Origin from 850
Around 850, King Rakai Pikatan of the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty began construction of a great temple compound on the plain of Prambanan in Central Java, at the heart of the Mataram kingdom his dynasty contested with the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty for generations. The Shivagrha inscription, dated 856, records that the finished compound, called Shivagrha, the House of Shiva, was formally inaugurated on 12 November of that year. The temple's soaring central shrine, dedicated to Shiva within a Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, asserted the Sanjaya dynasty's own religious character after decades in which the rival Sailendra had raised the Buddhist monument at Borobudur nearby. Prambanan grew into the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, and in 1991 UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List.
Facts
Dates
End YearSourced to the subject's own account StatusEstablished marks this specific temple compound's construction and 856 dedication under Rakai Pikatan, not the arrival of Hinduism in Java, which predates the Sanjaya dynasty by centuries and is not separately dated on this timeline. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Borobudur directly: "had raised the Buddhist monument at Borobudur nearby."
This source names Brahma directly: "to Shiva within a Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, asserted the Sanjaya dynasty's own religious character after decades in which the rival Sailendra had raised the Buddhist monument at..."
This source names Prambanan directly: "great temple compound on the plain of Prambanan in Central Java, at the heart of the Mataram kingdom his dynasty contested with the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty for generations."
This source names Southeast Asia directly: "in Indonesia and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, and in 1991 UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a specific, dated temple building milestone between Hinduism's documented arrival in Cambodia with the Kingdom of Funan and its return to prominence at Angkor Wat already recorded here: the Sanjaya dynasty's own Hindu temple complex in Central Java, built to assert Shiva worship against a rival Buddhist dynasty's patronage.
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