The Hindu Spiritual Landscape of Early Ancient Mataram Civilization in Magelang

Aditya Revianur

Hindu Spiritual Landscapes of Ancient Mataram religious sites in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, were not built anywhere; their position was determined by people's perspective in the 8th century. In the Canggal inscription, which marks the beginning of the Mataram Kingdom in Megelang, it is mentioned that King Sanjaya erected a Shiva Lingam on a mountain. The Lingam is now known as Gunung Wukir Temple. This paper reveals the Hindu spiritual landscape at Gunung Wukir temple and its surrounding areas, which include rich Hindu archaeological sites, i.e., Gunung Singo Barong Archaeological Site, Mantingan Bathing Pools, and Gunung Sari Temple. Landscape Archaeology provides valuable clues about how ancient Hindu-Javanese people saw the landscape around them and how it was developed and created. It also confirms the importance of space based on the Hindu cosmological concept, which determined the ritual landscape. This cosmological space also reveals the division of slopes based on the level of the places according to the Triloka concept, which explains the lower world (Bhurloka), the middle world (Bhuvarloka), and the upper world (Svarloka). This paper also attempts to explain the reason for an orientation using a landscape archaeological approach. The orientation of the structures is believed to be a reflection of the spatial map and the cosmology of the community that lived in Magelang centuries ago. It also offers a reflection on the structure of the religious places and their relations with conceptualized space, showing the influence of Hindu-Indian thought, as well as its limits.