Prambanan Temple, Where The History Stand Against Time - Central Java
Prambanan temple, is a Hindu based temple that was build in ninth century as a dedication of Trimurti of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Sustainer and Shiva the Destroyer. Prambana temple is located in 18 km east of Yogyakarta city.
According to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan temple is awarded as the largest and the most beautiful Hindu temple in Southeast Asia. Prambanan temple is such an extraordinary and beautiful temple that ever been made. This temple was built during the reign of two Kings, which was Rakai Pikatan and Rakai Balitung.
Prambanan temple has 47 M height, which is 5 meters higher that Borobudur. The architecture of the temple is typical of Hindu architecture and based on Vastu Shastra. This gorgeous temple having original name before getting popular as Prambanan, which was Shrivagrha.
Prambanan temple has three main temples in the primary yard, namely Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva temples. Those three temples are symbols of Trimurti in Hindu belief. All of them face to the east. Each main temple has accompanying temple facing to the west, namely Nandini for Shiva, Angsa for Brahma, and Garuda for Vishnu. Besides, there are 2 flank temples, 4 kelir temples and 4 corner temples. In the second area, there are 224 temples.
The highest temple among those three buildings is Shiva temple, which is located in the middle. There are Shiva statue in one of rooms in this Shiva temple, while the other rooms there are Durga the wife, Agastya the teacher and Ganesha the son of Shiva.
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, Bhuvarloka and Svarloka.
Behind the legendary building, there is always the background of the story to tell. So is Prambanan, there is folklore behind, that local people believe as the main reason of Prambanan built. There was a man named Bandung Bondowoso who loved Roro Jonggrang. To refuse his love, Jonggrang asked Bondowoso to make her a temple with 1,000 statues only in one-night time. The request was nearly fulfilled when Jonggrang asked the villagers to pound rice and to set a fire in order to look like morning had broken. Feeling to be cheated, Bondowoso who only completed 999 statues cursed Jonggrang to be the thousandth statue.
