Roro Jonggrang The Legend of Prambanan
A folklore from Central Java, Indonesia
Introduction
Prambanan, also known as Candi Prambanan or Roro Jonggrang, is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound located in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, in southern Java, Indonesia. It’s dedicated to the Trimūrti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu), and the Destroyer (Shiva).
Methods
In creating this illustration work, I used a technique called "Bahasa Rupa". “Bahasa Rupa” is an Indonesian term used to describe the language of visual representation, it gives more than one point of view and It is also a time-based picture style, which means we can know that the time are running in the picture although it is only one “frame” of picture.
The Story
Once upon a time, in the place where the Prambanan Temple stands now, there was a Kingdom called Prambanan, which was led by Prabu Baka. He had a beautiful daughter named Roro Jonggrang. The people of Prambanan Kingdom were wealthy and lived in peace. However, soon their happiness were disturbed by Pengging Kingdom. The king of Pengging Kingdom, named Bandung Bondowoso, wanted to occupy Prambanan. This made the war between Prambanan and Pengging could not be avoided. Prambanan lost the war and Prabu Baka was dead. Pengging could win the war because Bandung Bondongwoso had a supernatural power. His soldiers were not only humans but also genies. After the death of Prabu Baka, Prambanan Kingdom was led by new king, Bandung Bondowoso.
When Bondowoso went around the palace, he accidentally meet Roro Jonggrang, a beautiful daughter of Prabu Baka. Bondowoso suddenly fell in love with her and propose her to be his wife. Roro Jonggrang who asked for a marriage by Bondowoso, she was very troubled, because of her hatred towards him. She was really hate Bondowoso for killing her beloved father, but she was too much afraid to refuse the proposal. Finally, after a sort time of thinking, Roro Jonggrang found a way to cancel the marriage. She told Bondowoso to fulfill her wish to build a thousand temples and two wells overnight. “If you want to marry me, you have to build a thousand of temples in just one night,” said Roro Jonggrang. “What? Impossible! You just gave me an excuse for not marrying me!” said Bandung Bondowoso.
But he did not give up. He agreed her wish. Right after listening her wish, he asked the genies and demons to help him. Then when night fell, Bondowoso started the work. The Genies and Demons did the work in a very sort of time. When the dawn was yet to come, the work was almost done.
Roro Jonggrang watched the work, and started to be so scared. She did not want to marry Bandung Bondowoso. When the dawn was yet to come, the rest to do was only three temples and a well. Roro Jonggrang started to think hard, how to stop the work, so, Bondowoso should cancel the marriage for disabled to fulfill her wish. Finally she had a great idea, if the dawn was yet to come, she would make the dawn came earlier. Then, she called every servant and maid in the palace and told them to burn the straws, hit the rice-mortar, and make the situation as it was morning already. Every servant and maid did as what Roro Jonggrang told them. The roosters, hearing the noise of them, started to crow. Listened to the noise and the roosters, the genies and demons stopped their works and left. Bondowoso saw the genies and demons left the area, and he tried to stop them, but they were not listening. In desperation, Bondowoso tried to finish the work all by his self, but the time was never enough if he did it all alone. So, Bondowoso was not fulfilling Roro Jonggrang wish and had to cancel the marriage. Roro Jonggrang came to Bondowoso to make sure about the marriage cancellation. Bandung Bondowoso was angry. He knew Roro Jonggrang just tricked him.
“You cannot fool me, Roro Jonggrang. I already have 999 temples. I just need one more temple. Now, I will make you the one-thousandth temple.”Said Bondowoso and he cursed her to be the thousandth temple. The curse worked, and Roro Jonggrang directly turned into a statue that fulfilled the thousand temple. From then, people called the statue of Roro Jonggrang as Roro Jonggrang temple. Until now, the tamples are still standing in Prambanan area, Central Java.
