Sojiwan Temple

Sojiwan Temple

Sojiwan Temple is a Buddhist temple which is located in Dukuh Kalongan, Kebon Dalem Kidul Village, Prambanan District, Klaten Regency, Central Java Province. Maybe not many people know about the existence of Sojiwan Temple. This could be because the temple had just been restored and opened as a tourist attraction in 2011. Before that this temple was only in the form of ruins and stone blocks that were not interesting to visit. In fact, the location of this temple is not far from Prambanan Temple and Plaosan Temple which tourists already know first. A distinctive feature of this temple is that there are around 20 reliefs at the foot of the temple which are related to the stories of Pancatantra.

History

Manufacturing period

According to some inscriptions which are now stored in the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta, Sojiwan temple was more or less built between 842 and 850 AD, more or less the same period as the nearby Plaosan temple. The Rukam inscription, dated 829 Saka (907 AD), which is now stored in the National Museum, mentions the inauguration ceremony of the improvement of Rukam Village by Nini Haji Rakryan Sanjiwana, before this village was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. In return, the residents of Rukam Village were given the obligation to protect and maintain the sacred buildings located in Limwung. This sacred building was later associated with the Sojiwan temple, while the protective figure mentioned in this inscription: Nini Haji Rakryan Sanjiwana, likened to Ratu Pramodhawardhani. The temple is named after this Queen, and is believed to be dedicated to her as a pedharmaan temple.

Rediscovery

Sojiwan Temple was first reported in 1813 by Colonel Colin Mackenzie, a messenger of Raffles, who at that time was registering archaeological information on Java. He who was researching ancient relics around the Prambanan area, found remnants of the wall surrounding this temple.

Temple architecture

This temple is a 9th-century Central Javanese architecture, consisting of three parts, feet or base, temple body, and temple roof. This temple complex covers 8,140 square meters, with the main building measuring 401.3 square meters and 27 meters high. This temple faces west. Found a statue of Dwarapala that was damaged which is now stored in a guard post in this temple complex. At the foot of this temple carved fable reliefs of the Jataka story surrounding the foot of the temple. The temple steps on the east side are flanked by Makara statues, only one is still intact, another one is missing. At the top of the stairs there is a gated gate when. The temple’s original body was full of tendrils, but because many stones were missing, plain replacement stones were installed. The room in the inner room is now empty, there are only niches and thrones which may have preserved the Buddha or Bodhisattva statue which is now gone. a statue of a Buddha that had been damaged and lost its head was found in this temple and is now stored in the guard post of this temple. Three-storey temple roofs are terraced. At these levels there are ranks of stupas. The top of the temple is crowned by a large stupa.