The Borobudur Temple is considered as one
of the seven wonders of the world. This temple is located at Borobudur District,
South of Magelang, Central Java. The expression of experts who
had been studying Borobudur Temple varied someway. Bernet Kempers'
expression was: “Borobudur is Borobudur”, meaning that Borobudur Temple is
very unique in her own way. Nieuwenkamp (an artist) imaginated Borobudur as
“a big lotus flower bud ready to bloom” which was “floating” on a lake. Nieuwenkamp’s imagination
was supported by N. Rangkuti (1987) that from the air, the Borobudur Temple looks
floating. From the geological studies, experts were able to prove that Borobudur area
was one time a big lake. Most of the villages around Borobudur Temple were
at the same altitude, 235 meters above the sea-level. The same altitude included
the Pawon and Mendut temples. Thus the area under 235 meter
altitude was below the lake water level.
Based on the inscription dated 842 AD, Casparis suggested
that Borobudur was one time a place for praying. The inscription
stated a phrase such as: “Kawulan i Bhumi Sambhara”.Kawulan means
the origin of holiness, “bhumi sambhara” is a name of a place in Borobudur.
Paul Mus stated that Borobudur Temple had the
structure of stupa (conical form) with double expression. As a whole,
the Borobudur Temple was an open-flat stupa, but on the
other hand, the temple expressed the idea of a “closed world”. The latter
expression could be felt when one is already inside the temple. Whenever person
is inside the temple, his or her view will be limited to high walls full on
relieves, the verandah is always squared in such a way that one could
not see other parts of the temple, even in a same floor. The same feeling
happened if one stood on arupadhatu round platform, he or she will
have a wider view only on that level, but are not able to see the lower
level nor the upper level like the one on rupadhatu and kamandhatu.
It could be said that Borobudur is a symbol of cosmic mountain
covered by the sky roof, a specific world that could be reached through
isolated alleys as stages. The closed structural design of the temple expressed
the concept of a closed world, not just a technical reasons as had been
suggested by other experts ( Daud AT, 1987)
Borobudur was built by Sanmaratungga in
the 8th century, and belongs to Buddha Mahayana. Borobudur was
revealed by Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles in 1814. The temple was found in ruined
condition and was buried.
The
overall height was 42 meters, but was only 34.5 meters after restoration, and
had the dimension of 123 x 123 meters (15,129 square meters). There were 10
floors. The first floor up to the sixth floor was square form, the
seventh to the tenth floor were round form.
Borobudur is facing to the East with a total of 1460
panels (2 meters wide each). Total size of the temple walls was 2500 square
meters, full of relief. The total number of panels with relief was 1212.
According to investigations, the total number of Buddha statue was 504
including the intact and damaged statues. The temple undergone restoration from
1905 to 1910,and the last restoration was done in 1973 to 1983.
1. Structural Design of Borobudur Temple
Ever since the first excavation, most experts speculated
on the exact shape of the temple. Hoenig, in his book “Das form
problem des Borobudur” speculate that the original form ofBorobudur Temple had
four gates and nine floors. The form of Borobudur Temple is
similar to temples found in Cambodia. According to Parmenteir, the
huge single stupa on top of the temple made the smaller stupas in
the lower part looked drowned. Stutterheim who had been studying stupas in India and
other parts of Asia concluded that the stupa structure was
an Indian origin. The original purpose of stupa building was as
storage of Buddha Gautama and other holy priests cremation
ash.
According
to Stutterheim, the overall form of Borobudur Temple is a
combination of zigurat (middle Asian Pyramid) and Indian stupa. Stutterheim opinion
was supported by the existence of this type of form in Ancient Javanese
literature.
The
relief of Borobudur temple started from the base of the temple up to
the fourth platform. The relieves at the base contained the story of Karmawibhangga.
Under the main panel and above the Karmawibhangga relief, a
wide-sized relief was inscripted at the wall. From this point along
the alley, the relief did not show story in the sequence, but as a repeating
part of the story with the same motives which expressed the world of spiritual
beings such as half demonic body (Gandharwa, giants or Yataka, dragon, Sidha or
angels and their ladies friends,Apsara and Nagi, all of them are
heavenly beings who are tender and beautiful.
Division
of panels are: the first panel expressed a heavenly being in sitting position,
on both side of this panel are small panel with a small standing statue. This
figures are repeated 26 times for each side of the wall. Between the
panels is carved three bodies, a male flanked by two women.
There was a long series of main relieves at the first
alley, either at the main wall or at the inner side of Kutamara wall. Relieves
at the Kutamara wall depicted Jataka's and Awadana's,
a story of Buddha's life which expressed as Bodhisatwa, due to his good
deeds in the past. Sometimes, Buddha is expressed in the form of animals
such as rabbit, monkeys etc. As it was told in animated stories, the story was
adopted from Sanskrit book, Jatakamala. Only one third of the
relieves were known, the rest was still unclear.
