H ouse and Garden 
temple buried beneath a hill of tropical vegetation, 
and uncovered its beauties to the world. Since then 
the Javanese have used it as a quarry, and for miles 
around may be seen Buddhas and odd bits of sculp¬ 
ture built into walls and lying by the roadside. Now, 
however, that it is under the care of the Dutch gov¬ 
ernment, further vandalism is prevented. 
The first sight of Boro Boedoer is very impressive 
and excites one’s curiosity as it is seen, standing in its 
gray majesty, on a low hill at the end of an avenue of 
tall kanari trees. No more fitting approach could be 
devised than this avenue lined with these magnificent 
trees of the tropics. On nearer approach, when the 
details can be seen, one realizes what a remarkable 
and wonderful building it is. 
The temple rests on a low rise in the plain and, in a 
way, forms a stone casing for the hill; that is, the hill 
is the core of the temple. The base is five hundred 
feet square. Thence it rises in five square terraces, 
on the uppermost of which are three circular terraces, 
and these are surmounted by a dome-shaped con¬ 
struction or dagoba, fifty feet in diameter, the top of 
which is some one hundred feet above the surrounding 
plain. The wall of each of the lower terraces is 
carried up to above the level of the succeeding terrace, 
thus inclosing a gallery. The walls of these galleries 
are sculptured, and the amount of work to study may 
be realized when it is known that the total length of 
these bas-reliefs is three miles. There are some nine 
hundred and fifty of these reliefs left in a fair state of 
preservation, out of an original total of over fifteen 
hundred. Four hundred and thirty-six Buddhas in 
as many niches or little chapels forming the balus¬ 
trades of the terrace walls, sat facing outward, and 
many of them still remain. Staircases, cornices and 
other architectural details are richly and elaborately 
carved, and in fact very little vertical space is left 
unadorned. On the circular terraces are seventy- 
two latticed dagobas, each containing a seated Bud¬ 
dha facing the topmost dome. In the construction 
of the temple no mortar was used, the material being 
gray trachyte stones which originally must have fitted 
closely together. It is surprising that there is any¬ 
thing left when one hears how much of the sculpture 
has been ruined. Hundreds of statues have been 
mutilated or are lost; the greater part of the little 
chapels which sheltered the Buddhas, architectural 
details, and many feet of the terrace walls have fallen 
from the effect of earthquakes or have been taken 
away by man, and yet so tremendous is the structure 
and the amount of sculptured work, that there is still 
a mine of wealth left in which the student of to-day 
may rejoice. In fact, there is so much to study and 
the splendor and intricacy of it is so great that, at 
first, one is appalled and shrinks from making any 
sort of an investigation. A clear comprehension 
would require many visits, because, as Ferguson says, 
it “contains an epitome of all we learn from other 
sources, and a perfect illustration of all we know of 
Buddhist art and ritual.” 
The principal object of the sculptures on the ter¬ 
race walls was to portray the life of Buddha. And 
this is done from his birth until he attained Nirvana, 
in the purest Buddhist style. As is the case with the 
carvings on the tomb of an Egyptian when incidents 
in his life and that around him are shown, so it is at 
Boro Boedoer. Here, besides a graphic view of the 
life of Buddha, we see how the people of the seventh 
century lived, their houses, their occupations, and all 
that pertained to them. Courtiers, peasants, war¬ 
riors, people plowing, sowing the seed and grinding 
the grain, women drawing water and children at 
play, and all the many occupations of the daily life 
of a people; and it is interesting to note in how much 
the same way the people of India do these things 
to-day. A dancing elephant attests the humor of the 
sculptors, while strange marine monsters show to 
what flights their imaginations took them. There is 
not a single entirely nude figure, and the drapery and 
costumes are a study apart, as is also the foliage, 
which is “complicated and refined beyond any exam¬ 
ples known in India.” None of the figures show 
Malay characteristics, but are unmistakeably Hindu, 
with now and then a suggestion of the Greek, show¬ 
ing that the sculptors came from India and that they 
brought with them to this far-off land feelings of the 
highest type of sculptured art the world has ever 
known. 
It is a pity that there is no inscription or anything 
of the sort by which to get an idea of exactly when 
this marvelous building was erected. But we do 
know, according to native records and traditions, that 
certain Buddhist princes came from India, and that 
the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries were the most 
glorious in arts and religion in the history of Java, 
and that the decline came in the tenth century. So 
Boro Boedoer must have been founded during that 
time, and Ferguson concludes that the second half 
of the seventh century saw it in the making. 
No symbol fuller of meaning of the religion of 
Buddha could have been erected, and there it has 
stood in its sublime majesty for twelve hundred years. 
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