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jJNlVtiKMlY
LffiRARY
'O
THE HINDU RUINS
IN THE
Plairj of Parambanat]
BY
■■^M?'
Dr. J. GF^ONEMAN
Honorary President of the Archaeological Society
at yogyd,kart&.
Translated from the Dutch
BY
"^ 'A^. r> o L k:.
SemarAng-Soerabaia, ;
G. C. T. VAN DORP & Co.
1901 •
The original of tiiis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924007839057
THE HINDU RUINS IN THE PLAIN OF PARAMBANAN.
THE HINDU RUINS
IN THE
Plaiq of Parambanarj
BY
Dr. J. GF^ONEMAN
Honorary President of the Archaeological Society
at jfogy&kartd.
Translated from the Dutch
BY
j^. i>olk:.
Semarang-Soerabaia. , \x'' " 7/ ,%,
G. C. T. VAN DORP & Co. ^^f ;-
■WF ' ^
an
no I
dl
t\5
I' I
i ^' ;.' iv ■•.#11
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
With a few exceptions fa. o. ch o.nd j have been sub-
stituted for ty ccnd djj the forms I have chosen for the
non- English words in this guide are the same as I adopted
in the description of the B&rdbudur.
The vowels are to be read as in German, but it should
be noticed that y always represents the sound it has in
the English word young.
A. D.
L CHANDl KALASAN.
This ruin is the only one in Central Java the age of
which has been ascertained with perfect exactness, from
an inscription in n a g a r i characters cut in a stone, which
was found in the neighbourhood.
The inscription was deciphered and translated, both by
the Dutch scholar Dr. J. Brandes and the Indian Dr. R.
G. Bhandarkar Q-).
This is no easy task, even for such scholars. Some
Sanskrit characters have so much likeness among each
other that it is difficult to tell one from the other, and
if, as is the case with this inscription, which is about
1100 years old, they have become almost or quite illegible,
a trustworthy deciphering is next to impossible.
This may account for the discrepancy of the two trans-
lations, which however, as the differences occur only in
unimportant words or phrases, does not materially affect
the clearness and the concordance of the two versions.
By reading and comparing the two versions repeatedly.
I have found the sum and substance of the inscription to
be the following:
"Homage to the blessed (or: reverend) and noble Talra..
(1) See: Tijdschrift voor de Indische Taal-,Land- en Vol-
kenkunde of 1886, pp. '240, et seq., and Bhandarkar's Lecture in
xhe Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society on August-
us 6th, 1887.
2 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
"May she, the only deliverer of the world, who, seeing
how men perish in the sea of life, which is full of incal-
culable misery, is sure to save them by the three means
— grant you the wished- for essence (Bh., quintes-
sence, V. Br.), the salvation of the world by the Lord
of gods and men.
"The guru (teacher, gurus, Br.) of the §ailendra
prince erected a magnificent TAr4 temple. At the com-
mand (or: the instance) of the guru, the grateful ...(?)
made an image of the goddess and built the temple, to-
gether with a dwelling (vihara, monastery) for the monks
(bhikshus) who know the great vehicle of discipline
(Mah^y^na).
"By authorization of the king, the TcLrA temple and the
monastery for the reverend monks, have been built by
his counsellors, the pangkur, the tavan, and the tirip (i).
"The deserving guru of the Sailendra king built the
temple in the prosperous reign of the king, the son of
the Sailendra dynasty.
"The great king built the T^r^ temple in honour of the
guru (to do homage to the guru), when 700 years of the
Saka era were past.
"The territory of the village of K41asa was bestowed
on the congregation of priests (monks) in the presence of
the pangkur, the tavan, and the tirip, and the village
chiefs (as witnesses).
"This great (incomparable) endowment was made by
the king for the monks. It is to be perpetuated by the
(later) kings of the gailendra dynasty, for the benefit of
the successive reverend congregations of monks, and be
respected (maintained) by the wise pangkur, the good
(^) According to Br. Old-Javanese civil officers, perhaps soothsayers
or astrologers. Bh., who probably does not know Old-Javanese, writes
tirisha instead of tirip.
Ghanpi Kalasan;
tavan, the wise tirip and others, and by ("their
virtuous wives", according to Br., but Bh. 's version runs)
"the virtuous foot-soldiers" (\V -^^
"The king also begs of all following kings that this
bridge (or: dam) of charity, which is (a benefit) for all
nations, may be perpetuated for all times.
"May all who adhere to the doctrine of the .Unas,
through the blessings of this monastery, obtain know-
ledge of the nature of things, constituted by the con-
catenation of causes (and effects), and may they thrive.
"The. . . . prince once more requests of (all) future
kings, that they may protect the monastery righteously".
I add a few observations about the sense of this in-
scription.
Tdra is the appellation of the saktis or wives, or
forces, of the five Dhyani-Buddhas, but especially
of the fifth (the last), i. e. of the future Buddha or
deliverer of the world* hereafter . Now 1 think that
this Tard cannot be meant here, because she was only
thought to be in the future, but had no more reason of
being then than at present, and therefore can have no
influence in this world. But the only one that can be
meant, is the sakti of ,the deliverer of this world, of
the fourth Dhyani-Buddha, AmitAbha, the T4ra of
the Buddhists of the Northern Church {^).
In Dr. Brandes' version there is always question of gurus
or teachers. Dr. Bhandarkar uses the singular number.
(^) Great as the difference between these two versions, wives and
soldiers, may appear, it is sufficiently accounted for by the difficulty
to distinguish between the characters, which have become so worn ont
as to be all but illegible.
(2) Oh Dhyani-Bdddhas, etc. see my "Tyandi-B8,r§,budur in
Central Java'' (G. 0. T. Van Dorp & Co., Sgmarang-Surabaia,
1901), p. 9
4 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
Ff the meaning is that the king founded the TdrA temple
to pay homage to his own teacher— for we know that the
Hindu revered his guru next to his own father — we are
authorized to believe that the temple was erected over the
ashes of this guru, just as other temples were built over
the ashes of princes and other great and wise men, and
that the image of Tar 4 must have been enthroned in the
shrine or the principal room, over the well in which the
funereal urn holding the ashes of te guru was depo-
sited. If, however, the plural number in Brandes' ver-
sion is correct, we have to think of the TdrS, temple
rather as a homage to the gurus or monks, taken col-
lectively, so that there would be no reason to admit
the existence of a cinerary urn or a well, contrarily
to what experience has taught about the ruins of other
temples, for such wells are so common, that they are al-
most considered as essential features of c h a n d i s. This
might still be examined, though treasure-seekers have
broken up the floor and searched the earth underneath.
But from both versions it appears, without any doubt,
that this temple was consecrated to T A r a, and was built
or achieved in the year 701 of the § a k a-era, or 779 of
our era, and that the Buddhists who built it belonged to
the Northern Church, Mahdydna or the "Great
Vehicle."
In point of fact this would have been sufficiently mani-
fest from its being consecrated to T&rd, for the "Little
Vehicle", Hlnayftna, or the orthodox Southern Church
knows of no TarAs, no Dhy9,ni-Buddhas or Bodhisatvas,
but reveres only the Buddha (of this world), the one
saviour, and no more.
No trace has been found of the TkrA image, and the
other images which once were placed in the entrance and
Ghanoi Kalasan.
the three lateral chapels, as well as those which filled the
niches in the wall of the temple, have likewise disappeared.
Only three or four of the many small Buddha figu-
res which occupied the niches of the high roof are there
still.
The chan(Ji Kalasan was certainly, if not the most
beautiful, at least one of the noblest and most beautiful mo-
numents, left to us by the Hindus in Java; unfortunately in so
dilapidated a state, that, unless some powerful hand by
timely prevention wards off this calamity, it is sure to get
irreparably lost.
It is situated a little to the north-east of Kalasan, a villa-
ge and stopping-place, nearly 9 miles from Yogy&karta,
between the old mail-road and the railway to Shlh, and
can be reached from the said stopping-place in a quarter of
an hour.
"What is left of it, is little more than the inner part, the
principal room, with the greatly damaged remains of the
roof, and one of the four projecting parts, the southern
chapel; the two lateral chapels and the eastern porch with
the entrance to the shrine, together with the surroun-
ding terrace and its four flights of steps, being lost.
In 1886, however, there was still enough left, to enable
the engineei- J. B. Hubenet and the draughtsman L. Mel-
ville (both in the service of the State Railways), active
members of the newly founded Archaeological So-
ciety, under the direction of its first president, the Chief
Engineer J. W. Yzerman, to trace and reconstruct the
original plan (*).
(1) See "Beschrijving der Oudheden nabij de grens der
resideniie's Soerakarta en Djogjakarta (sic!)", by J. W.
Yzerman, published by the Bataviasch Genootschap in 1891. The
name of the draughtsman is omitted on the lithographs.
6 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
The temple was originally a rather large square build-
ing, with rectangular projections on the four sides, so as
to form a polygon of 20 sides ; and the roof was a high pyr-
amidical structure, having as many sides at its base but
higher up only eight. This pyramid was composed of gird-
les, gradually getting smaller and rising one over the
other, of little niche-buildings, in the form of temples,
all surmounted bij bell-shaped dag abas, resting on lo-
tus-cushions, and finally crowned by a superior dagaba
of far greater dimensions.
All this must have been incomparably beautiful of con-
ception and workmanship, though in its construction per-
haps no other tools were used but chisel and hammer,
water-level, square and plumb-line.
It is probable that all the niches, both of the roof and
of the inside and outside of the chief structure and of
the chapels, contained images, standing or sitting on lo-
tus-cushions (padmElsanas). The remaining niches on the
outside of the wall, also of the southern chapel, are really,
of exquisite beauty, and the glorious richness of the
sculptures of the facades is evident from those in the
magnificent southern one, the only one still extant, which
can be preserved, if the Government — who has the
necessary power — but choose to give orders and pay for
the labour required.
