Prambanan
Prambanan Temple
About
Candi Prambanan or Candi Rara Jonggrang is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound is located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of the city of Yogyakarta on the boundary between Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces.
The temple compound, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia, and one of the biggest
in Southeast Asia. It is characterized by its tall and pointed
architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47-metre-high (154 ft) central building inside a large complex of individual temples. Prambanan attracts many visitors from across the world.
Etymology
The present name of the temple, Prambanan', was derived from the name of Prambanan village where the temple stood, this name probably being the corrupted Javanese pronunciation of "Para Brahman"
("The Supreme Brahman"). It is also possible Prambanan comes from
Javanese root '(e)mban' which means carries a duty, reflecting gods role
in the world, or the villagers duty in relation to the temple.
Comparable with parahyangan (western part of Java island), comes from
the root hyang, means god, or (e)yang, means ancestor in Javanese.
History
Construction
Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple of ancient Java, and the construction of this royal temple was probably started by Rakai Pikatan as the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty's answer to the Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty's Borobudur and Sewu
temples nearby. Historians suggest that the construction of Prambanan
probably was meant to mark the return of the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty to
power in Central Java after almost a century of Buddhist Sailendra
Dynasty domination. Nevertheless, the construction of this massive Hindu
temple signifies that the Medang court had shifted the focus of its patronage from Mahayana Buddhism to Shivaist Hinduism.
A temple was first built at the site around 850 CE by Rakai Pikatan and expanded extensively by King Lokapala and Balitung Maha Sambu the Sanjaya king of the Mataram Kingdom. According to the Shivagrha inscription of 856 CE, the temple was built to honor Lord Shiva and its original name was Shiva-grha (the House of Shiva) or Shiva-laya (the Realm of Shiva).[4]
According to Shivagrha inscription, a public water project to change
the course of a river near Shivagrha Temple was conducted during the
construction of the temple. The river, identified as the Opak River, now
runs north to south on the western side of the Prambanan temple
compound. Historians suggest that originally the river was curved
further to east and was deemed too near to the main temple.[citation needed]
The project was done by cutting the river along a north to south axis
along the outer wall of the Shivagrha Temple compound. The former river
course was filled in and made level to create a wider space for the
temple expansion, the space for rows of pervara (complementary) temples.
Some archaeologists propose that the statue of Shiva in the garbhagriha (central chamber) of the main temple was modelled after King Balitung, serving as a depiction of his deified self after death.
The temple compound was expanded by successive Mataram kings such as Daksa and Tulodong with the addition of hundreds of perwara
temples around the chief temple. Prambanan served as the royal temple
of the Kingdom of Mataram, with most of the state's religious ceremonies
and sacrifices being conducted there. At the height of kingdom,
scholars estimate that hundreds of brahmins
with their disciples lived within the outer wall of the temple
compound. The urban center and the court of Mataram were located nearby,
somewhere in the Prambanan Plain.
Abandonment
In the 930s, the court was shifted to East Java by Mpu Sindok, who established the Isyana Dynasty. An eruption of Mount Merapi
volcano, located north of Prambanan in central Java, or a power
struggle probably caused the shift. That marked the beginning of the
decline of the temple. It was soon abandoned and began to deteriorate.
The temples themselves collapsed during a major earthquake in the
16th century. Although the temple ceased to be an important center of
worship, the ruins scattered around the area were still recognizable and
known to the local Javanese people in later times. The statues and the
ruins become the theme and the inspiration for the Loro Jonggrang folktale. After the division of Mataram Sultanate in 1755, the temple ruins and the Opak River were used to demarcate the boundary between Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Solo) Sultanates, which became the current border between Yogyakarta and the province of Central Java.
Rediscovery
The Javanese locals in the surrounding villages were aware of the
temple's existence already before rediscovery. However, they didn't know
about its historical background: which kingdoms ruled or which king
commissioned the construction of the monuments. As a result, the locals
developed tales and legends trying to explain the origin of temples,
infused with myths of giants, a cursed princess, and thus gave Prambanan
and Sewu a wondorous origin said to be created by multitude of demons
under the order of Bandung Bondowoso, according to Loro Jonggrang legend.
The temple officially caught the international attention in early
19th century. In 1811 during Britain’s short-lived rule of the Dutch East Indies, Colin Mackenzie, a surveyor in the service of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles,
came upon the temples by chance. Although Sir Thomas subsequently
commissioned a full survey of the ruins, they remained neglected for
decades, with Dutch residents carting off sculptures as garden ornaments
and native villagers using the foundation stones for construction
material.
Half-hearted excavations by archaeologists in the 1880s merely
facilitated looting. Reconstruction of the compound began in 1918, and
proper restoration only in 1930. Efforts at restoration continue to this
day. The reconstruction of the main Shiva temple was completed around
1953 and inaugurated by Sukarno.
Since much of the original stonework has been stolen and reused at
remote construction sites, restoration was hampered considerably.
