BIKING TO TROWULAN
For those who have
strong passion for ancient heritage from Grand Majapahit Kingdom, don’t ever
pass up to visit Trowulan. Trowulan is a small town located in the west of of
Mojokerto, on the border of Jombang regency. It is very conveniently located so
that it is easy to visit: on the main road connecting Surabaya and Solo
(Surakarta).
Trowulan is only
around 100 kilometer acres. Although it is small, Trowulan is very rich with
traces from Majapahit heritage, such as statues, temples, and some other
archeological sites. Those sites are located closely from one and another so we
do not need much time to visit all of them. One thing for sure: don’t forget to
print the archeological site map of the location so it will be easy for us to
find those sites.
Ranz – by biking
soul mate – and I spared some time to bike to Trowulan from Solo two days
before we attended the second folding bike national jamboree held on the 16th –
18th of November 2012. To prepare our journey, Ranz printed the map we needed,
from Solo to Surabaya, also the map of Trowulan archeological sites.
We left Solo on
Wednesday 14 November 2012. We needed approximately 20 hours to reach Jombang
from Solo, and it was the first time for us to bike during the night. We arrived
in Jombang on Thursday early morning around 5 am. We decided to take a rest in
one gasoline station that provided toilet and prayer room. We spent around 2
hours here.
Around 7 am, we
continued biking. On the way, in fact I was attacked by sleepiness so that I
needed to take a nap around 15 minutes in front of one mini market where we
dropped by to buy some bottles of mineral water. LOL. Ranz was sitting next to
me nicely, taking care of me while sipping milk.
After 15 minutes, we
continued our journey. This time, I talked to Ranz that I needed coffee so we
dropped by at one simple food stall selling coffee, tea, instant noodles and
some other refreshment. GIRAS was the name of the stall. GIRAS means healthy
and energetic. And ... abracadabra, after drinking a glass of coffee, I felt
energetic and really ‘awake’: ready to go on biking. LOL.
Not far from the
stall, in fact we already entered the area of Trowulan. Ranz saw a name board
of CANDI BRAHU (Brahu temple) on the left side of the street, so we turned
left. However, before we arrived at Brahu temple, we saw a traffic sign of MAHA
VIHARA MAJAPAHIT, so we followed the sign to visit it first.
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| at the front gate of Maha Vihara Majapahit |
MAHA VIHARA
MAJAPAHIT
Maha Vihara
Majapahit (Grand Buddhist temple of Majapahit) is located in Bejijong village,
Trowulan, Mojokerto. This temple is small, only one floor. The architecture of
the building is the combination of Chinese and Javanese art. The temple is open
for everyone and it is free to enter it. From the gate, we can directly see the
main building of the temple. On the left and right side path, there are some
statues in different poses. Unfortunately when Ranz and I went here, the door
of the main building was close so we could not enter it. If one is lucky to be
able to enter it. one can see three different shrines for three different sects
in Buddhism: Hinayana, Mahayana dan Tantrayana.
From the main
building, we chose to take the path on the right. There we found a giant statue
of Buddha lying, it is 22 meter long, 6 meter wide and 4.5 meter high. The face
of this statue shows Buddha when he was a child (young); different from the
giant statue of Buddha lying that is located in Pagoda Avalokitesvara Watugong
Semarang, his face was adult. In Maha Vihara Majapahit, the statue of Buddha’s
color is golden yellow.
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| giant Buddha statue |
From the location of
the statue of Buddha, we went to the back of the main building, to the right
path, where we found the miniature of Borobudur temple. We just followed the
path, then we would go back to the front area of the main building.
Although it is
located in Trowulan, and the name has ‘Majapahit’ in it, Maha Vihara Majapahit
is not the heritage of Majapahit Kingdom. This temple was built by Banthe
Viriyanadi Mahathera in 1985.
Going out of the
temple, we turned left, then turned right again to go back to the ‘main route’.
Not far from there, we would find one site named SITI INGGIL.
