Shiva . Mahadeva. Shankara. The greatest of all Gods. The God who is beyond Space and Time. The God other Gods worship and venerate. Those who dont’ understand call him the Destroyer. But, he isn’t. He ends the Universe at the end of time so that life can start again. While he may not be the Creator of the Universe, he is most likely the Divine Father, who along with the Divine Mother, Shakti, creates the God/s who create and nurture the Universe. Atleast, that is what the Shiva Mahapurana tells you.

When I visited Indonesia recently, one of the places i visited was the Prambanan Temple.

temple complex blues2

i was aware that the Ramayan was very popular in Java. But, i did not expect to discover a full fledged Shaivite Temple complex in Indonesia.

But, it shouldn’t have surprised me – the  Cholas- great Shiva worshippers and a seafaring empire – had come as far as Sumatra – and it is not suprising that they left their cultural footprints in this beautiful place. The Prambanan temple complex reminds me a lot of the temples at Mahaballipuram – which are from the Pallava Era.

temple complex speia

The Javanese word for temple is Candi – and Candi Parambanan – or th Parambanan temple (pronounce bramanan temple) is one of the two major temple complexes you will find in Yogyakarta – the other being Borabadur – which is Buddhist temple complex.

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The temple is also called the Ramayan temple, because of the number of scenes from the epic that are carved in stone – on the outer walls.

carvings Shiva temple 4

divine ones reliefs

The Shiva Temple is at the centre and flanked on either side by the Vishnu and the Brahma temples. There are temples to the vahana or divine vehicles as well . the Nandi Temple is the first temple that you see when you enter the complex.

nandi temple 1

The Nandi Temple – is just ahead of the Shiva temple – as is customary. The structure is imposing – to say the least. The Shiva temple is supposed to have two smaller chambers – one devoted to Ganesha – his son; and the other to the great Rishi Agastya . I say supposed to, becasue the temple was cordoned off.

Shiva temple

The temples to the Trinity were damaged during the earthquake of 2006. They are currently being restored, stone by stone. ANd, it is a painstaking effort

little human - big temple

I am going back to Yogyakarta (i really love that name ) and to visit Prambanan Temple . The next time, hopefully, it won’t be part of a larger shoot and i will have time to absorb the majesty of that place.

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One of the things that I do love about the world that i have chosen to inhabit is the kind of stuff that i get to do, occasionally.

I am in Indonesia. To be precise in Java. To be even more precise in the province of Yogyakarta – called by its inhabitants as Jogja !

I am here to continue the film “To Save a Million ” – on Disaster Risk Reduction, and how it is the new wave of thinking, especially in Asian countries that want to break out of the relief syndrome.

I travelled almost 12 hours from Mumbai to Jogja. Mumbai to Singapore via Jet, and then Singapore to Jogja on Air Asia. i got in yesterday at 3 p.m., zonked out of my skull. Today I was up at 5 a.m. local time and am even more zonked.

But, i wanted to pen this down (blog it across) before i forgot the day.
It was awesome. I have traveled to some seriously beautiful places. scenically beautiful and awe inspiring. From the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean. But, there is something about a mountain that is smoking, a mountain that blew less than 3 years ago that gets your jaw to hit the floor and bounce back very slowly back to it’s place. We shot today at a village that is most impacted by the Merapi Volcano – that last blew in 2006.

Smoking is bad for otthers' health :)
(Mount Merapi on the 9th of May – 2009. check out the glowing embers)

The village has practicing DRR since before then. When the volcano blew the last time around – the village had zero casualties. From training to mobilizing women, from Early Warning Systems to evacuation drills, from terracing to HAM radios – the village has adopted many DRR best practices that allows it to save lives and livelihood.

There is something about standing at shouting distance from a volcano. It would be the equivalent of standing in front of a dinosaur. A relic from another age that can kill in an instant. There is this primeval strength about the mountain. Pictures and more in a bit.

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