PRAMBANAN TEMPLE

Prambanan is the largest and most magnificent Hindu temple ever built in ancient Java. Construction of this royal Hindu temple was initiated by Sri Maharaja Rakai Pikatan as a rival to the Buddhist Borobudur temple and the nearby Sewu temple. Some older historians speculate that the construction of this grand Hindu temple marked the return of the Sanjaya family to power over Java, a theory linked to the rival twin dynasties of different faiths: the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty and the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty. Certainly, the construction of this temple signaled the return of support for Saiva Hinduism to the royal family, after the Sailendra dynasty had previously tended to favor Mahayana Buddhism. This signaled the shift in religious support from Mahayana Buddhism to the worship of Shiva.