THE LEGEND OF PRAMBANAN TEMPLE

Once upon a time, there was a mighty king named Prabu Baka. He was the king of

Prambanan kingdom. Prabu Baka had a fascinating daughter named Roro Jonggrang, who was later

she turned into a statue. All people in Prambanan lived tranquilly. Until one day, Prambanan kingdom

was invaded and Prabu Baka was killed by the king of Pengging kingdom named Bandung

Bondowoso; in order to expand his kingdom territory. Suddenly, he ruled Prambanan kingdom and

became a mean king. One day, Bandung Bondowoso saw Roro Jonggrang. He fell in love and desired

to marry her. She demand to reject, but she was frightened that Bandung Bondowoso would be

enraged. Then, she came hatched a plan. “If you want to marry me, you have to build one thousand

temples for me in just one night,” said Roro Jonggrang. He accepted as a consequence he did not give

up. As a result, Bandung Bondowoso summoned all of his genie soldiers and instructed them to assist

him in constructing the thousand temples. Genies worked at incredible speed. Meanwhile, Roro

Jonggrang heard from her servant that the construction of a thousand temples building was almost

done, she was too worried. But again, she had a great idea to ruin Bandung Bondowoso work. She

requested all of her servants to assist her. “Please prepare a lot of straw and mortar. Then burn it!”

said Roro Jonggrang. They were burning straw and smashing the mortar, to make the genies thinks

the sun will rise. All genies immediately stopped their work and ran to protect themselves from the

sun they feared. Bandung Bondowoso couldn’t stop the genies from leaving. He was angry. He knew

that Roro Jonggrang had just cheated on him. “You cannot fool me, Roro Jonggrang. I already have

999 temples. I just need one more temple. Now, I will make you the one-thousandth temple.” He

cursed Roro Jonggrang into a stone. And then, Roro Jonggrang's frame slowly become a statue. On

that day, Bandung Bondowoso was sad. However, his sadness did not change his bad attitude. He

controlled all the people of the Prambanan kingdom and became a cruel king. In addition, Roro

Joggrang’s statue was still standing in the Prambanan region. From then on, the beautiful statue of

Roro Jonggrang commemorated in the Prambanan temple.