KEDULAN TEMPLE

KEDULAN TEMPLE

Address: Kalasan, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

GPS Coordinate: S7°44'12.7" E110°28'13.2"

Revealing the Puzzle of the Ancient Dam nearby Kedulan Temple

Kedulan temple is a Hindu temple that is located in Kedulan village, about 3 kilometers from Kalasan temple. This temple was incidentally discovered by sand diggers on 24 November 1993. We will feel another pleasure visiting this temple since we can see the very sophisticated process of this temple reconstruction.

Arriving at the location of this temple, we can directly see as deep as 7 meters excavation location. There are scattered temple stones around the foot of the main temple that still looks intact. It is in this excavation located the complex of Kedulan temple consisting of 1 main temple and 3 supporting temples (perwara) originally stood. Now, the foot part of the temple is undergoing strength test for next stones overlaying process.

Walking around the excavation location, we will see the stones of the temple being renovated by matching each one to each other. The stones that have matched one to each other is given certain symbols using a chalk. Temporary construction of the temple open verandah, roof, compartments and some other parts of temple body looks there. There are also phallus and yoni that were supposed to be components filling the temple.

Some ornaments decorating the temple already show its beauty even though the temple itself is undergoing the reconstruction. The relief of a dragon under the yoni, for example, which is supposed to fill the principle room of the main temple, has different figure from the dragon decorating the other temple yoni in Central Java since it looks to have a jaw. There are also reliefs of deities, ivory decorations, rose-like decoration, and batik motif on some parts of the temple walls.

After walking around, YogYES interviewed a staff named Haryono. He told the difficulties of reconstructing the destroyed building. There are hundreds of stones to be matched in order to make the temple stands firmly as before, whereas there is no single indicators for the reconstruction. One worker can even match only one pair of stones in a week because of the difficulty. That's true; it's like composing a giant puzzle!

If we get into the information room close to the excavation location, we can see the design of expected Kedulan temple. From the design, we can notice the height of the main temple will be 8 meters, composing of the foot, body, and roof. The temple body consists of 10 stone layers as high as 2,4 meters, with some cavities for Ganesha, Agastya, Durga, Nandaka and Nandiswara statues, with narrow verandah that is predicted only certain people can go inside. The temple roof consists of 13 layers of stones. From the above information, it can be predicted that its architecture is entirely similar to Sambisari temple.

In the information room, too, we can see ruins of decorated bowls and earthenwares that were supposed to be utilized during the ceremony rituals in this temple. Besides, there is also wood originating from the trees growing in the time of the temple construction. Haryono told that once there was someone took some of the wood to make a sculpture but then the person returned it back since he experienced unlucky occurrence.

Photographs of other goods found during the excavation can be seen in the information room. There is a photograph of deity statue from bronze and photographs of Pananggaran and Sumudul inscriptions that were discovered in 2003. On the wall of the room, there are descriptions of the soil layers were the temple was discovered, and photographs depicting the excavation process that lasted for years.

On 12 June 2003, two inscriptions were found in the excavation location. The inscriptions that were written in Pallawa characters in Sanskrit language have been read by two epigraphs from Archeology Department of Gadjah Mada University, namely Dr Riboet Darmoseotopo and Tjahjono Prasodjo MA. Dated 791 Saka (869 AD, or around 10 years after the construction of Prambanan temple), it contains land tax holiday in Pananggaran and Parhyangan villages, construction of irrigation, and foundation of a holy building called Tiwaharyyan and curse threat for anyone who did not comply with the rules.

Some archeologists predicted that those inscriptions are related to the foundation of Kedula temple. The Tiwaharyyan holy building is predicted to be Kedulan temple itself. Pananggaran village in the inscription is predicted to be situated around the temple area, as it is to be of the ancient dam. The dam was possibly constructed in Opak River that is ±4 kilometers from the temple location, or possibly in the river that now is not seen anymore because of the volcanic mudflow resulted from the eruption of the Merapi Mountain a thousand years ago.

Many puzzles waiting for solving and the enchantment of the temple components make the tour to Kedulan Candi worths doing. The condition of the temple under reconstruction even adds to our pleasure.

Text: Yunanto Wiji Utomo
Photo & Artistic: Agung Sulistiono Mabruron
English Translation: Emanuel, Downhill English Services

Copyright © 2007 YogYES.COM

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