Wow Place #316: Prambanam Temple, Indonesia
Growing up, I was almost-magnetically drawn to adventure films like Indiana Jones. I ate up pretty much anything that involved swashbuckling archaeologists battling cannibals, boa constrictors (and yes, Nazis), all in search of hidden, supernatural artifacts. When, in my 20s, I started traveling around the world in earnest, I inevitably set my first sights on visiting the kind of ancient sites that had long captured my imagination.
As it turns out, there aren’t that many authentic, “Indiana Jones-style” temples left in the world. Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Machu Picchu in Peru. Chichen Itza in Mexico. Tikal in Guatemala. A few others. All quite famous, all well-visited, all completely touristed-out.
And then there’s Prambanam, Indonesia’s unknown Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark gem – at least to westerners.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site located 11 miles from Yogyakarta, Prambanam is visited by anywhere from 1-2 million people a year — and yet, who do you know who has actually heard of it, let alone been there?
In reality, Prambanam is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and the second-largest in Southeast Asia after Angkor Wat. It is a very cool, evocative place! Dating back to the 9th Century, the temple compound is dedicated to Trimurti – the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva).
In its heyday it must have been quite a sight: 240 temples representing the grandeur of ancient Java’s Hindu art and architecture, a masterpiece of Indonesia’s classical period. Today, alas, there are only 6 or 8 reconstructed structures left, dominated by a 154-foot central building.
Interestingly, Prambanam’s high period didn’t last long. After being used and expanded for about 80 years, the temples were mysteriously abandoned near the halfway point of the 10th century. The devastating 1006 eruption of nearby Mount Merapi might have been the cause. More likely, it was due to a power struggle between competing Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms. Whatever the reason, the decline of the temple complex began; not long after, Prambanam was abandoned and left to deteriorate.
The local villagers knew about Prambanan, though, devising a wondrous origin story that is worth sharing:
According to legend, there were two neighboring kingdoms in feudal Java: Pengging and Prambanam. Pengging was ruled wisely by Prabu Damar Maya. Prambanam fell under the reign of a wrathful and wicked half-demon king name Prabu Ratu Boko.
Although they put up a good fight, the troops of Damar Maya were no match for the supernatural armies of Ratu Boko. Fearing the loss of his kingdom, Damar Maya consulted with Bandung Bondowoso, a magician who was skilled in dark magic and able to summon demons. Armed with a supernatural arrow of his own creation, Bondowoso climbed to the highest vantage point in Pengging, drew back his bow and shot the demon king through the heart, killing him instantly
Ratu Boko’s army retreated and delivered the news of the king’s death to his beautiful daughter, Princess Loro Jonggrang, known as “The Slender Virgin.” Planning her revenge, Loro Jonggrang arranged an elaborate ceremony to cremate her father’s remains. Bondowoso was invited and accepted. During the ceremony, Loro Jonggrang’s elegant dance moves so bewitched Bondowoso that he requested her hand in marriage. The Princess responded with an impossible challenge: she would only marry him if he were able to build 1,000 temples in a single night. The magician accepted and, as the sun set, he summoned an army of nocturnal spirits and demons to help him with the task.
Not wanting to marry the man who had killed her father, Loro Jonggrang conceived of a plan to trick the supernatural beings. The Princess had the women of the village fill their stone mortars with dried rice stalks and then pound the grains from their stems, a task performed daily at dawn. She then sent her servants out to the east to burn the dried paddies. The combination of noise and firelight prompted the confused roosters in town to begin crowing. Thinking the sun was already rising, the alarmed spirits fled back to the underworld, leaving the final temple incomplete.
Upon learning of Loro Jonggrang’s deceit, the infuriated Bondowoso, cursed the Princess, uttering the words, “There’s only one temple left — let you be the one to complete it!” The princess was instantly turned into a statue of the goddess Durga the Inaccessible, now known as the Slender Virgin. To this day, the statue remains enshrined in the north chamber of the central spire of Prambanan, presumably the 1,000th temple.
Like an Indiana Jones temple, Prambanam – with its jumbled ruins, its graceful stone towers and its mysterious atmosphere – delivers a supernatural origin story with a punch. While visiting, if you happen to see the Slender Virgin come alive and begin to slowly dance and gyrate, please don’t ask for her hand in marriage. Not unless you want a long night of temple building.
(Like many travelers, I often wonder if I should share my “discoveries” with others. After all, if everyone suddenly flocks to a place like Prambanam, won’t it be ruined? On the other hand, might no increased tourism be beneficial to the locals? Does obscurity help or harm people? My point is that we just can’t predict the consequences of our actions. Action as well as inaction can create positive or negative karma, and none of us can predict the future. The trick is to act with positive intentions, trusting that if you have the benefit of most people in mind, most of your decisions will turn out alright. Better yet, ask others what action they would like you to take.)
(Dave Blum is the creator of Dr. Clue Treasure Hunts, www.drclue.com, a teambuilding company featuring over 150 treasure hunt locations worldwide. He has visited over 40 countries in his 60+ years of life and plans to keep traveling until he gives up the ghost. Dave lives in Northern California with his wife, Donica, and their 18-year-old Maine Coon, Ava — an indoor cat who dreams of one day escaping captivity and exploring her own neighborhood Wow Places.)