The Legend of Prambanan Temple and Its 5 Myths

Prambanan Temple Profile

Prambanan Temple is also often referred to as Roro Jonggrang Temple. This name is derived from the story of the origin of this temple. Prambanan Temple is the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia.

Prambanan Temple was built in the 9th century AD. This temple was built as an offering to Trimurti. Trimurti are the three main gods in Hinduism. First, Brahmana the Creator God.

Second, Vishnu the Preserver God. Third, Shiva the Destroyer God. Based on the Siwagrha inscription, the original name of this temple complex is Siwagrha.

Siwagrha is Sanskrit which means "House of Shiva". In the main room of this temple called Garbagriha, inside it resides the statue of Shiva Mahadewa. The statue is three meters high.

Based on the presence of the statue, it shows that Lord Shiva is more prioritized in this temple. Prambanan Temple is located in Prambanan Village, precisely on the island of Java. Located approximately 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 borders of the province of Central Java 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 considered the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. As well as one of the most beautiful temples in the Southeast Asia 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 towers in the middle of the complex. Among the clusters of temples that are smaller in size.

As one of the most beautiful and magnificent temples, Prambanan Temple is always an attraction for tourists. Not only from the region. Tourists come from outside the region, outside the island, and even abroad.

If you look at the Siwagrha inscription, this temple began to be 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" for this temple comes from the name of the god where this temple is located. It is suspected that the name is a change of name between Javanese dialects. The dialect comes from the Hindu theological term "Para Brahman".

This 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 Javanese, the word means to bear or carry out a task. This refers to the Hindu gods, who carry and carry out the task of organizing and carrying out this maintained harmony.

The original name of this Hindu temple complex is a name that comes from Sanskrit. Its name is Siwagrha, meaning the House of Shiva. Also called Siwalaya which means the Realm of Shiva.

Based on the Siwagrha Inscription dated 778 Saka or 856 AD, Trimurti is highly respected in this temple complex. This is also reinforced by the presence of three main temples that glorify Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

However, Shiva Mahadewa is the most respected God in this temple complex. It is known that the Shiva temple occupies the main room in this temple.

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 began with the existence of a large kingdom.

The kingdom was called the Prambanan Kingdom. All the people led by the kingdom lived in peace. The Prambanan Kingdom led its people to live peacefully.

Until one day, the Prambanan Kingdom was attacked and colonized. The Prambanan Kingdom was attacked by the Pengging Kingdom. During the battle, the army of the Prambanan Kingdom felt overwhelmed by the army of Negeri Pengging.

Until finally the Prambanan Kingdom was defeated. After that, the Prambanan Kingdom was controlled by Negeri Pengging. The leader's seat finally fell to Bandung Bondowoso, the leader of Negeri Pengging.

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 is not liked by the people of Prambanan. Apart from 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 had a large army of genies. Apparently, Bandung Bondowoso liked to observe the movements of Princess Roro Jonggrang. Princess Roro Jonggrang was the daughter of the King of Prambanan.

In the end, Bandung Bondowoso wanted to make Roro Jonggrang his wife. However, the request was not immediately fulfilled by Roro Jonggrang. In fact, Roro Jonggrang thought hard to find a way to reject Bandung Bondowoso.

If she immediately rejected him, then Bandung Bondowoso would be very angry. It would threaten the safety of the Prambanan community. Therefore, Roro Jonggrang gave Bandung Bondowoso a condition.

The condition must be met if he wants to propose to Bandung Bondowoso. The condition proposed is that Bandung Bondowoso must build 1000 temples. The time given by Roro Jonggrang is only one night.

At first, Bandung Bondowoso was angry to hear the condition. According to him, the condition is unreasonable. However, his advisors assured him that he would be able to build 1000 temples in just one night.

His advisors said that Bandung Bondowoso had to ask for help from the genie troops. Then, Bandung Bondowoso performed a ritual to summon the genie troops. After that, the temple construction process began.

When the construction process began, Roro Jonggrang watched from a distance. She saw how busy the genies were in the process of building the temple. Through the power of the genies, the process of building the 1000 temples was very easy and fast.

Roro Jonggrang who saw this felt worried. Then she looked for a way to thwart the process of building the temple. She called her ladies-in-waiting to help her.

The ladies-in-waiting were given tasks by Roro Jonggrang. Some were assigned to burn dry straw. Some were assigned to beat the pestle. Things like that were a sign that the sun would rise.

The things done by the ladies-in-waiting made a noisy sound, especially from the pestle. Not long after that, the rooster crowed because he thought it was morning. From that incident, the genies ran away when they heard the rooster crow.

The genies will burn if the sunlight appears. Bandung Bondowoso could not do much when he saw his genie army running away. He did not realize that it was the work of Roro Jonggrang.

