Thousand years ago, in Sailendra dynasty era, the king was Rakai Panangkaran, built another glorious Buddhist temple. He built the temple in purpose to build another place and religious place to pray to the Gods, but after many years ahead, the temple had another function as a place for king to stay during the king’s illness. An archaeological site known as Ratu Boko Palace hold a great mystery and unclear history that remains unsolved. Named after the legendary King Boko, mentioned in Roro Jonggrang folklore, the 16 hectares sites is located on a plateau. This temple has 250.000 m2 and divided into 4 main directions. Those are centre, west, south, and east. In the main centre part, includes the main gate, the field or park, the crematorium temple, pool, berumpak, and Paseban. Meanwhile, the Pendopo is located on the south. On the south, there are the main pendopo, three temples, pool and keputren complex.
Around Ratu Boko temple, there are many epigraphs that craved with the history of it. Based the epigraph, it was told that Ratu Boko temple was a Vihara named Abhayagiriwihara. After the conquest of the Hindu part, this temple turned into Kraton (place for the king of Hinduism).
While inside Ratu Boko temple, you can see the acculturation between the Hindu and Buddhist. It can be seen from the icon of Lingga and Yoni. Lingga in Sanskrit literally means symbol, and is sometimes used in the specific connotation as symbol of gender.
Lingga represents to the male, and Yoni represents to the female. Also, there are many statues of Durga, Kali and Hindu God. Therefore, you can see the Buddhist nuance by seeing the stupa and stupika.
Around Ratu Boko temple, there are many epigraphs that craved with the history of it. Based the epigraph, it was told that Ratu Boko temple was a Vihara named Abhayagiriwihara. After the conquest of the Hindu part, this temple turned into Kraton (place for the king of Hinduism).
While inside Ratu Boko temple, you can see the acculturation between the Hindu and Buddhist. It can be seen from the icon of Lingga and Yoni. Lingga in Sanskrit literally means symbol, and is sometimes used in the specific connotation as symbol of gender.
Lingga represents to the male, and Yoni represents to the female. Also, there are many statues of Durga, Kali and Hindu God. Therefore, you can see the Buddhist nuance by seeing the stupa and stupika.
The Nuance of the Ratu Boko
Do not hesitate to save your energy and your time to walk around the temple, first you will feel the calm situation, and watch beautiful green rice field around the temple. As you walk inside the temple, you will be spoiled by the kindness of the guides that will welcome you and take you around. Another beautiful view that shows up in Ratu Boko temple is the Sunset. Imagine that in Ratu Boko, you can clearly see the silhouette of the Sunset. The stunning sunset always seems spoiled you with many surprising things.
Sitting around waiting for the sunset is great. The place is breezy and everyone is just sitting on the ground waiting for the moment. Definitely have to time your visit at sunset.
The entrance ticket to Ratu Boko included a drink (coffee or tea) and snack at the restaurant. Sunset and sunrise are the precise moment and exotic to watch the beauty of Ratu Boko temple because the sun is not that hot. For you who wants to visit this temple in the afternoon, you don’t need to worry because they also provide a lot of gazebos ready to be rent.
Another function as a temple, nowadays, many events are held inside Ratu Boko Temple. The events entirely about the art and the exhibition art or music festival. So, this temple is very suitable for everyone who loves art and travel to explore the culture and the history.
Sitting around waiting for the sunset is great. The place is breezy and everyone is just sitting on the ground waiting for the moment. Definitely have to time your visit at sunset.
The entrance ticket to Ratu Boko included a drink (coffee or tea) and snack at the restaurant. Sunset and sunrise are the precise moment and exotic to watch the beauty of Ratu Boko temple because the sun is not that hot. For you who wants to visit this temple in the afternoon, you don’t need to worry because they also provide a lot of gazebos ready to be rent.
Another function as a temple, nowadays, many events are held inside Ratu Boko Temple. The events entirely about the art and the exhibition art or music festival. So, this temple is very suitable for everyone who loves art and travel to explore the culture and the history.
How to get there:
Need about 30 minutes from prambanan by motorcycle to reach this temple. If you decide to go there by bus, it won’t be possible; due to the way will not fit enough. But you can take mini bus from Prambanan temple, normally it includes the ticket entrance from Prambanan and Ratu Boko.
Best time to go there:
If you prefer to go there to see the sunset, you better go to the dry season, because when the rain drops you should forget the sunset. The temple is opened from 6 am to 6 pm.
Source : http://borobudur.indonesia-tourism.com/ratu_boko.html
