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Prambanan
Temple ( also known as Lorojonggrang Temple )
was located at Bokoharjo Village, Prambanan, East
of Yogyakarta. The exact date of when the Lorojonggrang
Temple was built was still in argument. However,
there are two opinion of who builds the Temple.
One opinion stated that there was only one, dynasty,
Cailendra Dynasty, before Lorojonggrang Temple
was built. The second opinion stated that there
were two dynasties, Cailendra and Sanjaya Dynasty.
Cailendra Dynasty occupied the Southern part of
Central Java, whereas Sanjaya Dynasty occupied
the Northern part. Buddhist Temples were found
mostly in the Southern part of Central Java, and
that the Ciwa Temples (Hindu) were found in Northern
part of Central Java.
It seemed that Sanjaya Dynasty existed before
the Cailendra Dynasty with the center of authority
in South Kedu (around Magelang, North of Yogyakarta
). This statement was based on Canggal Inscription
( 732 A.D. ). The Sanjaya Dynasty was then pushed
to the North by the Cailendra Dynasty which arrived
around 778 A.D. (Kalasan Inscription). The existence
of Sanjaya Dynasty was also mentioned in Balitung
inscription (708 A.D.). In that inscription it
was stated that whenever a King died, the King
became a "Dews" ( God, Devine). Based
on the inscription studies, it showed the sequence
of Kings in Sanjaya Dynasty as follows :
• Sanjaya (732 - 760 A.D.)
• Panangkaran (760 - 780 A.D.)
• Warak (800 - 819 A.D.)
• Garung (819 - 838 A.D.)
• Pikatan (838 - 851 A.D.)
• Kayuwangi (851 - 882 A.D.)
The Rise of Cailendra Dynasty was inscripted in
Kalasan inscription, and was followed by other
inscriptions, but the historical sequence was
difficult to be followed and still a debate. Some
inscriptions stated the possibility that both
dynasties built the same holy temples as well
( Kalasan Inscription and short Inscription in
Plaosan Temple ). On the short inscription two
Kings were mentioned, Rakai Pikatan from Sanjaya
Dynasty and Sri Kaluhunan from the Cailendra Dynasty.
Casparis identified Sri Kaluhunan as the son of
the latest King of Cailendra Dynasty, Samaratungga.
According to Karang Tengah Inscription ( 824 A
D. ), Samaratungga was also called Pramodawardani.
The marriage of King and Queen with different
religion ( Buddha and Ciwa/Hindu) seemed to influence
the architecture of Prambanan Temple which was
built by King Pikatan ( Sanjaya Dynasty ). The
top of Prambanan Temple did not have a lingga
type ( phallus type) but instead a ratna type
( ratna = diamond) which looked like a stupa.
At this point, the King who ordered the building
of Lorojonggrang Temple is not convincing. According
to the 856 A.D. inscription ( locality source
is unknown, preserved in Jakarta Museum of Art
) stated that King Jatiningrat was replaced by
Dyah Lokapala. Darmais and Casparis identified
Dyah Lokapala as King Kayuwangi who issued Argapura
Inscription ( 863 A.D.) According to Balitung
inscription (907 A.D.), Kayuwangi was the King
between 851-882 A.D. The King before Kayuwangi
era was Rakai Pikatan, and thus be concluded that
Jatiningrat was indeed Rakai Pikatan.
The Balitung Inscription also described more detail
on the structural arrangement of temples. On the
11 th line of the inscription, it stated that
temple buildings were categorized into two kinds:
the Ciwagraha (graha = a house) and Ciwalaya.
The main temple (Ciwagraha) was built by the King,
and smaller and lesser temples Ciwalaya ) were
built by ordinary people regardless of social
status.
The temples which were built by ordinary people
had a row arrangement with similar height and
forms. The main temple ( built by the King ) had
its own wall, separated from the smaller temples.
The main gate had a statue of Dwarapala, and at
the east was planted a "Tanjung tree"
which was considered sacred, as a way for God
to descend to earth. Furthermore the temple complex
had an irrigation system and buildings for the
priests. When the building of Ciwa Temple was
finished, the flow of a river was diverted passing
alongside the walls of the main temple, separating
the main temple ( Lorojonggrang Temple and the
smaller temples.
From the inscriptional readings, it could be concluded
that on the year 856 A.D. (the issuance of the
inscription), Lorojonggrang Temple Buildings had
been finished. It was Rakai Pikatan who built
Lorojonggrang Temple. This evidence was shown
by Casparis based on the Lorojonggrang inscription.
There were 50 stones at Lorojonggrang Temple with
inscriptions written in white, black and red color.
The name of Rakai Pikatan was found among the
inscription, and that the writing style found
in Lorojonggrang Temple was similar to that in
Plaosan Temple.
A. The Discovery and Restoration of Prambanan
Temple
The discovery of Lorojonggrang Temple was reported
by C.A. Lons in 1733. The temple was in ruined
condition, abandoned among grass and tree vegetation.
First effort to reveal the presence of a temple
was done in 1885 by cleaning the site from grasses
and shrubs followed by grouping the stones. This
project was supervised by Yzerman, Groneman and
van Erp. The work was continued in 1918.
Grouping and identifying the stones in detail
followed by restructuring Ciwa Temple was done
by van Erp. In 1937, restoration began under the
supervision of Bosch, followed by Stuuerheim,
van Ramound and others. The restoration was finished
in December 20, 1953. About 240 temples undergone
restoration, such as two Apit Temples (restored
in 1923), four Kelir Temples, and four Corner
Temples (Candi Sudut), two Perwara Temples, two
entrance gates, the South Gate and the North Gate.
The next restoration used the Government Routine
Development Budget. Those restoration included
Brahma Temple ( start restoration in 1978 ), Wisnu
Temple (start restoration in 1982).
B. Structural Description and Arrangement
The Prambanan Temple is a group of Hindu temples,
and was also known as Lorojonggrang Temple. The
word Prambanan refers to the name of a District,
Prambanan District, whereas Lorojonggrang refers
to its actual name.
The temple complex has three concentric square
• Outer square (222 x 390 meters) surrounded
by a 1 meter boundary wall.
• Middle square (110 x 110 meters) surrounded
by a 1 meter boundary wall.
• Center square (34 x 34 meters) surrounded
by a 1 meter boundary wall.
All the three squares have gates to connect the
other squares. The outer square do not have temples.
Inside the middle square there are 224 Perwara
temples which are arranged in 4 rows of temples.
The first row consists of 68 temples, followed
by the second row (60 temples), the third row
(52 temples) and the fourth row (44 temples ).
The arrangement of temples is in such a way that
shorter temples lies in the outside and getting
higher toward the center. Inside the center square
are sixteen small and big temples, Some of them
are
1. Ciwa Temple as the main temple.
2. Wisnu Temple in the North of Ciwa Temple.
3. Brahma Temple in the South of Ciwa Temple.
4. Nandi Temple in front of Ciwa Temple.
5. Temple A and B lies in front of Wisnu and Ciwa
Temple.
6. Apit Temple lies in the North and the South
flanking row of temples {the West and East row
(apit = to flank)}
7. Four Kelir Temples in front of each gate of
the main square.
8. Four Sudut Temples (sudut = corner) at each
of the corner of the main square.
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