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The Dieng Plateau is a marshy
plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
that forms the floor of a
caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
complex on the
Dieng Volcanic Complex The Dieng Volcanic Complex ( jv, ꦢꦶꦲꦾꦁ, Dihyang) is a volcanic complex located on the Dieng Plateau in the Central Java, Indonesia, a complex of volcanoes. The volcanic complex consists of two or more of stratovolcanoes, more than 20 sm ...
in
Wonosobo Wonosobo Regency ( jv, ꦑꦧꦸꦥꦠꦺꦤ꧀ꦮꦤꦱꦧ, Kabupatèn Wanasaba) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency ( id, kabupaten) in Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is the town of Wonosobo, located at , about 120 km fr ...
and
Banjarnegara Banjarnegara is a town in Central Java, Indonesia and the seat of Banjarnegara Regency. It is 55 km from the Dieng Plateau region and a centre for ceramic arts. Climate Banjarnegara has a tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest cl ...
Regencies,
Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakart ...
Province,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
. Referred to as "Dieng" by Indonesians, it sits at above sea level, far from major population centres. The name "Dieng" comes from ''Dihyang'' which means "place of the ancestors or gods". Part of General
Sudirman General of the Army Raden Sudirman ( Old Spelling: Soedirman; 24 January 1916 – 29 January 1950) was a high-ranking Indonesian military officer during the Indonesian National Revolution. The first commander of the Indonesian National Ar ...
's guerrilla campaign during the Indonesian War of Independence took place in the area.


Etymology

The name "Dihyang" comes from
Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...
: ''di'' means "place" and ''
hyang ''Hyang'' ( Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese) is a representation of the Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology. This spiritual entity can be either divine or ancestral. The reverence for this spiritual entity can be foun ...
'' means "ancestor" or "gods", literally Dihyang means "place of the ancestors". Dihyang is a mountainous area, ancient Javanese believed that ancestors and gods resided in high places. An inscription reveals that the ancient Javanese used the Dihyang area as a center for worship. Mentioned in the Gunung Wule inscription in 861 AD, someone was ordered to maintain a sacred building in an area called ''Dihyang''. Local people generally call this area the popular name "land above the clouds", because the area is surrounded by clouds or mist from the mountains.


Temples

The Plateau is the location of eight small
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
temples from the
Mataram Kingdom The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese Hindu–Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established by King Sanjaya, the kingdom was rule ...
. It is unclear when they were built, estimated to range from mid 7th century to end of 8th century AD; they are the oldest known standing stone structures in Java. They are originally thought to have numbered 400 but only eight remain. The temples are now believed to have been named after the heroes of the Hindu epic
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...
. Michell claims Dieng's misty location is almost 2,093 m above sea level, its poisonous effusions, and sulphur-coloured lakes make it a particularly auspicious place for religious tribute. The temples are small shrines built as monuments to the god-ancestors and dedicated to
Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...
. The Hindu shrines are miniature cosmic mountains based on plans in Indian religious texts, although Schoppert suggests the design motifs have little connection to India. In 2011, in a review published by Romain, the temple is now believed to be related to Dravida and Pallava style temples of South India. The theory that poisonous effusions make it auspicious is now disputed as volcanic activity in this area from the 7th to 9th century is yet to be established, and records suggest the temple was abandoned after volcanic eruptions became common in central Java.


Geography and climate

With an elevation of 2,060 m above sea level, Dieng has a distinct
subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
under the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
(''Cwb''). In its brief dry season, there is much less rainfall than in its lengthy monsoon periods (lasting from October to May). The average annual temperature in Dieng is 14.0 °C. About 2652  mm of precipitation falls annually. Known for its chilly climate, temperatures may even drop to 2 degrees (along with wind chills down to -2º) in the peak of its dry season. Though infrequent, frosts have been recorded every year, particularly in the late evenings and mornings of July and August. This may last for one week on average. Though this regionally-rare weather phenomenon occasionally attracts tourists to cluster around the plateau area, it is also notorious for the destruction it often inflicts upon the local produce, with agricultural plants and crops such as potatoes being the most severely affected. Locals usually call this frost "bun upas". In the local Javanese dialect, "Bun" (or "embun") means dew, while "upas" is poison. Although "bun upas" or frost in Dieng is actually not poisonous, this term "upas" was created by local people due to its devastating effect on agricultural plants, in which, the plants die quickly as if they were poisoned when the frost takes place. The following climate data is for the village of Sembungan, one of Java's highest villages.


Agriculture

The plateau is the largest producer of
potatoes The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
in Indonesia, with the crop becoming more predominant since 1985. Before this, various other crops such as corn and tobacco were planted instead. Expansion of potato plantations had for a time resulted in significant environmental damage from erosion and deforestation, though recent developments have seen a degree of reforestation.


See also

*
List of volcanoes in Indonesia The geography of Indonesia is dominated by volcanoes that are formed due to subduction zones between the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plate. Some of the volcanoes are notable for their eruptions, for instance, Krakatoa for its globa ...


Notes


References

* Backshall, Stephan et al. (1999) ''Indonesia The Rough Guide'' London Penguin pp. 190–195 * Dalton, Bill ''
Indonesia Handbook Bill Dalton's ''Indonesia Handbook'', published by Moon Publications in California, was the main English language tourist guide book for the whole of Indonesia between the 1970s and the 1990s. History The book originated in 1973 as a typewritte ...
'' fourth edition pp. 280–283 * Dumarcay, J and Miksic J. ''Temples of the Dieng Plateau'' in Miksic, John N. 1996 (editor) 1996 ''Ancient History'' Volume 1 of
Indonesian Heritage Series The ''Indonesian Heritage Series'' is a series of encyclopedia volumes published by Archipelago Press, which is an imprint of Editions Didier Millet Pte Ltd of Singapore. It was initiated by Yayasan Dana Bakti. The series is edited by academic ...
Archipelago Press, Singapore. * Mertadiwangsa, S. Adisarwono, (1999) ''Dataran tinggi Dieng : objek wisata alam dan objek wisata budayanya = Dieng Plateau Yogyakarta'': Kaliwangi Offset Yogyakarta, (In Indonesian) * {{Coord, 7.2, S, 109.9, E, source:dewiki_region:ID_scale:50000_type:landmark, display=title Archaeological sites in Indonesia Landforms of Central Java Plateaus of Indonesia Volcanic plateaus