Dieng Temples, Where Worshiping is on the Top
Photo by Yustha Titik
The road that I should follow is ascending. Up and up, so that my car should work harder to take me to the top. Even though it is sloping upward but it is very easy to pass through the road. The way is bending, but the view is beautiful. Finally, I arrive at the gate with a written mark “Dieng Plateau Area”.
Dieng is about 2000 meters above sea level. It is on Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java. Being on the higher ground, the place has cold temperature. The temperature is about 15-20 Celsius at the day and 10-Celsius degree at night. It sometime falls to zero Celsius degree at the morning on July to August. When the coldest temperature comes, the people say it as ‘bun upas’ (poisonous dew). They call it so because the dew will smash up their crop.
Photo by Yustha Titik
[ad#kotak336]
The things that I can see there are temples, craters and lakes. The names for the craters are Kawah Sikidang, Kawah Sinila and Kawah Sileri. While the lakes’ names are Telaga Warna and Sumur Jalatunda.
There are many Hindus temples which names taken from characters of the wayang (shadow puppet). The names are Candi Setyaki, Candi Petruk, Candi Antareja, Candi Nakula-Sadewa, Candi Nala Gareng, Candi Gatut Kaca, Candi Bima, Candi Dwarawati, Candi Arjuna, Candi Srikandi, Candi Puntadewa, Candi Sembadra and many more. Only several temples are standing still like Candi Arjuna, Candi Srikandi, Candi Puntadewa, Candi Sembadra, Candi Dwarawati and Candi Gatut Kaca. The other temples are only ruins.
Dieng comes from the ancient Java Language ‘Di’ and ‘Hyang’. Di means a place or mountain, Hyang means God or ancestor. Therefore, the meaning is ‘the place for the God and the spirit of the ancestor is on the mountain.’ From its name, researchers assume that the reason of building temples on the plateau is to get closer to the worshiped. The ancient Javanese Hindu built the temples on the 7th century. The evidence is written on the ancient stone inscription, 731 saka (809 A.D.).
Related Places
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment