Most of the inhabitants of Bali are descendants from immigrants who moved from neighbouring islands centuries ago. However a few almost prehistoric villages existed before the migration. One such village is Tenganan Pegringsingan located about four kilometres north of Canda Dasa.

The history of the birth of Tenganan Pegringsingan tells of the story of an angry king called Maharaja Mayadenawa. The king was known to possess supernatural powers, but he was also a very conceited man. He ruled the Bedahulu/Peneges area and his people were forbidden to give offerings to the gods, thus during his reign the gods in Besakih never received any offerings or communication.

This caused the gods to be angry, forcing them to seriously discuss the matter. They agreed to send down Betara Indra from the heavens to attack King Mayadenawa. A supernatural battle ensued, with the king being defeated. Betara Indra ordered the Bedahulu people to hold a ceremony and worship the gods once again. Since then the people have been able to make their offerings as before at their mother temple, at Besakih.

When the people were about to make their first offering, called Asua Medayadnya, they were asked by Betara Indra to sacrifice a white horse. But when the ceremony was about to be held, the white had disappeared. The people were then instructed by Betara Indra to find the white horse and they were divided into two groups to carry out the search. One group searched towards the north-west and failed to find the horse but decided to stay in that area, presently called Bratan. The other group searched to the north-east and eventually found the carcass of the horse. Betara Indra told the villagers not to be sad over the dead horse as they had found it but instead "I will make your territory, the land upon which you can smell the carcass, and on that land make a place of worship for me."

Betara Indra left the villagers. The villagers decided to make the territory bigger by removing parts of the carcass to outer areas. The right leg was placed in Penimbalan Kangin area, the left leg to Penimbalan Kauh, the stomach to Batukeben, faeces to Tiktik Temple, its organs to the Kaki Dukun Temple and the tail to Rambut Pule.

Thus, a village was born. It was located between two hills and after some time the village was called Tenganan, derived from the word 'centre'. The people took up a kind of weaving called Gringsing. From Gringsing, the word Pegringsingan evolved and eventually became Tenganan Pegringsingan. And then inevitably the name became shortened to Tenganan.

Because Tenganan has existed therefore, since pre-historic times, there is a lot of evidence of this in the lives of the villagers. Their religion is called 'Religi Purba' or Ancient Religion. There is a large stone pole functioning as a place to worship the spirits or natural forces. Also there is a megalithic pyramid terrace also functioning as a place of worship. The village was burnt down by a massive fire. It took all the ancient heirloom, places of worship and other important artefacts were lost and destroyed. Even the houses were lost.

When rebuilding began, the villagers used the knowledge from the elders and tried where possible to follow the patterns that had previously existed for their houses and places of worship.