Prambanan – A Big Puzzle Blocks & Legend of Slender Virgin

From L - R : Candi Angsa (front), Candi Brahma (back), Candi Nandi (front) & Candi Shiva (back)
on Lumix GX1 ISO160, 14mm f4.5 & 1/125 with presets to vivid photo style.

Listed under UNESCO World Heritage No. 642, the temple built around 9^th Century by Javanese Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty’s, Prambanan is the answer to Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty’s Borobudur temple, 50km away from at Magelang before collapsed during volcano eruption and earthquake in the 16^th century. The Javanese locals surrounding villages aware of the temple’s existence before it officially declare ‘rediscovery’ by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, which came upon the temples by chance.

There are 240 temples standing during their golden age, but 222 from 224 smaller temples (Pervara Temple) located at the outside main yard are piles of big rubbles and ruin of stones around Prambanan. During the process of restoration and reconstruction, the archeologists, engineers and architects had no plans or diagrams of the temple to work with, therefore each block of stone was painstakingly together through a trial and error and it may take a century or more for restoration...each block of stone is just like a puzzle piece.

From L - R : Candi Vishnu, Candi Shiva & Candi Brahma on Lumix GX1 ISO160, 14mm f4
& 1/125 with presets to vivid photo style.

With the statues and ruins of Prambanan, rise a legend and fairytales of Putri Lara Jonggrang…a war, love and a broken heart story.

One upon a time, there are two Hindu kingdoms in Java, knew as Pengging and Boko. The wealthy Pengging kingdom ruled by a wise king named Prabu Damar Moyo while Boko by Prabu Boko, which basically interested in beating the crap and taking over the entire land. Boko then declares war on Pengging and won the battle. End of Part One – War Is Over.

Humiliated and seeking revenge for his kingdom’s defeat, Damar sends his son named Bandung over to Boko and assassinated King of Boko. End of Part Two – Assassination of King Boko.

(The music with love theme plays as background). After the successful assassinated King Boko, Bandung stumbled then lays his eyes with Putri Lara Jonggrang, a beautiful young daughter of King Boko (the love music theme continue) and immediately falls in love with her and proposes Loro Jonggrang to be his wife. End of Part Three – fall in love at first sight.

Seeing Bandung was desperate for her love, Lara Jonggrang decides to play Bandung up and stuck with two deals with the lovesick man. “Get into a well for me”…said Lara Jonggrang, which Bandung willingly did. Then she instructed the royal monster to fill the well with big stones to block Bandung’s entry out. But hero always has a way out. He managed to escape via some meditating. End of Part Four – Big Escape.

“Build me 1,000 temples in 1 night!” said Lara Jonggrang on her last wish. “If you success to complete it before dawn breaks, I will marry you, dude”. Not wanting to lose out on a bet with her father killer, Lara Jonggrang then sought the help from women form her land and told them to pound rice and burning dried paddy stalks to simulate the rising of morning sun. Crows were fooled and started crowing, the Bandung’s spirit of supernatural helpers fled back into the ground while doing the thousandth temple. End of Part Five – Mission Unaccomplished.

From L - R : Apit, Brahma, Angsa, Shiva, Nandi, Vishnu, Pervara Temple, Apit & Garuda on Lumix GX1
ISO160, 23mm f20, 1/6 & 0.3EV with AutoWB

“Hey Lara Jonggrang, the temples are all here but one, and you shall be the one thousandth!” curse Bandung to gorgeous princes standing before his eyes. Before Lara Jonggrang knew what hit her, she has been turned into a stone statue, and the princess is the image of Durga and still stands today in the north cell of Candi Shiwa at Prambanan. The unfinished thousandth temple created by the spirit of supernatural becomes the Candi Sewu means “thousands” in Javanese. The End.

 Image of Durga or Lara Jonggrang inside one of Candi Shiva's chamber on Lumix GX1
ISO1600, 14mm f3.5 & 1/8 convert to B&W.

Entrance Fee IDR171,000 (Foreigner), Child IDR85,000 and parking fee IDR5,000. Local tour guide (for better understand) IDR75,000. Within the Prambanan Archaeological Park there are another three candi - Lumbung, Bubrah and Sewu (the 1,000th temple of Lara Jonggrang legend).