SITI INGGIL
Siti Inggil – or
high land – was meant to be a sacred and respected land. It was said that in
one point around this area, there was a place where Raden Wijaya – the name of
the founder as well as the first king of Majapahit – meditated. Raden Wijaya
ruled Majapahit from 1293 until 1309.
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| Siti Inggil |
There are two sacred
graveyards in this area, of Sapu Angin and Sapu Jagat. Many people – not only from
neighboring places but also from distant places – come here to pray in order to
get blessings. Outside the graveyards,
there is a fountain where people believe that the water is sacred too. After
praying inside the graveyard area, the pilgrim then drink one or two sips of
water from the fountain.
It is free to enter
“Maha Vihara Majapahit”, but to enter “Siti Inggil” we have to pay one thousand
rupiahs per person.
From Siti Inggil we
continued our journey to CANDI BRAHU.
CANDI BRAHU
Candi Brahu is
located in Bejijong village Trowulan, around 2 kilometers from the main road
connecting Mojokerto – Jombang. It is said that the name of ‘Brahu’ is taken
from word wanaru or warahu that means sacred place. The
word was found in Alasantan manuscript collected not far from Candi Brahu’s
location.
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| Brahu temple |
Candi Brahu was made
of red bricks (different from temples located in Central Java whose color is
black or grey). It faces west, 22,5 meter long, 18 meter wide, and 20 meter
high. It was allegedly built in the 15th century, with Buddhist influence. When
paying a close attention to the temple, one will easily find that the temple is
no longer original, there were some new bricks added in order to renovate it to
look like it used to be. To avoid it to get more damaged, visitors are not
allowed to step on the temple, moreover to climb it.
Visitors do not need
to buy any entrance ticket. They just have to pay the parking fee, but for
cyclists, it is free for them to park their bikes. From the friendly parking
man, I got information where to go to CANDI GENTONG, and how to go back to the
main road from there.
CANDI GENTONG
Candi Gentong
(Gentong temple) is located around 360 meter to the east of Candi Brahu. People
say that in 1889 the building of Candi Gentong was still complete. However, in
1907, the area was just full of a big piles of bricks. in 1995, an exvacation
done showed traces of old building of walls made from bricks. The building was
square, around 14,25 x 14,25 meter and 2,45 high, and the wall was 1,9 meter
wide.
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| Gentong temple |
Ranz and I didn’t
stay long here. We only took less than 10 pictures then we continued to go to
the main road. Coming to the main road, we found an intersection; we crossed
the intersection to come to KOLAM SEGARAN (Segaran Pool).
It was still 10 am
when we arrived there, however, it was very sunny and hot. We were very
thirsty. Luckily outside the Segaran Pool, there were many people selling iced
young coconut. We bought two glasses.
KOLAM SEGARAN
Segaran Pool is
located around one kilometer from the intersection I mentioned above. This pool
was discovered in 1926 where it was full of soil. The site was renovated in
1966 then again in 1974. It is around 6,5 hectare acres, from north to south
375 meter long and 175 wide. Around the pool, there is a wall of 1,6 meter
wide. Outside the dry season, the water in the pool can reach 2,88 meter deep.
Unfortunately when Ranz and I went there, the water inside the pool was only
little.
 |
| Segaran Pool |
Segaran Pool is
allegedly the only ancient pool discovered in Indonesia. Historians say that in
the past, Majapahit royal family used the pool to serve foreign guests around
the pool, while the water was used as dam.
From Segaran Pool,
we continued our exploration to Trowulan Museum.
MUSEUM TROWULAN
This museum is
located across from Segaran Pool, a bit to the left. Visitors do not need to
buy any entrance ticket. The museum was
built by Kanjeng Adipati Aria Kramadjaja, one regent of Mojokerto. He was
helped by one Dutch archeologist, Henry
Maclaine Pont. The museum was built to keep and display ancient arheological
things discovered around Trowulan.
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| Trowulan Museum building |
Visitors, however,
are not allowed to take pictures inside the museum. Therefore, Ranz and I
didn’t stay long either here.
