Batujaya Historical Temple, Kerawang
Batujaya historical site is a temple complex that occupies 40 hectares of land comprising two villages, Segaran and Telagajaya in Batujaya Sub-district, Karawang District. The complex is 39 kilometers away to the west of Karawang, and it is only 6 kilometers away from the northern coastline.
Presently, parts of Batujaya Temple Complex are paddy fields and residential areas. Most of the ancient structures are still covered with soil inside unur or lemah duwur (part of the ground that rises higher than the surrounding paddy field). Until the mid of 2004, all attempts to excavate and research Batujaya Temple Complex are still in progress under the supervision of a researching team on Batujaya Site from University of Indonesia.
So far, experts have yet to reveal when and by whom the temples in Batujaya were constructed due to the limited amount of data. Attempts to reconstruct the temples are also far from easy as temples in Batujaya are made of bricks. Experts also have to deal with financial constraints. Only once they received a fund from PT Ford Motor Indonesia in 2003.
Although no data is available concerning when and by whom the temples were built, archeologists estimate that temples in Batujaya can be the oldest in Java, built during Tarumanegara Kingdom era (from 5th century until 6th century AD). Until 1997, there were 24 temple sites were discovered in Batujaya. Six of them, mostly are remains of a construction, have been studied. Experts believe that more hidden sites may come up later. It is interesting to note that all temples in Batujaya face 50 degrees away from due north.
Among the sites that have been examined are Jiwa Temple site and Blandongan Temple site. Both sites are located close to each other. Blandongan Temple is 21.6 meters in length, and it faces northwest. The shape of the temple and its structure are still unknown. Although the function of the temple is still a mystery, the word blandongan in the local language means a hall or a big building to seat a lot of people or guests. Based on the discovery of a stupa in Segaran Village, Telagajaya, experts believe that Batujaya Temple Complex is a Buddhist compound.