Or where is the Dutch Croesus who is willing to defray
the cost of such a work in the service of Art and Science ?
Let us examine the only fagade with the attention it
deserves.
The entrance to the chapel, a comparatively small and
simple doorway, is flanked by two pilasters, the tops of
which bear two dwarfish forms, supporting on their raised
hands the lintel, a plain stone. On this stone rest the two
Chanpi Kalasan.
ends of a nicely sculptured wreathed arch, under which,
in a little recess over the door, there is the small image
of a sitting woman. Each of the raised hands holds a
lotus- rosette, but there is nothing to mark the figure as
a Ta,ra or Sri (the wife or sakti of the god Vishnu)
or any other divinity.
Another little image, in all respects like this one, is
placed in the centre of the cornice.
In the wreathed arches we can no more or hardly re-
cognize the monster-heads and serpentine bodies of the
two NAgas, which we shall frequently observe in other
wreaths and round the niches and gates of this and other
temples (^).
But so much the better they can be remarked in the
splendid ornament, inclosing the Uttle gate with its pi-
lasters and wreathed arch, and rising high above it, up
to the cornice proper, over the frieze.
For on the outside of each of these pilasters there is a
magnificent conventional Naga-head, with a widely opened
mouth and an upper lip curling into an elephant's trunk,
lying on a separate pedestal, the serpentine body, with a
notched fold of the skin, like a long dorsal fin, rising out
of the turned neck, along the outside of the pilasters and
of the arch, and still higher bending inward rectangularly
and disappearing between the formidable teeth of the
monster Garuda.
C) See my B§,r§,budur guide, pp. 20, 21. It is shown there, that
these monster-heads are no Banaspatis or Kal^s, and that the wide-
opened Naga-mouths with curled-up elephants' trunks are neither
elephants' nor Makara-heads, as was believed formerly, and is still.
said in Yzerman's work mentioned above. In the second "Bulletin"
published this year by the "Ecole frangaise d'Extreme Orient"
at Saigon, one of the members, Captain Lunet de Lajonquieke, says'
also that "des Garu(J.as devorant des Nig as" are placed "sur
les linteaux de porte" af the ruins of pagodas at ViengOhan.
8 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
Garu(Ja, the v^hana (vehicle) of the god Vishnu,
being represented as the protector of Buddhism, finds its
explanation in the belief of the Northern Buddhists, that
Buddha was the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, and that
Garu(Ja is the perpetual destroyer of the inimical infer-
nal NAgas (malignant demi-gods).
The head of G a r u d a is adorned with a finely chiselled
coil of hair, and projects from a back-ground, alive
with music-making celestians, borne by clouds. These mu-
sicians, however, lack the female breasts, which would
mark them as apsarasas or heavenly nymphs, and the
bird-like bodies by which they would be recognized as
gandharvas {^).
By the cheeks or temples of the Garuda-head, where
the Naga-tails make angles with the bodies, there are
little monstrous animals, the meaning of which I have
not been able to find out.
In the open mouths of the Nagas, here and almost
every where else, there are small lions in a sitting posture,
from whose mouths garlands of flowers are hanging down.
The little recess, just over the hair-coil of the Garuda,
holding the above-mentioned little image of a woman, is
likewise placed in a frame of Nd.gas,'
(1) Gandharvas are Indra's heavenly choristers, spirits of light,
•who live in the air and prepare the liquor of immortality, Soma.
They are also mixers of medicine. According to the Vis hnu-Pu rS,na
they were born of Brahma, The temples of Parambanan show
both male and female Gandharvas (Gandharvis). The Apsara-
sas are their wives. They too are heavenly singers. .According to
EdwardMoor, "Hindu Pantheon," Gandha,was (sic), Apsaras-
as and Dewag&,nas are identical. The Gandharvas also fight the
NS, gas. Further see in Wilhelm Uncken's "Allgemeine Ges chic fa-
te" the "Geschichte des alten Indiens" by S. Leffmann, pp. 359)
et seq., especially pp. 362 and 368; and on the meaning of the
Na,gas in Buddhism pp. 365, et seq., especially p. 367.
Chanvi Kalasan.
On the outsides of this most beautiful whole, hard by
the dorsal fins of the Nftgas, there are small shallow
niches, also roofed over with wreaths (in which the Nfi,-
gas and Garudas are recognizable), and in each of these
niches there is a bas-relief image, representing a man,
standing, and holding in his outer hand the 'stem of a
lotus-flower, rising from the ground at his feet, and in
the inner hand a chamara or fly-flap. But for the want
of a glory (p r a b h a) behind the head, of the u p a v i ta
(the sacred thread) round the chest, and of the lotus-
throne (padmasana) under the feet, these images might
be taken for Bodhisatvas (^).
Under the cornice there is a frieze, richly sculptured
with a girdle of sitting dwarfs, like those represented at
the heads of the pilasters by the sides of the doorway.
Whether or no these dwarfs represent g a n a s. I dare not
decide {^).
On each side of the little recess, holding the woman's
figure, there are at regular intervals carefully worked
antefixes on the cornice, those on the corners having the
shape of monstrous heads with pyramidal hair-coils.
This cornice runs round the whole temple.
In the side-walls, both of the chief part of the building
and the four projections (the porch and the three chapels)
there are larger niches, so richly ornamented that they
deserve particular notice. Their flanks are formed by double
pilasters, supporting a wreathed arch, at the top composed
of fine ornamental N^gas and a Garuda-head. Four ce-
(1) Tyandi- B§.ribudur in Central Java, p. 9.
(^) Ganas or Gana-devatas are minor deities, attending on god
§iva, under the command of Siva's son Ganesa. Tliey are divided
into 9 classes. I do not know that they are recognizable by particular
marks, and the little figures in question, which are quite naked, have
not 3. single mark,
10 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
lestians, resembling those over the gigantic Garu(Ja of the
front, are hovering by the side of the hair-coil which also
adorns this smaller head. But over them there is an
exquisite little temple with n^ga-heads, from whose
mouths thick garlands of flowers hang down on the cor-
ners of the cornice.
Broad bands with nicely carved festoons, which not-
withstanding their multiplicity never fatigue the eye of
the observer, form the frames for the divisions of the
walls, both in the central building and the southern
chapel, at the same time enclosing the niches, now how-
ever robbed of their images.
The plain mouldings and bands still show the remains
of a thin, but solid layer of plaster.
Before entering the temple, we give a brief sketch of
the high roof, surmounting the polygonal building, as we
may suppose it to have been originally.
As we have said before, it consisted of several girdles
of little niche-temples, superposed one upon the other.
The first of these girdles had, as the building itself had,
twenty sides, and the httle temples composing it were of
different sizes, alternately showing one or three niches,
surmounted by N^ga-Garuqla wreaths, rising from double
pilasters, and each crowned with a bell-shaped dagaba. In
one niche of the south and two of the east side the Bud-
dha figures are still extant.
It is probable that the Dhy^ni-Buddhas of this
temple, like those of other temples, commanded their own
quarters of the sky, the second, the third, the fourth,
and the fifth respectively facing the east, the south, the
west, and the north, and the first being placed higher,
in the topmost girdle, as commanding the zenith (i).
(1) See my BSrSbudur in Central Java, p. p. 57, et s e q..
Chandi Kalasan. 11
Over the first girdle rose the second, an octagonal
one, in each side provided with a Buddha niche, which,
over the four principal walls was flanked by two panel-
shaped divisions on each side, and surmounted by three
smaller dagabas. A. larger dagaba was placed on the cor-
nice over the four oblique sides. Only one Buddha image
has been found in one of the niches of this girdle.
It seems that each of the panels contained a bas-relief
image, like those found in the niches beside the gate.
The third story of the roof rose within the circle of
the dagabas of the second. It was also octagonal, each
side containing a Buddha-niche, flanked by two festooned
bands only, and likewise surmounted by dagabas, a lar-
ger one in each oblique side, and three smaller ones in
the principal sides.
Over and within the third girdle of dagabas rose one
central dagaba, of much greater dimensions, but only the
socle, adorned with fine antefixes, remains.
No doubt, this crowning ornament was very beautiful.
If the design of this splendid building, as reconstructed
by Mr. Hubenet and Mr. Melville, is on-ly approxima-
tively exact, the roof, a divine thought cut in stone, must
have made a noble and powerful impression.
Unfortunately, all this splendour has perished, and the
roof pyramid itself has become a ruin, a dead pile of
stones, overgrown with a small wood of tropical luxuriancy,
which, in spite of all efforts at destroying it, sends forth
its powerful, ever growing roots deeper and deeper into
the mass of disjointed fragments.
Nothing can save it from utter disintegration, but an
operation like that which is being applied to the c h a n qI i
Mendut.
Let us enter the temple now.
12 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
The steps which led from the polygonal terrace, atone
time surrounding the temple, to the gates, were swept
from the face of the earth, together with the terrace itself
and its four outer flights of stairs. The stones were carried
off long ago, either to enclose some desa or village, or to
be used in the building of manufactories or aqueducts.
Hence we are obliged to get in by clambering on pro-
truding stones, and, having made our entrance to the east-
ern porch, we see, in each side- wall, three niches covered
by wreaths, modelled after the Ndga-Garuda idea,
with two celestians on the sides. At the back some steps
lead into the inner room, roofed over by level stones,
which, jutting farther out towards the centre as they are
placed higher, form the inside of a pyramid, first of four,
then of eight sides.
Opposite to the entrance there is a plain altar-shaped
throne, taking up nearly the whole breadth of the
back- wall.
