Banyunibo () is a 9th-century

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple located in Cepit hamlet, Bokoharjo village, Prambanan,

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 ...

Special Region of Yogyakarta The Special Region of Yogyakarta is a province-level special region of Indonesia in southern Java. It is a semi-enclave that is surrounded by on the landward side by Central Java Province to the west, north, and east, but has a long coastline ...

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, ...

. The temple, dating from the era of Mataram Kingdom, sits in a narrow valley surrounded by paddy fields about two kilometers southeast of the

Ratu Boko Ratu Boko () or Ratu Boko Palace () is an archaeological site in Java. Ratu Boko is located on a plateau, about three kilometres south of Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The original name of this site is still unclear, however ...

archaeological park on the east side of modern

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 ...

. Further north is the

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, and to the south are the Gunung Sewu Hills, an extension of Gunung Kidul Hills.

Architecture

Banyunibo has a curved rooftop design crowned with a solitary stupa; this theme is unique among the surviving Buddhist temples of

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

. The curved rooftop was either meant to symbolize lotus or

padma The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the bank ...

petals or meant to mimic the organic roof made from ''ijuk'' fibres (black fibres surrounding the trunk of ''

Arenga pinnata ''Arenga pinnata'' (syn. ''Arenga saccharifera'') is an economically important feather palm native to tropical Asia, from eastern India east to Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Phil ...

'') common in ancient

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 ...

vernacular architecture and also found today in

Balinese temple A Balinese temple, or better-known as () is a Balinese culture, Bali-style (commonly associated to Hindu temple, Hindu) temple, it serves as the place of worship for adherents of Balinese Hinduism in Indonesia. Puras are built following rules, s ...

roof architecture. The main structure was originally surrounded by

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

s at ground level, the foundations of which can still be seen today. The stupas' foundations are arranged in a row of three stupas on the south side of the temple, and three stupas on the east side. The northern side probably also contains the base of three stupas, however, it is still buried under a meter thick of earth. The main temple is facing west.Ancient Mataram
/ref> The stairs and the portal of the temple are adorned with typical Kala-

Makara Makara () is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, and of the god of the ocean, Varun ...

style, typical of ancient Central Javanese temples dated from this period. Makara is located on each side of the stair and Kala head is located on top of the portals. The niches surrounding the body of the temple are adorned with the images of

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

s, while the niches upon the windows are adorned with the images of taras with each hand holding flowers. The inner wall is adorned with the image of

Hariti Hārītī (Sanskrit), also known as , , is a female rākṣasī or yakṣinī (nature spirit) in Buddhism. She appears as a character in all Buddhist traditions and she is revered as a fierce Dharma Protector and a fertility goddess in Ma ...

surrounded by children (some parts of this relief are missing) and Vaisravana. The inner wall also adorned with a bald male figure underneath an umbrella being upheld by servants, suggests that it may represent one of the temple's patrons. The collapsed ruins of Banyunibo were discovered in November 1940. Research continued until 1942 and succeeded in reconstructing the roof and the portal section of the temple. The reconstruction was halted due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the Indonesian National Revolution. In 1962 the restoration of the sub-basement, foot, and wall section of the temple, as well as the north wall, was finished. The reconstruction of the Banyunibo temple was completed in 1978.

Gallery

File:Banyunibo_Temple.jpg, The main temple File:The_main_temple_of_Banyunibo.jpg, The main temple File:Perwara_Temple,_Banyunibo.jpg, Perwara temple

Location

wikimapia

References

External links

The images of Banyunibo
{{Indonesia topics Buddhist temples in Indonesia Archaeological sites in Indonesia Mataram kingdom Cultural Properties of Indonesia in Yogyakarta 9th-century Buddhist temples

Architecture

Gallery

Location

See also

References

External links