The next day, Bandung Bondowoso invited Roro Jonggrang to count the total number of temples. Through careful calculations, it turned out that there were 999 temples. However, Bandung Bondowoso did not believe it and recounted.

It turned out that there were only 999 temples. After finishing counting, he found out 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 that, the number of temples became an even 1000.

Prambanan Temple Myth

Behind the grandeur and beauty of this temple, there is a myth and mystery. The myth of this temple has developed in the community around the temple complex.

Not only that, the myth has even 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 have developed from this temple? The following are some of the myths that have developed:

1. The construction process of Prambanan Temple

We have just discussed the myth related to the construction process of 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 conflicting news regarding the construction process of 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 Prambanan Temple, this temple was built in just one night.

However, this story is still a myth, or something that is not known to be true. The reason is that there is not a single relief that supports the story of the legend of Prambanan Temple.

2. The mystery of the mysterious light of the Goddess Durga Statue

The Goddess Durga Statue is a building located in one of the rooms. The room is in the main temple, namely the Shiva Temple. In the Hibdu belief, Goddess Durga is the wife of Lord Shiva.

The strangest thing about this event is the 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 the manifestation of Roro Jonggrang's aura. It is said that every time the light begins to appear, people who do not have partners compete to go on vacation to get the light.

According to him, the light that comes from the Goddess Durga statue has power. Its power is that it can bring them together with their soul mate, quickly.

3. The myth of the breakup of a lover's relationship

The third myth from Prambanan Temple is the myth about the breakup of a couple's relationship. This myth arises from the legend of Prambanan Temple, namely the failure of Bandung Bondowoso's love for Roro Jonggrang.

Although he is known to be cruel, Bandung Bondowoso has sincere love for Roro Jonggrang. Unfortunately, this love was rejected by Roro Jonggrang. In fact, Bandung Bondowoso had agreed to build 1000 temples in one night as requested by Roro Jonggrang.

However, Roro Jonggrang betrayed her promise. She cheated, so that Bandung Bondowoso's efforts failed. Because of this incident, Roro Jonggrang was cursed to become a temple by Bandung Bondowoso.

Currently, the curse is believed to be in Prambanan Temple. The myth is that any couple who enters Prambanan Temple will have their love broken. Even in just a few days.

4. The mystery of strange animals

The legend of Prambanan Temple is known to many people. In addition to the story, Prambanan Temple also has rich reliefs. The reliefs of Prambanan Temple depict flora and fauna in Indonesia.

For example, yellow-crested parrots, deer, cats, rabbits, geese, tigers, monkeys, dogs and birds. However, there is an animal that attracts the most attention.

The animal is the kinara-kinara that flanks the kalpataru tree. It is not known for sure what type or species of kinara-kinara creature is. The animal has a form like a bird.

However, its head is like a human. If seen today, the shape of the animal is very unreasonable. Something that is questionable is, whether in ancient times there was already genetic manipulation, so that it could produce hybrid creatures like that.

It is still a mystery, whether the relief is the work of another creature, or just an imagination related to Hindu teachings.

5. Similar to Angkor Wat

Prambanan Temple is said to have similarities with Angkor Wat. In fact, the distance between the two buildings is very far. Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple in the world.

Angkor Watt is located in Cambodia. If seen briefly from a distance, the architecture of the two temples is very similar. This is what becomes 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 reminds us of past trade traffic, which had an influence on regional relations in Southeast Asia.

Prambanan Temple Complex Buildings

Inside the Prambanan Temple complex, there are approximately 240 temples standing. The entrance to this building complex is located in the four cardinal directions.

However, the direction or face of this building is towards 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 Angsa Temple.

• 2 Apit Temples, which are located between the rows of Trimurti Temples and Wahana Temples. Located on the north and south sides.
• 4 Kelir Temples, which are located in the 4 cardinal directions. 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 Temples, these temples are arranged in 4 concentric rows. The number of temples from the innermost 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 large temples and small temples in the Prambanan Temple complex.

However, currently only 18 temples remain. There are 8 main temples, 8 small temples in the core zone, and 2 ancillary temples.

Many ancillary temples have not been restored. Of the total 22 ancillary temples, only 2 have been restored.

Currently all that remains are piles of scattered stones. The Prambanan Temple Complex consists of three zones. First, the outer zone. Second, the middle zone. Third, the inner zone.

The inner zone is the most sacred zone. Inside there are eight main temples and eight small temples. The cross-section of the Prambanan Temple complex is based on a square plot. Consisting of three parts or three zones. Each of these zones is bordered by andesite stone walls.

The outermost zone is marked by a square fence. Each side is 390 meters long. Orientation Northeast to Southwest. Except for the remaining southern gate. Parts of the other gates and also the walls of this temple have largely disappeared.

That is information about the Legend of Prambanan Temple. Although it is only a legend, and no definite evidence has been found, many people still believe in it. Moreover, it is a story inherited from the Indonesian people