The couch, on which the chief image T 4 r d must have
been sitting, is vacant, but speaks still for the magnitude
of the image and the greatness of the goddess.
On each side of the throne, a recumbent elephant sticks
out, with half its body, from the back-wall above the throne;
the neck of each sacred animal supporting a half-human,
half-brute monster with curling horns, resembling the
small imps on the angles of the southern gate-ornament.
In each of the two side-walls there is an opening, ad-
mitting the air from the outside, adorned with double
pilasters.
The three chapels and the porch once had, as the south-
ern chapel has still, a pyramidal roof of gradually re-
entering stones, and in each chapel there was an altar-
shaped pedestal for three images against the back-wall,
and each side-wall had a niche for one image.
Chanpi ICalasaN. is
All those images are lost, and though a few of them
may be found back at some country-seats or in 'the gar-
den of the resident's house, we do not know which they
are and where they were placed in the temple. Formerly
1 half suspected that the delightful female image that
adorns the said garden may be the lost T^rd, but this
was a mistake.
The depredations, committed on this temple by Euro-
peans as well as by natives, even in the nineteenth cen-
tury, have caused much injury to the study of Javanese
archaeology and ancient art.
11. CHANDI 8ARL
This is the name improperly given to the ruin which
is found within half a mile to the north, on the west
side of the mail-road, near chan^i Sari des^ 0- It might
with more right be called a vihdr a, or in Javanese a per-
tapan, for a chandi is a pile, or tomb, or temple,
built over the ashes of one dead, so that this name is
only appropriate for those Hindu ruins of Central Java
which contain, or contained, a well in which one or some
cinerary- urns were deposited.
This cannot be said of this ruin and one more, which
we may suppose to have been monasteries.
We may even assume that this is the very vihara
which, according to the inscription spoken of in the pre-
ceding chapter, was built together with the chandi
Kalasan by order of the Sailendra king, to serve as
a residence for the monks belonging to this temple, and
so must be above 11 centuries old.
It is a long quadrangular edifice of dark-gray stone,
andesite lava, which is also the only or principal building-
material of the other ruins. It has two long and two short
sides.
(1) There is no village named Bend ah, ( Yzerman), though ii is
marked on the map.
Chanpi Sari. 15
The entrance is in the middle of the long east-side. The
porch which once led up to it is gone. There are two
stories, and the roof of the porch reached a httle higher
than the cornice of the lower structure, which ends at the
angles in little monstrous-heads.
To the right and left of the entrance there are square
windows, flanked by panels with bas-relief images.
Another cornice bears over the 3 windows of the upper
floor three larger square niches (which at some distance
make an impression as if there were a second story),
and two smaller ones between them. They conceal what
is still left of the roof.
All this is very finely sculptured. There are again two
nag as on the side-posts of the door, whose heads with
curled elephants' truncks are turned out, and rest upon
kneeling elephants, which take the place of the common
stone pedestals. On each elephant there is a man, probably
the keeper or sftrati. In the widely opened Naga-mouth
there is not a little lion, but a bird.
The lintels of the four chief windows are elegantly
carved, surmounted by exquisite sculpture-work, and end-
ing in Naga-heads with elephants' trunks. This beauti-
ful ornament is supported by two double pilasters, fram-
ing the window, and each enclosing a creature, half-
human, half-bird, perhaps a standing gandharva (i),
stretched out in length, so as to find room in the narrow
space.
(i) Noi Kinnaras, as we read in Yzerman's work. Both Kinna-
ras and Gandharvas are celestial choristers; but the former are
represented as having horses' heads and not with the bodies of birds,
like the latter. See Koeppen, "Religion des Buddha und ihre
Entstehung," I. p. 24i7; Edw. Moor, "Hindu Pantheon," pp.
178 and 237; Dowson, "Classical Dictionary," p. 158. And on
gandharvas, Dowson, "01. D." pp. 106 and 107, and Kebn, "G e-
schiedenis van het Buddhisme in Indie," I. p. 294,
d6 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
In each of the panels there is a man's figure, either
with or without a glory (prabha), but without any mark
characterizing particular gods, or Bodhisatvas, or other
beings.
The middle window of the story is not ornamented,
probably because the roof of the porch hid it from sight,
but between this window and each of the other two, there
is a small shallow niche, nicely crowned, and holding a
being in dancing posture, whose exact nature cannot be
made out.
The cornice of the upper story bears, or bore, three
greater and two smaller niches, the greater ones straight
over the three upper windows, the smaller ones between
the others. The former are covered with fine Ndga- wreaths,
supported by pilasters, and flanked by Nagas, each being
surmounted by a Garu(Ja-head. Beside or over each head
celestians are hovering. These niches too were once sur-
mounted by d a g a b a s, just like the roof-niches of c h a n d i
Kalasan, so it is probable that they contained little
Dhyani-Buddha images. The two lesser niches have
richly-sculptured gargoyles, spouting the rainwater out of
the two gutters, which were perhaps made between three
roofs, to a considerable distance.
The other three fagades are worked in the same style
with the eastern one, but without a doorway and porch.
At the back (facing the west) there are no windows but
three blank recesses on the groundfloor, but the first floor
has three windows. The roof-niches correspond to those
of the front.
Bas-relief festoons adorn the sham windows.
For the rest all the windows, the sham ones too, like
those of the. front, are crowned and framed,^ and flanked
by panels with standing images. The two side walls show
CHANpi Sari. il
the same ornamentation. Each of them has one window
and one blank recess on the groundfloor, and in the mid-
dle of the upper story between two panels one little niche
like the two of the front- Instead of windows, the side-
rooms on the groundfloor have blank recesses at the back.
The two images between the lower windows of the
southern fagade represent women. Those of the north-
ern fagade are one man and one woman, provided with
large wings
At the back and in the eastern facade there are be-
tween the roof-niches two smaller ones, from which gar-
goyles are jutting out. There are, of course, none in the
side fagades.
The outside of the building also seems to have been
plastered.
Ascending to the entrance and entering the old monastery,
we see that it is divided by, two thick transverse walls
into a central room and two side-rooms on the groundfloor
and on the upper floor. The cornice (which breaks the
inner walls at middle height) still shows the notches in
which the ends of the beams, used in the flooring, rested.
The central room on the groundfloor received some light
and air through the entrance from the porch and through
the doors of the side-rooms; that of the upper floor,
through the doors of the upper side-rooms, through the
httle window over the root of the porch, and through the
larger window in the back-wall. Each of the two side-
rooms on the groundfloor has two windows, one in the
middle of the front-wall, the other in the foremost half of
the outer side-wall. Each upper side-room has four windows.
All the windows are square apertures, purposely left
between the blocks of the enormously thick walls, and
it seems that they could be closed by shutters,
J 8 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
As in other Hindu ruins, the walls were built, without
mortar or cement, from lava blocks, but so strongly, that,
but for earthquakes or human destructiveness, they might
have defied tens of centuries more.
The doors of the side-rooms are straight opposite to the
side-windows, consequently near the corner formed by the
inner wall and the front-wall. In the middle of the side-
walls of the lower central room two recesses facing each
other have been spared out.
Each of the side-rooms has one niche, in the middle
of the outer side-wall. These niches are again framed
and crowned with the Naga-Garuda ornament. The wide-
ly opened Naga-mouths contain birds.
The corresponding walls of the upper rooms had smal-
ler niches, devoid of ornamentation.
Each upper room was roofed over by a hallow quadrangul-
ar pyramid of gradually more and more re-entering
level stones.
Whether the upper story alone was inhabited, or the
groundfloor too, or at least its two side-rooms, we shall
certainly never be able to make out. It would seem that
the stairs leading to the upper storey was in the south-
ern side-room.
If we assume that 5 of the 6 rooms were inhabited, each
lodging 4 or 5 monks, the monastery may have afforded
a habitation to some 20, or together with guests from
elsewhere, nearly 30 bhikshus, certainly a sufficient
number for the service in a single temple as the ch au-
di Ka lasan.
HI. THE GUOUP OE TEMPLES
NEAR PAEAMBANAN.
If we follow the mail-road for about I1/2 mile in north-
eastern direction, crossing some smaller rivers and the
broad Kali Upak (there are no bridges), we reach Pa-
rambanan des^. The railway trains stop at the other
end of the village, but we take the first road to the left
(northward), leading to the group of temples which de-
rive their name from the village. (i) They are the most in-
teresting in the country.
Though the ruins of Parambanan do not contain a single
gexiuine Buddha- figure, but many images of Bra fa-
man ic gods, there are many reasons to justify the opi-
nion that they were built by Buddhists, probably over
the ashes of princes and grandees of a Buddhistic empire.
In the first place there are the monumental bo-trees co-
vered with parasols, a considerable number of which have
been hewn out round the base of each of the six larger
temples or chandis. Now such trees are also found on
C). YzERMAN uses the appellation of "tjandi Loro Djonggrang"
(sic), in imitation of the Javanese, who thought the Durga-image re-
presented the daughter of their legendary ratu BSkS, l&r& Jonggkang.
The name and the opinion are equally wrong.
20 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
the walls of temples the Buddhistic character of which is
never called in question, such as the BSrabudur, the
Mendut, and the Pa von; and, what is more, with the
same accompaniments: parrots, hovering over the trees,
and under them gandharvas and gandharvis, in
'the shape of birds with human faces and men's or wo-
men's breasts.
In some cases, however, the gandharvas here are re-
placed by tigers, deer or antelopes, rams, hares or rubbits,
peacocks, geese, and other birds or quadrupeds.
The.n there are the many dagaba shaped bells in
a large number of ornaments, f i. the wreaths over the
many niches, and the backs of the seats of the gods.
