Candi Sari: The Two-Storey Temple Near Prambanan
Candi Sari in brief
Candi Sari is a small Buddhist temple in Kalasan, Sleman Regency, on the plain east of Yogyakarta city and not far from the great Hindu complex of Prambanan. It is a two-storey rectangular building, and the arrangement of its rooms points to a use quite unlike a shrine: it is generally understood as a vihara, a residence for monks. Anyone who has stood among the tall spires of Prambanan will notice at once that Candi Sari is built on a different plan, lower, quieter and closer to the ground. It is worth a visit because it shows an everyday side of the early Central Java temple tradition, and it takes far less time to see than the large complexes nearby.
Where the temple stands
The temple lies in the hamlet of Bendan, in Tirtomartani village, Kalasan district, which is why it is sometimes also called Candi Bendan. It stands only a short distance north-east of Candi Kalasan, the larger Buddhist temple that the monks of Sari are thought to have served. The distance between the two is short enough to cover on foot, and the pair are usually visited together. The surrounding landscape is flat farmland and village housing, and the approach is an ordinary village lane rather than a formal entrance.
That setting is part of the character of the place. Where Prambanan sits in an open park with wide walkways and large numbers of visitors, Candi Sari sits among local houses, and a visitor walks through a neighbourhood to reach it. Residents go about their day around the temple, and the sounds of the village are never far away. The visit feels personal rather than staged, which many travellers prefer after a morning among crowds.
A monastery rather than a shrine
The building rises in two storeys, divided by a horizontal band running around the walls, and that division is the clearest sign of how it was used. Inside are three rooms side by side, those at the north, centre and south, each about three metres by almost six. The original floor between the two levels, together with the beams, stairs, doors and window frames, was made of wood. All of it has long since decayed, so today the interior is a tall empty space where two levels of rooms once stood.
The usual reading is that the lower rooms served for worship and teaching, and the upper rooms for rest and meditation. Small niches inside once held oil lamps, a detail that makes it easy to imagine the rooms in use after dark. No statues remain inside. The idea of a residence for monks fits the neighbouring Kalasan temple, whose founding inscription of 778 mentions a monastery for monks; Sari is therefore thought to have been that monastery, or one of the buildings that housed the community around Kalasan.
The dating follows from this link. Candi Sari is placed in the eighth century, probably close in time to Kalasan, though the exact year of construction is uncertain and a somewhat later date has also been suggested. The honest way to read any single date quoted for it is as an estimate tied to Kalasan, not as a year fixed by a building inscription.
Size, shape and the carved walls
The temple measures about seventeen metres from north to south and ten from west to east, and it stands roughly seventeen metres tall. These figures make it compact next to the towers of Prambanan, but tall enough that the walls still dominate the small compound. The building has the three parts typical of Central Javanese temples: a base, a body and a roof.
The outer walls carry thirty-six figures of Buddhist beings, including Tara and bodhisattvas. They stand in two rows beside the windows, eight on the east, north and south sides and twelve on the west. Look also for the Kala-makara motifs above the arched niches, the jaladwara water spouts, and a winged kinnara figure on the north wall. At the east entrance a carving of a Kala head and an elephant frames the doorway. Traces of a fine plaster coating can still be seen in places, a reminder that the stone was once finished more smoothly than the weathered surface that visitors see today.
The sculpture is smaller and less elaborate than the figures on the big temples of the plain, which gives Candi Sari a calm, almost domestic quality that many visitors remember. The figures repay a slow walk around the building, since the light changes their faces as the sun moves, and the rows beside the windows are easiest to read from a few steps back.
Discovery and restoration
The ruins were found in the early 1920s, heavily damaged. Reconstruction began in 1929 and was finished in 1930. The result was not a complete rebuild: the outer base that once surrounded the temple and the extended front room with its stairway on the east side are missing, so the temple stands somewhat shorter and simpler than the original. Where the restorers worked, the line between old and replaced stone can sometimes be traced by the colour and the sharpness of the edges.
The restoration is a good reminder of how much of the Yogyakarta plain was rebuilt from ruin in the twentieth century. Many of the temples seen today are partial reconstructions, built from the stones that could be matched and recovered. Candi Sari is a modest case, and for that reason a useful one: the surviving design is easy to follow, and what is missing is easy to see.
How the temple differs from Prambanan
Prambanan is a Hindu complex of many temples, with tall spires and a central group dedicated to the great gods. Candi Sari is a single building of modest scale, built for a Buddhist community. The difference in scale changes the visit. Prambanan asks for hours of walking and careful attention to many buildings, while Candi Sari can be seen thoroughly in well under an hour.
The flow of visitors is also different. The big complex is busy, especially at weekends and in holiday periods, and crowds can make it hard to photograph the stonework without other people in the frame. Candi Sari receives far fewer visitors, and it is often possible to stand in front of the building without a crowd. For many travellers, this quiet is the real reason to come.
The contrast also helps explain how the religious life of the plain was organised. Buddhist monasteries and Hindu sanctuaries stood within a short distance of each other, and the monks who lived at a place like Sari were neighbours of the great Hindu temple builders. Candi Sewu, a Buddhist compound a short distance north of Prambanan, and Candi Sojiwan, a Buddhist temple south of Prambanan, belong to the same landscape, and seeing them together gives the clearest picture of the area.
Planning the visit from Yogyakarta
Candi Sari is reached from Yogyakarta by road, and the trip is short by car or motorbike. A driver who knows the Prambanan area is a sensible choice, because the side roads between the temples are narrow and the signage is not always clear. The temple works well as part of a morning or afternoon that also includes Candi Kalasan and Prambanan. Starting with the smaller temples while the air is cooler, and ending at the large complex, is usually the more comfortable order.
For a wider day, the area offers many other temples within a short ride: Candi Kadisoka, Candi Banyunibo and the temple known as Kimpulan, Pustakasala and Candi UII are all described on their own pages. The tale of a princess who asked for a thousand temples in one night, told on the Rara Jonggrang legend page, also adds colour to the whole district. Those who time their trip around music can read about the Prambanan Jazz Festival.
What to bring and how long to stay
Allow about an hour at Candi Sari, longer if you want to sit and look at the figures and the village life around them. Bring water, a hat and comfortable shoes, because the ground around the temple can be uneven and the open yard offers little shade in the heat of the day. Keep voices low, do not climb on the walls or the carved stones, and ask before photographing people from the village, especially anyone who is praying.
Light is best in the morning, when the sun falls across the walls and brings out the depth of the carving. Late afternoon is also good, though the light fades quickly once the sun drops behind the trees. In the rainy season, expect damp ground and a muddy approach lane, and carry a light cover for sudden showers.
Questions visitors ask about Candi Sari
Is Candi Sari part of the Prambanan temples?
No. It is a separate Buddhist building in Kalasan district, near Candi Kalasan, and it is not part of the main Prambanan complex. Many visitors see them on the same day.
Why does it have two levels?
The building is understood as a monastery. The lower rooms are thought to have been used for worship and teaching, and the upper rooms for rest and meditation, with wooden floors and stairs linking them.
How long does a visit take?
An hour is enough to see the building and walk around it. A slower visit that includes time among the village lanes can run longer.
Is the temple restored?
Yes, in part. The ruins were rebuilt between 1929 and 1930, and the temple that stands today combines original stone with reconstructed sections, although the outer base and front room are still missing.
Where to go next
A visit to Candi Sari fits well into a wider look at the Yogyakarta temples. The Prambanan temples page covers the large complex nearby and explains how the sites of the plain relate to one another, and the shorter pages on Sojiwan, Kadisoka and Banyunibo show how varied the smaller temples are.