Ngawen
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Ngawen (known locally as Candi Ngawen) is an 8th-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 A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
compound in
Magelang Regency Magelang () is a regency in Central Java, Indonesia, famous for its 9th century Buddhist temple of Borobudur. Its capital is Mungkid. It covers an area of 1,129.98 km2 and had a population of 1,181,723 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statist ...
,
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 ...
,
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, ...
. Located in Ngawen village, Muntilan sub-district, to the east of Mendut temple or to the south of Muntilan town center. Ngawen temple compound consists of five temples, however, today only one is successfully reconstructed. Ngawen is thought to be connected with the other three Buddhist temples nearby — Mendut, Pawon, and
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 ...
— all of which were built during the
Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...
dynasty (8th–9th centuries). According to the satellite map observation, the four temples; Borobudur, Pawon, Mendut and Ngawen are actually forming a straight line spanning west to east slightly tilted northeast with eastern end pointing to the peak of
Mount Merapi Mount Merapi (, ) is an active stratovolcano located on the border between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is loc ...
. From the detail and style of its carving, this temple is estimated to be slightly older than Borobudur. The temple is notable for its exquisite statues of rampant lions on each corners of the temples. Since its discovery in 1874, the temple has suffered looting and artifact theft.


Architecture

The temple was made from
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
stone and built in typical Central Javanese candi temple architecture. The temple complex was built on site measures 3,556 square meter, sandwiched between a village and rice paddies. The temple complex consists of five temples creating a row of temples spanning north to south; two main temples and three ''perwara'' (ancillary) temples in between the main temples in alternating order. The temples are numbered according to their order from north to south; so temples no. 2 and 4 are larger main temples, while temples no. 1, 3 and 5 are ancillary smaller temples. Today, only northern main temple or temple number 2, was successfully reconstructed, the other four temples are still in ruins. The temples faces east and stands on a square base. The northern main temple measures 13 meters by 12 meters base and is 7 metres in height. On each corner of the main temples, stands some exquisite statues of lions in rampant position. These lions of Ngawen temple are quite a unique feature among candis of Central Java. While the walls of the base display
kinnara A kinnara (Sanskrit: Kiṃnara) is a creature from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are described as part human and part bird, and have a strong association with music and love. Believed to come from the Himalayas, they often watch ove ...
s. The stairs are on the east side. On each side of the stairs and the top of the gates are adorned with carved Kala-Makara, commonly found in classic Javanese temples. On the top of inner portal there is a carving of deities in
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 beneath a Kala's head. The outer walls of Ngawen main temple is carved with niches adorned with kala's head and the heavenly scene. The niches are now empty, it probably once contains the statues 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 or taras. There is a headless stone statue of meditating Dhyani Buddha Ratnasambhava performing ''Varamudra'' stance inside the main square chamber. The roof section of is crowned with small ratnas pinnacles, however the upper parts of the roof is still missing, creating a gaping hole on top of the main chamber. The peculiar thing is the roof section was adorned with ratna and not a
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 ...
. There are both Hindu and Buddhist symbolism founds in this temple. Ratna pinnacles are most commonly found in Hindu temples in Java. This led to suggestions that the temple was initially built as a Hindu temple, but later converted to a Buddhist temple during its expansion and renovation. Experts suggested that the five temples are dedicated to
Five Dhyani Buddhas 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...
, the Buddhist guardian of directions. They are Amitabha the ruler of the West, Ratnasambhawa for the South,
Akshobhya Akshobhya (, ''Akṣobhya'', "Immovable One"; ) is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, a product of the Adibuddha, who represents consciousness as an aspect of reality. By convention he is located in the east of the Diamond Realm and is the lor ...
for the East, Vairocana for the Zenith and
Amoghasiddhi Amoghasiddhi (Devanagari: अमोघसिद्धि) is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. He is associated with the accomplishment of the Buddhist path and of the destruction of the poison o ...
for the North. However, the last three statues have been lost from the Ngawen temples.


History

Examination of the style of Ngawen architecture, symbolism and carving, suggests that the temple was built around late 8th-century, slightly older than Borobudur. The original name of this Buddhist shrine is uncertain. "Ngawen" literally derived from
Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was natively spoken in the central and eastern part of Java Island, what is now Central Java, Special Region o ...
word ''awi'' which means "bamboo". The Karangtengah inscription, dated 824 CE mentioned that King Indra of
Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...
has built a sacred building named ''Venuvana'' which means "bamboo forest". Dutch archaeologist JG de Casparis has connected the temple mentioned in Karangtengah inscription with Mendut temple. However, another suggestion presented by Soekmono argued that the Karangtengah inscription was probably refer to the Ngawen temple instead, based upon the etymological link between the name ''Ngawen'' village and ''Venuvana'', for both words contains reference to "bamboo". The temple's actual base was buried two metres beneath the current ground level, suggest that the temple was probably covered by Mount Merapi volcanic ejecta for over a thousand years. The local Javanese villagers has been aware of the temple's ruin presence since 19th-century. The first official observations were conducted by Dutch archeologist Holpermand in 1874. In 1911, Van Erp mentioned Ngawen temple in his commentary, that the temples were destroyed by a Mount Merapi eruption. PJ Perquin, another Dutch archeologist, studied Ngawen in 1925 and successfully restored one of the five temples; the northern main temple (temple No.2). The temple suffered looting in the 1970s when two statue heads were stolen. Other looting incidents were reported in 1999.


See also

* Ancient temples of Java *
Buddhism in Indonesia Buddhism has a long history in Indonesia, and it is one of the six recognized religions in the country, along with Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism and Confucianism. According to 2023 estimates roughly 0.71% of the ...
*
Candi of Indonesia A candi (, ) is a Hindu temple, Hindu or Buddhist temple in Indonesia, mostly built during the ''Zaman Hindu-Buddha'' or "Indianized kingdom, Hindu-Buddhist period" between circa the 4th and 15th centuries. The ''Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia'' ...
*
Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism was the tradition of Esoteric Buddhism found in Maritime Southeast Asia which emerged in the 7th century along the maritime trade routes and port cities of the Indonesia, Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra as well ...
*
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 ...
* Mendut * Pawon


References

{{coord, 7, 36, 15, S, 110, 16, 21, E, type:landmark, display=title Archaeological sites in Indonesia Buddhist temples in Indonesia Shailendra dynasty Borobudur Cultural Properties of Indonesia in Central Java Religious buildings and structures in Central Java 8th-century Buddhist temples