The Braeburn Blog: Indonesia Day 4 Part I: Prambanan

I’m writing this from the long train ride from Yogya to Probolinggo, reflecting on how amazing it is that in one day I got to see and walk on two UNESCO-designated ancient temples, built by followers of two different religions over decades in separate centuries.

But first things first: our beautiful hostel-provided breakfast.

Our driver picked us up at 8am and drove us about 40 minutes to Prambanan, a 9th-century Hindu temple compound thought to be a masterpiece of the classical period in Indonesia. It’s the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and the second largest in Southeast Asia (after Angkor Wat in Cambodia). The complex originally consisted of 240 structures that represent the grandeur of ancient Java’s Hindu art and architecture (Java is the island we’re on).

The temple is adorned with panels of narrative stone reliefs telling the story of the Hindu epic Ramayana and Bhagavata Purana, involving a beautiful woman (Sita) who sees a golden deer and begs her gallant husband to capture it for her. He knows it’s a trick from the evil devil king, but she is hysterical that he must get it for her, so reluctantly he leaves his brother to protect her while he chases after the fake deer. Then the devil king tricks Sita into thinking that her husband is hurt, so she sends his brother off to investigate. The brother reallyyy doesn’t want to leave her, knowing how guileless she is (as are all beautiful women), but she insists so he creates a magical shield around her to protect her while he’s gone. Now that she’s finally alone, the devil king shows up in the form of an old man who says he’s starving, could she please spare some food? Cementing her idiocy, she reaches her arm outside the protective shield and is promptly carried away by the devil king. Eventually the husband rescues her but considers divorcing her because he worries that the devil guy might have tarnished her sexual purity. Naturally, he throws her in a fire to test her virtue. She survives and they stay married happily ever after. This story represents how men historically have viewed women as pretty objects that exist to create narrative tension to and be rescued from other men.

Hayley and I were not fans of the story, but I did think it super interesting that it was told through the puppets in the Wayang museum as well in the reliefs of the Prambanan temple. Turns out it’s a classic Hindu tale, but to my uninformed brain it was exciting to see the same story repeated in different contexts.