Ratu Boko temple is one of the temples in Jogja that attracts many tourists, both domestic and foreign tourists. What makes this temple more interesting? Apparently, not only had time to serve as a place of worship like the temples in general, this temple is said to be an ancient palace inhabited by the royal family in his day.
A little story to accompany your trip to Ratu Boko Temple, the name of this temple has its own legend. People believe that the Palace or Temple of Ratu Boko is the ruins of the building of a king of Mataram king named Ratu Boko. Ratu Boko himself is believed to be the father of Roro Jonggrang.
The history of Ratu Boko Temple is written on an ancient inscription called Abhayagiriwihara Inscription with date 792 AD. This inscription is a little about Tejahpurnapane Panamkarana or more commonly known as Rakai Panangkaran, which is a king of Mataram who lived in the year 746-784 AD. In this stone it is explained that he commanded to build Abhayagiriwihara, which has the meaning of a monastery on proof of peace.
In building a temple every dynasty has its own purpose in spreading the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism. Rakai Panangkaran is actually known as Mahayana Buddhist, which is reinforced by the discovery of the Dhyani Buddha statue on this site. Moreover Abhayagiri Inscription written using Pranagari letters which is a characteristic of Buddhist inscriptions.
However, due to the collapse of the Buddhist Syailendra dynasty at that time and began to strengthen the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty, the architecture of the site is also much influenced by Hindu culture.
For those of you who want to spend a lot of time to adventure in this complex is guaranteed not to feel bored. Ratu Boko palace complex is located in a vast land, divided into seven main parts, namely the main gate, limestone temple, burning temple, paseban, pendapa, kaputren, and cave.
