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N

ot far from the village of Asahduren, in the steep hills of West Bali,

Indonesia, grows a sacred banyan tree that is most unusual. Its Balinese

name is Bunut Bolong;

bunut

is a type of banyan tree, and

bolong

means

“hole”—in this case, one large enough for two cars to pass through at the same time.

When the road through the region was planned, engineers determined that, for

topographical reasons, it would be impossible to build it around the tree. However,

Balinese Hinduism forbids the felling of any sacred tree, so the only solution was

to run the road through its center. Before a tunnel was carved, worshippers prayed

to the spirits in the tree for forgiveness. Despite its new hole, the tree has lived on

unharmed—dropping aerial roots from its branches, as banyans do, and forming an

ever-widening array of trunks.

The tunnel is adorned with a

saput poleng

, a black-and-white checkered cloth that

signifies spirits reside within the tree. The

saput poleng

, with its equal number of

white and black squares, represents the quintessential Hindu principle: There is

no good without evil, no day without night, no joy without sorrow, no life without

death. Every time a Hindu passes through Bunut Bolong he or she is reminded of this

concept of universal balance.

Despite having an active roadway passing through the main trunk of their sacred

banyan, villagers worship at the tree daily. One interesting legend associated with

Bunut Bolong warns brides and grooms not to drive or walk simultaneously through

the tree, as doing so will cause their marriages to end in divorce.

BUNUT BOLONG

BANYAN (

Ficus benghalensis

)

Asahduren Village, West Bali, Indonesia