Sanctuaries on Mount Penanggungan: Candi Kendalisodo, Candi Yudha, and the Panji statue from Candi Selokelir – the climax

Abstract

The three sites under scrutiny display different forms of the symbolism of Panji. Three sites include: Candi Kendalisodo, Candi Yudha and Panji Statue from Candi Selokelir. Candi Kendalisodo demonstrates in its architectural layout and its relief depictions a concise form of the Tantric path. Panji in the Panji story prepares the pilgrim, who comes from the mundane world, for his/ her encounter with the esoteric teaching in the hermitage. In Candi Yudha again Panji functions as a character who helps the worshipper to enter the sacred world and to prepare him for the Tantric path. The Panji statue is one of the only two known three-dimensional images depicting a nobleman with a cap. The Selokelir sculpture from the middle of the fifteenth century represents the climax in the development of the Panji cult in the Majapahit period. Mount Penanggungan itself is the sacred world to which the Panji statue points.Keywords: Candi Kendalisodo; Candi Yudha; Majapahit period; Mount Penanggungan; Panji Statue; Tantric doctrine