Prambanan: A Step into the Past

The surreal Prambanan

The temple area was drenched wet at the time of our visit to Prambanan. We entered after our guide bought us a ticket each. I thought usually the guide comes in and show us around but this is not the case in Prambanan or Borobodur. We decided not to take the guide because it seemed expensive. I was sure about the price exactly but there were so many zeros in Indonesian price tags it scared me off. Furthermore, I just wanted to have a look at this heritage that has been talked about for as long as I have studied Asean Art History. 

The walkway leading to the temple

There were rows of jasmine plants along the walkway leading to the temples. You don't actually see the temple once you come from the entrance. One needs to walk about 5 minutes and take a right turn and there stood the breathtaking Prambanan. It was majestically standing with a few pagoda shapes structure at the end of the walkway.

This was one of the pagoda shaped structure or one of the temple

After climbing a few stairs, I entered the complex of the temple. The ground was not paved as you can see in the picture above. There were several pagoda structure but I only went into one. I guess that is the main temple because Shiva's statue was at the top inside a shallow room. What I found interesting is the staircase were large and it would a take great effort to climb up. I was imagining how the devotees would make their way up and down. Where did they get such rocks from?

Shiva's statue was up in the room. 

I came here mainly because of the motifs found on Prambanan. Although I have seen kala on temples in Bali and Cambodia, I needed to see it here in Jogja. It never occurred to me to study the stylistic difference between the kala but I think I will make some effort in the future. 

Although kala seemed very gory, it is actually a symbol of protection. It is placed at the entrance of houses, temples and even I found one at the entrance of the Kraton at Jogja. People believed that it protects the place from evil spirit.

Makara from side view

Makara from frontal view

Another motif that I wished to see was the makara. Makara was believed to be the mythical sea animal with the truck of an elephant. One can see makara on boats in Kelantan, Terengganu and Southern Thai. Since it is a sea animal, people believed it protects the boats from evil spirit when fishermen leaves for the sea. I believed it was also the transport of Shiva, but not entirely sure of it.

Kala

The pagoda shaped structure resembles the temples in Angkor Wat 

We had to walk a long way to get out of the complex. We came across a museum which housed some gamelan instruments and other historical documents which I didn't get to read. It was raining again by the time we finished going around the temples.

The museum

The entrance to the museum

We had to past through a huge field before going out

The Prambanan was looked after well. It was clean, even the toilets were clean. I am very particular about toilets when I travel, so I am happy. However, when I visited Borobodur, I started to think that maybe Prambanan was not as important because the treatment of tourist at the former was even special. Wait for my next blog post.