478 



NA TURE 



[March 26, 1885 



misprints, the only one discovered being the omission of 

 a " 7t " in the denominator of the expression for the 

 absolute capacity of a condenser (p. 480). C. V. B. 



MALAYAN ANTIQUITIES 

 Alterthiimer aus dan Oslindischen . Irchipel und Angrenz- 

 enden Gebieten. Herausgegeben von Dr. A. B. Meyer. 

 (Leipzig, 18S4.) 



THE present sumptuous volume forms the fourth of 

 the series being issued under the enlightened 

 management of the Curator of the Dresden Zoological 

 and Anthropological Museum. These costly publications, 

 which -could scarcely be undei taken without the active 

 co-operation of the general administration of the royal 

 artistic and scientific collections in the Saxon Capital, 

 will, when completed, prove a great boon, especially to 

 students of eastern antiquities, and of the progress of 

 human culture amongst the peoples of Southern Asia. 



This fourth part, so far complete in itself, will be found 

 of great value in elucidating the civilising influences both 

 of Brahmanism and Buddhism on the races of Further 

 India and the Malay Archipelago. It comprises nineteen 

 photographic plates in folio, four of which are exquisitely 

 coloured, with explanatory text and a map devoted almost 

 exclusively to this important subject. Thus we have here 

 embodied at once a descriptive and illustrated record of 

 the archaeological treasures in the Dresden Collection. 

 which serve to mark the progress of the arts in the Eastern 

 Archipelago and neighbouring regions from the earliest 

 historic period, that is, from the first contact of those 

 lands with the Indian religious and artistic world. 



The arrangement is thoroughly systematic and most 

 convenient for purposes of reference and comparative 

 study, objects in stone, metal, wood, porcelain, and allied 

 materials being grouped separately, and dealt with in the 

 order indicated. The four stone figures from Java, repro- 

 duced on the first two plates, show at once the advantage 

 of this arrangement. Here we have on Plate I. a genuine 

 Brahmanical Trimurti placed side by side with a full- 

 breasted female figure of undoubted Buddhistic type ; on 

 Plate II. an unmistakable Brahmanical Siva, again con- 

 trasted with the representation in high relief of two men, 

 who, from their devout attitude and other indications, are 

 evidently of Buddhist origin. Taken collectively these 

 two groups thus present a striking illustration of both 

 streams of Hindu culture, by which the island of Java was 

 successively flooded. On this point the Curator's remarks 

 in the accompanying text are highly instructive :— 



"The Hindu antiquities found in lava are either Brah- 

 manistic, Buddhistic, or mixed. Brahmanism repeatedly 

 occurs in its Sivaistic phase. Buddhism, pure only in 

 Borobudur and Tyandi Mendut ('Veth,' lava, ii. 172), is 

 found mixed with Sivaism, Sivaistic divinities sometimes 

 surrounding images of Buddha (Leemans, ' Borobudur,' 

 444 . I ■ uddhistic figures at others encircling Sivaistic idols 

 ('Veth, 1 ii. 103, 173), or else assuming monstrous forms, 

 such as often characterise Brahmanical deities (' Veth,' ii. 

 96, and Max Uhle, ' Descriptive Catalogue in MS. of the 

 Royal Ethnological Museum,' No. 1464)." 



The greatest monuments of Buddhism appear to be 

 concentrated mainly in the central parts of Java, while 

 those of the Brahmanical cult are scattered round them 

 in all directions. Extensive Brahmanical settlements had 



already been formed in the island long before the first 

 arrival of the Buddhist missionaries, who, according to 

 Dr. Meyer, made their appearance probably about the 

 fifth century of the new era. The stupendous Buddhist 

 temple of Borobudur, rivalling that of Angkor- Vaht in 

 Camboja, is assigned to the eighth or ninth century. But 

 no attempt has been made to determine the date of the 

 earliest Brahmanical remains in Java or the other islands 

 of the Archipelago. They cannot, however, be much more 

 recent than the first century of the Christian era, and may 

 possibly be some two or three centuries earlier. It is to 

 be regretted that this point cannot be determined with 

 some approach to accuracy, for it has obviously a most 

 important bearing on the question of the migrations of the 

 Indonesian races, and especially on the diffusion of the 

 Malayo-Polynesian languages throughout the Indian and 

 Pacific Oceans. Those writers, who are disposed to 

 regard these as comparatively recent events, should at 

 least bear in mind that there are practically no traces of 

 Sanskrit or Prakrit elements either in Malagasy, or in any 

 of the Eastern Polynesian dialects. Hence, if Malaysia 

 be taken as the point of dispersion west to Madagascar, 

 east to the South Sea Islands, the migrations must neces- 

 sarily have taken place at some time before the spread of 

 Hindu influences throughout the Eastern Archipelago. 



However, the collection is not confined to Hindu sub- 

 jects, and on Plate VII. are figured a large number of 

 iron spear-heads, some of which are undoubtedly subse- 

 quent to the introduction of Islam in the thirteenth 

 century. Many of these objects, which were found in 

 Jokjokarta (Java), are of simple type, much corroded by 

 rust, and no doubt of considerable antiquity. But others 

 show distinct traces of damaskeening, an art unknown 

 before the arrival of the Arabs, although now universally 

 diffused throughout the Archipelago. The process, locally 

 known by the name of //amor, consists in manipulating 

 steel and iron by means of acids, the designs being inlaid 

 by the priests (Pfyffer, " Sketches from Java," p. 32). 



Conspicuous among the bronze objects is a magnificent 

 lion's head of absolutely unique type and great size (com- 

 pass round neck 34 cm., diameter 30 cm., weight 100 

 kilograms), apparently from Camboja, although first dis- 

 covered in Java. This superb bronze, whose analysis 

 yielded copper 92^49, tin 5'53, lead 1*40, cobalt and nickel 

 0-07, iron o - i2, total 99'6i, is referred by Dr. Meyer to the 

 flourishing period of Cambojan art as embodied in the 

 monuments of Angkor Vaht, and would accordingly be 

 some 600 or Soo years old. Front and side views are 

 here given in half the natural size on two separate plates. 

 From these it is evident that the lion is playing the part 

 of a rakshasa or guardian to some Buddhist shrine, such 

 as are found sculptured at Borobudur. Another rakshasa 

 of a very different character is a wooden figure of Garudha 

 from the island of Bali, reproduced by the new phototype 

 process, which has already rendered such valuable ser- 

 vices to the arts, and especially to archaeology in Germany. 

 Here Garudha is represented as a winged human figuri 

 bearing on his shoulders probably a Vishnu, of whom the- 

 legs alone, suspended in front, have been preserved. Ii 

 is described as perhaps a Sivaitic representation from 

 some Brahmanical temple in Bali, where Vishnuism and 

 Sivaism are said to be intimately associated. The intro 

 duction of the Hindu cult into Bali, where it still holds it. 