Further there is the peculiar posture (resembling
that of the Bodhisatvas or Buddha's sons, or future
Buddhas) in which the gods of the fourth (the topmost)
series of sculptures of the three western temples are re-
presented.
Still it might be objected that the images are those of
various gods belonging to the Hindu pantheon, some easily
recognizable by their attributes or symbols, some only
with difficulty, owing to either the absence, or the loss,
or the indistinctness cf the greatly injured characteristic
marks; but this circumstance does not disprove the Bud-
dhistic character of the temples, since the so-called North-
ern church, Mahay an a, which, as is well-known, at one
time ruled in Central Java, considered many Brahmanic
divinities only as a vataras or manifestationsof the Prim-
ordial Buddha (Adi-Buddha), an idea by which they as-
similated themselves to other, non-Buddhistic, Hindus.
The Brahmanic Trimurti or triad, Brahm^, Vishnu
and I § vara (Siva) was even identified with Buddha by
the poet Tantular, the MSj^pahite Mahayanist, as pro-
fessor Kern has demonstrated in his article on the Old-
The Group of Temples near Parambanan. 21
Javanese poem Sutasoma (i), and as, on his authority,
1 wrote in my illustrated work: "Tjandi Parambanan
na de ontgraving", published by the "Koninklijk In-
stituut voor de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Ned.-
Indie" in 1893.
As a matter of fact these images are also found in other
Mahayanistic temples, both in Java and on the continent
of Asia. Some, f.i. f^iva and Gane§a, even in Hina-
yanistic pagodas in Ceylon. The undoubtedly Buddhistic
monastery, and chancji, Pelahosan, also has fine
images of gods, as Bodhisatvas (^i, a.o. Brahma.
Finally we may adduce in proof of the Buddhistic
character of these temples, that the Buddhists themselves
in their books sometimes represent the Buddha as one
of the Indian gods moving amidst men. In the Jataka-
mala, translated from the Sanskrit by professor Speyer,
we read a.o, how the Lord descends from Heaven on
earth as Indra, in order to convert a king who, with
his courtiers, indulges in excessive potations. (^).
Still it is but just to own that there were some schol-
a,rs who did not share my opinion about the Buddhistic
character of Parambanan, and that the Buddhist king
of Siam did not take them for Buddhistic buildings. But
this cannot surprise us, if we consider the very great
difference " between these ultra-Mahayanistic temples and
the Hinayanistic pagodas, in h i s kingdom, of the Church
of his forefathers, and also take into consideration that
H. M.'s attention could not be sufficiently directed to the
(1) See "Verslagen en Mededeelingen" of the Royal Academy, 3rd
series, V.
(2) See below.
(3) See my description of the "Tyandi BSribudur in Central
Java", 1901, pp. 37 and 38.
22 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
Buddhistic marks of Parambanan through want of
time, as the early morning hours had been taken up by
his visit to the chandis Kalasan and Sari.
I am, however, of opinion, that, except in connection
with Buddhism, there can be no question of homage
being paid to the holy bo-tree, the symbol of the tree
under which Gautama attained to Buddha-hood, nor of
Bodhisatvas, nor of the repeated representation of
dag aba-shaped prayer-bells. So these ornaments, not
being in keeping with works of art of a non-Buddhistic
character, mark Parambanan, as a creation of Buddhistic,
in c a s u Mahayanistic, art.
In our inspection of the sculptured-works we shall see
more Buddhistic symbols.
The ruins form a group of 8 chandis, 3 greater
and 3 lesser ones, in two parallel rows, the former on
the west, the latter on the east side of a spacious square
terrace, with 2 still smaller ones at the ends of the space
between the two rows.
The western chandis have their entrances towards
the east, the eastern ones towards the west, the smallest
two had their entrances opposite to each other, the south-
ern one towards the north, the northern one towards
the south.
Around the terrace there were once at least 157 very
small temples, of which we have only found and partly
dug up the socles with the foundations. They formed
three squares, one enclosing another and gradually de-
scending a little, and had their entrances in the walls
forming the outmost sides of the squares.
The main terrace was once enclosed by four walls of
small height, each with a gate in the middle, which was
approached through a spacious opening in the correspon-
ding side of the square.
The Group of Temples near Parambanan. 23
t
Outside the outermost and lowest square there was, to
the north of the eastern access, a single miniature temple,
perhaps one of a fourth enclosing square.
Assuming that the greater main temples were mau-
solea, built over the ashes of princes or chiefs of the
ancient mighty Hindu empire, which, with the exception
of these ruins, has left no traces but some inscriptions
on stone or copper and its name. Ma tar am (i), we
are not too bold in supposing that the ashes of minor
chiefs, of members of the royal family, of court dignitar-
ies, and perhaps of gurus or monks, rested in the lesser
c ha n gli s.
In this supposition we might believe that all these
m a u s 1 e a were erected successively through numbers
of years, as the members of one family or of several
famihes departed this life; which belief is not inconsistent
with the symmetrical position of the c h a n d i s, as we
may take for granted that the founder or the architect
made allowance for those who were still living.
About a mile northward are the ruins of c h a n d i-
Sevu (2), the "thousand" temples, likewise placed sym-
metrically in four rectangular figures, one inside the other,
with a single main temple of considerably larger dimen-
sions in the middle. In my opinion this also testifies the
unfinished execution of a pre-conceived plan.
The excavation of the inner rooms began in 1885, and
the basements of the main temples were laid bare in 1889
and 1890, but not a single inscription was found from
which information might be gathered either about the
(1) An Old-Javanese edict, engraved on a copper plate, by the
vTord raja i Maiaram, proves the existence of a Hindu empire
of that name.
(2) See beloTV.
24 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
dead persons whose ashes were buried there, or about
the men who erected the mausolea, or about the time
when the latter were built.
But since we know that the ruins of Kalasan and
Sari were built or finished in the year 701 of the Old-
Javanese Saka era (about A. D. 779), there is no reason
to prevent us from assigning about the same age to these
temples, built in the same style, and situated in the same
part of the country.
The characters of the inscriptions on the Bar&budur,
at a considerable distance to the northwest, which were
discovered in 1890, show, according to professor Kern,
that this temple was also built about the close of the
eighth century of the Christian era. Taking into consider-
ation that some sculptured works of this temple, as well
as of the Parambanan ones, are unfinished, so much
so that the outlines of a few are barely sketched, we
may think it likely that the labour on all these buildings
was stopped at the same time, and perhaps through the
same cause that overthrew the Hindu empire of which
they are monuments.
Among the sculpture- works we are going to examine,
the number of those in a more or less unfinished state
is rather large, especially on the great Northern temple;
but a striking proof of the (sudden ?) suspension of the
labour is found in the two stones erected at the foot of
the stairs of the southernmost temple in the east row.
These stones are only rough-hewn but from their position
at the end of the banishers, we conclude that they were
to be shaped into naga's.
The three temples in the west side are polygonal
with re-entering and projecting angles (viz. squares with
four rectangular projections on each side), raised on similar
basements. Rather steep steps in the east sides lead to
The Group of Templf.s near Parambanan. 25
the terrace bearing the superstructures, from which larger
flights of steps give admittance to the inner rooms.
The middle temple, larger than the others, has on each
side two flights of steps, the lower one leading to a land-
ing raised a few feet above the terrace, which is connected
with this little platform by smaller side-steps.
In the corners between the stairs and the wall of the
basement of this temple there are miniature temples of
exquisite workmanship, the front and side-walls of which
had niches, each containing the high-relief figure of a
man or a woman, or a god and a goddess [?]. Perhaps
these figures represent RAma and Sit a (See below).
The upper flights of stairs on the south, west, and north
sides, lead to the entrances of three chapels with pyra-
midal roofs of their own, which, lower and less ponderous,
have been almost entirely preserved, as well as the ima-
ges, which, owing to their being placed inside the chapels,
have not been broken by the rubbish that has been fallihg
down from the superstructure.
The three tempels in the east side also had twenty
angles, but their basements were quadrangular.
The two smaller chandis, almost entirely destroyed,
on the north and south sides of the great terrace,
were quadrangular, perhaps with cross-shaped superstruc-
tures.
If these and all the other smaller temples outside the
terrace once contained images, which is probable, the
images shared the fate of the dwarf temples themselves,
of which only the foundations escaped destruction. Judging
from the few images that have been found among or near
the remains of the chancji Sevu, the little temples
contained Dhyani-Buddha figures. It is a great pity
that they are lost, for they might have solved many
problems.
26 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
In the northern temple on the east side we have found
a Siva-image, and in the middle one of the same row
a nandi or bull, Siva's vAhana (the animal which he
rode). In the southern temple which is almost wholly
destroyed, no image has been found.
In the chief temple of the western row, the principal
temple of the whole group, has been found a Siva-
image — twice the size of life — but broken by the stones
of the superstructure in its fall. The fragments were lying
near the altar-shaped pedestal, pai-tly destroyed. The south-
ern temple contains a Brahma, the northern one a
Vishnu; both much damaged, especially the former.
Under the pedestals of these images and the flagstones
of the inner rooms there were deep wells, filled with
rubbish and stones unhewn or only clumsily hewn. The
well of the Siva-temple had a depth of 14 yards.
It contained: a quadrangular cinerary urn of stone with
a stone cover, holding a brown-coloured mixture of earth
and imperfectly burned ashes, and some small flat pieces
of gold, silver and copper, for the most part rhombic in
form, the whole being wrapped in three layers of copper-
plate, which, notwithstanding their advanced state of
disintegration, still showed some Old-Javanese characters,
now become illegible, in square trames; further 7 oblong
thin gold plates with Old- Javanese letters or words inscribed
on them, and 5 figures cut out of gold-leaf, representing
a serpent (or nAga,) a tortoise, a lotus rosette, an altar (?)
and an ellipse; 32 globular Hindu coins and some small
stones, garnets, rock-crystal, dichroite, and glass, and one
little shell. A yard beneath the urn there was another
Uttle gold plate bearing an inscription.
