Prambanan Temple Compounds
Prambanan Temple is the largest Hindu temple complex in Central Java. It is located in the valley of the same name.
General Information
The history of the Prambanan temple begins with the establishment of the Sanjaya Shivaita Rajah dynasty on the island. At that time, the cult of Shiva had already established itself in Java, because he penetrated here in the first centuries, and by the 9th century, when the Sanjai ruled, managed to mix with Buddhism and Javanese beliefs. Thus a kind of symbiosis of cultures arose, which is very popular on the island.
>Raja rulers believed in this religion and sacredly believed that they were earthly incarnations of Shiva. In order to strengthen their authority among the inhabitants, they built temples where people worshipped Shiva and at the same time themselves. At that time, Prambanan was a political center, so it is quite understandable why it was on this territory arose such a large-scale temple complex, which was as majestic as Borobudur, but worshipped here not Buddhists, and Shivaites. Also, the complex was not far from the residence of the rajas, so it was convenient for them to visit the temple.
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Not surprisingly, the center of the complex was a temple to Shiva, but it got its name from Lara Jonggrang, the Slender Maiden. This was the name given to the great multi-armed goddess Durga. She was installed in one of the halls of the temple. Many legends and legends are associated with the statue of this goddess.
.Legend of the Slender Maiden
The legend begins with a poor man falling in love with a beautiful and rich girl. But he could not ask a girl of noble birth to marry him, because he had neither money nor a famous name, nor even a house of his own. So he could only look at her from afar, sing songs near her house every day and give her the most magnificent white lotuses. The servants of the girl mocked him and chased him away from the house of his beloved.
The poor young man, overcome with sorrow, decided to tell his troubles to Lara Jonggrang. He came to the temple, began to pray and tell his sad love story. It was night, and he cried so bitterly that the goddess took pity on him and revived him. Seeing this miracle, the boy begged even more than before, and then the goddess said that she would fulfill his wish, told him to go home and look carefully under his feet.
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The young man did so, and every time his foot touched a stone on the road, it turned into a gold coin. So the young man became rich and was able to ask his beloved to marry him. There they could not refuse such a rich groom and began to prepare for the wedding.
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Just before the wedding, the young man decided to come to the temple and thank Lara Jonggrang. He was dressed in expensive clothes, clean and beautiful. The goddess, seeing him in such an image, immediately fell in love and offered the young man to become her lover. But the young man begged and said that he is already engaged and loves another, then fickle “Slender maiden” angry … The next morning people came to the temple and saw next to the statue of Lara Jonggrang new stone statue, it was turned into stone young man who dared to refuse the beautiful goddess.
.Decoration
The temple of Prambanan is just like Borobudur, is full of reliefs, only instead of Buddhist motifs, it reveals the main events and provisions of Hinduism. There are only 42 wall compositions, but they are much more dynamic and lively than those of Borobudur. Here fantastic deities mixed with amazing birds and animals, and all this against the background of details of everyday life of the Javanese in the 9th century.
.Next to the Shiva temple are the temples of Vishnu and Brahma. They create the center of the complex, and just opposite them are three more temples in honor of their sacred animals. It is believed that each deity was accompanied by a sacred animal, the bull Nandi – Shiva, the bird Garuda was always next to Vishnu, and the goose – with Brahma. The complex also contains 224 tombs of rajas and noble nobles. The tombs were under the patronage of those deities who were considered the protectors of the deceased.
.In the 16th century there was an earthquake in Java from which the complex suffered, but it was destroyed even more severely in 1880 during earth tremors due to a volcanic eruption. The temple became a ruin, now it is being restored, the work has been going on for many years and the complex is getting its original appearance. The Shiva temple is now well restored, and a museum has been opened nearby with finds from the area, as well as maps and drawings showing what Prambanan was like in its best years.
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