A long time ago in the kingdom of Prambanan, there lived a king named Baka. He looked scary yet possessed godlike supernatural power. Despite his horrible physical appearance, he had a very beautiful y daughter named Rara Jonggrang. Far away from Prambanan, there was also a kingdom as big called Pengging. The kingdom had been known to have a strong warrior named Bandawasa. He also had the ability to call a troop of spirits in a blink of an eye whenever he needed help.
There came a time when the king of Pengging wanted an expansion. Bandawasa together with other warriors to conquer Prambanan. A blood-shedding war was inevitable with Prambanan troop massacred. King Baka himself got killed by Bandawasa’s weapon. After the war, the king of Pengging trusted the new conquest to Bandawasa. He was assigned to take care of Prambanan and whatever in it, including King Baka’s family.
On the very first day of his occupation he was already mesmerized by the beauty of Rara Jonggrang. He wanted her to be his wife.
“O, Princess Rara Jonggrang! You are a goddess. I want you to be my wife,” said Bandung Bandawasa.
Instead of answering him, Rara sat in silence, panic, and fear. After a while, an idea popped up in the princess’ head.
“Well, Bandung Bandawasa, I will marry you. But I have a condition. I want you to build me a thousand temples and two wells. I will give you one night to do all that,” answered Rara Jonggrang.
Bandung Bandawasa agreed with the princess. When the night fell, he called on his unseen troop of spirits to help him out. Shortly after, thousands of them came up to build the temples and wells. They worked very quickly that by the middle of the night there were nearly a thousand temples done.
Rara Jonggrang had been watching them working and now started to feel uneasy. She went on thinking and finally found an idea. She would make it like it was daybreak to make the spirits stop working before completing the temples.
“Wake up your friends, maid! Quick! Tell them to burn the hay and pound the rice! Oh, and pour flowers in the streets too!” Rara Jonggrang shouted. “Right away, Princess!” answered the maid whilst rushing into the palace to get her friends up.
The royal servants did their princess’s comDonnyd well. Before long, a reddish beam shone from the east where they burnt the hay. Some of them then began to pound the rice—something people usually did in the morning. The smell of the flowers could be felt faintly and meanwhile, the roosters started crowing.
Bandung Bandawasa’s troops were taken aback to realize that the sun was about to rise. Afraid of getting burnt by the sunshine, they hurried to get off and leave the work. Left alone, Bandawasa tried to build the last temple himself. However, he failed because the morning really came when he had not finished it.
Rara Jonggrang was relieved. She went up to him and said, “What happened, Bandawasa? It seems you have fallen short.”
Bandawasa realized that the princess had cheated him. He was furious that he released his anger by turning Rara Jonggrang into a statue. Rara Jonggrang became a statue, a very beautiful one. Until today, the statue is still there in a big room inside Rara Jonggrang Temple in Prambanan Temples
1.“Well, Bandung Bandawasa, I will marry you. But I have a condition. I want you to build me a thousand temples and two wells. I will give you one night to do all that,”. What did RaraJonggrang want to express?
