In Praise of Prambanan: Dutch Essays on the Loro Jonggrang Temple Complex.  Edited by Roy E. Jordaan.  Translation series (KITLV); 26.  Leiden: KITLV Press, 1996. 259 pp., illustrations, maps. (Reviewed by K. K. Sarkar, University of Windsor)

The work under review is devoted to the Hindu-Javanese temple complex of Candi Prambanan, also known by its locally more popular name of Candi Loro Jonggrang.

The book has two parts.  Part One is an updated introduction to the temple complex based on an examination of the existing scholarly literature.  Important issues connected with the monument such as the probable date of its construction, its name, its location from a cultural and historical perspective, architectural design, the rulers and the religious sects involved in its construction, are discussed.  The various theories of archaeologists about the place of Candi Prambanan in the development of Hindu-Javanese architecture are also examined.

Part two, the reader proper, presents in English translation selected articles of, or excerpts from, publications by prominent Dutch scholars who not only had a first-hand knowledge of ancient Indonesian Hindu-Buddhist art and religion, but also played a prominent role in the excavation, description, and reconstruction of the Candi Prambanan temple complex.  The editor feels that these selected articles are still worth reading today and that is why they are made available to non-Dutch readers through English translations.  In this context it may be mentioned that the Dutch were among the first Europeans to become acquainted with the monument at close quarters, and that much of the Dutch researchers significantly affected out present knowledge of Candi Prambanan.

Despite universal recognition of Candi Prambanan as one of the greatest monuments of Indonesia, so far there has been hardly any critical and comprehensive study that deals with various aspects of this monument such as art style, archaeological theories, mythical background and religious inspiration.  Dr. Roy E. Jordaan, the editor, already well known for his numerous scholarly contributions to Indonesian art and archaeology, presents at great length a systematic account of the materials relative to Candi Prambanan that he has collected over the past years.  Along with these data, which appear to posses a remarkable relevance for the study of unresolved issues, he also furnishes new and promising lines of future inquiry regarding Indonesia’s past.  Thus the present work fills in a desideratum in the domain of cultural history of Indonesia.

It is worthwhile to focus our attention on some specific issues.  For example, instead of considering Candi Prambanan a rival to Borobudur, as some scholars have done, the author proposes to regard Prambanan and Borobudur as twin pinnacles of early Central Javanese culture, a culture in which Buddhists and Hindus lived peacefully together and helped each other in building their respective sanctuaries.

This question is closely associated with another issue, namely the date of the foundation of the Candi Prambanan temple complex.  On the basis of a new interpretation of an Old Javanese inscription dated 856 A.D. the author proposes the possibility of pushing the date of the foundation of the temple complex back from the second half of the ninth century (as presently accepted) to the beginning of the same century or probably even the eighth century A.D.  Obviously this new dating suggest that Candi Prambanan much more likely coexisted peacefully with Buddhist sanctuaries.

The new dating of Candi Prambanan also challenges the theory of continuity in the development of Hindu-Buddhist architecture in Java.  Finally the author asserts that the differences between Central and East Javanese temple architecture are so numerous and so fundamental that they can only be explained satisfactorily by assuming that Central Java was exposed to more direct and vigorous cultural influences from the Indian subcontinent at the time of the construction of Borobudur and Candi Prambanan.

These new theories are worthy of consideration and will certainly have a profound bearing on any future research in Hindu-Buddhist art of Java.