Prambanan and Borodobur are two of the most prominent landmarks in the Yogyakarta region, maybe in Indonesia too. The place where relatively close to the city makes both can easily access.
Many summaries of Indonesian history will tell you that prior to the rise of Islam. But the histories of Borobudur and Prambanan reveal that the two religions intermingled and coexisted for quite some time. The structure of these two masterpieces constructed in 9th century A.D. actually happened just a couple decades apart.
Therefore, it’s highly likely that they were in use at the same time. Also, both are rediscovered in the 1800’s – by the same person, British statesman named Thomas Stamford Raffles who served as lieutenant governor of Java. He uncovered both significant landmarks during Britain’s brief rule over Java between 1811 and 1815. After that, the Dutch gained back control and it would be several decades before any serious restoration effort took place. Today the two sights continue to attract huge crowds of visitors.
BOROBUDUR : THE BIGGEST BUDHIST TEMPLE IN THE WORLD
Although Indonesia is dominated by moeslim, it’s also well known for its biggest Buddhist temple in the world, Borobudur. That historical monument has mentioned in many historical records. One of many sources said that Borobudur was built by Gunadharma, a man who permanently resides in a nearby mountain, looking at his creation.
Other sources said that those would suffer from horrible curses if they tried to climb it. The information related to the temple also visualized in its wonderful reliefs. Borobudur is also known for its Buddhist pilgrims which means walking around the monument in a clockwise direction as they observe a multitude of reliefs depicting either moral lessons or past lives of the Buddha.
ARCHITECTURE AND SYMBOLISM
Most people believe that the main structure of Borobudur represents the mythical Mt. Meru which is a major part of both Buddhist and Hindu cosmology. Mt. Meru is physically and metaphorically considered as the center of the universe.
In Hindus, it depicts the abode of the gods while in Buddhists, the height reflects a formless realm like nirvana. Mt. Meru often pictured as one high central peak with four smaller peaks surrounding it. In Borobudur, there are also four indirectly mountain peaks visible from the top of Borobudur.
Like Mt. Meru, Borobudur is divided into three sections. There are the realm of desire, the realm of form and the formless realm of enlightenment. The danger of falling into the trap of attachment ad desire is depicted in the lowest part (the carving) and in the highest part instead of moral teaching, you can find Borobudur’s trademark stupa and more beautiful Buddha statues.
For its construction, Borobudur that has base 123 by 123 meters was incredibly built with no mortar. The temple was constructed with 2 million pieces of volcanic stones. Also, some of the bricks are very strangely. Another interesting fact is that this masterpiece was once completely hidden by jungle and ash before it was found.
TIPS FOR TOURISTS
There are two things you should prepare before visiting Borobudur. The first is HOT. It will be incredibly hot because most of the structure lack shaded areas and black volcanic rock traps much sun’s heat too.
So make sure you use sunscreen and wear a hat or you can rent an umbrella on the spot. The second is the crowd, especially at the top of the temple, and it makes it difficult to find a decent place to take photos.
For foreigner tourists, maybe you will meet some local tourists who want to take a picture with you too. If you want to enjoy Borobudur and its wonderful scenery, you can arrive in the early morning to both avoid the large crowds as well as see the sunrise.
During your visit, you may want the help of a guide to help you decipher some of those images, as there are no signs with explanations anywhere on the monument. However, you don’t need to hire a guide if you just want to relax and enjoy by yourself. But if you want to learn more about Borobudur and its history, using the tour guide is a good idea.
PRAMBANAN: THE LARGEST HINDU TEMPLE IN THE WORLD
Prambanan was built in 9th century, just a short time after Borobudur. The purpose of this temple is to commemorate the return of a Hindu Dynasty to the region or the Sanjaya Dynasty.
In the 1930’s, Prambanan was recently restored to its current condition. If we compare Prambanan and Borobudur, we can see from their basic structure that those are different information and function. But, they are the same in terms of its amazing place.
MYTH
There is a story about Prambanan Temple that is widely believed. According to legend, the temple once consisted of exactly 1.000 temples which were built by a single man named Bandung Bondowoso.
He fell in love with a princess named Roro Djonggrang. She was reluctant to love him back because she knew that he’s her son who killed his father. Then, she gave him the challenge to build 1.000 temples in one night. He could win her heart if he succeeded.
The process was started. Amazingly, the prince came extremely close to succeeding. He could reach it because of the supernatural help. Just before Bandung Bondowoso and his supernatural team built the last temple, Roro Djonggrang and her servants burnt large bundles of hay, thus lighting up the sky. So it made the supernatural helpers blew away before the last temple done.
The price, Bandung Bondowoso, was so mad and frustrated at her . Then he turned her into stone to complete the last temple and became 1.000 temples. Supposedly, one of the Durga statues in the Shiva temple is said to represent, or actually be, Princess Rara Djonggrang
ARCHITECTURE AND SYMBOLISM
This wonderful temple was meant to be a Shiviate Temple. Shivaism is a variety of Hinduism that follows Shive as the main worship as opposed to other traditions like Vaishnavism which views Vishnu as the ultimate deity.
Even though the strongest emphasis is in Shiva, as common in other Hindhu architectures, the structures were also built to commemorate the other deities of the ‘Trimurti’ – Brahma and Vishnu. The Trimurti is represented by the three tallest temples of the complex. The tallest is Shiva for about 47 meters (154 feet). inside the temple, visitors can find statues depicting Hinduism’s main deities as well as some of their common incarnations.
TIPS FOR TOURISTS
Like Borobudur, Prambanan is also incredibly hot and very crowded. However, it offers plenty of shaded areas and you can chill out inside some of the structures to escape the heat.
Another thing is that many tourists tend to block entrances to some of the structures as they take photos for multiple times.
At least at Prambanan, there are plenty of other structures you can go and check out while you wait for the photoshoots to finish up. You have to be careful if you come in a big group because the area is huge and it’s very easy to get separated from whoever you’re with, especially if they don’t have a phone.
If you are interested more about Prambanan and Hindu, you can come to Bali where temples are still very much alive and active. Bali is also home to plenty of spectacular temples and they play an important role in Balinese life.
