Monkey Forest is the name of a village of which its northern pan is overgrown with nutmegs to the eitent of M hectares, and which rs occupied by hundreds of monkeys.
Such nutmegs can not be found m other places in Bali, and thee existence at Sangeh is a mystery. A small temple blanketed or covered with mould is hidden among the high nutmegs.The back pillar of the temple is carved with an eagle statue, a mystic bud which is told in the story of Samudramantana to be seckng for holry water (caled Tirta Amerta m Balmese language) at the bottom of the ocean. Then, thanks to his met to seek for the holy water, the eagle was presented with a swallow of the water by the God manifested as Wisnu (Batara Wrsnu), and eventually became the faithful vehicle of this God.The other legend tels that the inhabitants of the forest are monkey soldiers that were ued in the battle of killing Rahwana. The monkeys fell down together with hunks of mountain forest that were used to press Rahwana’s body, and then settled permanently in that forest.
The other story also tells that a princess Mengwi kingdom named Mayangsari, who was smitten with love, faded to be engaged, finally fled to the nearby forest, and became a hermit. In her escape, she did not wear any sheet of dotr so that she had to use her long hair to cover the most forbidden part of her body. She faded to ‘eafc» her dream, died mystenously. The local community believed that the goddess now becomes Bethan Mayangsari.