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| Prambanan From The East Gate |
Prambanan Temple or Temple of Rara Jonggrang is a Hindu Temple built in the 9th century in the region of Kalasan, Yogyakarta. This temple is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia and one of the bigges temple in Southeast Asia. It showed the triumph of a typical tapered towering Hindu temples. statues and reliefs which exist in the temple. This temple was built in about 850 AD by King Rakai Pikatan in the reign of Sanjaya Dynasty and was expanded by King Lokapala and Balitung Maha Sambu from Hindu Mataran Kingdom. Prambanan Temple also often referred to as Temple Rara Jonggrang, which is taken from the famous legend Rara Jonggrang and became the forerunner of the existence of the temple. The temple was built to honor Losd Shiva and its original name was Shivagrha (The House of Shiva) of Shiva Laya (The Realm of Shiva). Pramabanan served as the riyal temple of the Kingdom of Matara, with most of the state's religious ceremonies and sacrifices being conducted within the outer wall of the temple compound. The urban center and the court of Mataram were located nearby, somewhere in the Prambanan Plain. The present nam Prambanan, was derived from the name of Prambanan village where hte temple stood. this name probably being the corrupted Javanesse pronounciation of " Para Brahman" (Village of the brahmins), doubtless an echo its heyday when the temple was filled with great numbers of brahmins.
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| Prambanan in the Summer |
The Hindu temple complex at Prambanan is based on a square plan that contains a total of three zone yards, each of which is surrounded by four walls pierced by four large gates. The outer zone is a large space marked by a rectangular wall. The outermost walled perimieter, which originally measured about 390 metres per side, was oriented in the northeast, southwest direction. The second the middle zone contains hundreds of small temples. And third the holiest inner zone that contains 8 main temples and 8 small shrines. The supporting buildings for the temple complex were made from organic material. The inner zone or central compound is the holiest among the three zones. Its square elevated platform surrounded by square stone wall with stone gates on each four cardinal points. This holiest compound is assembled of eight main shrines or candi. The three main shrines, called Trimurti ("three forms"), are dedicated to the three gods: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Keeper, and Shiva the Destroyer. The Shiva temple is the tallest and largest structure in Prambanan Rara Jonggrang complex, it measures 47 metres tall and 34 metres wide. The Shiva temple encircled with bas-reliefs telling the story of Ramayana carved on the inner walls of the balustrades. To follow the story accordingly, visitors must enter from the east side and began to perform pradakshina or circumambulating clockwise. The Shiva shrine located at the center and contains five chambers, four small chambers in every cardinal direction and one bigger main chamber in central part of the temple. The east chamber connect to central chamber that houses the largest temple in Prambanan, a three meter high statue of Shiva Mahadeva (the Supreme God). The other three smaller chambers contain statues of Hindu Gods related to Shiva; his consort Durga, the rishi Agastya, and Ganesha, his son. Statue of Agastya occupy the south chamber, the west chamber houses the statue of Ganesha, while the north chamber contains the statue of Durga. The shrine of Durga is also called the temple of Rara Jonggrang (Javanese: slender virgin), after a Javanese legend of princess Rara Jonggrang. The two other main shrines are that of Vishnu on the north side of Shiva shrine, and the one of Brahma on the south. Both temple facing east and each contain only one large chamber, each dedicated to respected gods; Brahma temple contains the statue of Brahma and Vishnu temple houses the statue of Vishnu. Brahma and Vishnu temple measures 20 metres wide and 33 metres tall.
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| Prambanan Spotlight |
In the ancient temple complex of Prambanan park there is a museum that holds a variety of discovery of ancient artifacts. The museum is located on the north side of Prambanan Temple. The museum is built in traditional Javanese architecture, called Joglo. Stored in the museum collection variety of stone temples and many statues were found in the vicinity of Prambanan temple, such as statues of Nandi bulls, sage Agastya, Shiva, Vishnu, Garuda, and the statue of Durga Mahesasuramardini, including the Shiva Lingga stone, a symbol fertility. The replica of the famous Treasure Wonoboyo, depicting the Ramayana carved bowls, scoop, bag, money, and gold jewelry, is also displayed in this museum. The original Wonoboyo are now stored at the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta. Replicas of some of the Temple architectural models such as Prambanan temple, Borobudur, and Plaosan also exhibited in this museum. The museum is accessible free of charge by park visitors since the ancient Prambanan park entrance fee is included this museum. Audio-visual show about the Prambanan temple is also shown here.
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| Prambanan Park |
Prambanan Temple is the largest Hindu Temple in ancient Java, and it is become one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. From time to time it’s also become the tourist favorite destination in Indonesia. It attracts many people from around the world to visit this Temple. Prambanan is only about 30 minutes from Yogyakarta. Please prepare for light clothing. T-Shirt , sandal or light shoe, shorts are recommended for your tour in the temple as the temple covered large area and there will be a lot of walking activity. You might need a hat and sunglassess when it comes to Dry Season in Indonesia where there will be hot sunny weather. But you might need a rain coat or an umbrella when it comes to Rain Season. Please refer to Weather forecast for detail.
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| Prambanan Park |
The very popular legend of Rara Jonggrang is what connects the site of the Ratu Boko Palace, the origin of the Durga statue in northern chamber of the main shrine, and the origin of the Sewu temple complex nearby. The legend tells of the story about Prince Bandung Bondowoso who fell in love with Princess Rara Jonggrang, the daughter of King Boko. But the princess rejected his proposal of marriage because Bandung Bondowoso had killed King Boko and ruled her kingdom. Bandung Bondowoso insisted on the union, and finally Rara Jonggrang was forced to agree for a union in marriage, but she posed one impossible condition: Bandung must build her a thousand temples in only one night. The Prince entered into meditation and conjured up a multitude of spirits (demons) from the earth. Helped by supernatural beings, he succeeded in building 999 temples. When the prince was about to complete the condition, the princess woke her palace maids and ordered the women of the village to begin pounding rice and set a fire in the east of the temple, attempting to make the prince and the spirits believe that the sun was about to rise. As the cocks began to crow, fooled by the light and the sounds of morning time, the supernatural helpers fled back into the ground. The prince was furious about the trick and in revenge he cursed Rara Jonggrang to stone. She became the last and the most beautiful of the thousand statues. According to the traditions, the unfinished thousandth temple created by the demons become the Sewu temple compounds nearby (Sewu means "thousands" in Javanese), and the Princess is the image of Durga in the north chamber of the Shiva temple at Prambanan, which is still known as Rara Jonggrang or Slender Virgin.
