Gunung Padang and It’s Megalithic Stones
Gunung Padang is a megalithic site located in Karyamukti village, Cianjur regency, West Java Province of Indonesia, 50 km south-west of the city of Cianjur or 6 kilometers from Lampegan station. It is the largest megalithic site in South-Eastern Asia.
Gunung Padang sites located on top of a the hill, to reach from the base must climb a steep staircase, 95 meters high, made from andesites rock pillars which laid nearly 400 stairs.
If England had Stone Henge, France has Carnac stones, Laos had stones jar and got Micronesia Nan Madol, Indonesia also has megalithic sites of Mount Padang. Named Mount Padang, based on the word “field” is derived from some syllables, namely:
-Pa = Place
-Da = Large / big / grand / highway
-Hyang = grandparent / ancestor / Biyang / great ancestors
So does the word “Padang” The Court is of the Patriarchs or perhaps meaning Place of the Patriarchs Court.Megalithic Monuments of Mount Padang probably built in 2000 BC or about 2,800 years before Borobudur was built.
Padang Mountain site is located on top of a hill, to reach from the base, visitors must climb a steep staircase tall around 95 meter masts made of andesitic rocks of almost 400 steps.
Vast complex “building” approximately 900 m². Locals relate King Siliwangi, despite the fact that the site is much older than Siliwangi grandchildren.
Site Mount Padang is Punden staircase will not symmetrical, in contrast to symmetrical terraces punden like Borobudur, also unlike other symmetric punden terraces found in West Java as the site Lebak, Banten Sibedug South. An asymmetric punden terraces indicate that punden development is concerned with the direction to which the building is facing.
Mount Padang site locations are at a point 06 ° 59.522 ‘S and 107 ° 03.363 BT. Site of Mount Padang consists of five terraces (levels).
The whole site of Mount Padang porch leads to the Mount Gede (2950 m asl) which lies about 25 km from this site. Building materials maker sites are large rocks andesite, basaltic andesite and basalt pillars shaped with a length of about one meter in diameter dominant dominant 20 cm. The poles of these rocks have formed polygon sides with the dominant form of four-sided stone pillar shape (tetragon) or five-sided (pentagon).
Each terrace has a stone building patterns varying devoted to various functions. The first terrace is a terrace with a broadest number of rocks most, both reduced the amount of stone terraces, patios to-3 to-5 is the number of terraces are not a lot of rock.
Padang Mountain site was first reported its existence by the Dutch archaeological research: NJ Krom. The first report on Gunung Padang appear in the annual reports of the Archaeological Department of the Dutch East Indies in 1914 (van den Oudheidkundigen Rapporten Dienst in Nederlandsch-Indie).
NJ Krom did not do in-depth research it, just mention that this site is foreseen as an ancient graveyard. The site is then reported back to existence in 1979 by local residents to the owner of the local culture.
Since then, the site has been studied quite in-depth archaeological though still leaves many controversies.Archaeologists agree that this site is not a graveyard as stated by Krom (1914), but it is a place of worship.
About his age, some have argued that the site was built during King Siliwangi of Sunda kingdom around the 15th century because it was found streaks weapon cleaver and carving red october on two stone blades.
But archaeologists found the site age is 1500 years before Christ (BC), based on the form of monumental megaliths and records the journey of a nobleman of the Kingdom of Sunda, Bujangga Manik, a contemporary of King Siliwangi, wrote that the site was already there before the Kingdom of Sunda.
Gunung Padang megalithic site has been built in harmony for the purpose of religiositygeomantik Sang Hyang form of worship or the ruler of the humans at that time believed to be living on top of Mount Gede.
A mountain in the cosmology of ancient Javanese religion is the personification of the giver and the taker (Magnis-Suseno, 2006). He is the giver of soil fertility to grow crops for food, but he also was the decision that the eruption could destroy anyone. Then the mountain must be worshiped so that he is not mad and always give blessings.
That the site is used for a place of worship with the orientation of the ruler of Mount Gede evidenced by the five terraces of the site is low (terrace 1) to the highest (terrace 5) is always directed to the Mount Gede whose position remains on the average azimuth of 336 , 40 ° UT.
Development of this site as well, especially on the terrace one has paid enough attention to this area of the instability problem by arranging the stone pillars piled up horizontally and each other for reinforcement.
In conjunction with worship, these sites can be built to order that man away from earthquake or volcanic sources are not far from Mount Padang.
Picture Source : Google
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