Candi Cangkuang Indonesia

Cangkuang temple is a small 8th-century Shivaist candi (Hindu temple) located in Kampung Pulo village, Cangkuang, Kecamatan Leles, Garut Regency, West Java, Indonesia. The temple is one of very few Hindu-Buddhist temples discovered in West Java, other temples include Batujaya and Bojongmenje temple.

Three meters to the south of the temple is an ancient Islamic tomb of Embah Dalem Arief Muhammad, believed to be the community elders of Cangkuang village during the Islamization of Sundanese in the 17th century.

The town of Leles is around 40 kilometers southeast of Bandung on the way to Garut. The temple is located several kilometers east of the Leles-Garut main road. The temple occupies a 16.5 hectares island called Kampung Pulo (“island village”) surrounded by a small lake (Sundanese: situ) called Situ Cangkuang. Near the temple there is a traditional Sundanese village. The temple, tomb, traditional village and the areas surrounding the island and lake, it is a cultural and archaeological sanctuary. Originally the whole island was surrounded by the lake, however today the lake receded and water only fill the northern parts, while the southern parts of the lake are reclaimed and cultivated as a paddy field. The temple’s name cangkuang, was derived from Sundanese native name for the pandan tree (Pandanus furcatus) found around the temple in Kampung Pulo island.