The
lower relieves of the main wall contained the same story. The upper relieves
also had the same story as the lower one. The story contained the life of
Buddha consisting of 120 frames until he began teaching Buddha religion. The
first frame began from the South of stairway of the curved gate at the
East, and follow the path of the sun (the temple on the right side). The
life story of Buddha was adopted from Lalitawistara book.
At
the second alley, Jataka and Awadana story were continued
on the inner side of Utamara, and on the main wall, story was began with
stories adopted from Gandhawyuha. This story was so long that it occupied
the main wall and inner side wall of Utamara at the third and fourth
alley. The story showed the adventure of a Sudhana who met Bodhisatwa Maytreya (the
future Buddha) to have religious lesson from the Buddha. Later on, the Sudhana met
with Bodhisatwa Mandjusri, and finally he met with Dyani Bodhisatwa Samanta Badra,
who gave the highest wisdom. Most of those stories expressed the use of spiritual
strength and unusual happenings.
There
were many beautiful ornaments inscripted at the wall of the fourth
alley, because the fifth alley did not contained any ornaments. The
fifth alley is a transitional alley to the next platform, the round platform.
The next round platforms also did not contained any ornaments at all (Kaylan,1959).
t temples.
Thus the area under 235 meter altitude was below the lake water level.
Based
on the inscription dated 842 AD, Casparis suggested that Borobudur was
one time a place for praying. The inscription stated a phrase such
as: “Kawulan i Bhumi Sambhara”. Kawulan means the
origin of holiness, “bhumi sambhara” is a name of a place in Borobudur.
Paul Mus stated that Borobudur Temple had the
structure of stupa (conical form) with double expression. As a whole,
the Borobudur Templewas an open-flat stupa, but on the other
hand, the temple expressed the idea of a “closed world”. The latter expression
could be felt when one is already inside the temple. Whenever person is inside
the temple, his or her view will be limited to high walls full on relieves, the verandah is
always squared in such a way that one could not see other parts of the temple,
even in a same floor. The same feeling happened if one stood on arupadhatu round
platform, he or she will have a wider view only on that level, but are not able
to see the lower level nor the upper level like the one on rupadhatu and kamandhatu.
It could be said that Borobudur is a symbol of cosmic mountain
covered by the sky roof, a specific world that could be reached through
isolated alleys as stages. The closed structural design of the temple expressed
the concept of a closed world, not just a technical reasons as had been
suggested by other experts ( Daud AT, 1987)
Borobudur was
built by Sanmaratungga in the 8th century, and belongs to Buddha
Mahayana. Borobudur was revealed by Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles in
1814. The temple was found in ruined condition and was buried.
The
overall height was 42 meters, but was only 34.5 meters after restoration, and
had the dimension of 123 x 123 meters (15,129 square meters). There were 10
floors. The first floor up to the sixth floor was square form, the
seventh to the tenth floor were round form.
Borobudur is
facing to the East with a total of 1460 panels (2 meters wide each). Total size
of the temple walls was 2500 square meters, full of relief. The total number of
panels with relief was 1212. According to investigations, the total number of
Buddha statue was 504 including the intact and damaged statues. The temple
undergone restoration from 1905 to 1910, and the last restoration was
done in 1973 to 1983.
Sumber
: http://www.emp.pdx.edu/htliono/borobudu.html
Candi Prambanan is the grandest temple in Java
apart from Borobudur. Located on the Prambanan plain, this sprawling temple
complex sits majestically in an open area about twenty kilometers south of
Mount Merapi, which dominates the horizon. The temple was constructed in the
early ninth century by the Sanjaya dynasty, a flourishing Hindu kingdom that
shared the island with the Buddhist Saliendra dynasty that built Borobudur. The
relationship between the two dynasties is not clear, but one theory maintains
that the Sanjayas constructed Candi Prambanan as a symbol of dynastic power in
response to the construction of Borobudur. However, the Sanjayas do not seem to
have been particularly antagonistic toward , the temple complex is located just
a few hundred meters south of Candi Sewu, a once awe-inspiring marvel of
Buddhist art.
Candi Prambanan is the grandest temple in Java
apart from Borobudur. Located on the Prambanan plain, this sprawling temple
complex sits majestically in an open area about twenty kilometers south of
Mount Merapi, which dominates the horizon. The temple was constructed in the
early ninth century by the Sanjaya dynasty, a flourishing Hindu kingdom that
shared the island with the Buddhist Saliendra dynasty that built Borobudur. The
relationship between the two dynasties is not clear, but one theory maintains
that the Sanjayas constructed Candi Prambanan as a symbol of dynastic power in
response to the construction of Borobudur. However, the Sanjayas do not seem to
have been particularly antagonistic toward , the temple complex is located just
a few hundred meters south of Candi Sewu, a once awe-inspiring marvel of
Buddhist art.
