Prambanan Temple Compounds

Overview

Prambanan is a Hindu temple compound in central Java, Indonesia, located on the border between the Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces. Its three main temples, built in the 9th century, honor the Hindu gods Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. Indonesian Hindus hold major annual ceremonies at the site, and in 2022 the Indonesian government designated it a place of Hindu worship for Indonesia and the world. Prambanan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Present

Prambanan is managed as part of a state-run heritage park operated by InJourney Destination Management, an Indonesian state-owned company, with archaeological conservation carried out by government heritage authorities. In 2022, the Indonesian government and religious organizations signed an agreement designating Prambanan as a place of Hindu worship for Indonesia and the world, restoring regular ritual use after decades in which the site served mainly tourism, research, and culture. Indonesian Hindus hold the Tawur Agung Kesanga at Prambanan each year, a purification ceremony on the day before Nyepi, the Hindu day of silence observed across Indonesia. Observances of Maha Shivaratri, the annual night of devotion to the god Shiva, also take place at the site. The Sewu temple complex within the same compounds hosts Buddhist observances of Vesak, the festival marking the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.

Religious Significance

Buddhism (from the 8th century CE)

Buddhists regard the Sewu complex within the Prambanan compounds as a sanctuary of Manjushri, an enlightened figure revered as the embodiment of wisdom. Sewu's original name was Manjusrigrha, the House of Manjushri. Its hundreds of shrines are arranged as a mandala, a diagram of the cosmos in Buddhist thought. Observances of Vesak, the festival marking the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha, take place at Sewu annually.

Hinduism (from the 9th century CE)

Prambanan honors the Trimurti, the three principal gods of Hinduism: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer and renewer. The central and largest temple honors Shiva, whose worship the temple's builders followed as their principal devotion. Hindu tradition regards the temple as a representation of the cosmos, rising from the human world at its base to the realm of the gods at its summit. Relief carvings along the galleries depict the Ramayana, one of Hinduism's two great epics, which tells the story of the prince Rama and the rescue of his wife Sita. Worshippers gather at Prambanan each year for the Tawur Agung Kesanga, the purification ceremony held on the day before Nyepi, the Hindu day of silence, and for Maha Shivaratri, the annual night of devotion to Shiva.

History & Structure

Prambanan was built in the mid-9th century CE by the Mataram kingdom, a Javanese realm whose rulers turned from Buddhist patronage to the worship of Shiva. The compound was expanded by successive kings and originally comprised 240 temples. The Sewu, Lumbung, and Bubrah temples within the wider compounds were built earlier, in the late 8th century, under Buddhist patronage. The temples fell out of use in the 10th and 11th centuries after the royal court moved to eastern Java. They collapsed in an earthquake in the 16th century. Systematic reconstruction began in the 1930s. The restored central Shiva temple was inaugurated in 1953, and reconstruction work on the compound continues. The Prambanan Temple Compounds became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. An earthquake in 2006 damaged the compound, and repairs followed. The three main temples rise from a walled central court and are built of carved volcanic stone with tall, pointed towers. The Shiva temple, the largest, rises 47 meters. Three smaller temples facing the main three honor the animal mounts of the gods.

Additional Resources

• Official website: InJourney Destination Management: Prambanan Temple
• UNESCO: Prambanan Temple Compounds