Java Island Indonesia - Two temples, two faiths

A visit to the city of Yogyjakarta gave me the opportunity to visit two famous temples. Borobudur, a Buddhist temple and Prambanan, a Hindu temple.  Both temples were constructed in the 9th century and both are located in the Central Java region of Indonesia. Two temples, two faiths, located in the same area at the same time period, indicates that people who were different were coexisting with one another.

BOROBUDUR
Listed as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, Borobudur temple is built upon a hill, rising into the sky with nine stacked platforms. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. My brother, who visited the temple 24 years ago recalls a only a parking lot and a temple. Since that time the site has been developed and improved with acres and acres of gardens, visitors centers, a road train, etc. As our bus parked we were instantly bombarded by merchants (who immediately approached our bus) trying to sell us selfie sticks, hats, t-shirts, sunglasses, key chains, you name it!  "I yelled we're being swarmed"! Feeling under attack I quickly found a place to "hide" in plain site. Not realizing, at the time, that it would be the first of many "attacks" I would be confronted with as my visit to Borobudur continued.

The ascent to the top of the temple is not for the faint-hearted. As the sun beat down on me and the humidity seemed to be a it's maximum, I made the decision to "pace myself", taking my time during the climb and enjoying the sites along the way. Soon I learned about the belief that if you touch a Buddha's hand (Buddha in the bell) your wish would come true.  Every Buddha I found was missing arms or fingers. I managed, even with my long arms, only to touch a wrist.  Ready to give up, I was directed by a family member to a Buddha whose bell had been removed or lost. As I touched his hand, I made my wish.  I am not Buddhist, nor do I believe in wishes and luck and such, however, I will never claim to know all realities in life, so I am willing to take a chance on any possibility.


People used to call the temple, "the lost temple of Borobudur", because it had been hidden for many years under volcanic ash from near by Mount Merapi. Only locals knew of the temple's existence, so really it wasn't lost or hidden (in my opinion). It was re-discovered and documented by a the British ruler of Java (Sir Thomas Standford Raffles) in 1814. Several restoration projects have been carried out over the last century to piece together the temple, clean, re-engineer and preserve the site.

The temple has many relief panels (2,672) that tell the story of the life of Budda, the royalty and oridnary people in the region.

My brother on his second visit to Borobudur

While visiting the temple the legs (men and women) must be covered from below the knee up. If you do not have appropriate attire, a sarong is provided. My brother came prepared, wearing one of his coordinating Indonesian sarongs.

Me in front of one of the 72 of bells around the temple. There are bells on each tier level and each bell has a Budda statue inside.

The "uncovered" bell, where I made my wish.

Ongoing restoration continues and there are plans to continue the re-assembly of the temple.

We continued our visit with a tour of the Museum and by watching the video presentation the presentation gave us a good historical perspective on this cutural site.

Replica ship at museum

Temple parts that still in need of reassembly

Museum gardens  

We could not to escape the multitudes of shops on our way out since you must past through them to exit the site.  By the time we were through we were hungry and thirsty and ultimately stopped to have more coconut water, noodles and ice cream for me.  All along the way talking to locals who were always ready to make deals. 

I finally gave in and bought a cute purse as a gift

An adorable local enjoying a refreshing treat

All said a very productive day spent at the temple but the day was not over as we continued on to another temple that had more differences than similarities.

PRAMBANAN

While Borobudur sits on a hill and climbs to the sky.  Prambanan sits on and open flat area making it clearly visible to all who approach. Also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. It is a complex of individual temples with the central temple of 154 feet high. The temple was originally constructed to honor Lord Shiva and the Opak river was redirected in order to construct the temple on this site. Eventually the temple was expanded and area grew with the addition of hundreds of Perwara temples built around the main temple.

The orginal layout entailed 3 Trimuri temples dedicated to Shiva, Visnu and Brahma, 3 Vahana temples dedicated to Nandi, Garuda and Hamsa, 2 Apit temples , 8 small shrine Apit and Patok temples and  224 Pervara temples.  For a total of 240 total temples at the Prambanan complex.

At some point Prambanan served as a royal temple for the Kingdom of Mataram.  Unfortunately the temple was eventually abandoned with the exact reason unknown.  Perhaps a power struggle or a volcanic eruption cause the change.  Eventually the eruption of Merapi in the16th century caused substantial damage to the temples but ruins were still known to the locals nearby. Over the years several different tales, legends and folklore of cursed princesses and giants created  by locals due to the lack of knowledge about the temples true historical origins.  

My niece and nephew posing in front of a restored Pervara Temple

The main Shiva Temple

In 1811 during a British occupation a surveyor accidently found the temples and his boy Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles commissioned a full survey of the ruins.  The temple was never cared for an eventually dutch residents stole sculptures to use in their gardens and locals took foundation stones to use for construction. Unfortunately looting of the temple continued until the Dutch decided to start a reconstruction project in 1918. Reconstruction has continued to this day however as much of the masonary of the smaller temples is missing, much remains unrestored.

A Pervara temple in ruins

More ruins of the Pervara temples, only foundations remain.

Vahana Temple

Another Vahana Temple

One of the temple gods - Vishnu?

As one enters into the 3 larger temples.  The gods can be found inside their own rooms each with a separate entrance.  As a non-Hindu, the only one I recognized (due to a recent gift) was Ganesh.

Hand carved reliefs

Prambanan a Hindu temple site was a gorgeous sight with the sun low in the sky behind the temples, casting them into shadows.  One could imagine the splendor that the site must have once been.  Since another major restoration in the 1990s, the site has been reclaimed as a religious center for Hindu ceremonies and rituals.  Unfortunately, over the years, the site has been in danger from earthquakes and volcano eruptions. Significant damage occurred during an earthquake in 2006, in 2010 the site was spared damage when Merapi erupted because the wind took the ash in a different direction.  However in 2014 the eruption of the Kelud volcano closed the site due to volcanic ash.

Mount Merapi (Active Volcano, last eruption March 10, 2014)

Copyright 2017.Vivienne Lettsome.  All rights reserved.

For more information go to:http://borobudurpark.com and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prambanan