For an Islamic country as Indonesia is, it has some fine religious buildings representing other faiths. I have already blogged in the A-Z Challenge about the amazing Javanese Buddhist temple of Borobudur and now it is the turn of the nearby Hindu shrine of Prambanan.
I visited Java & Bali in 1997 (we were actually due to do Malaysia & Sumatra, but El Niño put paid to that idea).
It was a fantastic trip with lots of happy memories from manic Jakarta to peaceful Ubud. Number one however was our trip to Prambanan, a Hindu shrine in a dominantly Muslim country (Indonesia is the world’s most populous Islamic country with only Hindu Bali standing apart).
Prambanan itself was stunning with its jagged monuments and homages to the gods of Shiva, Vishnu & Ganesh.
We spent a few excellent hours exploring the monuments in the strong and sapping heat of the afternoon.
The main site closed at dusk, however this was not the end of our day. We had the treat to come –
an open-air performance of the Ramayana, the age-old Hindu epic poem of love and war.
It ended with a set made of hay being burned. A hot ending for those of us sat in the front rows and with the added bonus of lighting up the sky enough for me to see a bat swoop and catch a moth.
Fiery End To The Ramayana
The performance was colourful and dramatic. A superb way to end a long day.
Some Of The Cast and me.