Leaving the museum,
it was almost noon, we dropped by at one modest food stall located across from
the museum. We ordered one portion of ‘nasi pecel’ for both of us (we both were
not that hungry) but we were very thirsty! We ordered three glasses of iced
tea. J
After brunch, we continued
exploring to SITUS LANTAI SEGIENAM or “Hexagone tile site”.
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| hexagone tile site |
SITUS LANTAI
SEGIENAM
The site constitute
traces of a house having hexagone tiles. This is interesting because from this
site one can see that hexagone tiles were already used during Majapahit
Kingdom. Here one can also find pots made of clay. Perhaps those pots were used
by people in that era.
 |
| Umpak Sentonorejo site |
SITUS UMPAK
SENTONOREJO
I don’t know how to
say it in English. LOL. This site constitues an open area with rocks lining up
neatly. The site was discovered in 1982. Archeologists said that perhaps this
site used to be a foundation of a building, that was closely related to SITUS
LANTAI SEGIENAM. Both sites are located in Kedation, Sentonorejo village,
Trowulan.
From the two sites
above, we continued our journey to CANDI BAJANG RATU and CANDI TIKUS. (Thanks
to the map of Trowulan archeological sites that Ranz printed so we didn’t find
it difficult to find those sites.)
CANDI BAJANG RATU (Child
King Temple)
Candi Bajangratu is
located in Kraton, Temon village, Trowulan. Name of ‘Bajangratu’ for the first
time was written in Oudheidkunding Verslag (OV) in 1915. An archeologist, Sri
Soeyatmi Satari said that the name of ‘Bajangratu’ referred to King Jayanegara
from Majapahit Kingdom. Word ‘bajang’ means ‘small’ (or ‘kid’) because in a
book titled Pararaton Jayanegara was said to be crowned as a king when he was a
child so he got title “Ratu Bajang” or ‘child king.
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| Bajangratu temple |
Candi Bajangratu is
believed to have been renovated several times since Dutch colonial government. To
keep it in a good shape, visitors are not allowed to step on the stairs and
enter the temple.
CANDI TIKUS (Rat
temple)
From Candi
Bajangratu, Ranz and I continued biking to Candi Tikus. This temple is located Dinuk,
Temon village, Trowulan. The size is 29,5 meter long, 28,25 meter length and
5,2 height. This temple is called Candi Tikus (rat) because when it was the
first time discovered in 1914, the area was full of rats that ruined the
ricefields around the area. It was renovated in 1983 – 1986.
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| Rat temple |
It is stated that
Candi Tikus is the replica of Mahameru – one mountain located on top of Semeru
mountain in East Java because there are four small temple miniatures where gods
stay and it is the life source in a form of showers along the foot of the
temple. This temple is built underground. In the past this temple probably was
the place to take a shower for royal princess.
As other temples,
visitors are forbidden to step on the temple. They do not need to buy any
entrance ticket though, just to pay the parking area to park cars/motorcycles. It
is free for bicycles.
From Candi Tikus, we
went back biking to the main road connecting Jombang – Sidoarjo/Surabaya. Before
leaving Trowulan, we dropped by at Gapura Wringin Lawang (door oak gate)
located on the right of the road from Trowulan.
GAPURA WRINGIN
LAWANG (Door Oak Gate)
Gapura (gate) or
Candi Wringin Lawang is located in Wringin Lawang, Jati Pasar villate,
Trowulan, around 11 kiloeter from Mojokerto to Jombang. Once it was said that
there was one temple near a big oak tree therefore this temple/gate is called
Candi Wringinlawang (‘wringin’ means oak tree, ‘lawang’ means door).
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| Wringinlawang gate |
The shape of
Wringinlawang is ‘bentar’ temple, that is a gate without roof. ‘Bentar’ temple
usually has function as the most outside gate of one building complex. This gate/temple was renovated in 1991 – 1995,
it was made of red bricks.
Wringinlawang gate
was the last spot we visited in Trowulan. From there, we soon continued our
journey biking to Sidoarjo to stay a night there. The following day we continued
biking to Surabaya to attend the second folding bike jamboree.
PT56 ~ GG August
2013
