The Series of Sewu Temple Journey

Temple journey in Central Java seems like a never-ending journey. This time journey is a series of temple located in the South East of Merapi Mountain. Before we start and for your information, temples in the South West of Merapi Mountain that include Ngawen Temple, Mendut Temple, Pawon Temple, and Borobudur Temple are series of temple from Syailendra Dynasty.

The series of temple located in the South East of Merapi Mountain are series of building from Sanjaya Dynasty that were majorly built by Panangkaran, the Pikatan Brothers, and the son of Pikatan in the 8th and 9th century. These series of temple have their own characteristic: Buddha temples are side by side with Hindu temples. To limit this, I will call it the series of Sewu Temple that focuses merely on Buddha temples.

Sari Temple is house for monks and means beautiful temple. This temple faces to the East and has 3 rooms whose outside walls were full of glorious Buddha and Bodhisattva reliefs.






Kalasan Temple was built in 778C which was a gift from Sanjaya Dynasty (Panangkaran) to Syailendra Dynasty and was used to worship Tara goddess. From several reliefs and rupang (Buddha statue look alike) on this temple, there is one beautiful rupang, Ratnasambawa, that is located on the top of the South of temple wall. There is an ancient well outside of this temple. The water in the well is believed to bring blessing for health and wealth.

Toward the South East from Kalasan Temple, we can find Sajiwon Temple. It is not a uniform building as it has not been restored yet. It was built by Pramodharwani, someone from Syailendra Dynasty who was married to Pikatan from Sanjaya Dynasty. This temple is believed as a place for the worship of Sri Kuwera (Zhambhala).

The next journey is toward Sewu Temple that is located in the North of Sajiwon. In the journey to Sewu Temple, we shall pass Prambanan Temple, Lumbung Temple, and Bubrah Temple. Prambanan is the biggest Hindu temple in Indonesia that becomes the world heritage. It was built by Balaputra Dewa (the step brother of Pramodharwani who was married to Pikatan). However, on another note, it was built by Pikatan. Lumbung Temple is Buddha temple built to worship the paddy god, while Bubrah Temple is a small Buddha temple as a sign entrance of Sewu Temple area.


Sewu Temple is the second largest Buddha temple after Borobudur. This temple, that was built by Guruwangi (the son of Pikatan), has 249 small temples and so it is called Thousand Temple. Those small temples consist of 240 perwara temples, 8 apit temples, and 1 main temple which is used to worship Sri Majusri goddess. The name Manjus’riga on an ancient inscription is believed to be the initial name for this temple.

Plaosan Temple, about 2.5 km from Sewu Temple, was built by Garung (Pikatan’s brother) in the 9th century. This temple consists of Plaosan Kidul Temple and Plaosan Lor Temple (bigger in size). Plaosan Lor has 2 main temples: the South is for men and the North is for women. Each main temple has 6 Bodhisattva rupangs with the human size, 128 stupas, and 58 perwara temples facing to the East which generally has been broken. On the front door there are 2 Dwarapla and 6 Bodhisattva rupangs: Manjusri, Nirwana Viskabhi, Vajrapani, Avalokitesvara, Maitreya, and Samantha Bhadra.

The last journey is the Boko Queen Palace complex which is in 3 km away in the South of Prambanan Temple. It was built in the 9th century by Balaputradewa. This palace is the blend of 2 religions that can be seen from its gate: one gate as Buddhism symbol and the other as Hindu symbol.

This is the end of the series of Sewu Temple journey that is explored from Jogjakarta to the East through road to Solo.

Enjoy, peace, and love from Sukra. (101 160508)

Photo by Eileen