Prambanan

The Mataran kingdom, ruled by the Hindu nobleman Sanjaya, was the largest kingdom in ancient Java.  However, in 750, the Buddhist Syailendra dynasty expelled Sanjaya, who relocated to the highlands.  One century later, Rakai Pikatan, a descendant of Sanjaya, married into the Syailendra family and came to rule the Mataran kingdom.  He built Prambanan Temple complex in 856 to commemorate the return to power of the Sanjaya Dynasty.  (Some say Prambanan is the Hindu response to Borobudar.)

 

Another century later, the Mataran kingdom abandoned Prambanan when it moved to East Java.  The Temple complex collapsed in a sixteenth century earthquake, and was thereafter essentially forgotten.  The Temple complex was rediscovered in 1848, and restoration continues today.

Prmabanan consist of three main shrines called the Trimurti (three forms) dedicated to Brahma (God as creator), Vishnu (God as sustainer) and Shiva (God as destroyer).  The Shiva shrine is the largest, standing 47 meters tall and 37 meters wide.  

The other smaller temples at the Prambanan complex are dedicated to the vahana (vehicles) for the different aspects of God (a swan, an eagle and a bull).

Galleries with bass reliefs telling this story of Ramayana encircle the Shiva shrine, and continue to the Brahma shrine galleries. The Ramayana story tells of the abduction of Sita, the wife of Rama, by Ravenna.  A monkey king, Hanuman, helps win her release.  The Ramayana Ballet, consisting of Javanese dance, is performed at Parmbanan during the full moon.  I saw this beautiful production on the last full moon.

After visiting  Prambanan, I have been thinking about Shiva, the destroyer.  We do not explicitly assign a destroyer function to the God of classical theism, though the function is implicit.  In all creation there is destruction of the old in order to accomplish the new, which also incorporates the old.  

 

Shiva dancing magic thunder

  Striking at illusion

separateness,

 anger,

 greed!

Sow a new path

Dance a new way

 through an old veil

born out of fire

into bliss,

   into bliss

 for your love

starlight dissolves

into  this,

 into this.