Candi Sewu - Yogyakarta

2014/05/01

Around Prambanan Temple site, there are several other temple sites. A trolly train runs between the sites so you can just hop in and out at the sites you prefer. 

Sewu temple is also a very old Buddhist temple which used to have over 200 little temples within its premises, which were later destroyed by the same reasons as Prambanan. This existence is living proof that Buddhist and Hindu cultures existed in harmony in the early eras. 

At the time we visited Sewu. visitors were not allowed to go in to the temple site as it was under construction. 

You may notice the `Dwarapala (Javanese)` or the  `Doratupala` in Sinhalese , the guard at the lower right corner who guards the entrance to the temple. Same architectural concepts, no wonder!

The rocks yet to be constructed in to the prior state are piled up in front of the temple blocking the view. I really hope that they have all the strength and courage to finish the reconstructing soon.

Below is the main temple of Sewu. It was a beautiful sight with rock stones standing tall in all its glory.

  

As you may notice, in different to the Pranbanan Hindu temples, the Sewu Buddhist temple has its roof tops shaped in to the Stupa shapes indicating the Buddhist influence in the architecture.

 As it was mentioned earlier, this temple consists smaller temples more like stupa houses, like the one below.

Special thanks to Ayanthi, my travel companion and the tour guides of Panaroma.

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