Indonesia has some of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. While the 8th-century temple Candi Sewu is Indonesia’s second-largest temple, Candi Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. These temples form an important part of the national heritage of the country and the Buddhist world as well.
Candi Borobudur
Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, is located in the city of Magelang, Indonesia. The temple belongs to Mahayana which is one of the three major branches of Buddhism. While the temple’s history goes back to the 9th century, it received some extensive restorations in the 20th century. During that time, some Indonesian regions were under the control of the British and Dutch. The colonizer nations discovered the existence of Borobudur and while some wanted to destroy it, sensible people were aware that this temple was one of the most impressive architectural feats in the country.
Despite being important and impressive as it is, there is no certain information about the temple’s construction. It is obvious due to the similarities between the statues and reliefs and royal charters in the 9th century that the temple belongs to the Sailendra dynasty. However, what was their purpose in building Borobudur is not clear. The temple has 2600 relief panels, and 504 statues some of which did not survive to this day. The Buddha statues are inside little stupas which is a common structure in Buddhist temples.
Candi Sewu
One of the largest Buddhist temples in the world is the Sewu temple complex. The temple was the jewel of the Mataram kingdom and their royal temple. Due to its name in the local dialect, many believe that the complex consisted of 1000 temples but only 249 survived. Although the temple was quite important, as time passed it fell into despair. Most probably because of its location near a volcanic mountain, Merapi. Mount Merapi is an active volcano and because of eruptions, Sewu was buried under volcanic debris.
However, the locals did not altogether forget about the temple. They still visited the site, prayed, and worshipped but gradually the newer generations knew less and less of it. So much so that the locals began to tell stories about how the temple was the resting place of a giant and a cursed princess. In the 18th century, the king at the time allowed a Dutch merchant to travel the kingdom as he liked. During that travel, the merchant spotted the ruins and recorded them. Nearly 70 years after the merchant, a Dutch archeologist unearthed Sewu. Since then, the temple has been one of the most important and popular sites in Indonesia.
