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| It's even more magnificent than the misty views from it toward the volcano (KBS TV) |
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It is
the world's largest Buddhist temple (
Guiness Book of World Records, Notes 1, 2, 3]. The temple complex consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome or
stupa (burial mound reliquary).
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| There are Buddhas inside hollow stupas. |
It is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504
Buddha statues. The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated
stupa [4] (which resembles a German time travel "bell" or
Die Glocke).
The temple demonstrates the influences of
Gupta art that reflects India's influence on the region. Yet, there are enough indigenous scenes and elements incorporated to make Borobudur uniquely Indonesian [5, 6].
The monument is a shrine to the historical
Buddha and a destination for
Buddhist pilgrimage. The pilgrim-journey begins at the base of the monument and follows a path around it, ascending to the top through three levels symbolizing the three spheres in
Buddhist cosmology:
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The massive monument guides pilgrims through an extensive system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the walls and the
balustrades.
Borobudur has one of the largest and most complete ensembles of Buddhist reliefs in the world [3].
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| Wall relief depicting Prince Siddhartha becoming a wandering ascetic (G. Kartapranata) |
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| Pyramidal Candi Borobudur, view from the northwest (Gunawan Kartapranata/wiki). |
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Evidence suggests -- but is not conclusive -- that Borobudur was constructed in the 9th century and subsequently abandoned following the 14th-century decline of Indian-influenced
Indonesian Hindu kingdoms in Java and the
Javanese people's conversion to Islam [7].
Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and
UNESCO, followed by the monument's listing as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site [3].
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| Mist rises from the jungle. The volcano looms in the distance. Borobudur is magnificent. |
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Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. It ranks with
Pagan (Bagan) in
Burma (Myanmar) and
Angkor Wat in Buddhist Cambodia as one of the great archeological sites of Southeast Asia.
Borobudur is Indonesia's single most visited
tourist attraction [9, 10, 11], as is the case with many Buddhist temples, magnificent in scale and the mystery of their construction -- Mes Aynak, Afghanistan, the Ellora and Ajanta Caves of India, Leshan Mountain Buddha of China, Maitreya Buddha of Bhutan, the massive new Relics Tour Buddha in Kushinagar, India, Shwedagon Pagoda in Burma, and countless others around the world.
What about the name?
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| The bas relief collection rivals Angkor Wat |
In the
Indonesian language, ancient temples are referred to as
candi. Thus, locals refer to "Borobudur Temple" as
Candi Borobudur. The term
candi also loosely describes ancient structures, for example gates and baths.
The origins of the name "Borobudur," however, are unclear [12]. In fact, the original names of most ancient Indonesian temples are no longer known [12].
The name Borobudur was first written in Sir Thomas Stamford
Raffles'
book on Javan history,
The History of Java (Harvard) [13]. Sir Raffles wrote about a monument called
Borobudur, but there are
no older documents suggesting the same name.
The only old Javanese manuscript that hints that the monument called
Budur is a holy Buddhist sanctuary is
Nagarakretagama, written by
Mpu Prapanca, a Buddhist scholar of
Majapahit court, in 1365 [14].
Most
candi are named after a nearby village. So if it followed Javanese language conventions and was named after the nearby village of
Bore, the monument would have been named "BudurBoro."
Sir Raffles thought that Budur might correspond to the modern Javanese word Buda ("ancient") — that is, "Ancient Boro." But Raffles also suggested that the name might derive from boro, meaning "great" or "honorable" and Budur for Buddha [12].
Yet another archeologist suggests the second component of the name (-Budur) comes from Javanese term bhudhara ("mountain") [15].
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| G.B. Hooijer painting (circa 1916) reconstructing scene of Borobudur in its heyday (wiki) |
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Another possible etymology by Dutch archeologist A.J. Bernet Kempers suggests that
Borobudur is the corrupted, simplified local Javanese pronunciation of
Biara Beduhur, which written in
Sanskrit is
Vihara Buddha Uhr.
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| Perforated, hollow stupas house Buddhas |
The term
Buddha-Uhr could mean "
The City of Buddhas." Another possible term
Beduhur is probably an Old Javanese word, still surviving in
Balinese, that means "a high place," constructed from the stem word
dhuhur or
luhur ("high").
This suggests that Borobudur means "
Vihara ("monastic complex") of the
Buddha" located on a high place or on a hill [16].
The construction and inauguration of a sacred Buddhist building —
possibly but not certainly any reference to Borobudur — was mentioned in two inscriptions...
More
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| A small collection of photos: reliefs, architecture, carvings, statues (Wikipedia) |
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ENDNOTES
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^ Purnomo Siswoprasetjo (4 July 2012). "Guinness names Borobudur world's largest Buddha temple". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
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^ Hary Gunarto, Preserving Borobudur's Narrative Walls of UNESCO Heritage, Ritsumeikan RCAPS Occasional Paper, [1] October 2007
^ Mark Elliott; et al. (November 2003). Indonesia. Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. pp. 211–215. ISBN 1-74059-154-2.
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^ Jump up to: a b E. Sedyawati (1997). "Potential and Challenges of Tourism: Managing the National Cultural Heritage of Indonesia". In W. Nuryanti (ed.). Tourism and Heritage Management. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press. pp. 25–35.
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^ Jump up to: a b J.G. de Casparis, "The Dual Nature of Barabudur", in Gómez and Woodward (1981), page 70 and 83.
^ "Borobudur" (in Indonesian). Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
