The Legend of Prambanan Temple and Its Myth – Sinaumed’s, have you ever heard of the legend of Prambanan Temple? One of the temples in Indonesia is famous for its legend.
The legend of Prambanan Temple discusses the origins of the temple being built. Apart from the legend of Prambanan Temple, this temple also has myths and mysterious stories behind it.
What is the Legend of Prambanan Temple and the mystery story behind it? Check out the full story below
Profile of Prambanan Temple
Prambanan Temple is often also referred to as Roro Jonggrang Temple. The name is obtained from the story of the origin of this temple was built. Prambanan Temple is the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia.
Prambanan Temple was built in the 9th century AD. This temple was built as a tribute to Trimurti. The Trimurti are the three main gods in Hinduism. First, the Brahmin the Creator God.
Second, Vishnu the Preserver God. Third, Shiva the God of Dissolving. Based on the Siwagrha inscription, the original name of this temple complex is Siwagrha.
Siwagrha is a Sanskrit language which means “House of Shiva”. In the main room of this temple which is called Garbagriha, in it resides the statue of Shiva Mahadeva. The statue is three meters high.
Based on the presence of the statue, it shows that Lord Shiva is preferred in this temple. Prambanan Temple is located in Prambanan Village, precisely on the island of Java. Located about 20 km east of the city of Yogyakarta.
40 km west of the city of Surakarta, and 120 km south of the city of Semarang. This temple is exactly between the border of Central Java province and the Special Region of Yogyakarta. The Prambanan Temple area is divided into two, namely Sleman and Klaten districts.
This temple is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Prambanan Temple is listed as the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. As well as one of the most beautiful temples in the Southeast Asian Region.
The architecture of this temple building has a slender shape. In accordance with Hindu architecture in general. The main temple in Prambanan Temple is the Shiva Temple.
Its height reaches 47 meters. The Shiva temple rises in the center of the complex. Among the cluster of smaller temples.
As one of the most beautiful and grandest temples, Prambanan Temple has always been an attraction for tourists to visit. Not only from the area. The tourists come from outside the region, outside the island, to abroad.
If you look at the Siwagrha inscription, this temple was built around 850 AD. This temple was built by Rakai Pikatan. Then the temple continued to be expanded and developed by Balitung Maha Sambu, during the Medang Mataram kingdom.
The name “Prambanan” in this temple comes from the name of the god where this temple is located. Allegedly, the name is a name change between Javanese dialects. The dialect is derived from the Hindu theological term “Para Brahman”.
The theology has the meaning of “Great brahman”, namely Brahman or the highest and greatest eternal reality, which cannot be described. In the concept of Hinduism, it is often equated with God.
According to another opinion, there is an assumption that the name “Prambanan” comes from the root word mban . In the Javanese language, the word has the meaning of shouldering or bearing a duty. It refers to the Hindu gods, who carry out and shoulder the task of organizing and carrying out this guarded harmony.
The original name of this Hindu temple complex is a name derived from Sanskrit. His name is Siwagrha , meaning House of Shiva. Also known as Siwalaya which has the meaning of Shiva’s Realm.
Based on the Siwagrha Inscription dated 778 Saka or 856 AD, Trimurti is highly honored in this temple complex. This is also strengthened by the presence of three main temples that glorify Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
However, Shiva Mahadeva is the most glorified deity in this temple complex. It is known that the Shiva temple occupies the main room inside this temple.
The legend of Prambanan temple
Prambanan Temple is very famous for its legend. Even the legend of Prambanan Temple has been widely told to the public. The legend of Prambanan Temple originates from the existence of a large kingdom.
The kingdom was named Prambanan Kingdom. All the people led by the kingdom live in peace. The Prambanan Kingdom brought its people to live peacefully.
Until one day, the Kingdom of Prambanan was attacked and colonized. The Prambanan Kingdom was attacked by Pengging Country. During the battle, soldiers from the Kingdom of Prambanan felt overwhelmed by the troops from Pengging Country.
In the end, the Prambanan Kingdom suffered defeat. After that, the Kingdom of Prambanan was controlled by Negeri Pengging. The leader’s chair finally fell to Bandung Bondowoso, the leader of Pengging Country.
It is known that Bandung Bondowoso is an evil leader. He is a leader who can easily be cruel to anyone. In fact, if someone does not obey his orders, then that person can be sentenced to death.
