Most Indians round the world know Bali as being the representative of dharmic culture in South East Asia. But most would be surprised that central Java in Indonesia is an unlikely place, which showcases Indian architecture. It was an embodiment of the Hindu and Buddhist cultures prevalent outside of India few centuries back.



The period roughly between 680 AD and 930 AD was the golden period of the Hindu-Buddhist architecture or more commonly known as the Hindu-Javanese architecture. This was the period that the Hindu-Buddhist Mataram Kingdom flourished (not to be confused with the Mataram Sultanate) under couple of dynasties, Sailendra and Sanjaya, which followed the two dharmic faiths, Hinduism and Buddhism.

I travelled to Yogyakarta, Central Java in May 2015 along with my wife. The excitement and expectation had taken care of any disturbance to my circadian rhythm after 18 hours of a grueling flight from the US. The reason for my anticipation was I happened to see the magnificent Angkor Wat in Cambodia in 2008 and the spectacular Brihadeeswarar temple in Tanjore in 2013 and was looking forward to see the Prambanan.

The common relationship between them is that they share the same architectural style – Pallava-Chola South Indian style. Though the geometrical pattern of the surrounding Perwara temples (discussed later) of the Prambanan follow the Pala architecture as seen in the Somapura Vihara ruins in Paharpur located in the present day Bangladesh.



To give you background, I grew up in Tamil Nadu, India and had spent my childhood reading and romanticizing novels written by Kalki Krishnamurthy like Ponniyin Selvan (historical fiction of the emperor Raja Raja Chola, who influenced the spread of Hindu culture and the South Indian Chola architecture across the Indian Ocean) and Sivagamiyin Sabatham (historical fiction about the emperor Mamalla Varma Pallava, whose name the city of Mamallapuram bears). But later I had deviated from the culture, pulled into the corporate world and immersed into building a career for myself. Visiting those fascinating pieces of Indian architecture had rekindled my romance to my culture.



But little did I realize that I would be overwhelmed by the stunning architectural and cultural experience I had in those few days I was there. It was not just Prambanan but other structures like the Candi Sewu, Candi Sambisari and Borobudur which overwhelmed me.



These various structures represent different architectures such as Pallava-Chola architecture, Pala architecture, Gupta architecture and indigenous Javanese architecture. In this article, I briefly cover few of the architectural wonders in that region. But I would start with the disclaimer that I cannot do justice to the places like my childhood favorite writer, Kalki, who can carry you back in time to the place through his incantation.



Before I can go through the different structures, a brief introduction to the temples of Indonesia. Temples of Indonesia are of three different kinds - Pura, Candi and Koil. The Candi (pronounced as Chandi) temples are more of Javanese temples, e.g., the Candi Prambanan while Koil are those temples constructed by Indian traders from Tamil Nadu, e.g., Mariamman Koil in Aceh in the 19th century. The third type of temples are the ones constructed by the Balinese and Tenggerese called Pura temples in Eastern Java and Bali, e.g., Pura Luhur Poten in Mount Bromo.



Needless to point out, the temples here are called Candi. Candi itself is derived from Candika, one of the manifestations of the goddess Durga and indicates the temples built in Indonesia, during the ‘Indianized period’, between the seventh and fifteenth centuries. Most of these structures are built in that period when Indian culture was at its peak in these parts of the world.

I will breakdown this article accordingly into a three-part series, Prambanan Temple Compounds, Borobudur and Other Temples/monuments each packaged as a self-contained article with the tips and directions for various structures.

Part 1 - Prambanan Temple Compounds

I had rented a cottage in Hotel Poeri Devata, which had a beautiful visual of the Prambanan temples as it was located right next to the Prambanan temple compounds. Next morning at around 8 a.m., I was dropped off by the hotel shuttle in front of the entrance to the Prambanan temple compounds, where we were shown our way to a separate entrance meant for foreigners.

Foreigners need to pay USD $17 per person. We were offered a cup of coffee which was refreshing in itself similar to the coffees we drank elsewhere in Indonesia. Once we were done with our coffee, we started walking towards the Prambanan temple. Lo and behold, the complex started to unfold beyond my extensive imagination.