underground house indeed feels so calm and quiet, so that it becomes the right place to calm the heart and mind. No wonder some foreign tourists have stayed in this underground house.

According to one of the heirs of Made Byasa, in the 1990s, there was a tourist from Australia who stayed at this house for a week. In addition, there are also tourists from Russia and Japan who have also felt the experience of staying in this quiet underground house.

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