Shrines were only rebuilt if at least 75% of their original masonry was
available. Most of the smaller shrines are therefore now only visible in
their foundations, with no plans for their reconstruction existing.
Contemporary Events
In the early 1990s the government removed the market that had sprung
up near the temple and transformed the surrounding villages and rice
paddies into an archaeological park. The park covers a large area, from
Yogyakarta-Solo main road in the south, encompassing the whole Prambanan
complex, the ruins of Lumbung and Bubrah temples, and as far as the
Sewu temple compound in the north. In 1992 the Indonesian government
created a State-owned Limited Liability Enterprise (PERSERO) of PT Taman
Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan, dan Ratu Boko. This enterprise is
the authority for the park management of Borobudur Prambanan Ratu Boko
and the surrounding region. Prambanan is one of the most visited tourist
attraction in Indonesia.
The Trimurti open-air and indoor stages on the west side of the temple right across the Opak river, were built to stage the Ramayana ballet. This traditional Javanese dance
is the centuries old dance of the Javanese court, performed every full
moon night in the Prambanan temple since the 1960s. Since then,
Prambanan has become one of the major archaeological and cultural
tourism attractions in Indonesia.
After the reconstruction of the main temples in 1990s, Prambanan once
again reclaim its status as an important religious center for Hindu
rituals and ceremonies in Java. The religious significance revival of
Prambanan was due to Balinese and Javanese Hindu communities in
Yogyakarta and Central Java that annually perform their sacred
ceremonies in Prambanan, such as Galungan, Tawur Kesanga, and Nyepi.
The temple was damaged during the May 2006 Java earthquake.
Early photos suggested that although the complex was structurally
intact, the damage was significant. Large pieces of debris, including
carvings, were scattered over the ground. The temple was closed to
visitors until the damage could be fully assessed. Eventually, the head
of Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency stated that it would
take months to identify the precise extent of the damage. However, some weeks later in 2006 the site was re-opened for visitors.
In 2008, 856,029 Indonesian visitors and 114,951 foreign visitors has
visited Prambanan. In 6 January 2009 the reconstruction of Nandi temple
finished. As of 2009, the interior of most of the temples remains off-limits for safety reasons.
In 14 February 2014, major tourist attractions in Yogyakarta and Central Java, including Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko, were closed from visitors, after severely affected by the volcanic ashes from the eruption of Kelud
volcano in East Java, located around 200 kilometers east from
Yogyakarta. The Kelud volcano erupted in Thursday night, 13 February
2014 with explosion heard as far away as Yogyakarta.Four years earlier, Prambanan was spared from Merapi volcanic ash and
eruption in 2010 since the wind and ashfall were directed westward and
affecting Borobudur instead.
Architecture
The architecture of Prambanan temple follows the typical Hindu architecture traditions based on Vastu Shastra. The temple design incorporated mandala temple plan arrangements and also the typical high towering spires of Hindu temples. Prambanan was originally named Shivagrha and dedicated to god Shiva. The temple was designed to mimic Meru,
the holy mountain the abode of Hindu gods, and the home of Shiva. The
whole temple complex is a model of Hindu universe according to Hindu cosmology and the layers of Loka.
Just like Borobudur,
Prambanan also recognize the hierarchy of the temple zones, spanned
from the less holy to the holiest realms. Each Hindu and Buddhist
concepts has their own terms, but the concept's essentials is identical.
Either the compound site plan (horizontally) or the temple structure
(vertically) are consists of three zones:
- Bhurloka (in Buddhism: Kāmadhātu), the lowest realm of common mortals; humans, animals also demons. Where humans are still bound by their lust, desire and unholy way of life. The outer courtyard and the foot (base) part of each temples is symbolized the realm of bhurloka.
- Bhuvarloka (in Buddhism: Rupadhatu), the middle realm of holy people, occupied by rishis, ascetics, and lesser gods. People here begin to see the light of truth. The middle courtyard and the body of each temple symbolizes the realm of bhuvarloka.
- Svarloka (in Buddhism: Arupadhatu), the highest and holiest realm, reserved for the gods. Also known as svargaloka. The inner courtyard and the roof of each temple symbolizes the realm of svarloka. The roof of Prambanan temples are adorned and crowned with ratna (sanskrit: jewel), the shape of Prambanan ratna took the altered form of vajra that represent diamonds. In ancient Java temple architecture, ratna is the Hindu counterpart of the Buddhist stupa, and served as the temple's pinnacle.
During the restoration, a well which contains a pripih (stone
casket) was discovered under the center of the Shiva temple. The main
temple has a well 5.75 m deep in which a stone casket was found on top a
pile of charcoal, earth, and remains of burned animal bones. Sheets of
gold leaves with the inscription Varuna (god of the sea) and Parvata (god of the mountains) were found here. The stone casket contained sheets of copper, charcoal, ashes, earth, 20 coins, jewels, glass, pieces of gold and silver leaves, seashells and 12 gold leaves (which were cut in the shapes of a turtle, Nāga serpent, padma, altar, and an egg)
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