Early medieval · Hindu · Indonesia

Prambanan (Candi Rara Jonggrang)

Prambanan, Yogyakarta/Central Java · -7.7520°, 110.4915°

Trimurti (47 m Shiva temple central)Mataram (Sanjaya)Javanese Hindu (towering candi)UNESCO World Heritage

Sacred since

850 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

c. 850, expanded to 900s

patron: Rakai Pikatan

History & significance

The greatest Hindu temple of Indonesia and Borobudur's counterpart across the plain — 240 shrines originally, the 47 m Shiva tower flanked by Brahma and Vishnu, ringed with Ramayana reliefs that the Ramayana Ballet still dances against the floodlit towers on full-moon nights. Raised by Rakai Pikatan as the Hindu answer of the Sanjaya line to the Sailendras' Borobudur; UNESCO-listed in 1991.

Sthala katha — the legend

Prince Bandung Bondowoso, to win Rara Jonggrang, had to build a thousand temples in one night; when spirits neared success she had the village women pound rice to trick the cocks into crowing dawn. Enraged at 999, he cursed her to stone — the slender Durga in the north cell, the 'slender maiden' the complex is named for.

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