INDONESIA - Prambanan

Prambanan Temple, also known locally as Candi Loro Jonggrang or the Temple of the Slender Virgin, is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and one of the most beautiful.
  
As one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, the 9th century compound has a collection of massive Hindu temples and is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.


A site view of Prambanan Temple Coumpounds.


From Solo, we travelled approximately 40km to Prambanan. Yogyakarta is about 18km from Prambanan.


Heading towards the entrance, we are greeted with the magnificent sight of the temples.


At first glance, Prambanan Temple sure looks like Angkor Wat of Cambodia.


Well, Angkor Wat was originally constructed as a Hindu temple and maybe that’s the reason for the resemblance. For infor, Angkor Wat was constructed 3 centuries after Prambanan temple was first built.


Our tour guide describing the details of the temple.


Being the largest temple of ancient Java, the royal temple was constructed during Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty’s time which is during the reigns of two kings namely Rakai Pikatan and Rakai Balitung.


Soaring 47 meters, 5 meters higher than Borobudur temple, this massive Hindu temple was probably constructed as a challenge to the Borobudur.


Perambanan temple was most likely constructed to mark the return of the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty to power in Central Java after almost a century of Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty domination.
  

There were 240 temples originally built at Prambanan and all of the main temples including the smaller shrines have been reconstructed.


However, only few of the 224 Pervara Temples surrounding the compound has been restored.
  

Time to explore the area.


The three main temples in the primary yards which are Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. The highest would be Shiva temple, measuring at 47 meters high. Those three temples are symbols of Trimuti (the three main gods) in Hindu belief.


First stop is the Brahma shrine.


The statue of Brahma in it.


Brahma is the Hindu god of creation.


Another temple is the Vishnu temple with a statue of Vishnu in it.


Vishnu is portrayed as Supreme Being, master of and beyond the past, present and future, the creator and destroyer of all existences, one who supports, preserves, sustains and governs the universe and originates and develops all elements within. 


Each main temple, there is an accompanying temple called the Vahana (vehicle) Temples.


The Angsa temple symbolizes Brahma’s vehicle.


Too bad the temple no longer hold the statue of the sacred swan.


The Garuda Temple is the vehicle for Vishnu.


Like the Angsa Temple, the statue has been stolen.


Luckily the Nandi temple in front of Shiva temple still contains…………..


……..the statue of Nandi bull, the vehicle of Lord Shiva. I guess the bull must have weighed more than a tonne preventing people from carting it away.


View of Prambanan’s entrance.


Luckily there weren’t many visitors to the temple when I was there most probably because I came here just two months after the infamous Mount Merapi eruption in 2010.


The most significant temple is non other than the Shiva Temple, built to honour Lord Shiva.


Shiva Temple is located right in the middle of the square.


Shiva Temple contains five chambers, four small chambers in every cardinal direction and one bigger chamber in the centre.


The biggest chamber houses a three metre high statue of Shiva Mahadewa, the Supreme God in Hindu’s belief.


The three other smaller chamber houses statues of Hindu Gods related to Shiva. Agastya (also known as Siwa Maha Guru is a follower of Shiva), Ganesa (Shiva’s son) and Durga Mahesasura Mardhini. The shire of Durga is also called the temple of Rara Jonggrang after a Javanese legend princess. 


Measuring at 47m tall and 34m wide, Shiva temple is the tallest and largest structure in the Prambanan Temple complex.


Too bad the temple was closed to visitors during my visit there because the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake has damaged the structure of the temple. As of 2013, the Shiva Temple has reopened but entry to this main temple is restricted. The structure has not been fully repaired as the authorities wants to come up with a long term solution to have a structure to withstand an earthquake. This is an earthquake prone area and the repair cost for every earthquake that hit here will be high. 


The ruins of smaller shrines with no plans for their reconstruction.


It is estimated that in the year 930, the court shifted to East Java which marked the beginning of the decline of the temple.


The temple was abandoned due to either a power struggle or an eruption of Mount Merapi.


In 1881 a surveyor in the service of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles came upon the temple by chance. But it was not until 1918, that restoration works were being carried out.


The restoration of the main Shiva temple was completed around 1953 but again damaged in the 2006 earthquake.


Even though the temple compound was rediscovered by the British, the Javanese locals in the surrounding villages were all along aware of the temple’s existence.
 

However, the locals didn’t know about its historical background and as a result, they developed tales and legends explaining the origin of the temples.


The Legend of the Slender Virgin or known as the Loro Jonggrang legend tells the storey of the Javanese princess who reluctantly agrees to marry the Bandung Prince only if he managed to build 1000 temples with statues in it in a day. With help of spirits, the prince has completed 999, when the princess lit a fire to the east of the temple and fooled into thinking it was dawn, roosters in the neighbouring village crowed and the spirits fled.

The furious Prince Bandung, turned her into a stone statue. In this way she became a feature of the final temple and most beautiful of the statues, completing its construction thus fulfilling the conditions for their marriage. 


The Prambanan Temples faces constant threats from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.


Collapsed during a major earthquake in the 16th century and suffered damages again in another earthquake in 2006, you should hurry up and see Prambanan Temple.

 
One last picture before leaving the majestic Prambanan Temples.


Leaving the Prambanan Temple Compound, you have to pass two rows of stalls selling handicrafts and souvenirs.
 

Well, I bought some souvenirs and I’m off to the city of Yogyakarta. The beauty of Prambanan Temples surely is mesmerising and I highly recommend visiting this World Heritage Site.



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