Gunung Wukir temple, or Canggal temple, or also known as Shivalinga is a

Shivaite Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

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 ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

dated from the early 8th century, located in Canggal hamlet, Kadiluwih village, Salam subdistrict,

Magelang Regency Magelang ( jv, ꦩꦒꦼꦭꦁ) is a regency in Central Java, Indonesia, famous for its 9th century Buddhist temple of Borobudur. Its capital is Mungkid. It covers an area of 1,085.73 km2 and had a population of 1,181,723 at the 2010 Cens ...

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 Yogyakarta in t ...

, Indonesia. The temple dates to the year 732, making it the first structure attributed to the ancient

Mataram kingdom The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu–Buddhism, Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established b ...

, which ruled Central Java from 732 to around the middle of the tenth century.

Location

Because of its relatively remote location, the temple site rarely appears on the itineraries of foreign tourists. But it possesses some historical importance owed to its links with the formation of the Central Javanese Mataram kingdom. The temple is located on Wukir hill, which the locals refer to as ''Gunung Wukir'' ("Mount Wukir", or "carved hill" in Javanese), on the western slopes of

Mount Merapi Mount Merapi, ''Gunung Merapi'' (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian and Javanese), is an active stratovolcano located on the border between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active ...

volcano. The hill is located approximately 4 kilometres southeast from the town of

Muntilan The Muntilan area is a district ( ''kecamatan'') in the Magelang Regency, Central Java. Muntilan is about 15 km south of Magelang, 10 km from Mungkid, 25 km north of Yogyakarta, and 90 km from the main town of Semarang located on the northern coast ...

. Gunung Wukir temple can be reached by following the direction to the Ngluwar subdistrict by turning west from the Semen intersection, on Yogyakarta-Magelang main road. The Kadiluwih hamlet in Canggal, is connected to the Ngluwar road by a small walking trail that leads up to the hill plateau, approximately 300 meters above sea level.

History

Gunung Wukir Canggal Perwara Temple Nandi Bull

This temple is the oldest surviving temple in Southern Central Java, connected to the

Canggal inscription The Canggal inscription is a Sanskrit inscription dated to 732, discovered in the Gunung Wukir temple complex in Kadiluwih village, Salam, Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The inscription is written in the Pallava alphabet. The inscripti ...

discovered within the temple ruins in 1879. The inscription describes the erection of a ''

lingam A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

'' (the symbol of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

) on the country of Kunjarakunja, by Sanjaya's order. The ''lingam'' is sited on the noble island of Yava (

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

), which the inscription describes as "rich in grain and gold mines". According to the inscription, the temple was founded during the reign of King

Sanjaya Sanjaya or Sanjay (Sanskrit: सञ्जय, meaning "victory") or Sanjaya Gavalgana is an advisor from the ancient Indian Hindu war epic ''Mahābhārata''. In ''Mahabharata''—An ancient story of a war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ...

from the

Mataram Kingdom The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu–Buddhism, Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established b ...

, in 654

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

(732 CE). This inscription contains a lot of information related to

or Ancient Mataram. Based on this inscription, Gunung Wukir temple might originally have been called ''Shivalinga'' or ''Kunjarakunja''.

Architecture

The temple compound measures 50 metres x 50 metres. The temple building is made of

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...

stone, and at least consist of a main temple and three ''perwara'' temples (guardian or complementary smaller temple) lined in front of the main temple. In addition to the inscription, within the temple complex were also found archaeological artifacts including

yoni ''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with ''linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of microc ...

pedestal and the statue of the sacred cow

Nandi Nandi may refer to: People * Nandy (surname), Indian surname * Nandi (mother of Shaka) (1760–1827), daughter of Bhebe of the Langeni tribe * Onandi Lowe (born 1974), Jamaican footballer nicknamed Nandi * Nandi Bushell (born 2010), South Afri ...

the vehicle of Shiva. According to the inscription, the yoni once support a

, the symbol of the god

, however it is now missing.

References

External links

Candi Gunung Wukir
Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya Jawa Tengah {{Hindudharma 8th-century Hindu temples Hindu temples in Indonesia Archaeological sites in Indonesia Buildings and structures in Central Java Mataram Kingdom Cultural Properties of Indonesia in Central Java

Location

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links