The Legend of the Prambanan Temple
Ditulis pada: January 22, 2022
The legend of the Prambanan temple emerged along with the discovery of the temple in 1733. At that time, the historical background of the establishment of this temple was not known so that the legend of the Prambanan Temple was created.
However, of course the legend of Prambanan Temple is just a story from the imagination of the local people to explain the origins of the construction of this beautiful architectural temple.
In the legend of Prambanan Temple, it is said that the makers of hundreds of these temples were not ordinary humans, but jinn and giants. This is based on the number of temples which are very large and large in size.
The Favorite Story of the Indonesian People
The legend of the Prambanan Temple is one of the favorite folk tales among the Indonesian people. Because it is told orally and from generation to generation, the legend of Prambanan Temple has undergone many changes in the storyline. There are many versions of the story, but in essence it still contains the story of the love between Bandung Bondowoso and Roro Jonggrang.
The Dispute of the Pengging Kingdom and the Boko Kingdom
One version of the legend of the Prambanan Temple circulating tells of two Hindu kingdoms in the Prambanan area. The two kingdoms are the Pengging Kingdom and the Boko Kingdom. The kingdom of Pengging was led by a good and wise king named Prabu Damar Moyo.
The King had a son named Bandung Bondowoso. This kingdom is known as a fertile and prosperous kingdom. All the people live happily and prosperously.
Not far from the Pengging Kingdom, there was also a kingdom called the Boko Kingdom. Named the Kingdom of Boko because it was led by a king named Boko. This king is in the form of a large giant and has a cruel nature. King Boko has a beautiful daughter named Roro Jonggrang.
The greedy King Boko was envious of the Pengging kingdom and wanted to dominate the prosperous kingdom. King Boko also mobilized his strength to attack the Pengging Kingdom and mobilized Patih Gupolo in the form of a giant.
The King Boko together with Patih Gupolo summoned the youth in the area and trained them to become soldiers of war. King Boko collects his people's property as a provision for war to seize the Pengging Kingdom.
After all the preparations were done thoroughly, the King of Boko and his troops departed for the Pengging Kingdom. King Damar Moyo did not remain silent against the attack of King Boko.
He also mobilized his soldiers to face the soldiers of King Boko. So, a fierce war ensued. The battle lasted a long time and was very draining of the soldiers' strength. Many victims fell both from the Pengging Kingdom and from the Boko Kingdom.
The good-hearted King Damar Moyo felt sad and angry to see many of his soldiers die. He thought about how to stop the war more quickly so that the number of victims would not increase.
King Damar Moyo then called his son, Bandung Bondowoso. Bandung Bondowoso is known as the son of a king who has magical powers and has an army of genies who submit to him.
The Beautiful Roro Jonggrang
King Damar Moyo, sent his son to come forward to face the violent King Boko. Bandung Bondowoso obeyed his father's orders and immediately went to the middle of the battlefield looking for King Boko.
Then, there was a fierce duel between Bandung Bondowoso and Raja Boko. The two of them attacked each other with all the strength they had. However, apparently the strength of Bandung Bondowoso was greater so that King Boko was injured and eventually died.
Seeing his king had died at the hands of the enemy, Patih Gupolo was frightened and fled. Bandung Bondowoso chased him all the way to the Boko Kingdom. Patih Gupolo apparently reported to Roro Jonggrang about his father's death. The patih also explained that it was Bandung Bondowoso who killed King Boko on the battlefield.
Roro Jonggrang could not hide his sadness at the loss of his father, so he cried incessantly. Bandung Bondowoso heard the cry. Bandung Bondowoso immediately approached Roro Jonggrang.
He felt sorry to see Roro Jonggrang so sad and suffering the loss of his father. However, behind that, Bandung Bondowoso was fascinated by the beautiful face of Roro Jonggrang.
Bandung Bondowoso's proposal to Roro Jonggrang
Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with Roro Jonggrang and conveyed his intention to marry Roro Jonggrang to be his wife. Roro Jonggrang of course refused the proposal because Bandung Bondowoso was the one who caused his father to die. However, the beautiful girl did not dare to immediately refuse for fear of the supernatural powers of Bandung Bondowoso. So, he was looking for ideas to be able to thwart the proposal.
Roro Jonggrang then put forward two conditions. She was willing to become Bandung Bondowoso's wife if she built a Jalatunda well and a thousand temples overnight. The powerful Bandung Bondowoso also agreed to the two requests. He dug deep into the ground to make a well called Jalatunda.
After the well was finished, he called Roro Jonggrang to see it. Roro Jonggrang ordered Bandung Bondowoso to go down into the well and check the depth of the well. However, when Bandung Bondowoso was in the well, Roro Jonggrang ordered Patih Gupolo to fill the well with rocks. Roro Jonggrang and Patih Gupolo hoped that Bandung Bondowoso would die from being buried by a rock in the well.
However, reality says otherwise. Bandung Bondowoso did not die as Roro Jonggrang had hoped. Thanks to his supernatural powers, he was able to survive and get out of the Jalatunda well alive. He approached Roro Jonggrang very angry and would make a calculation in return for the fraud that had been done to him. Roro Jonggrang was frightened and immediately apologized for his actions.
Bandung Bondowoso's heart melted and forgave Roro Jonggrang. Even so, it did not mean that the marriage between them could immediately be held because Roro Jonggrang still had a second request.
As a true warrior who never breaks his promise, Bandung Bondowoso is still willing to accept the second requirement. Although there is a feeling of fear of being cheated again, he dares to prove the sincerity of his intention to marry Roro Jonggrang. So, Bandung Bondowoso began his work of building a thousand temples in one night. He called all the jinn troops he had to help him build the temple.
Roro Jonggrang paid attention to the construction of the temple. He saw that Bandung Bondowoso and his troops did not experience any problems. One by one the temples he asked to stand upright, more and more.
She was very worried that the temple would be completed on time because in her heart she still did not want to be Bandung Bondowoso's wife. Roro Jonggrang then devised a strategy to cancel the completion of the thousand temples that were being built.
Roro Jonggrang ordered his servants to burn straw in the east to make the impression of dawn breaking. The other servants were assigned to pound rice as a morning activity for the people around there.
The roosters were made to crow alternately to indicate that morning had really arrived. This very convincing situation made the genies of the Bandung Bondowoso troops immediately stop their work and scatter away to avoid the sun.
Bandung Bondowoso could not stop the jinn from leaving. He then called Roro Jonggrang and started counting the number of temples that had been built. Roro Jonggrang was relieved because it turned out that the number of temples was not even a thousand, but there were only 999 temples. That means Roro Jonggrang is not married to Bandung Bondowoso. However, it was of course disappointing for Bandung Bondowoso.
When he realized that dawn had not yet come, he knew that Roro Jonggrang had tricked him again. This made him angry and cursed Roro Jonggrang to be the 1000th temple. In an instant, Roro Jonggrang turned into a statue to complete the nine hundred and ninety-nine temples that already existed.
Such is the story of the legend of Prambanan Temple that is told by word of mouth, from generation to generation for years. The legend of the Prambanan Temple certainly cannot be justified because it is made based on human imagination. This is evidenced by the many discrepancies between the story and the facts on the ground. One of them is the number of temples.
In the legend of Prambanan Temple, it is stated that the number that was built reached a thousand temples. In fact, the Prambanan Temple complex only has 240 temples. How, are you one of those who believe in the legend of Prambanan Temple? It all depends on you.