In the well of the Brahma- temple we have. found: a
gold coin and a gold nail (?), and in that of the Vishnu-
temple a round earthenware urn, containing a copper leaf,
The Group of Temples near Parambanan. 27
a tortoise, a chakra, a cross i?), and a vajra (i) of silver
leaf, lastly some little stones, rubies, some glass, and an
agate in which the figure of a fish was cut.
They are the emblematical seven treasures (sapta
ratna), which were buried with the dead, probably as
symbols of what their friends wished they might have
in a life hereafter.
In the still discernible well of one of the smaller temples
a similar mixture of earth and ashes was found; some
others contained nothing. As they were not covered with
great masses of rubbish, it is probable that they were
emptied by native or European treasure-seekers long ago.
On the outer walls of the basements of all the principal
temples there are, immediately over the socle resting on
the ground, series of sculptures, vvhich differ only in the
size and elaborateness of the component parts, dependent
on the dimensions of the buildings themselves. E'.ach series,
filling one division of the wall or repeated several times
in the same space, consists of a projecting part with a
niche, surmounted with a beautiful wreathed arch and
flanked by very elegant pilasters, and on each side a bo-
tree in bas-relief, covered by payungs, with ever-varied
additions.
Most of the niches contain little lions with curled manes.
We cannot suppose that they were carried off from
under the rubbish out of those niches which are now
empty, so we must behave that they were wanting there
before the superstructure came down, being either un-
finished, or not yet placed in the niches, when the labour
on the almost completed temples was stopped or when
the temples themselves came down. The ponderous cornice
(1) The chakra is the discus of Vishnu, the vajra, the bundle
of shafts of lightning of Indra.
28 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
over the sculptures proved sufficient protection from the
falling masses of stone to the figures found in the niches,
so that they were not damaged at all. at the time of
their discovery (1889 and 1890).
The majority of the sculptured animals under, the bo-
trees are mythic gandharvas, which also take up all
the compartments of the .wall to the right and left of
the stairs.
There are no more continuous series of sculptures over
the first series of the buildings in the east row, but only
a few niches are left, which may have contained standing
images. But the three principal temples on the west side
showed, over the cornice protecting the first series, three
superior ones, which we shall indicate as the second,
the third, and the fourth. The second series was on
the outside of the wall that served as a parapet to the
terrace, but has been partially ' preserved only on the
Siva-temple, though, there too, destroyed, displaced and
covered for the greater part by the falling stone-blocks.
The wall west of the lower flight of stairs on the north-
side of the S i V a-temple, and the wooden building erected
for the collection of the fragments found among the
rubbish, contain much that can excite our admiration of
the noble art and the sublime beauty displayed in these
high-relief sculptures.
Each of the niches in the projecting parts of this wall
contains three heavenly nymphs (apsarasas), standing
or rather dancing in a stately manner, with arms inter-
laced. The motif is the same, everywhere but there is
the greatest variety in the posture of the figures. They
are in high relief, some even almost wholly detached;
showing an exuberance of fancy and execution (').
(1) Three of these groups of nymphs have been placed in the little
museum, in the grounds of the residency at Yogy§,liari§..
The Group of Temples near Parambanan. 29
The niches excelled in rich and skilful workmanship;
they were enclosed by beautiful pilasters and covered by
splendid N&ga-Garu(Ja wreaths with three pendent
prayer-bells, and lions in the corners.
The receding parts of the wall between the niches
were adorned with dancing musicians.
The third series of sculptures, which has been pre-
served almost intact on the Siva-temple, but, with the excep-
tion of a few stones, has disappeared from the other two,
was on the inner side of the parapet. On the S i v a-tem-
ple it is a representation of the first part of the R 4 ma-
legend, from the beginning down to the crossing from the
continent to Ceylon. It is probable, that the corresponding
series of the other two temples reproduced the sequel to
that history, but, though some fragments found among
the rubbish corroborate this beUef, it cannot be made out
with any degree of certainty.
A ponderous cornice, richly ornamented, which has got
almost entirely lost, on the Siva-temple as well as on the
others, ran over this series. Here again prayer-bells were
hanging down from the wreaths.
The fourth series was found on the wall of the tem-
ple itself, a few feet higher thau the terrace. Each of the
three western temples is still adorned with it, almost the
whole of it being in its place, though not undamaged.
There Hindu divinities are seated on thrones, on the § i v a -
temple between panels with beautiful frames holding groups
of two or (mostly) three followers in sitting postures, most
of them men; but on the V i s h n u-temple between two stand-
ing women. On the Brahma-temple all the gods are
Gurus, (Siva as teacher or hermit), flanked by two
standing monks or gurus, bearded like the gods them-
selves.
Higher up there are no more continuous series, but
30 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
only a few niches; the figures that may have filled them
are lost. Perhaps they" were hurled down along with the
falling stones and broken to pieces; possibly they were
carried off by visitors, or are still hidden among the more
or less injured blocks of stone that have .been found
mixed with the rubbish.
It is probable that the high cornices and the pyra-
midal roofs resting on them came down centuries ago. As
to what they looked like we can only make conjectures.
No bell-shaped dag abas or chaityas have been
found among the rubbish, but a great many spherical
ones, fluted like melons or some kinds of pumpkins, with
a cavity at the top, which may have served to receive
the base of a column, such as have been found in great
number, some globular, some conical like the little dagaba-
columns of Kalasan or chancji Sevu and B ^ r &-
b u d u r.
My opinion is that these melon-shaped stone-blocks are
chaityas, as there are many of them, likewise spherical,
though not fluted, among the sculptures of the B & r ^-
budur; one at the base even under the inscription:
homage to a chaitya (i).
If it had been the intention of the Parambanan archi-
tects to devote one temple to each of the gods of the
Indian Trimurti, they ought, I think, to have placed
on the Siva temple images of none but Siva, Kala
and Guru, with Durga and Ganesa, and (perhaps)
Siva's other son, Kartikeya (whom I did not see repre-
sented elsewhere in Central Java), but not of B f a h m a
or Vishnu. or other gods; on the Brahma temple only
(1) See my "Tyandi-B&rabudur in Central Java", p. 65.
The Group of Temples near Parambanan. 31
Brahma and his §akti: Sarasvati; and on the chan-
di Vishnu none but Vishnu and his wife Sri or
Lakshmi, and his 8 or 9 avatar as.
Siva, however, is met with everywhere. He alone is
enthroned in the richly ornamented inner room of the
greatest temple, represented by an image that surpasses
all the others in size, and he is also found in the porch
of this temple, but even on the outside of the other two
temples the number of his images is superior to that of the
other gods ; moreover he is represented in Guru shape
on the Brahma-temple with the exclusion of all others.
Jn the three lateral chapels of the middle temple we again
find Siva (as Guru), with his §akti and his son. So in
the northern chandi of the east row we see Siva also, a,nd
in the chief temple of this row his v a h a n a, the n a n d i.
So Siva is incontestably the chief god, who^ inspired
the p?inc^ipandea of the~ whole' structure, jyst as he is
the chief god, represented in Mahayanistic temples in
India, Nepal and Tibet, and the only one I saw
(sometimes with his son G a n e § a) in Hinayanistic pago-
das, at least at Colombo and Kelany in Ceylon.
But, whereas in those countries he is identified with
Buddha, at Parambanan he is treated as identical with
Brahma, with Vishnu, and with all those 'who, in the
posture of'Bodhisatvas or Buddha's sons, or as
avataras of the same Primordial Buddha (Adi-
Buddha), were worshipped by the people, wholly in
conformance to the doctrine of Ma hay an a, as preached
by Tantular (see above).
The miscellaneous collection of all those different gods,
together with bo-trees, prayer-bells, (and da gab as or
c baity as?), and other Buddhistic symbols, leaves no room
for another explanation.
A. THE SlYA-TEMPLE.
Let us now begin the inspection of the chief temple.
We ascend the two flights of stairs on the east-side,
leading to the porch before the entrance to the inner
room, where we see two small Siva-figures, one on each
side. One rests its right hand on a club, its left on its
hip, and is standing on a lotus-throne and has a glory
round (behind) its head, but no other distinctive marks.
The club is an attribute of Kala, i. e. Siva as Killer,
all-destroying Time (i), but agentle Kala, such as he
is conceived by Buddhists only, who consider death to be
no enemy. ,The images of Kala in the non- Buddhistic tem-
ples of India represent him as a horrifying monster, with
the face of a brute, a large tusked mouth, a collar
of skulls, and other attributes of the same kind. None of
these are found in Central Java: only the destructive
weapon, the club is there, but a noble, mild countenance,
instead of one causing horror, so that, probably, we have
to see in this more humane divinity a Buddhistic
Kala, who seems to justify our opinion about the Ma-
hayanistic character of Parambanan.
(1) The Javanese word k&l§, also means time.
