Borobodur: A Masterpiece

Borobodur at the far end of the road

I always heard my professors talking about Borobodur and Prambanan when I was reading Islamic Art. Both are historic and preserved (along with Angkor Wat in Cambodia) as heritage structure. Why? Because it reflects the history of Hindu (Prambanan) and Buddha (Borobodur) in Asia. History is always traced from literature, paintings and architectural structures. On structures, the motifs that represents each period of time are embedded. This reflects the advancement of culture of certain kingdom. Apart from that, it reflects the belief and lifestyle of the society.

The Borobodur is built nine story high and the walls are plastered with story of Buddha.

Staircase leading up to the temple

Since mom found it hard to climb all those stairs, our guide took us through the ramp. We just had to climb up in circles but it was easier for mom. Below is the view at the top of the ramp.

Nine story high and the walls are filled with story of Buddha

 The highlight of our trip to Borobodur was this. We saw the Buddhist praying and chanting and it sound very similar to some Hindu words. For example, the word sami was repeated several times and I have heard that sami is referred to deity in Tamil.

The ladies

The ladies took the left area while the men took the right side. The ladies were shaved bald as the men were. 

The male monks taking their spots

There was a family who wasn't clad in the robe joined the chant and prayer. I think she could feel me because after a few silent snaps (I turned my phone to silent to respect the event) she opened her eyes and looked at me. I was startled.

The makara from Borobodur

The lion that stand guard at the entrance. Look at the stylistic approach in carving the lion

The best angle to photography the Borobodur. An amazing view

I can't remember which floor or what was this panel about but here is the view of a panel of story

No cement were to assemble the Borobodur. It was all bricks placed in the above format. The holes are water tunnels so that rain water could flow through

I am at the ninth floor and this was the only Buddha statue without the stupa. What is stupa? It is the bell shaped structure you see beside the man clad in blue t-shirt

I was that if I want my wish to come true I should go around the ninth floor for 7 or 9 times and the I make a wish. I went around once only for the view.

There is our guide. An Indonesian Muslim who is very proud and knowledgeable about his heritage. Can't remember his name though

My visit to Borobodur was more fulfilling because the guide came together with us and I actually went around each floor to hear the stories. As I climbed further up the stories become lesser and on the ninth floor there no more stories on the wall. One of my professor said something significant about this but I cant remember now. We had an experience witnessing the prayer of the Buddhist. The place is also cleaner that Prambanan. At the time of our visit to Prambanan it just stopped raining so there were puddles of water everywhere and it reminded me of India. But Borobodur was clear of rain and no water around the area. 

Prambanan: A Step into the Past

The surreal Prambanan

The temple area was drenched wet at the time of our visit to Prambanan. We entered after our guide bought us a ticket each. I thought usually the guide comes in and show us around but this is not the case in Prambanan or Borobodur. We decided not to take the guide because it seemed expensive. I was sure about the price exactly but there were so many zeros in Indonesian price tags it scared me off. Furthermore, I just wanted to have a look at this heritage that has been talked about for as long as I have studied Asean Art History. 

The walkway leading to the temple

There were rows of jasmine plants along the walkway leading to the temples. You don't actually see the temple once you come from the entrance. One needs to walk about 5 minutes and take a right turn and there stood the breathtaking Prambanan. It was majestically standing with a few pagoda shapes structure at the end of the walkway.

This was one of the pagoda shaped structure or one of the temple

After climbing a few stairs, I entered the complex of the temple. The ground was not paved as you can see in the picture above. There were several pagoda structure but I only went into one. I guess that is the main temple because Shiva's statue was at the top inside a shallow room. What I found interesting is the staircase were large and it would a take great effort to climb up. I was imagining how the devotees would make their way up and down. Where did they get such rocks from?

Shiva's statue was up in the room. 

I came here mainly because of the motifs found on Prambanan. Although I have seen kala on temples in Bali and Cambodia, I needed to see it here in Jogja. It never occurred to me to study the stylistic difference between the kala but I think I will make some effort in the future. 

Although kala seemed very gory, it is actually a symbol of protection. It is placed at the entrance of houses, temples and even I found one at the entrance of the Kraton at Jogja. People believed that it protects the place from evil spirit.

Makara from side view

Makara from frontal view

Another motif that I wished to see was the makara. Makara was believed to be the mythical sea animal with the truck of an elephant. One can see makara on boats in Kelantan, Terengganu and Southern Thai. Since it is a sea animal, people believed it protects the boats from evil spirit when fishermen leaves for the sea. I believed it was also the transport of Shiva, but not entirely sure of it.

Kala

The pagoda shaped structure resembles the temples in Angkor Wat 

We had to walk a long way to get out of the complex. We came across a museum which housed some gamelan instruments and other historical documents which I didn't get to read. It was raining again by the time we finished going around the temples.

The museum

The entrance to the museum

We had to past through a huge field before going out

The Prambanan was looked after well. It was clean, even the toilets were clean. I am very particular about toilets when I travel, so I am happy. However, when I visited Borobodur, I started to think that maybe Prambanan was not as important because the treatment of tourist at the former was even special. Wait for my next blog post.