Candi Prambanan a Temple Built by The Demons

Candi Prambanan is a temple of Hinduism, it means this temple is a holy place, just like church for Christian or mosque for the Muslim. It's a place for worship for the God. But what is unique from this temple is this temple is build by the demons according to the legend and the folk story. Can you imagine if a church or a mosque built by demons? It sounds funny, isn't it? How can the demons built a holy place for the demons?

And this is the answer for that question. Long time ago there was a very beautiful princess, Roro Jonggrang. There was a prince, Bandung Bondowoso who wanted to married her but Roro Jonggrang hated this prince because this Bandung Bondowoso killed her father. She made a condition to that price to built her 1000 temples in a single night. And Bandung Bondowoso was agree. Then Bandung Bandowoso asked the demons to built that temples and the demons built that temples. But unfortunately the demons were failed, they could built 999 temples. This is why this temples were built by the demons. This is according to the legend or folk story.

Candi Prambanan

But according to the history this temple was build by a Kingdom Sanjaya by a King Rakai Pikatan in 850 M. This temple was built as the counter of the Candi Borudur a Buddhist temple. Hinduism and Buddhist were the biggest religions in Indonesia at that time. According to inscription Siwagrha, Candi Prambanan is a temple to honor Shiva. There are three biggest temples on Candi Prambanan, they are Brahma's temple, Vishnu's temple, and Shiva's temple. Shiva's temple is the biggest temple.

The temple compound, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia, and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. It is characterized by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47-metre-high (154 ft) central building inside a large complex of individual temples. Prambanan attracts many visitors from around the world.

You can see a beautiful architect on this temple, many beautiful reliefs, and many beautiful statues, and all of them are ancient. You cannot see architect like this in Europe, America, Australia, and Africa. People who love historical traveling, who love Asian, and who love Hinduism should visit this place. I think there are not many people are Hinduism now in this world. You can see that long time ago Hinduism was a big religion from this great temple.

There are many stories written or carved on the walls of the temples. It likes you are reading a story on the big wall stone book with pictures. Maybe it was a cinema or a theater long time ago. You will see the story of  Ramayana and Krishnayana, Lokapala, Brahmana, and Dewata, Panil Prambanan: Singa and Kalpataru. These stories carved with beautiful pictures, beautiful art. It just like you are watching some films in the cinema. You will see great history and amazing arts on this temple. You can touch the carved with your hands to feel how is the true art and you can feel the story goes on your hands.

This temple is located in Kecamatan Prambanan, Sleman and Kecamatan Prambanan, Klaten, about 17 km from Yogya. While you are traveling in Yogyakarta you can visit this great temple only by walking some minutes.