We arrived at 8:00 in the morning at Sultan Thaha Airport,
the main airport of Jambi City, West Sumatra. The city center is about 20
minute-drive to the city center. But we first went to Candi Murajambi, an
archaeological site, believed to be built in early 15th century,
which is situated in the forested area of the town of Muarajambi. These are
Hindu temples which are made of similar bricks found at Hindu temples of India.
Candi Muarajambi is about 25 kms drive from the airport. O the way, you will
find palm tree plantation on the right and rubber tree plantations on the left.
There are 9 temples all over the complex. They are quite simple with the
highest peak reaching to about 3 floors. These temples, is incomparable to the
astonishing Angkor Complex or the majestic Borobudur Complex which were all
discovered accidentally by foreign explorers but there is yet beauty in the
simplicity of Candi Muarajambi. First thing I noticed was the lack of tourist
made the place clean, no traffic and peaceful. You will always find an alone
time when you wander around the temples. When you look around all the temples,
I could say it was abandoned by the people who built it. But for the reason why
they abandoned, no one can answer. The locals may also not have any clue and
can only rely on hearsay. Getting around the whole complex took us 3 hours on a
bike. An unexpected ride back to main entrance got us toasted under the glaring
heat of the Sumatran summer.
As I mentioned, the whole place is not as grandiose as the
famed Hindu complex of the neighboring countries but the beauty of being
untouched and left in ruins made it more appealing than the other temples I
have seen so far. More importantly, since Hinduism never propagated in this
area, which is generally Muslim, we can understand why people never really took
time to use these places for worship yet they never tore it down.
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04.11.2015
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