Prambanan and a pickpocketing

Contrition followed admission.

Two men sat on the ground with their heads tucked between their knees; three women, faces covered, sat on a wooden bench and whimpered. These were the core members of a notorious pickpocket gang who worked the Prambanan heritage site; a well-oiled operation that involved several ancillary hands depending on the scale and time of robbery. The guys, caught trying to make a sizeable purchase with the stolen credit card, at first tried to bluff their way out till the CCTV footage proved overwhelming. Thorough questioning led to the women who initially denied any connection with the men. The police waited for my friend to turn up and identify her belongings. Vino, a tourism ministry staff, too went with her; all cards and currencies were found intact. There was even an additional wad of Indonesian rupiah in her purse which wasn’t hers.

Pride of place – the Shiva temple

At Prambanan you experience metanoia; the grandeur is transforming. There more than 240 temple remains dating from the 9^th century with eight main and minor ones on an elevated platform forming the largest Hindu site in Indonesia. Though less than 20 km from Yogyakarta, located between the provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java on Java Island, the tourist traffic will take you anywhere up to 40 minutes to reach this World Heritage Site. The place is around 40 hectares of well-manicured grounds and walking around is recommended to soak in the overflowing heritage. While not much is known or verified about the builders, it is believed that most of the temples were built during the reign of Rakai Pikatan, a Hindu prince.

The three major temples of Prambanan are dedicated to the ‘Trimurti,’ the Hindu trinity of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the keeper and Shiva the destroyer. Of the three, the Shiva temple takes the pride of place at the centre and stands at a height of 47 metres – this is not just the largest structure in the complex but also among the finest in Hindu architecture and stone art. The main staircase leading to the sanctum is from the eastern side, the gate itself is flanked by two small shrines dedicated to guardian gods Mahakala and Nandiswara. An interesting fact about the four-armed statue of Shiva here is that this all-powerful Hindu god is standing on a lotus pedestal which is a Buddhist motif. According to history Rakai Pikatan of the Sanjaya dynasty married into the ruling Buddhist Sailendra monarchy. A powerful and aesthetic syncretisation of beliefs. The Brahma and Vishnu temples are both east-facing and on the south and north side respectively of Shiva. In front of the three main temples are three shrines dedicated to the vehicles of the three gods – the sacred bull Nandi of Shiva, Hamsa the swan of Brahma and Vishnu’s eagle with human features, the Garuda.

Vino’s brio saved the day.

Within an hour of the pickpocketing incident, my friend got a notification on her mobile that her card had been swiped successfully for an expensive purchase. The venue was, Vino recognised, a popular shopping mall not very far away. By then we had already informed the police at Prambanan about the theft and a formal complaint was filed; numbers were exchanged. We were on our way back to Yogyakarta. Vino called up the police contact and informed him about the transaction and the cops in turn called up the mall and instructed the security there to restrain the suspect. The thief was handed over to the cops when they reached the mall. The questioning process was initiated there itself and in no time the rest of the gang too was apprehended from within the shopping complex.

Craftsmanship that makes you verklempt

The ‘Prambanan panel’ is a recurring theme you will find here which is a major draw for heritage buffs. These are narrative reliefs with the image of a lion flanked by the wish-fulfilling divine Kalpataru trees according to Hinduism and Buddhism. These trees are in turn fringed by animals and birds in pairs. There are other vibrant scenes carved on to the inner walls of the three main temples from the Ramayana. These narrate the story of the abduction of Sita, the wife of Rama, by Ravana. It goes on to show how she was rescued by the monkey god Hanuman with his army. This is also performed as a ballet regularly during full moon at the open air theatre ‘Trimurti’ within the site. Other noteworthy carvings of Prambanan found in the Shiva temple are that of the bearded Agastya, an incarnation of Shiva, and the elephant-headed son of Shiva, Ganesha. There is also one of Durga, the consort of Shiva, killing Mahishasura, the demon buffalo. In the Vishnu temple there are statues of Krishna, the hero of the epic Mahabharata, as well as gods with apsaras or celestial nymphs on either side. Inside the Brahma temple is the four-headed statue of the god with the walls adorned with the denouement from Ramayana.

Once the group tour guides with their stentorian voices and wards have passed, sit on the stairs or the stone ground and peer closely at these bas-reliefs. It wouldn’t be long before you are verklempt by the craftsmanship.

The gang struck inside the Shiva temple where it was crowded compared to the rest. Amid all the shoving and pushing – which, as it turned out, might have been of a deliberate design – my friend’s sling bag was carefully opened and relieved of the wallet. The wallet then changed the five different hands with the last one probably making a beeline for the exit before the loss was detected and a hue and cry was raised.

Sit and gaze intently at the Prambanan panels

‘Thousand Temples’ is the name given, not at all dismissively, to the group of lesser known temples around the Prambanan including the Buddhist Sewu temple. The Sewu dates from 850 AD and comprises of scores of ornate shrines each of which is decorated by a stupa. The name ‘Thousand Temples’ comes from the Sewu which is surrounded by four rings consisting of 240 guard temples. There are perfect niches which at one time would have held precious statues or priceless bibelots. Today large tracts of the temple complex itself are rubble – aftermath of negligence as well as natural calamities. Prambanan was deserted for long periods of time when the Javanese Hindu kings moved their capital to East Java. A devastating earthquake around the middle of the 16^th century razed many of the temples. After centuries of neglect and obliteration from public memory, the Prambanan complex was discovered by the Dutch CA Lons in 1733. But it took over a century, in 1885, before any attempt to clear the site started. Some efforts at reconstruction began in 1937. The earthquake of 2006 dealt a crushing blow to the efforts and the temple complex suffered extensive damage. While the main temples survived, structural collapse was reported in many sections and large areas remain cordoned off to this day.

How to survive a pickpocketing while travelling?

Prambanan is a pickpocket hub and the targets are mostly foreigners. While losing things on the trail is cromulent even though with unnerving consequences there are some measures which go a long way in getting the valuables back, hopefully. My friend, unlike me, had activated her mobile phone with a local mobile card. With the network access, she got an email notification about her card usage which led the police to the pickpockets. 

Prambanan in the sun