Sukuh

Coordinates: 7°37′38″S 111°7′52″E / 7.62722°S 111.13111°E / -7.62722; 111.13111
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

7°37′38″S 111°7′52″E / 7.62722°S 111.13111°E / -7.62722; 111.13111

The main monument of Sukuh temple.

Sukuh (

Hindu temple (candi) that is located in Berjo, Ngargoyoso district, Karanganyar Regency, Central Java, Indonesia on the western slope of Mount Lawu (elevation
910 metres (2,990 ft)). This temple has a height of 87 meters. Sukuh temple has a distinctive thematic relief from other candi where life before birth and sexual education are its main themes. Its main monument is a simple pyramid structure with reliefs and statues in front of it, including three tortoises with flattened shells and a male figure grasping his penis. A giant 1.82 m (6 ft) high of Shishna with four testes, representing
penile incisions,[1] was one of the statues that has been relocated to the National Museum of Indonesia
.

Background

Sukuh is one of several temples built on the northwest slopes of Mount Lawu in the 15th century. By this time, Javanese religion and art had diverged from Indian precepts that had been so influential on temple styles during the 8th–10th centuries. This was the last significant area of temple building in Java before the island's courts were converted to Islam in the 16th century. It is difficult for historians to interpret the significance of these antiquities due to the temple's distinctiveness and the lack of records of Javanese ceremonies and beliefs of the era.[2]

The founder of Candi Sukuh thought that the slope of Mount Lawu was a sacred place for worshiping the ancestors and nature spirits and for observance of the fertility cults.

Majapahit Kingdom during its end (1293–1500). Some archaeologists believe the founder had cast the fall of Majapahit, based on the reliefs that display the feud between two aristocratic houses, symbolizing two internal conflicts in the kingdom.[4]

In 1815,

Sir Thomas Raffles, the ruler of Java from 1811–1816, visited the temple and found it in bad condition.[5]
In his account, many statues had been thrown down on the ground and most of the figures had been decapitated. Raffles also found the giant lingga statue broken into two pieces, which were then glued together. This vandalism of traditional culture (especially where sexuality is not suppressed, as in the statues) is likely to be an effect of the Islamic invasion of Java during the 16th century, based upon the identical patterns found in all other Islamic and monotheistic invasions generally.

Architecture

A relief of yoni–lingga on the floor of the Candi Sukuh's entrance

The central pyramid of the complex sits at the rear of the highest of three terraces. Originally, worshippers would have accessed the complex through a gateway at the western or lowest terrace. To the left of the gate is a carving of a monster eating a man, birds in a tree, and a dog, which is thought to be a chronogram representing 1437 CE, the likely date of the temple's consecration. There is an obvious depiction of sexual intercourse in relief on the floor at the entrance where it shows a paired lingam which is represented physiologically by the (phallus) and yoni, which is represented bodily by the (vagina). Genitalia is portrayed on several statues from the site, which is unique among Javanese classical monuments.

The main structure of the Sukuh temple is like no other ancient edifice; it is a truncated

Holy Ganges sudhi in ... the sign of masculinity is the essence of the world."[3] Reliefs of a kris blade, an eight-pointed sun, and a crescent moon
decorate the statue.

A headless life-sized male figure grasping penis.

The wall of the main monument has a relief portraying two men forging a weapon in a smithy with a dancing figure of Ganesha, the most important Tantric deity, having a human body and the head of an elephant. In Hindu-Java mythology, the smith is thought to possess not only the skill to alter metals but also the key to spiritual transcendence.[5] Smiths drew their powers to forge a kris from the god of fire and a smithy is considered as a shrine. Hindu-Javanese kingship was sometimes legitimated and empowered by the possession of a kris.

The scene in basrelief The scene depicted Bhima as the blacksmith on the left forging the metal, Ganesha in the center, and Arjuna on the right operating the tube blower to pump air into the furnace.

The elephant head figure with a crown in the smithy relief depicts

Ganacakra in a burial ground or charnel ground
.

Other statues in Candi Sukuh include a life-sized male figure with his hand grasping his own

Ocean of Milk
.

See also
Pyramid temples in Indonesia
In Java
Other related topics

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Candi Sukuh.
  1. ^ Wassana Im-em; Kullawee Siriratmongkhon (19 August 2002). "Gender and Pleasure" (PDF). Australian National University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  2. ISBN 962-593-244-5
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-8248-2779-1
    .
  4. ISBN 81-7017-404-X
    .
  5. ^ a b c Stanley J. O'Connor (1985). "Metallurgy and Immortality at Caṇḍi Sukuh, Central Java". Indonesia. 39: 53–70.
  6. ^ "Candi Sukuh, Candi Unik Berbentuk Trapesium". 12 March 2012.
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