Bandung Bondowoso’s arbitrary style of government was not liked by the people of Prambanan. Besides being known as a cruel and arbitrary person, Bandung Bondowoso is also known to have a power. The power that Bandung Bondowoso has is a magical power.
He also has a large army of jinns. Apparently, Bandung Bondowoso liked to observe the movements of Princess Roro Jonggrang. Princess Roro Jonggrang is the daughter of King Prambanan.
In the end, Bandung Bondowoso wanted to make Roro Jonggrang his wife. However, this request was not immediately fulfilled by Roro Jonggrang. In fact, Roro Jonggrang thought hard to find a way to reject Bandung Bondowoso.
If he immediately refused, then Bandung Bondowoso would be very angry. This will threaten the safety of the Prambanan people. Therefore, Roro Jonggrang gave Bandung Bondowoso a condition.
These conditions must be met, if you want to propose to Bandung Bondowoso. The conditions put forward were that Bandung Bondowoso had to build 1,000 temples. The time given by Roro Jonggrang was only one night.
At first, Bandung Bondowoso was angry to hear this condition. According to him these conditions are unreasonable. However, his advisers convinced him that he would be able to build 1,000 temples in one night.
His advisors said that Bandung Bondowoso had to ask for help from the genie troops. Then, Bandung Bondowoso performed the ritual of summoning the genie troop. After that the process of building the temple began.
When the construction process began, Roro Jonggrang watched from a distance. He saw how busy the genies were in the process of building the temple. Through the power of the jinn, the process of building the 1000 temples was very easy and fast.
Roro Jonggrang, who saw this, was worried. Then he looked for ways to thwart the process of building the temple. He called his ladies-in-waiting to help him.
The ladies-in-waiting were also given assignments by Roro Jonggrang. Some are assigned to burn dry straw. Some are assigned to strike the pestle. Such things are a sign that the sun will rise.
The things the ladies in waiting did made a lot of noise, especially from the pestle. Not long after that, the rooster crowed thinking it was morning. From that incident, the genies ran when they heard the rooster crow.
The jinn will burn if the sun appears. Bandung Bondowoso couldn’t do much when he saw his army of genies running around. He did not realize that it was Roro Jonggrang’s doing.
The next day Bandung Bondowoso invited Roro Jonggrang to count the total for the entire temple. Through careful calculations, it turns out that there are 999 temples in total. However, Bandung Bondowoso did not believe it and recalculated.
It turns out that it is true that there are only 999 temples. After he finished counting, he knew that the mastermind behind the previous incident was Roro Jonggrang. His advisors told him that it was Roro Jonggrang who made the genies run away in fear.
Hearing this, Bandung Bondowoso was furious and angry. Then he cursed Roro Jonggrang to become a temple. Through this, the number of temples has even increased to 1,000.
Myth of Prambanan Temple
Behind the majesty and beauty of this temple, it turns out that there is a myth and mystery tucked away. The myth of this temple developed in the community around this temple complex.
Not only that, even the myth has reached outside the complex and outside the island. It can be said that many Indonesian people have heard about the myth of this temple.
What are the myths that developed from this temple? The following are some of the growing myths:
1. The process of building the Prambanan Temple
We have just discussed the myths related to the process of building this temple in the previous point. The myth is related to the legend of Prambanan Temple. It can be said that this is the biggest mystery or myth about this temple.
Actually there is still a lot of confusing news about the process of building this temple. According to the legend of Prambanan Temple, this temple was built by someone named Bandung Bondowoso.
Through his supernatural powers, he built this temple with the help of genies. The goal was to fulfill Roro Jonggrang’s requirements before marrying her. According to the legend of the Prambanan Temple, this temple was built overnight.
However, the story is still a myth, or something whose truth is not known. The reason is that none of the reliefs support the story of the legend of the Prambanan Temple.
2. The mysterious light of the statue of Goddess Durga
The statue of Goddess Durga is a building located in one of the rooms. The room is inside the main temple, namely the Shiva Temple. In Hindu belief, Goddess Durga is the wife of Lord Shiva.
The strangest thing in this event is the existence of a mysterious light. The mysterious light appears on the face of the Goddess Durga statue. The light always appears every night, during the full moon.
According to the local community, the light is a manifestation of Roro Jonggrang’s aura. That said, every time the light starts to appear, people who don’t have a partner vying for a vacation to get the light.
According to him, the light that comes from the statue of Goddess Durga has power. His strength is being able to bring them together with their soul mate, quickly.
3. The myth of breaking up a lover’s relationship
The third myth from Prambanan Temple is the myth about the breakup of a couple’s relationship. This myth arose from the legend of Prambanan Temple, namely the founder of Bandung Bondowoso’s love for Roro Jonggrang.
Even though he was famous for being cruel, Bandung Bondowoso had a sincere love for Roro Jonggrang. Unfortunately, this love was rejected by Roro Jonggrang. Even though Bandung Bondowoso had agreed to build 1,000 temples in one night as requested by Roro Jonggrang.
However, Roro Jonggrang betrayed her promise. He cheated, so Bandung Bondowoso’s business failed. For this incident, Roro Jonggrang was cursed to become a temple by Bandung Bondowoso.
Currently, the curse is believed to be inside Prambanan Temple. The myth is that whoever a couple enters Prambanan Temple, their love will run aground. Even in just a few days.
4. Strange animal mysteries
The legend of Prambanan Temple is well known to many people. Apart from that story, Prambanan Temple also has rich reliefs. The Prambanan Temple relief depicts the flora and fauna in Indonesia.
Examples include the yellow-crested parrot, deer, cats, rabbits, geese, tigers, monkeys, dogs and birds. However, there are animals that attract the most attention.
These animals are kinara-kinara flanking the kalpataru tree. It is not known exactly what type or species of these kinara-kinara creatures. This animal has a shape like a bird.
However, his head was like a human’s. When viewed at this time, the shape of the animal is very unreasonable. Something that becomes a question is whether in ancient times it was about genetic manipulation, so that it could produce hybrid creatures like that.
It is still a mystery, whether the reliefs are the work of other creatures, or just imagination related to Hindu teachings.
5. Similar to Angkor Wat
Prambanan Temple is said to have similarities with Angkor Wat. In fact, the distance from these two buildings is very far. Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple in the world.
Angkor Watt is located in Cambodia. At a glance from a distance, the architecture of the two temples is very similar. This is what is a mystery.
Was Prambanan Temple inspired by Angkor Wat? Or vice versa? But in fact, Prambanan Temple was built first.
Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century. This mystery harkens back to past trading traffic, which had an influence on regional relations in the Southeast Asian region.
Prambanan Temple Complex building
Inside the Prambanan temple complex, there are approximately 240 standing temples. The entrance to this building complex is in the four cardinal directions.
However, the direction or face of this building is to the east. Therefore, the main door of this temple is at the east gate.
The Prambanan Temple Complex is as follows:
- 3 Trimurti Temples, namely Shiva Temple, Vishnu Temple, and Brahma Temple.
- 3 Wahana Temples, namely Nandi Temple, Garuda Temple, and Goose Temple.
- 2 Apit Temple, which is located between the lines of the Trimurti Temple and the Wahana Temple. Located on the north side and south side.
- 4 Kelir Temple, which is located in the 4 directions of the compass. Precisely located behind the entrance to the inner courtyard or in the core zone.
- 4 Patok Temples, which are located in the 4 corners of the inner courtyard or in the core zone.
- 224 Perwara Temple, this temple is arranged into 4 concentric rows. The number of temples from the deepest row to the outermost row is as follows: 44, 52, 60 and 68
Therefore, there are a total of 240 temples in the Prambanan complex.
In the original building, there were 240 temples. That number includes the large temples and small temples within the Prambanan Temple complex.
However, currently there are only 18 temples left. There are 8 main temples, 8 small temples located in the core zone, and 2 ancillary temples.
Many ancillary temples are still not restored. Of the total 22 perwara temples, only 2 have been restored.
Currently all that remains is a pile of scattered rocks. The Prambanan Temple complex consists of three zones. First, the outer zone. Second, the middle zone. Third, deep zone.
The inner zone is the most sacred zone. Inside there are eight main temples, and eight smaller shrines. The cross-sectional plan of the complex of Prambanan Temple is based on a square area. Consists of three parts or three zones. Each page of this zone is bounded by andesite stone walls.
Its outermost zone is marked by a square fence. Each side is 390 meters long. Northeast to Southwest orientation. Except for the southern gate that remains. Many other parts of the gate and also the walls of this temple have been lost.
That is information about the Legend of Prambanan Temple. Even though it is only a legend, and there is no definitive proof yet, many people still believe in it. Moreover, it is a story inherited from the Indonesian people.
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Source: from various sources
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