Moon of Pejeng

Moon of Pejeng stands inside Pura Penataran Sasih Temple, in Pejeng near Ubud, Bali. This sacred bronze kettle drum rises 186.6 centimetres and spans 160 centimetres. It is the world’s largest single-cast bronze kettle drum and Southeast Asia’s largest known Bronze Age relic.

Dong Son craftspeople are believed to have made it around 300 BC, linking the object to Southeast Asia’s Bronze Age. Its form belongs to the Pejeng type, found across Bali and Java. Early rice cultivation rituals connect its decoration with female deities associated with rice and irrigation water. The temple stands in the Petauan River valley, where complex irrigated rice culture developed on the island.

Villagers once used the drum to announce important events and wars, but people no longer play it. A tower inside the thirteenth-century temple keeps the sacred relic out of reach. Local legend says a chariot wheel carrying the moon fell into a tree and glowed through the night. A thief tried to extinguish that light with urine and died, according to the story.