The §iva-temple. 33
It is true that in Java too are found some Kala^ma-
ges with all the attributes of the terrible non-Buddhistic
god: diadems, ear-drops, chains round the neck and the
breast, and strings of skulls round the loins. But it should
be observed that these are guards of n o n-Buddhistic Hin-
du buildings, such as those of Sing^sari between La-
wang and Malang in the province of Pasuruhan. We
have only to compare those monstrous images with the
warders of Buddhistic mausolea, such as those of c h a n d i
S e V u, to the north of P a r a m b a n an (^), to be convinced,
that those images do not represent rakshasas or demons
but only K a 1 a, in t w o different characters according to the
Buddhistic or n o n-Buddhistic religion of the dead C^). The
door-keepers of the Buddhistic c h a n d i-S e v u, have, besides
the tusks in their months, which are closed or only slightly
opened, no symbol of death but the club, and nothing like a
skull; and the cobra, which they wear as an u pa vita or
hold in their hands, is one of the attributes of Siva, which
marks no other god but himself also as K d 1 a, and his son
Gane§a, leastofallthe not divine, but demonic rakshasas (^).
The other figure .has a chamaraor fly-flap in its
left and a rosette in its right hand, which are, however,
no marks of any particular divinity; only the tri^ula
or trident once denoted its §aivitic character; but all the
attributes either of K a la or of Guru, or of any other
particular form of Siva, are wanting (^).
This image also stands on a padmAsana, and wears
a prabha round its head. The tri§ula has disappeared
after the excavation ; perhaps it was carried off by a col-
lector of curiosities.
(1) See below.
(2) See myarticle: "Tempelwachters" in the "Tijdschr. voor
de Ind. Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 1899, part XLI.
(3) Nevertheless Yzerman calls it a Guru.
34 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
The walls of the porch and the room are ornamented \
with panels showing garlands, flowers, and lotus-rosettes
in bas-relief. In the centre is the only image, a Siva,
about 9 feet high. It was found broken to pieces among
the rubbish in 1885, but the fragments have since been
put together, by our fellow-director, Mr. Gessner, so that
we have been able to replace the very beautiful image,
though greatly damaged, on its own pedestal.
It had, together with its lotus-cushion, been cut from
one block df the same species of stone (andesite lava)
that formea the material of the whole group of temples.
Round the foot of the image, we still distinguish in
the pedestal the shallow groove in which the water, sprinkled
on the image by way of offering, collected, and, on its
left side, the sink through the holes of which the water
was carried off, and under which it could be caught by
the believers as holy water. The head of a naga or
snake, of beautiful workmanship, bears the stone, which
for this purpose juts out considerably.
It would be a mistake to consider these altar-shaped
pedestals as Yonis (symbols of the female nature) ('), not
even there where they are found under ling gas (symbols
of the male creating power). They are likewise found under
Brahma, Vishnu, and other images which can have
nothing in common with the lingga-cultus, such as we shall
see in the other temples of this group ; and in the grounds
of the resident's house at Yogy^karta there is a similar
pedestal the sink of which is supported by a Garuda,
the vdhana of Vishnu.
This altar must have served as a pedestal to a Vishnu
(^1) See my first Parambanaa article in the Indische Gids
of 1887 and my description of Chandi-Ijo in the "Tijdschr
y, d. Ind. T.-, L.-en V'kk. of 1888.
The 5iv a- temple. 35
or an image of his §akti, Lakshmi or Sri, or an ava-
tar a of Vishnu, but not to the figure that has been
placed upon it afterwards.
The Siva-image wears amakuta or crown with a
skull over a lunar crescent; it has three eyes, one being
placed in the forehead, and a cobra with a crowned head
as upavita across the left shoulder and the chest. Un-
der the divine decorations there is a panther's skin, the
head of which hangs down upon the right thigh. The
image has four arms and holds a chamara in the raised
upper left hand, and an aksamala or rosary in the cor-
responding right hand; the other right hand rests upon
the chest, and the left holds a rounded cone-shaped object,
perhaps representing an a mr it a- vase {^) or believed to
contain holy water of the Gangga (Ganges).
A great disc of light (prabha) covers the back of the
head, and against it leans or leant (for only the shaft is
left) the trident or trigula.
All these attributes mark the wearer as the "Great
god", "Mahadfiva".
*
Descending the upper flight of stairs we go back to the plat-
form, from which, by the small stairs on the south-side, we
reach the terrace running round the temple. We shall walk
round the terrace twice, once from the east side, through
the south, west and north, to our starting-point in the east,
for the inspection of the sculptured works of the third se-
ries, on the inner side of the parapet, and for'a visit to the three
lateral chapels ; and once more, to look at the images of the
godson the wall of the temple itself (the fourth series).
We shall explain each of the sculptures in the 24 divisions,
the limits of which are formed by the 20 corners and the
4 flights of stairs.
(1) A m r i t a is the elixir of life of the gods.
36 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
The third series refers to the Rama legend, as told
in the Indian epic Ramayana.
1, a. Da§aratha, king of Ayodhya in the South of
India, attended by his three childless wives, approaching
Vishnu, to pray for the blessing of offspring. The god,
as Narayana, rests upon the seven-headed sea-serpent
?6sha or Ananta (the symbol of Infinity), floating upon
the waves, marked with fish and other sea-animals.
The god is recognizable by the symbols in his two hind-
handSjthe chakra or discus, representing the flaming sun-
disc of the sun-god, and the winged conch, §ankha.
The right fore-hand rests upon the chest beside the
upavita, the left on the belt, stretched round the knee.
The symbol in this hand has become unrecognizable.
The god is adorned with a crown, a disc of light, and
other divine attributes.
On the right behind him (the first image of the group)
we see his v a h a n a , the sun-eagle G a r u d a, represented
as a man with a beak, wings and talons.
Da§aratha and his three wiv^es (the fourth womau
might be taken for an attendant, if she wore no crown)
offer flowers to the god, just as the Javanese still do when
they ask a favour of their ancient gods. The small breasts
mark the barrenness of the women.
In the Ramayana we read that Vishnu gave Da§a-
r a t h a a draught, which he divided among his three wives.
Kausalya, the first, got half of it, the other two a
quarter each. Kausalya then bore her husband Rama,
Kaikeyi, the second wife, bore B bar at a, and the third
wife gave birth to twins : Lakshmana and Satrughna.
b. The next group refers to later incidents. Dagaratha
is in conversation with one of his wives, probably Kau-
salya. Her full breasts mark motherhood.
Vi^vamitra, an ascetic of royal rank, comes to ask
The Siva-temple. 37
the assistance of their son Rama, to combat the giants
or demons (rakshasas), who infest the wilderness in
which he spends his sohtary hfe. The horse symbolizes
the journey made by the ascetic.
It is not perfectly clear which image represents Vi?-
V a m i t r a, as the face of the chief person on the foreground
is lost, and the hair-dress rather suggests that a woman
is meant. Not so the breast.
2. Vi§vamitra, now as a princely ascetic and a guest
of high rank, enthroned on a higher seat, and adorned
with a crown and glory, receives the homage ofDa^aratha
and his three wives (all full- breasted now). R^ma takes
leave of his parents to follow Visvamitra, with his half-
brother Lakshmana. The horses are ready for the journey.
S. Rama with his brother in the wilderness, near the
habitation of the ascetic, marked by tame deer and other
animals. Rama kills the female demon (rakshasi) T ^ r a k a,
recognizable by her brutish face and withered bosom,
who, in dying threatens her conqueror with her curse,
pointing at him with her extended forefinger. Another
rakshasi is killed by a companion of R a m a 's (Laksh-
mana ?).
4 Visvamitra in his cell is feeding his tame birds,
whilst Rama and Lakshmana, outside, continue and
end their war against the giants.
5. Vi§vamitra takes his deliverers to the court of
J an a k a, the king of Vide ha, whose daughter SM,
the noble heroine of the R a m ^ y a n a epic, is promised to
him who shall be able to bend S i v a 's bow Dhanusha.
Rafma, the only one who performs this feat, gets Sltd
for his wife, her sister being bestowed upon Lakshmana.
The two women, outside the reception-room, witness
R a m a 's victory. Their father, with Vi§v§, mi tr a and
Lakshmana, is enthroned within.
38 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
6, a. R^ma and Lakshmana with their brides, at
least with Sit a, on their return to the paternal residence,
where R S, m a is to be proclaimed successor to the throne.
Envoys sent by Da§aratha come to meet them. Like
the attendants of Javanese princes in our days, they bear
princely insignia, a. o. a trisula. A man of the people
has got off his legs and is trodden under foot by the
enthusiastic crowd.
b. RAma and Lakshmana participate in the games
in honour of the festive occasion, either a shooting match
or a hunting-party in a wilderness, signified by monkeys,
a snake and a scaly animal. Rama shooting an arrow
attracts the attention.
c. Finally king Da§aratha is seen conversing with
his second wife, Kaikeyi. She reminds him of a promise
made by him to fulfil one of her wishes. She now de-
mands that Rama shall be banished and her son, Bha-
rata, in his stead shall be proclaimed successor to the
throne. Da§aratha feels bound to keep his royal word
and accomplish Kaikeyi's wish, but he will die for
grief at the loss of his beloved son.
Here we have approached the platform, from which
the upper flight of stairs leads to the southern chapel,
where, in the corner formed by the side of the platform
and the part of the wall just described — between the
Ramayana scene and the little side-stairs — ■, an isolated
sculptured work is cut: a man and a woman leaning
against each other.
This group, repeated at all the little platforms, seems
to be meant as a kind of supplement, probably represen-
ting Rama and Sitd, the chief characters of the epic.
In the chapel we find the image of &iva as Guru or
The §iva-temple. 39
teacher; a bearded god, holding the prayer-string in his
right hand, placed against his breast, the jar or kundi
in his left, and the c ha mar a over his left shoulder.
The tri^ula stands by his right side.
We descend to the terrace to continue our way westward.
7, a. Dasaratha's death, represented by the washing
of the dead body just as Buddha's death is represented
in the last sculpture but one on the back-wall of the
first gallery of the Bar&budur, which is devoted to
the life of the deliverer of the present world {^). The
deceased is in a sitting posture, with a man, either one
of his relations, or a priest, standing behind him and pour-
ing water upon him out of a big vase.
b. Outside the palace dancing and playing continue,
signifying the festive preparation of the coronation of
Rama, which will not take place, as he is to be banished.
