Kalasan (, Javanese: ꦕꦟ꧀ꦝꦶꦏꦭꦱꦤ꧀, ''Candhi Kalasan''), also known as Candi Kalibening, is an 8th-century

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It is located east of

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

on the way to

Prambanan Prambanan (, , Javanese script, Hanacaraka: ꦫꦫꦗꦺꦴꦁꦒꦿꦁ) is a 9th-century Hindu temple, Hindu Candi of Indonesia, temple compound in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, in southern Java, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimurti, Trimūr ...

temple, on the south side of Jalan Solo main road (part of Indonesian National Route 15) between Yogyakarta and

Surakarta Surakarta (Javanese script, Javanese: , Pegon script, Pegon: ), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese script, Javanese: ; ), is a major List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java, Indonesia. The city adjoins Karanganyar Reg ...

. Administratively, it is located in the Kalasan District (''kapanewon'') of

Sleman Regency Sleman Regency (; ) is an Indonesian regency () on the island of Java. It is located in the north of the Yogyakarta Special Region, Yogyakarta Special Administrative Region, Indonesia, and has an area of , with a population of 1,093,110 at the ...

History

According to the Kalasan inscription dated 778 AD, written in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

using Pranagari script, the temple was erected by the will of ''Guru Sang Raja Sailendravamçatilaka'' (the Jewel of the Sailendra family) who succeeded in persuading Maharaja Tejapurnapana Panangkaran (in another part of the inscription also called Kariyana Panangkaran) to construct ''Tarabhavanam'', a holy building for the goddess (boddhisattvadevi) Tara. In addition, a Vihara (

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

) was built for

Buddhist monks A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimo ...

from the Sailendra family's realm. Panangkaran awarded the Kalaça village to

Sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

(Buddhist monastic community). According to the date of this inscription, Kalasan temple is the oldest of the temples built in the

Prambanan Plain Kewu Plain, also known as Prambanan Plain or Opak River Valley, is a fertile volcanic plain that lies between the Merapi-Merbabu complex in the north, the Bantul lowlands and Sewu karst limestone range in the south, Bengawan Solo river valley ...

. Despite being renovated and partially rebuilt during the Dutch colonial era, the temple is currently in poor condition. Compared to other temples nearby such as Prambanan, Sewu, and Sambisari the temple is not well maintained.

Architecture

The temple stands on a square 14.20 meters sub-basement. The temple plan is cross-shaped, and designed as a twelve-cornered polygon. Each of the four cardinal points has stairs and gates adorned with Kala-Makara and rooms measuring 3,5 square meters. No statue is to be found in the smaller rooms facing north, west, and south; but the lotus pedestals suggest that the rooms once contained statues of

Bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, ''Enlightenment in Buddhism, bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal n ...

. The temple is richly decorated with Buddhist figures such as the Bodhisattva and

Gana The word ( ) in Sanskrit and Pali means "flock, troop, multitude, number, tribe, category, series, or class". It can also be used to refer to a "body of attendants" and can refer to "a company, any assemblage or association of men formed for t ...

. The Kala Face above the southern door has been photographed and used by several foreign academics in their books to give an idea of the artistry in stone by Central Javanese artists of a millennia ago. Niches where the statues would have been placed are found inside and outside the temple. The niches adorned an outer wall intricately carved with Kala, gods, and divinities in scenes depicting the

svarga Svarga (, ), also known as Swarga, Indraloka and Svargaloka, is the celestial abode of the devas in Hinduism. Svarga is one of the seven higher lokas ( esoteric planes) in Hindu cosmology. Svarga is often translated as heaven, though it is reg ...

loka, the celestial palace of the gods,

apsaras Apsaras (, , Khmer: អប្សរា are a class of celestial beings in Hindu and Buddhist culture. They were originally a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters, but, later play the role of a "nymph" or "fairy". They figure ...

, and

gandharvas A ''gandharva'' () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they ...

. The roof of the temple is designed in three sections. The lower one is still according to the polygonal shape of the body and contains small niches with statues of bodhisattvas seated on a lotus. Each of these niches is crowned with stupas. The middle part of the roof is an octagonal (eight-sided) shape. Each of these eight sides adorned with niches contains a statue of a Dhyani Buddha flanked by two standing bodhisattvas. The top part of the roof is almost circular and also has 8 niches crowned with a single large dagoba. The octagonal aspect of the structure has led to speculation of non-Buddhist elements in the temple, similar to some interpretations of the early

Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur (, ), is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, near the city of Magelang and the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesia. Constructed of gray andesite-like stone, the temple consi ...

structure. The temple is facing east, with the eastern room also serving as access to the main central room. In the larger main room, there is a lotus pedestal and throne carved with makara, lion, and elephant figures, similar to the Buddha Vairocana throne found in Mendut temple. According to the Kalasan inscription, the temple once houses the large (probably reaching 4 meters tall) statue of the Boddhisattvadevi Tara. By the design of the throne, most probably the statue of the goddess was in a seated position and made from bronze. Now the statue is missing, probably the same fate as the bronze Buddha statue in Sewu temple, being looted for scrap metal over centuries. On the outer wall of the temple found traces of plaster called ''vajralepa'' (lit: diamond plaster). The same substance was also found in the nearby

Sari A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...

temple. The white-yellowish plaster was applied to protect the temple wall, but now the plaster has worn off. The temple is located on the archaeologically rich Prambanan plain. Just a few hundred meters northeast of Kalasan temple is located Sari temple. Candi Sari was most probably the monastery mentioned in the Kalasan inscription. Further east lies the Prambanan complex, Sewu temple, and Plaosan temple.

In popular culture

* In December 2016, the fourth expansion of the popular

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

PC game from Microsoft, Age of Empires II titled ''Rise of the Rajas'' featured Candi Kalasan as the Wonder of the Malay civilization featured in-game.

Notes

References

* Holt, Claire. (1967) ''Art in Indonesia : continuities and change''. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. *

External links