Singosari TEMPLE was built to honor King Kertanegara who died in 1292 (the ancestor of the Majapahit kings). The Gajah Mada inscription (1351 AD) states that there was a caitya construction carried out by Mahapatih Gajah Mada for the Batara Sang Mokta ring of Shiva Buddha Laya.
Kertanegara was the last King of Singasari. His government was overthrown by the King of Kediri, Jayakatwang. However, Jayakatwang was defeated by Kertanegara's son-in-law named Raden Wijaya. Raden Wijaya who is a descendant of Mahisa Wongateleng and King Udayana in Bali later founded the Majapahit Kingdom with the center of government in Tarik (Trowulan). This temple was first reported by Nicolaus Engelhardt, a Dutch national, the Governor of the Northeast Coast of Java since 1801. This was reported from the Ministry of Education and Culture website.
He reported the ruins of temple buildings in the barren plains of Malang in 1803, which was then known as Singosari Temple. Since then Singosari Temple has received the attention of other Europeans.
In 1804, the statues were removed from the temple ruins, the statues were brought to the Netherlands in 1819.
The initial discussion about this temple was written by JLA Brandes together with HL Leydie Melville and J Kneebel with their book entitled Beschrijving van Tjandi Singasari, en De Wolkentooneelen van Panataran which was published in 1909.
In this book, Brandes argues that the temple was built by the decision of the Supreme Advisory Council (Battara Sapta Prabu) consisting of seven high-ranking Majapahit officials whose orders were conveyed by Tribhuwanatunggadewi Maharajasa Jayawisynuwarddhani to Mahaminister Rakrian Empu Mada to build a temple for Mahabrahmana, the head of the Shiva-Buddhist religion, former Mahapatih who died with Prabu Kertanegara. The implementation of the construction of the temple was handed over to Patih Jinordhana. Singosari Temple has a pyramid-shaped roof consisting of several levels and each level is decorated with towers. The sides of the bottom measuring 5 m. The top of the roof has collapsed so that the only part that exists today is the first level and part of the second level as high as 2.50 m. The height of the remaining temple buildings today is 14.10 m.
The body is square in shape with sides measuring 5.20 m and 4.85 m high. The body of the temple is empty, there is no main room that should be there, as well as the niches on all four sides are empty. Seeing the size, from the beginning the niches were not places for statues.
The body of the temple is empty because it is a symbol of Parama sunya, which is the highest concept in Buddhism that is intangible. In Nagarakrtagama it is said that Siva is in the inner space, and aksobhya is above, but because it is very subtle (aksobhyawimbhatisuksma) it is not seen due to the power of his siddhi which is essentially empty. Singosari temple is made of andesite stone, consisting of batur, legs, body and roof. Batur is in the shape of a square with a side length of 13.85 m and a height of 1.90 m and has no relief. The stairs up to the hallway at the foot of the temple are not flanked by the cheeks of the stairs with makara decorations like those found in other temples.
On the top of the Batur is the foot of the temple with a square plan with a side length of 8.8 m and a height of 4.86 m. The foot of the temple has the privilege of having booths and performers on all four sides. The viewer on the west side is the door to the temple chamber. This entrance looks simple without a frame decorated with sculptures. Above the doorway there is a carving of a kala head which is also very simple in carving. The existence of some very simple sculptures and reliefs raises the suspicion that the construction of Singosari Temple has not been fully completed. At first glance, the Singosari Temple building looks as if it were two-tiered, because the lower part of the roof of the temple is square, resembling a small room with a niche on each side. The main room (garbhagrha) is at the foot of the temple, which is unusual in temples in Indonesia, because usually the temple room is in the body of the temple. The foot of the temple has three displays on three sides, which were formerly filled with statues such as the statues of Durga Mahisasuramardini (north), Ganesha (east), and Trnawindhu (south). Except for the Trnawindhu statue, the other two statues are no longer in place.
The main room is empty, there is only a yoni which is located on a rectangular plinth, the top of the yoni is slightly damaged. On the floor of the foot of the temple there is a small channel leading to the north side terrace, so that the temple is as if it is a picture of a phallus. The door of the temple is on the west side flanked by a pair of niches for Mahakala and Nandiswara statues. At the top of the doorway and above the three niches decorated with simple kala heads.
Facebook
