Sonia Fatmarani

Relief is a three-dimensional art sculpture that is commonly found in many Indonesian ancient temples. Many people thought that its placement and carving on the wall are meant only to enhance the visual beauty of the temple. But in fact, it also served a religious purpose. Several temples have reliefs derived from ancient Javanese stories. In particular, these temples were built during the Masa Klasik Muda (Young Classical Period) in East Java, Indonesia. This period is known as the time when temples from Singhasari and Majapahit were built and erected.

Masa Klasik Muda, which lasted from the 11th to 14th centuries AD, had East Javanese temples with narrative reliefs. Most of the stories presented in these reliefs are romance, liberating oneself from misery, and encounters with the gods. Only a few are epic in nature. The stories that appear most often are Ramayana, Arjunawiwaha, Tantri Kamandaka, Sri Tanjung, and Garudeya.

In the stories that are often narrated in these Klasik Muda temples, it appears they were sculpted not only to be immortalized. Or as a mere decoration of the temple. There’s some religious element contained in these reliefs. Because the stories that are carved are legendary among one religion and even adapted directly from original books from India.

Several hypotheses later emerged about the carving of these stories on the temple walls. The first hypothesis is that, when viewed from its function, the temple is a place where people worshipped the gods, who at that time were given dharma to kings. And the reliefs that were later carved were stories related to the depiction of the king or God who was "honored" in the temple.

The second hypothesis argued that maybe the function of sculpting these well-known stories is to create a visual form of the story. It is known that the works of ancient literature do not have visualization. So they made a depiction of the story and characters in the form of sculptures in the temple. Later, the story that is used as relief becomes more narrative than before and provides better understanding to those who wonder.

The next hypothesis argued that the reliefs are made simply to be seen by the people who pray at the temple. These stories are then expected to become role models and lessons about kindness for everybody. So the people understand how the depiction of the greatness of holy figures in their religion. Because in reality, the carved stories will tell about a romance that contains life lessons, or virtues. Some describe the greatness of a character, which is a depiction of the "dharmacized" king, or the greatness of the god in question.

Set as an example is the story of Arjunawiwaha, which tells about the virtue of defeating insolence (when Arjuna destroys Niwatakawaca), loyal to dharma (Arjuna’s sacrifices to part with his mother and siblings to carry out his Kshatriya dharma duties, doing tapa diligently). Then also in the relief of the Garudeya story, where Garuda is shown struggling and fighting with the Gods to "borrow" the kamandalu which contains amerta water as a condition for his mother's release. This shows that if you try hard and earnestly, good intentions will then be achieved.

In conclusion, the purpose of presenting these stories presumably is still and always related to religion. The reliefs were carved so that every worshiper could recognize the Ksatryan figures told in ancient epics. Also to remind people that even in the darkest times, there are always some valuable lessons. So they take examples of goodness, loyalty, and religion from these figures.

Reference :

Munandar, Agus Aris. 2004. “Karya Sastra Jawa Kuno yang Diabadikan Pada Relief Candi-Candi Abad ke 13 – 15 Masehi” dalam Makara, Sosial Humaniora, Vol. 8, No. 2, Agustus 2004 : 54 – 60.