As Rama was banished before his father's death, the
sculptor was guilty of an anachronism, or his represen-
tation is derived from another version of the epic.
c. Rama and Sita, perhaps still unconscious of the
fate that awaits them, spend the last night at home in
a sound sleep.
d. The sentence of banishment is passed and Rama on
his way to the place of his exile. He is accompanied by his
faithful spouse and his brother Lakshmana. The people
in distress see him off.
8, King Dasaratha's corpse put on the funeral pile
9, a. Rama in the wilderness. His half-brother Bha-
r a t a has travelled after him, to offer him, the lawful heir,
the crown.
But Rama, unwilling to act against his father's word,
(1) See my work, mentioned above, p. 31.
40 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
refuses to accept the crown before the term of his exile
— 14 years — has expired.
h. Bharata submits to R a m a's wish, and consents to
reign as his father's successor, but only on condition that
he shall do so in the name of Rama, whose sandals he
will put by his side on the throne.
10. Rama with Sita and Lakshmana in Pancha-
vati forest.
a. They are led by a guide given them by the hermit
Agascha.
b. They meet and defeat the first giants of this wilder-
ness, K h a r a and D u s h a n a, brothers to R i v a n a, the
demonic prince of Lanka (Ceylon). Fiendish faces and
diadems, necklaces and bracelets of skulls, signify their
mahgnancy.
In the Ramayana this fight does not take place until
after the meeting with their wicked sister §urpanakh^,
but such anachronisms are by no means rare in these sculp-
tures.
In like manner the first appearance of the bird J a t a y u
is anterior to the fight with the rakshasas in the In-
dian epic ; but in the order of the sculptures it happens at a
later time.
11, a. Rama and Lakshmana in their hut inDan-
daka forest. If either image were distinguishable as a
woman, we might take them for Sit4 and Lakshman a,
but for the intimacy of their postures. Outside we see
b. Raima unattended, hunting and in conversation with
the bird's king Jatdyu, an old friend of his father's and
son to Vishnu's vdhana, GAruda. Jatayu warns
Rama against the r a k s h a s h a s, who, in great numbers,
infest Dandaka forest, and promises him to watch over
The givA-TEMPLE. 4i4
Sit a, while he is out hunting or fighting, attended by
his brother.
12, a. Rama in his hut. Is the woman, crowned with a
glory, who offers him some fruit, his wife Sit a? If so,
then the repulsive woman behind her must be the r a k s -
hasi Surpanakha, Havana's wicked sister. But the
former may n o t be meant for Sita, but for the seductive
nymph, into whom the female demon was transformed
the better to persuade Rama to take her for his wife
and abandon SitA to be devoured by her.
But we certainly see the metamorphosis completed in
b, a heavenly beauty trying her charms in the move-
ments of an artful dance.
The sculptor has not represented Surpanakha being
punished by Lakshmana with the loss of her nose and
ears, for the next group.
c, shows nothing but two human beings, without any
distinguishing mark of rank or sex, in tender embrace.
b. Here we see Surpanakha before the throne of
her brother Ravana, beseeching him to take revenge of
Rdma and Lakshmana by killing them and abducting
Sita for himself.
The rdkshasi is characterized as such by her female
attendant.
e. Rdvana has ordered Ma rich a, one of his giants, to
assume the shape of a golden gazelle and thus to decoy
the two brothers out of the hut, which he does. At R a m a 's
command, however, Lakshmana stays behind to watch
over Sita, while he pursues and shoots an arrow at the
gazelle. The ratkshasa, mortally wounded, reassuming
his own shape, calls for help in R a m a ^s voice, upon
which Sitd in her anxiety urges Lakshmana to obey
the voice.
We approach another flight of stairs, leading to the
42 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
west chapel. There we see Ganesa, §iva's son, enthro-
ned on his lotus-cushion, with the skull and the moon's
crescent of his divine father in the crown, his third eye
in his forehead, and his cobra as up a vita across his
left shoulder and his chest. Everywhere else Ganesa, the
god of wisdom, is generally represented in the shape of
an elephant, which has lost one of -its tusks in the fight
with Parashu-Rama. Here he has lost the other tusk
too. His left hind hand wields his father's axe or p a r a s h u,
his right a rosary ; the right forehand is lying half-opened
on the knee and may have held a lotus rosette ; the left
forehand holds a little vase or box from which the trunk
takes some food. A heavy double disc of light covers the
back.
We descend again to the terrace and continue our walk
towards the north.
13, a. Sita, left alone in the hut, is startled by R^va-
na, approaching in the form of a mendicant monk.
h. He lays hold of her and drags her off.
c. Having re-assumed his true shape, he carries her through
the air to Lanka, his capital in Ceylon. He has 10 heads
and 20 armed hands, and rides a winged giant now. In
the Indian epic he travels on a golden carriage through
the air.
In vain does Jatayu come to the rescue; in vain does
part of Rav ana's accoutrement, with his shield (or ig
it a parasal?) — in the Indian epic with his carriage —
fall down in pieces ; the old bird is defeated in the une-
qual fight. The only thing he can do before he sinks down,
is to take from Sit 4 the ring she hands him for her
husband.
d. Rama and Lakshmana, finding that Sita is not
in. the hut, go in search of her and meet with the dying
The §iva.-temple. 43
bird, who tells them what has happened and hands to
them Slta's ring.
e. The two brothers, still in search of the woman, meet
with Kabandha, the son of L a k s h m i (the wife of the god
Vishnu), D a n u, whom I n d r a 's lightning metamorphosed
into a monster. The oracle, however, has predicted that
Kabandha will obtain his own shape again, when R^-
ma shall cut off his arms. The head of Kaban dha (i. e.
headless trunk) has sunk into his trunk, so that his mouth,
nose and eyes are placed in his belly, but the sculptor
mercifully put another head on his trunk.
f. Rama takes off both his arms by a well-directed
shot, and Danu, reborn into his own shape, ascending
to heaven on clouds, advises his deliverer to proceed to
Kishkindhycl, and there to assist king S u g r i v a in
his war against his twin brother Vali ^), who robbed
him of his crown and his wife. After the recovery of
both, Sugriva will aid Rama with his army of mon-
keys in the conquest of Lanka and the deliverance of
Sita.
14. On their way to Kishkindhya, Rama and
Lakshmana meet with § a b a r i ^), a pious woman of
low caste, who looked for the coming of Raima until
she had grown old, and, when she had seen him, burnt
herself on a funeral pile, from, which, re-born into a higher
caste, she ascended to heaven.
In the Javanese "Ram&" this woman was turned into
a bird, Suvari Brongti, so the sculptor, who represent-
ed her as a woman, must have followed the Indian text.
The water-monster, killed by Rdma's arrow, may
1) Dowson iQ his "Classical Dictionary" writes Bi,li, instead of
Vali. The Javanese write Subali.
2) Sarvari, according to Dowson.
44 The Hindu ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
have been taken from another version, or may have been
inventend by the sculptor.
15, a. The brothers meet with Hanuman, the general
ofSugriva's army of monkeys, sent to them by his king.
The offering of fruit signifies a request, a petition for
assistance against Vali.
b. Attended by Hanuman and one of his fellow-
monkeys, the brothers proceed to KishkindhyS,.
16. First meeting with Sugriva. The details of these
sculptures are not easy to explain. Sugriva may be
known by his simian, but nowise demonic countenance,
and by his sitting on a tree.
17. Rama shoots an arrow through seven k el a pa-
trunks, to show Sugriva and Hanuman his superiority
in skill to Vali, who can drive his arrow through no
more than three trunks.
Cocoa-nuts fallen from the trees and gnawed by squir-
rels, are lying on the ground. The squirrels have not been
forgotten by the sculptor.
18, a. Rama and his brother with their attendantSj
witness the renewed fight between Sugriva and Vali.
The twin brothers, however, resemble each other so much,
that Rama, unable to tell one from the. other during
the wrestle, dare not shoot for fear of killing the wrong one.
b. For this reason Sugriva girds an apron of leaves
round his loins. Vali is struck by R ^ m a's arrow. Dying,
he confesses his wrong-doings and commends his son to
Rama's protection.
c. Sugriva, having regained his wife and his throne,
receives the homage of his subjects.
It is thought that the nation of monkeys in V a 1 m i k i's
epic has some reference to a tribe in South-India, which
still lives in the mountainous eastern parts of Ceylon in
a primitive, barbaric state, having but little intercourse with
The §iva-temple. 45
the more civilized Sinhalese. That this opinion is not un-
founded, is proved by the event represented here.
These Veddahs wore and, for the greater part, still
wear no clothing but an apron of leaves, which is
attached to the girdle (a wedding present that is never
taken off). The apron consists either of one broad leaf, or
of a group of aromatic leaves or twigs of two shrubs, be-
longing to the genera Atalanta and Glycosmis, or,
sometimes, of the rind of the riti-tree, an Urtica.
In our days they will often replace this apron by a cot-
ton rag, obtained by barter.
In after-times, when it shall no longer be worn, i\
may be found back on this ruin.
The representation of the Veddahs as human monkeys
may be considered as a testimony of the low degree of
development they held in the eyes of the Hindus at the
time when the Rama legend was being formed.
We have arrived at the upper flight of stairs on the
north side, which we ascend to reach the D u r g a-chapel.
There is the really beautiful, great image of § i v a 's
wife, triumphant, standing on the bull she has killed and
in whose shape the demon Mahishasura stormed the
heaven of I n d r a.
