Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently in Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of his 3-nation tour. PM Modi will head to Australia from Indonesia and then the tour will conclude in New Zealand. In Indonesia, apart from all the diplomatic meetings and discussing future of the close India-Indonesia relationship, PM Modi will also visit the holy Prambanan Temple on the island of Java.
Prambanan Temple is a 9th Century temple located in Yogyakarta in Southern Java. This is the largest temple compound dedicated to Shiva in Indonesia. Within the complex, there are three temples dedicated to the Trimurti- Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh.
The temple’s stones depict scenes from the Ramayana, they show how Ramayana travelled across the seas and became an integral part of Javanese culture. The epic continues to live on in Indonesia even after centuries.
India has now decided to renovate this ancient temple, as India has been doing for the ancient temples in the region. Prambanan Temple is the latest one among the Hindu heritage sites in South East Asia that India has volunteered to renovate. These temples show that Hindu religion was present there in these countries centuries ago, and that Sanatan was prevalent in these parts. These days, people think only Bali is the place in Indonesia where Hinduism was widely followed, no, it was followed in most of the country.
This renovation project adds Prambanan to the list of Hindu temples across Southeast Asia where the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been entrusted with restoration and conservation work.
Earlier, ASI had worked on the conservation project of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. ASI had undertaken major restoration work at the world’s largest Hindu temple complex. In addition to that, ASI has also undertaken renovation works of Hindu shrines in Vietnam, Laos, and even Sri Lanka as well.
Just goes to show that India will never abandon its Hindu heritage and will work towards restoring its heritage where Hinduism was once the way of life.
