Water Temples above Shared Rice Terraces

Water Temples above Shared Rice Terraces is an original illustration set in Jatiluwih Subak Landscape, Bali, Indonesia. It lies in equatorial latitudes, where the climate is tropical rainforest — hot and wet all year.

Curving emerald rice terraces descend from a forested volcanic slope, linked by small channels, bamboo weirs, and evenly divided flows. A modest water temple stands beside the main intake, farmers open simple gates in different plots, and the water path continues from upper paddies into lower ones without mechanical pumps.

Why do many separate rice terraces share water through one temple-centered network?

Subak associations coordinate irrigation across an entire watershed because every upstream decision changes the supply below. Water temples provide shared meeting and ritual points, while canals and weirs distribute spring and river water by agreed schedules rather than by each farmer acting alone. Forest catchment, temple, branching channel, and continuously worked terraces therefore form one social-hydrological system characteristic of Bali.

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