The Sukuh Temple, a Strange and Mysterious Hindu Temple With The Sexual Wisdom

Sukuh temple on the western slope of Mount Lawu, Central Java, is a site for the graphic exploration of sex. The first thing you see upon entering the temple gates is a carved relief depicting a penis poised to penetrate a vagina.

The temple keepers have erected wooden gates to prevent visitors from tripping on the genitalia. That people are not allowed to make physical contact with the relief and the fresh offering of flowers next to it indicates that the depiction of sex here has been elevated to the realm of the sacred. Although it is full of images of sex and genitalia, Sukuh is not a haven for pornography.

he word pornography -- which derives from the Greek pornographos, referring to literature about prostitutes -- refers to writing, images or film intended to sexually stimulate. Similarly, erotica, from Eros -- the Greek god of love -- is also designed to arouse sexual desire. Porn and erotica are different as prostitution and love are different. Because of the many sexual depictions, Sukuh is often mistakenly referred to as an erotic temple. 

At Sukuh, sex is neither porn nor erotica; Rather it is spiritual, transcendental. At Sukuh, sex is the blending of male and female energies to create a new energy of rebirth. The depiction of sex here appears to be a homage to the powers of creation and fertility. Although it is not erotic, the statues and relief carvings in Sukuh do offer a glimpse into Java's sex culture in the early 15th century.

Penises in Sukuh are always decorated with several balls under the tip. According to some researchers, it was common for Majapahit men to insert balls of marble or gold under the skin near the tip of their penises, probably to increase their partners' pleasure during sex.

There is a rather comic statue of a man, now headless, who is grasping his erect penis as if he is masturbating in the west courtyard of the main temple. 

The slopes of Lawu in Karanganyar regency are home to several ancient archaeological sites containing relics dating from the Majapahit Empire of the 13th-15th centuries, including Sukuh and Cetho temples as well as the newly discovered sites of Kethek and Planggatan.

Of all of these, Sukuh, which was built during the reign of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in the early 19th century, is undoubtedly the best preserved and the most accessible. In the entrance to Sukuh temple, there is a chronograph that reads "1359", referring to the Saka calendar, which corresponds to AD 1437.

Other chronographs in the temple read AD 1456 and AD 1440, so we can safely imagine that the temple was built and active during the first half of the 15th century. The cropped pyramid shape and dominant eagle and snake figures have led many observers to muse over the architectural similarities between the temple and those of the South American Maya.

The presence of scores of yoni, which were designed to have a lingga inserted into them, with a groove for water to flow through, suggests that while Sukuh temple was in use these were used to collect and make holy water, where the water would be poured over the lingga, thus capturing the essence of creation. 

The word yoni is the Sanskrit word for "divine passage", "place of birth", "womb" in the sense of 'source of life' rather than a human organ, or "sacred temple", according to Wikipedia. 

While lingga which is also a Sanskrit word, symbolizes penis.

It is a shame that the archaeologists who restored Sukuh temple were unable to discern the correct positions of these yoni, which are all missing their lingga, choosing instead to stack them in a nearby building. 

The main lingga of Sukuh is no longer there but you can see a faded photograph of it: A magnificent penis standing nearly two meters high, complete with Majapahit balls near the tip. This larger-than-life penis once stood in front of the main entrance of the main structure, but now it is in the National Museum in Jakarta. 

Many of the relief sculptures in Sukuh temple have pierced ears, indicating that flowers might once have been weaved into the holes. Currently, in some shadow puppet repertoires performed on Java, the characters are adorned with strings of jasmine. One can imagine that these relief carvings were once brought to life by storytellers, and that while the rituals were being performed, the ears of the figures were decorated with flowers. 

The rituals were probably similar to the rare wayang beber performances of today, in which the storyteller, accompanied by a simple gamelan orchestra, unfurls a scroll of drawings depicting scenes from the story he is telling, rather like a comic strip.

The two main stories told by the relief carvings at Sukuh temple are stories of purification and release. The first, the story of Sudhamala, tells of how Shadewa, one of the twins of the Pandawa brothers, who are the protagonists in the sacred Bharatayuda epic, saved the high goddess Durga from a curse.

The other story tells of how not long after the creation of the Earth, the mythical Garuda eagle released his mother from slavery by finding the tirta amerta (elixir of life). Also suggesting purification is a carved relief of a traditional blacksmith's workshop. To forge a weapon, iron is first cleansed by fire, and then beaten with a hammer over an anvil. 

On the south side of the temple, there is a statue of a man operating a pair of traditional ububan (bellows), while another is forging a keris dagger on an anvil using his fist as a hammer. A mysterious elephant carrying a small dog stands in front of him, while on the wall and on the floor are the products of his craft: Knives, tridents, machetes and other weapons and agricultural tools.

Sex, freedom from a curse, the elixir of life, the forging of iron -- all are related to efforts to be purified and come closer to God. As we formulate a bill regulating pornography that threatens to criminalize depictions of sex, Sukuh stands as a reminder that not all depictions of sex are forms of porn. In fact, through sex our ancestors aligned themselves with the will of God. 

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/10/26/the-sexual-wisdom-sukuh-temple.html
http://www.pbase.com/rileyuni/sukuh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukuh