Introduction to Borobudur

The Temple of Borobudur or sometimes "Barabudur" is a Mahayana Buddhist temple near Muntilan on the Indonesian island of Java. Borobudur was built during the reign of the Sailendra dynasty (650-1025 AD) and remains the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The Buddhist population of Java performed pilgrimages and other rituals at Borobudur until around the 14th and 15th centuries AD when the temple was abandoned as many Javanese converted to Christianity. Borobudur was rediscovered in 1814 AD and has remained a The subject of extensive research and archaeological investigation by the Dutch and Javanese. After restoration in the 1970s and 1980s under the supervision of President Suharto (1967-1998 AD) and UNESCO, which designated Borobudur a World Heritage Site in 1991 AD, the iconic The temples continue to shape Indonesian aesthetics, architecture, and cultural identity. Borobudur is the most visited tourist attraction in Indonesia.

Geography and History

Borobudur is located approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Yogyakarta and approximately 86 kilometers (53 miles) west of the city of Surakarta in central Java. The temple is located in the area between two volcanoes - Mount Sundoro-Sumbing and Mt. Merbabu-Merapi - and two rivers - Progo and Elo. Borobudur is very close to two other Buddhist temples in the Kedu plain: Pawon and Mendut. Scholars and archaeologists speculate that there must be some relationship between the three temples because they are all located in a straight line. What this means, however, remains a matter of academic debate. It is known that ancient and medieval Javanese, whether Hindu or Buddhist, associated the Kedu Plain with immense agricultural production and is therefore considered one of the holiest places on the island of Java. Ancient people considered these two rivers particularly auspicious as they evoke the sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers in today's India. Not surprisingly, given the region's goodwill, the Hindu Gunung Wukir temple dates back to BC. 732 AD, just 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Borobudur on the Kedu plain.

The dating of the Borobudur temple is based on artistic comparisons of reliefs and inscriptions found in Indonesia and elsewhere.

The period when the Javanese built Borobudur is shrouded in legend and mystery. There are no records of its construction or purpose, and the temple's dating is based on artistic comparisons with reliefs and inscriptions found elsewhere in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia. Strong cultural and religious influences reached what is now Indonesia from the Indian subcontinent starting around the 1st century AD. This influence grows rapidly starting from c. After 400 AD. Hindu and Buddhist merchants and merchants settled in the area, intermarried with the local population, and facilitated long-distance trading relationships between indigenous Javanese and ancient India. Over the centuries, the Javanese blended the culture and religion of ancient India with their own.

The name "Borobudur" itself is the subject of intense academic debate and a lingering mystery. Some scholars argue that the name is derived from the Sanskrit Vihara Buddha Uhr or "Buddhist monastery on the mountain", while others argue that Budur is nothing more than a Javanese place name. A stone tablet from 842 AD mentions Bhumisambharabhudara or the "Mountain of Merits of the Ten Boundaries of the Bodhisattva". The name "Borobudur" is probably related to "Borobudur".

Modern historians disagree with each other about the political and cultural events that led to the construction of Borobudur. It is possible that the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty originally started building a Shiva temple where Borobudur now stands. In 775 AD they were unable to complete their temple as they were driven out of the area by the Sailendra dynasty. (It should be noted, however, that other Javanese historians view the Sailendra and Sanjaya dynasties as the same family, with religious patronage simply changing due to personal beliefs. The general knowledge is that there were two rival dynasties supporting different Beliefs.)

Archeology and scholarship agree that the construction of Borobudur ended in BC. AD 800-825. King Samaratunga (AD 790-835?), traditionally regarded as the king of Java, oversaw the construction of Borobudur. Buddhist kings, such as Samaratungga, were rivals for power to the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty in the Mataram kingdom in central Java. Indo-Javanese under the Sanjaya dynasty built Prambanan - the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, located about 19 kilometers (12 miles) west of Borobudur - in the same century as Borobudur, it is entirely possible that Prambanan's construction was a political and cultural The response to Borobudur.

Over the following centuries, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the growth of tropical rainforest kept Borobudur away from the Javanese, making it inaccessible.

Buddhists are known to have made pilgrimages and participated in Buddhist rituals at Borobudur in the early Middle Ages until the temple was abandoned at some point in the 1400s AD. Furthermore, the underlying reasons for Borobudur's abandonment are also disputed, and the reasons for the temple's eventual abandonment remain unknown. It is known that in the 10th or 11th century AD the capital of the Mataram kingdom moved eastward from Borobudur due to a volcanic eruption, which may have weakened Borobudur's status as a pilgrimage center. Although Christian, Persian, and Gujarati traders brought Christianity to present-day Indonesia as early as the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the rate of Javanese conversion to Christianity only began in the 15th century AD increase rapidly. It makes sense that Borobudur's importance would decrease overall as Javanese people embraced *** religion. Over the next few centuries, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the growth of tropical rainforest kept Borobudur away from Javanese, making it inaccessible. Despite this, there is evidence that Borobudur has never left the collective cultural consciousness of Javanese. Even after their conversion to Christianity, later Javanese stories and myths expressed the temple's association with mystery and negative energy.

In 1814, Governor Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), who oversaw the brief British occupation of the Dutch East Indies, allowed Dutch explorer Herman Cornelius (1774 -1833) organized an expedition to find and locate Borobudur, which he successfully did in the same year. In the years following Borobudur's rediscovery, the Dutch East Indies *** commissioned and permitted archaeological research into the temple, but looting was a major problem during the 19th and early 20th centuries AD. Experts recommended that Borobudur should remain in place and the first restoration work lasted from 1907 to 1911 AD. Today, Borobudur is once again a Buddhist pilgrimage site and a major tourist destination in Southeast Asia, but Indonesian officials remain concerned about damage caused by foot traffic at the temple, as well as lingering environmental and safety concerns.

Art and Architecture

Borobudur is an impressive and monumental ancient Buddhist building. In Southeast Asia, there are only Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Buddhist temple in Bagan, Myanmar. It is rivaled only by the Hindu temples of M? S?n in Vietnam and the ruins of Sukhothai in Thailand. Borobudur's design combines Javanese and Gupta-style dynastic architecture, reflecting the fusion of ancient Javanese indigenous and Indian aesthetics. There are over 500 Buddha statues surrounding Borobudur, and Borobudur contains approximately 3,000 bas-relief sculptures. The sculptures are all unique and depict the teachings, life and personal wisdom of the Buddha. Taken together, Borobudur can be said to have the largest number of Buddhist sculptures anywhere in the world today. It is known that in ancient times sculptors decorated and decorated the various galleries of the temple before covering everything with paint and plaster. This method helped to better preserve these sculptures for over a thousand years.

It is estimated that more than 1.6 million pieces of andesite (a volcanic rock) were used in the construction of Borobudur. The rocks are cut and joined in a method that does not use any mortar. Borobudur consists of three distinct monuments: the main temple of Borobudur and two smaller temples located to the east of the main temple. The two smaller temples are Pawon Temple and Mendut Temple, the latter containing a large sculpture of two Buddhas surrounded by Bodhisattvas. Collectively, Borobudur, Powang and the Gate all symbolize the individual's path to Nirvana. The three temples are also in a straight line. Another Buddhist temple - Ngawen, which dates back to the 8th century AD, is just 10 kilometers (6 miles) away from the main temple of Borobudur. Banon Temple is a ruined Hindu temple located just a few meters north of Pawan.

The main temple structure of Borobudur is divided into three levels, with five square terraces on a pyramid-shaped base, a conical trunk with three circular platforms, and a magnificent monumental stupa on the upper level. The exquisite reliefs form part of the temple walls, which cover an area of ??approximately 2,520 square meters (27,125 square feet). Borobudur's circular platform is surrounded by 72 stupas, each containing a statue of Buddha. This distribution and demarcation of space is consistent with the Buddhist cosmology. In Buddhist cosmology, the universe is divided into three realms, namely, the no-body, the no-body, and the realm. Arupadatu here is represented by three platforms and a large stupa. The rupadatu is represented by five levels. The kamadhatu is represented by the basic structure of the temple.