Candi of Java
Candi are archaeological treasures from past civilizations in Java. Many originally served as religious monuments, while a number of them also used to be related to the courts of various Javanese kingdoms. There are hundreds of candi, large and small, that have been excavated so far. Only a few of them have undergone restoration. The most dense population of candi can be found in the interior heart-land of Java, as well as in the eastern part of the island. A few candi, albeit not as numerous and elaborate in their structure as the candi of Java, can also be found in West Java and some parts of Sumatra.
The builders of the candi of Java were the various Buddhist and Hindu dynasties ruling Java from the eighth century through the fifteenth century CE. The Hindu kingdom of Mataram was credited with building many of them. The oldest of these excavated candi is a complex of candi found in the Dieng plateau in central Java. They were built in the late eighth to early ninth centuries.
While most candi are Hindu, a number of them were built by Buddhist dynasties. The largest of the candi of Java, the Borobudur, was in fact built by the Buddhist dynasty of Sailendra in the ninth century. Covering an area of 15,129 square meters and standing 42 meters high, the Borobudur is one of largest ancient monuments in the world. The most elaborate of the Hindu candi, the Prambanan group, was built around half a century after Borobudur was completed. Built by the Hindu Mataram kingdom, the Prambanan consists of 3 large candi surrounded by 224 minor ones. It was built as a commemoration of the return of Hindu rule in Java after the demise of the Buddhist Sailendra. It is also believed that Prambanan was meant as a Hindu's answer to the grandeur of Borobudur.
With the shift of power to the east at the turn of the second millennium, candi construction also moved eastward. The major east Java kingdoms, such as Kediri, Singasari, and Majapahit, are credited with building candi in this area. While serving in functions similar to those of central Java's candi, the east Java variants are rather distinct in their construction material and layout. For instance, while the central Java candi are invariably built with andesite, many in east Java, especially from later period (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries under Majapahit), used red bricks. While most of the candi in central Java are facing to the east, the east Java ones face to the west.
Further Reading
Dumarçay, Jacques. (1986) The Temples of Java. Translated and edited by Michael Smithies. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
Provincial Government of Central Java, Indonesia. (1982) Candi in Central Java, Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia: Jayakarta Agung Offset.
Ariswara. (1982) Temples of Java. Jakarta, Indonesia: Intermasa.
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