Hi Guys,
Indonesia is a large country with
quite a lot of tourist places around the islands. Yogyarkata (pronounced
Jogjakarta and often called as Jogja) occupies a key place in the hearts of the
local Indonesians for the cultural heritage and amazing food the place offers.
I decided to visit Jogja over a weekend back in March during my stay in Jakarta.
The main aim of the trip was to cover the two major UNESCO sites – Prambanan and
Borobudur Temples.
Hence, the first stop was
Prambanan Temple. Situated at around 8 km from the Airport, I took a Transjogja
bus to the temple. Prambanan temple (Candi Prambanan in local) is one of the
giant Hindu temple complexes in the world. Constructed in the 9th
century by Sanjaya Dynasty as an answer to the Buddhist Borobudur temple, the
scale and magnitude of the temple is spectacular. Supposedly, there were a
total of 240 temples in the complex. Can you believe it? Of course, not all of
them were big. The biggest of all of them is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is 47
Meters tall. There are two other 33 Meters tall temples dedicated to Lord
Brahma and Lord Vishnu. Naturally, the temple is called a Trimurti temple. Apart
from the three major structure, there are quite a few tall temples dedicated to
the vehicles of the Gods and smaller shrines dedicated to Goddess Saraswati and
Laxmi. And there are 224 smaller temples surrounding the perimeter, most of
which have been destroyed today.
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| A Side view of the Temple Complex |
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| The three main temples from Behind - On the Extreme left is the temple for Lord Vishnu, the one is the center if for Lord Shiva and the extreme right is of that of Lord Brahma |
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| One of the flank temples |
The temple complex is large and
you have to be prepared to walk around a lot. The entrance fee is expensive. A
combined pass to Prambanan and Borobudur temple costs USD 40 or IDR 540,000 (Indonesian
currency can drive you crazy!) The temple was filled with a large number of
local tourists, particularly school kids. Quite a few school kids flanked me as
they were given an assignment to interview a foreigner. After dictating the pre written questions and
recording my answer, they wanted a photograph (Another thing you will come
across is that kids will want to take photos with you, similar to how the
Indian kids flank around foreigners for
a photograph).
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| The peripheral temples are damaged beyond restoration |
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| A statue of Lord Ganesa in the Shiva temple |
On an overcast day, it was humid
and tiring to climb around all the temples to see the statues. The temple walls
are filled with descriptions of Ramayana and Bhagavat Geetha. A large credit
has to be given to the Dutch rulers and later the local Government for
restoring the temple. The temple is in a very unstable zone with frequent
Earthquakes and is also in a close proximity to many volcanoes around.
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| The temple is flanked with inscriptions of Ramayana - here is one of them with Lord Ram |
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| Monument describing Earth Quake |
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| And the fallen tower |
By the time I was done with the main complex, I was tired and was not prepared to roam around the other three Buddhist Candis around in the same complex. On a good day, you can spend half a day around in this place roaming around temples, taking pictures from a few photographic points, renting a bicycle, visiting the museum and crawling through the local souvenir shops. There is also a spectacular Ramayana Ballet performance organized at regular intervals. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend them.
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| A Silhouette of the temples on an overcast day |
After getting a few souvenirs, it
was time to get to Borobudur. Booking a Grab from Prambanan made it an easy
journey at a cost of IDR 145,000. Borobudur is 40 kms from Prambanan temple and
after taking a stroll through the paddy fields and villages, we hit the
highway. And Indonesia’s rainy season started the show. It was raining heavily
and densely. Effectively, it took 2 hours to reach Borobudur where I had booked
a home stay for the night. After having a no meat Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) and
some Chocolate Milkshake, I hit the bed.
The plan was to get up early in
the morning and visit the temple before the tourist crowd hits in.
Click here to read Part 2 - Spectacular Borobudur!
Happy Reading!!!
