Candi Jiwa: The Tarumanegara Remainings at Karawang

Do you know Karawang? It is a city, precisely a district, located in West Java right next to Bekasi. Karawang is known for its huge rice field and also industrial area since it is also one of Indonesia’s biggest industrial city. Even though Karawang has a lot of industrial areas nowadays, this district also has some tourist attractions to explore, even a temple is situated on the north side of the district. Do you know that? So, on 18 March 2018 I and my friend, Ika, went to discover the north side of Karawang by ourselves with no plans or schedule beforehand.

I was in my room doing nothing at all. I was a bit bored, and then I decided to go somewhere I have never been visited before. I remember that my friends used to talk about a beach and temple situated a few hours from my home. I have never been to those places before, even the fact that I already live in my current home for more than 13 years, so yeah we did go there.

The beach is called Tanjung Pakis, and the temple is called Jiwo temple. There are two routes to go to these places: from Sukatani or from Rengasdengklok. Most of you might be familiar with Rengasdengklok since it is the place where Soekarno and Hatta being kidnapped isolated deported or something like that. The closest route is to take the Sukatani ones, especially if you are coming from Jakarta.

Jiwo temple comes first to visit, and It took around an hour to reach the temple. You might be a bit confused to get into the temple complex since it is located literally in the middle of nowhere. It is located in the middle of the rice field, and it is also surrounded by houses and creek. You have to park your vehicle at nearby local people's houses. You have to buy the entrance ticket with only IDR 5,000/person, and the parking fee is around Rp 2.000 for motorbike. Remember, the parking area is in local's houses, so do not expect a large parking area for the car.

The very first time I arrived here, I am so excited to see the signboards and learn something new. Sadly, I could not find one. I think the local government should really put more attention to maintain this tourism attraction since the temple is really unique. The temple is totally different than the temple in Yogyakarta - Solo area. The color of the temple is red-brown since it is made with a brick instead of andesite.

Curious about the story of this temple complex, I decided to ask local people who work as the site watchmen. The watchmen, Mr. Nayan, said that this is only the small part of the temple complex. He said that when the archaeologists came to this place, the archaeologists said that the complex cover-up to 5KM wide area. Most of the temples have not been excavated or probably discovered. He said that there are more than 60 sites that have been discovered, and there are only 4 temples that have been excavated which are: Jiwa, Blandongan, Serut, and Segaran. Jiwa and Blandongan are located close to one another whilst the Serut and Segaran temple is located in the next village.

This heritage site has been studied, and it is said that the site can be claimed as on of the oldest temple complexes in Indonesia - which most of you probably think that it is Prambanan or Borobudur temple -. The site itself is the remainings of the Tarumanegara kingdom which exist around the 5th century. The site is surrounded by creeks and close to the Citarum river.

Before the excavation, the temples are used to be Unur. Unur or Tanah Duwur is a Sunadense or Javanese language that means mound. These two temples, Jiwa and Blandongan, are named after the local language. Jiwa is Indonesian or Sanskrit means Soul in English. Local people used to shepherded their sheep to the top of the mound and left them there until the next morning. Unfortunately, a sheep must be found dead by the next morning, so the local people assumed that the mound took the soul of their cattle. The Blandongan name is come after the activity, ‘take shelter or take a rest’, that the locals used to do on the top of the mound after shepherded their cattle.

I did not get much information from Mr. Nayan, so I browsed on the internet and found some interesting articles.

It is said on detik.com that there are some amulet and bones founded around Blandongan temple. The archaeologist assumed that the Blandongan temple is used to be the praying temple or a place to do sacrifice or something like that which is for me a bit creepy. It is also mentioned in the article that there is an amulet written in Pallawa and Sanskrit that is assumed as spell words.

Another interesting this in this temple complex, especially Jiwo temple, is that the temple has no gate, stairs, or even place to for foot to step on. The archaeologist assumes that there was a Budha stupa on the top of the temple with around 4 meters height. The shape on the top of the temple looks like a lotus flower with around 6 meters diameter. The shape has never been discovered in Indonesia, and the historian said Buddhists used to pray or do rituals by walking around the temple clockwise.

















All of the temples situated in Batujaya subdistrict is heading 50 degrees to the south. Most of the temples are found around 1 to 3 meters underground. Probably there are still a lot of temples not being discovered or excavated yet in Batujaya. 

After had a small interview with the watchmen, I and Ika decided to move to the next destination which Tanjung Pakis. The beach is located 45 minutes away from the temple. The beach is heading to the northeast, so do not expect to get sunset yah!

The road to the beach is totally out of your expectation. Damaged roads are here and there, so please if you would like to visit the beach I would recommend you not drive your city car. Also, bring your own meals because you will not easily find any convenient store near the beach.

The beach has a quiet wave sound. I think it is one of the perfect places to have some getaway from my rush life. Unfortunately, the beach is heading to the northeast as well, so I did not get a chance to see the sunset. Things that you can do in Tanjung Pakis is you can dip into the water since the beach is shallow. You can also look for the shells, you can find a lot of shells here. Sadly, the shells make this beach looks dirty, and moreover, the color of the beach sand is dark brown or almost black. 

There is also a construction that looks like a pier, but it has been broken, damaged, or something like that. I really hope that there will be some improvements here, so local people do not have to go to another city to have their holiday. Personally, I think this place is really nice to visit. 

My exploration in Karawang is ended with a sunset lights that I saw upon the dikes.

I am really looking forward to seeing other places to explore in Karawang. I bet there are actually a lot of tourism attractions are hidden in this district. I will visit you again very soon yah!

Thank you for reading! Please do not hesitate to give comments. A share would be appreciated. Have a nice day!

Sources:
1. Detik.com
2. National Library Website
3. Liputan6.com
4. Dishubkominfo Website