598 



The Supplemetyt to the Tropiodl AgrHoidfavrist 



commanding centre too — of the richest part 

 of the island, for the site of their princi- 

 pal and gigantic range of temples. "This 

 most remarkable and magnificent monument 

 Buddhism has ever erected, built in the 8tb or 

 9th century in purely Buddhistic stylo," 

 is estimated to cover the same area as the great 

 pyramid of Ghizeh. No mortar or cement ; no 

 column, pillar or arch used in the building! 

 In the far distance lay volcanic ranges sur- 

 mounted by Merapi summit or crater 9,000 

 feet (on the side of which Mr. Sinclair 

 had some time before visited a fine coffee 

 plantation) and Meerbaboe 10,000 feet; and 

 three more volcanic mountains with their 

 craters in evidence. Indeed, in clqar weather 

 9 volcanoe tops can be counted and we are 

 told that on the Dieng plateau -some distance 

 awav __there are ruins of more than 400 Hindu 

 temples— another authority mentions only six 

 temples '.—and the place has been compared 

 to the American Yellowstone Park. Great stores 

 of treasures in gold, silver and bronze found here 

 are now in the Batavia Museum. But between 

 these ranges and the temple area lies many 

 miles of fertile alluvial or volcanic ash plains 

 studded with groves of fruit trees and palms, 

 bananas and vegetables alternating with cereals, 

 sugar tobacco " every patch of ground being- 

 cultivated like a tulip bed " as the Dutch guide- 

 book describes it. JNo description— and not even 

 photographs — excellent as some of them are- 

 wive one a proper idea of the Boero-Boedoer won- 

 derful mass of ruins situated on a terrace 375 feet 

 in diameter, 97 feet high besides 55 feet of 

 hillside-bank, with its ornate decorative stone- 

 work ; and yet as something must be said, we 

 may as well quote what has been penned by 

 an appreciative American writer as try to re- 

 produce details from our own recollection and 

 notes on Boero-Boedoer :— 



" The temple stands on a broad platform and rises first 

 in five square terraces, inclosing galleries or professional 

 paths between their walls, which are covered on each 

 side with bas-relief sculptures. If placed in single line, 

 these bas-reliefs would extend for three miles. The terrace 

 walls hold four hundred and thirty-six niches or alcove 

 chapels where life size Buddhas sit serene upon lotos 

 cushions. Staircases ascend in straight lines from each of 

 the four sides, passing under stepped or pointed arches, 

 the keystones of which are elaborately carved masks, and 

 rows of sockets in the jambs show where wo d or metal 

 doors once swung. Above the square terraces are three 

 circular terraces, where 72 latticed dagabas (reliquaries in 

 the shape of the cr.lyx or bud of the lotus) inclose each a 

 seated ima'e 72 more Buddhas sitting in those inner, 

 upper circles of Nirvana, facing a great dagoba, or final 

 cupola the exact function or purpose of which as key to the 

 whole structure is still the puzzle of archaeologists. 1ms 

 final shrine is fifty feet in diameter, and either covered a 

 relic of Buddha, or a central well where the ashes of priests 

 and princes were deposited, or is a form surviving from 

 the three temples of the earliest primitive Kast when 

 nature-worship prevailed. The English Engineers made an 

 opening in the solid exterior, and found an unfinished 

 statue of Buddha on a platform over a deep wellhole. 



James Fergusson calls Boero-Boedoer, the 

 highest "development of Buddhist art." Strictly 

 speaking the Boero-Boedoer— or collection of 

 Buddhas— is not a building: a small hill has 

 been cut down and the earthwork surrounded 

 by masonry, uncontented, unjointed, layer 

 upon layer. It is supposed to have been built by 

 some of the first Buddhist settlers from India as 

 the resting place (dagoba) of one of the rooms 

 containing a portion of the ashes of Buddha. 

 In July, 1896, the King of Siam spent three days 

 inspecting these ruins. Climbing to the very top 



by rough stone steps, the view is surpassingly 



expansive, varied and beautiful. There is a 

 good " resthouse " or hotel close to the ruins 

 and now care is taken by the Dutch authorities 

 as to the conservation and even restoration 

 (many artificers were at work on certain parts) 

 of what was not so long ago, allowed not only 

 to waste, but to be broken up by all who wanted 

 material or ornaments. On our way back, we 

 visited 



The Tjandx Mbndokt 

 temple famous for its huge statue of Buddha, 

 11 feet high, with highly decorated Bodhisatwa 

 on each side, 8 feet high, in fact everythipg 

 here was on a scale to sink our Lanka ruins, 

 temples and statuary into insignificance — save 

 that not a single outside earthwork dagoba did 

 we come across — nothing to remind us of the 

 many gigant ic artificial mounds which distinguish 

 Anuradhapura. Returning to Djokja in time for 

 " tea" —and very good tea is everywhere served 

 in Java, — the evening drive to the so-called 

 "Water castle,'' (Kasteel) to the outside at least 

 of the Sultan's eleohants and tigers' stables, 

 and to the market place was worthy of note. 

 Djokja is a very healthy town with a fairly 

 totnporate climate, clean wide rotds and many 

 attractive buildings, fine Club, &c. The paint- 

 ing of sarongs in the cottages of the Javanese 

 is an industry well worth inspecting iu and 

 around Djokja : we afterwards saw this branch 

 and many other diversified native industries 

 in full detail at an Industrial Exhibition for 

 Java and its Dependencies, on our return to 

 Batavia. Our next morning's excursion was to 

 the Hindu temples at 



Brambanan (Parambanam) 



only 40 minutes by train from the town. They 

 are finely placed on rising ground overlooking 

 a flowing river and a wide highly cultivated 

 plain ; but the outlook is not so magnificent 

 as in the case of the rival Buddhist ruins. 

 Originally it is supposed there were 150 temples 

 big and little and certainly the heaps of stones 

 testify to much destruction. Only 6 temples 

 now stand in a courtyard — three and three 

 facing each other ; while on a lower terrace 

 stood the remaining 144 (36 to a side) smaller 

 temples now demolished. 



The Three Chief Temples 



face the East — Siva, Brahma, Vishnu — with the 

 images more or less preserved. Elsewhere is 

 an image of Ganesha, the elephant-headed ; 

 also of Doerga, 6 feet high, with 8 arras. The 

 temples are terraced and the walls shew lewd 

 scenes in the sculptures, rather a contrast to the 

 Buddhist pictured galleries at Boero-Boedoer. 

 The Dutch military keeper told us of certain of 

 the Javanese coming occasionally to worship, 

 and make offerings (especially barren women) 

 and many more out of curiosity (one tribe of 

 Buddhists is said still to exist in a mountainous 

 district), Capt. George Baker of Bengal re- 

 ported on the Parambanam ruins to Sir Stamford 

 Raffles and declared that he had never in India 

 met with such '• stupendous and finished speci 

 mens of human labour, crowded together in so 

 small a compass.'' Some distance away we 

 visited another series of ruins connected with 

 the famous " Tjandi-Sewoe " or 



