Candi
Temples
in Indonesia
Candi
Temples in Indonesia
The word ‘candi’ (temple) refers to buildings of various shapes and functions, such as a worshipping place, a religious teaching center, a funerary place for keeping ashes of kings, a dwelling place of the divine, a royal bathing place, or a gateway. Although temples once served many functions, they were built mostly to accommodate Buddhism or Hinduism religious activities.
The existence of temples is inseparable from the history of Javanese kingdoms and the development of Buddhism and Hinduism in Java from 7th century to 14th century. Since Buddhism and Hinduism came from India, the design of most temples adopted Indian style in many aspects, such as the constructing techniques, architectural style, and decorations. However, because of the ample influence of local culture and natural environment, the design of Indonesian temples retains its unique characteristics in the usage of building material, constructing techniques and decoration style. The temple walls are commonly adorned with relief sculpture depicting a story or religious teachings.
Temples in Central Java are unique not only because of their location and shape of the building, but also because of their distinctive high relief sculpture. Objects in the relief sculpture are naturally rendered and always face frontward. There are no distinct boundaries between fragments, while some parts are left without sculptures. There are numerous sculptures of rounded Kalpataru, a sacred tree, which project from the background, all over the walls of Central Java temples.
East Java
Temples in East Java are typically slimmer, with the roof composed of horizontal layers of diminishing size and topped with a cubical stone. It is also common at the temples that on the sides of gate frames, there are statues or sculpture of dragons instead of sculpture of Makaras. Most of them are adorned with bas-relief in symbolical style. Objects in the relief sculpture are shown half-face, and the characters depicted are mostly from Hindu epics. Tipically, they are decorated with relief sculpture or statues that represent Trimurti, the Hindu trinity of gods, or gods relating to Shiva such as Durga, Ganesha or Agastya. In most cases, Hindu-style figures and decorations are presented along with Buddhist figurines or adornment of Tantrayanistic Buddhism.
Yogyakarta
Building nuanced enshrinement of Buddha among others Kalasan, Banyunibo, and Candi Sari. Building enshrinement more nuanced Hindu dominant in Yogyakarta after Rakai Pikatan possibility as early ruler of Mataram Hindu temple construction was made by the Government Hindu Mataram.
Bali
Each village generally has three main temples called Pura Tiga Kahyangan or Pura Tri Kahyangan (temples of three nirvanas), i.e. temples to the worship of Sang Hyang Widi Wasa in three manifestations of power: Desa Temple to the worship of Brahma (the Creator), Puseh Temple to the worship of Vishnu (the Preserver), and Dalem Temple to the worship of Shiva (the Destroyer). Desa (village) Temple is also called Bale Agung, because the temple, which is usually located at village center, also serves as a venue for village consultative meeting.