At Indra's prayer for help, Durga was created and
armed by the gods. Therefore she wields, with a large
number of hands (mostly 8 or 10), the divine weapons,
among them the chakra and the §ankha of Vishnu
and the sword, the bow and arrow, and the shield of
other gods. Sometimes also the tri?ula of her divine
master. Her lowest right hand generally h6lds the tail
of the killed bull, while the left catches the hair of
A sura, escaping in his true shape.
The Javanese, having hardly any notion of Durga now,
46 The Hindu Ruins in tije Plain of Parambanan.
think this image is a representation of Hr^ or rar^
J n g g r a n g, the daughter of their legendary r a t u
B^ka, the remains of whose kraton they believe to
be found in the ruins of a vihara or pertapan (a
monastery or hermitage) on a spur of the Southern
mountains, not far distant from Parambanan. Now,
as this lar& (a maiden of gentle birth) is said to have
had sexual intercourse, before her marriage with the hus-
band that was destined for her, with an other man, the
inhabitants of this region keep up the a d a t which requi-
res that their daughters shall not be given in mar-
riage as virgins.
From far and near Javanese and Chinese will come to
the pretended Ur^ Jonggrang, to offer her incense and
flowers and ask favours of her, or fulfil a vow (kaul)
to/ which they pledged themselves in times of illness or
adversity.
Even hajis (pilgrims to Mecca) conform to this "hea-
thenish" custom.
Stronger still, there are Europeans and half-castes, who
apply to the image for protection, prosperity, a high prize
in a lottery, and Heaven knows, what else. About three
years ago a young lady of Yogy^karta prayed to Ikrk
Jonggrang for a husband ! What a pity that she refused
to inscribe her name upon the list of visitors; now we
are unable to ascertain whether the prayer has proved
efficacious. Another time we had better luck. A married
lady told us that two young ladies had really gained a
husband, after offering to the Durga-image. In this way
superstition is kept up Q-).
19, a. Sugriva and Hanuman attend Rama and
(1) As the image represents nobody else but Durgii, it is wrong
to call this temple, in imitation of ignorant Javanese, chandi ISra
onggrang.
The Siva -temple. 47
Lakshmana on their journey to the coast, whence
Sugrlva sends out his generals to reconnoitre.
b. Hanuman, as a son of the wind carried through
the air, has crossed to Lanka and alighted in R a v a n a 's
park, where S 1 1 a is kept prisoner, guarded by r & k s h a s i s.
One of them, an old (female) demon, is frightened by
Hanuman 's sudden appearance. Behind Sit a there is
another rakshasi, but a younger one, a maid of a noble
character, Trijata, the daughter of Ravana's noble-
minded brother Vibishana. She has become a comfor-
ter and friend to Sit a. i
20 a. Rama and Lakshmana on the coast with Su-
gr i va.
b. Hanuman, hidden behind a tree, watches the wo-
men in R a V a n a 's park.
c. Sit a, left alone with Trijata, is approached by
Hanuman, who offers to carry her off through the air.
The chaste woman, however, refusing to regain her liber-
ty through voluntary contact with any man but her hus-
band, Hanuman can only prepare her for Rama's
expected arrival.
21. a. Hanuman is discovered and seized by some
rakshasas. They bind him and, after wrapping his tail in
straw, which they drench with oil, try to burn him alive.
b. Hanuman succeeds in shaking off his tormentors,
sets fire to the roof of the palace, and escapes through
the air.
22. Hanuman, on his return to Rdma and his com-
panions, reports about his reconnoitring journey.
23. They resolve to cross the straits between the con-
tinent and the island, for which purpose Rama has tried to
drain the sea-arm by means of his flaming arrows, but
S a gar a, the sea-god, emerging from the deep to implore
compassion for the sufferings of his subjects, advises Rd-
48 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
ma to make a roadway, composed of rocks, across the
water, with the aid of Hanumdn's monkeys and his
fishes.
24, a. H a n u m a n and his monkeys carrying pie-
ces of rock and throwing them into the sea, whe-
re they are caught and piled up by the fishes to
form tile rocky way, the remains of which are still
known to the inhabitants of the coast by the name of
Rftma's Bridge.
b. Arrival in the island and march to Lanka.
No further representations are given on this temple,
nor can we find their continuation on the other ruins,
the remains of this series of sculptures there being too scanty.
Once more we get over the platform in the east, to
make our second round, and inspect the images of the
gods which are represented as Bodhisatvas.
Bodhisatvas are represented in standing or sitting
postures, in the latter case with either one leg or both
legs bent under the body. Groeneveldt says of them (i) :
"'Usually they wear the ornaments of gods, and, as a rule,
each of them holds in his left hand, sometimes in both
hands, a flower-stalk, leaning against his arm, and with
the flower near the shoulder; there are some differences
in the flowers and in the position of the hands, for which
I have not been able to discover any rule."
Further there is on each lot us- flower a symbol, cha-
racterizing the Bodhisatvas of the five Dhyani-Buddhas,
but none of these symbols, with the exception of a single
one, which is at the same time an attribute of the hea-
venly god Indra, are seen on the flowers of the Param-
banan images. Their posture, ornaments, and the lotus-
stalk in th e left hand with the flower near the shoulder
(1) Catalogue of the archaeological collection of the Batavian Socieiy
1887, p. 79.
The Siva-temple. 49
mark them as Bodhisatvas, but the symbols on the flo-
wers show them to be no D h y a n i-Bodhisatvas.
These symbols, as far as they are still recognizable, be-
longing to special Hindu divinities, lead me to suppose that
the gods are represented there as Bodhisatvas, i.e.
manifestations or avataras of the Buddha.
They wear the usual divine ornaments ; sit, cross-legged,
on thrones, draped but without lotus-cushions, and each
is provided with the lotus-stem, held in the left hand,
a symbol of the particular god being seen on the flower.
In some isolated instances the. flower with its stalk is
replaced by the, symbol characterizing the god. From the
backs of the seats are hanging Buddhistic prayer-bells,
which are additional proofs of the Mahayanistic charac-
ter of the images and the temple.
On either side of each god there is the representation
of two or (mostly) three followers, in a rectangle, framed
separately and a little receding. Their ornaments are as
rich as the god's, but the majority of them have neither
a glory nor an upavita; a few of them are uncrowned.
Where the god represents a Guru (a Siva as teacher), the
followers are likewise gurus. Some of them are or seem
to be women; one is a monkey; in the place of one of
them there is a bo-tree.
1. The first divine image bears tlie vajra, Indra's
lightning, on the flower.
2. A Guru, bearded and with the water-jar (kuncji)
upon the flower, a rosary in his right hand, the trigula
with a second jar and a chamara by his right side.
His bearded followers are provided with the same symbols.
3. No distinct attributes left, only the sacrificial lad-
les in the hands of the followers remind us of Brahma.
On the forehead a knob like the u r n a or coil of hair
of the Buddha.
50 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
4. On the lotus something Uke a sword and a rosary
in the right hand. Some of the followers have sacrificial
ladles in their hands, which may suggest Brahma.
5. A sword on the flower. In the place of one of the
followers on the right side of the god there is a bo-tree,
and in the place of the third on the left there is a mon-
key.
6. Badly disfigured. On the lotus a long straight o-
bject. Sword or sceptre?
7. A sceptre or a club [?] on the flower. The last of
the three followers, on the right side of the god, holds a
sword in its sheath, in the way the kontya ngampil
of the Javanese princes and other dignitaries bear such
am pi Ian (insignia) after their masters Q-).
The first of the two followers on the left, holds in his
right hand a lotus-flower with a sword as a symbol on
the top.
8. On the flower something like a flame, which might
be taken for the mark of Agni, the god of fire. But all
the followers are bearded gurus or brahmans, one of
them with a sacrificial ladle, another with a similar symbol,
and the third with an object resembling a Graeco-Roman
thyrsus, a bundle of staves or arrows, having a fir-cone
at the top.
9. No flower, biit a folded flower-bud, on the lotus-
stem, and nothing else.
10. The best preserved and most carefully finished of
all these divine images. Still the symbol on the flower can-
not be made ont, but it suggests the idea of a bell or
dagaba.
(') See my illustrated works: "In den kSdaton te Jogj&kartl"
and "De GarSbSgs te Jogjakarta". Published severally by E. J.
Bkill, Leyden, and the Koninklijk Instituut voor de T.,L-en
V. -kunde van N.-Indie.
The §iva-temple. 51
11. A symbol similar to the one of the preceding image
and equally indistinct.
12. Instead of the lotus a cobra, whose crowned head
replaces the flower. The god has the posture of the third
Dhyani-Buddha, with the difference that his left hand
is not open, but grasps the tail of the snake. The serpent,
of course, is emblematical of Siva.
The D h y a n i-posture, though unimportant in itself, de-
serves notice, because, in connection with other details, such
as the bo-tree of the fifth group, and the prayer-bells
hanging from the backs of all the couches, it points to
Buddhism.
13. The god resembles the preceding one, but his ope-
ned right hand does not rest on his knee, but on his chest.
Hence not a particular Dhyani posture. The snake,
however, again suggests Siva. One of the followers has a
lotus with a dagaba-shaped symbol on the top of the flower.
14. The left hand of the god is empty, but a trigula
by his right side again marks Siva. One of the followers
holds a lotus, surmounted with a da gab a shaped symbol.
15. The flame on the flower points to Agni. Four of the
six followers hold lotus-flowers, three of which also bear
symbols in the shape of cupolas, suggestive of d a g a b a s.
16 On the flower a globe, out of which three flames
rise, like the prongs of a trigula, pointed and serpentine.
These symbols may indicate Agni, as well as Siva.
17. No lotus in the left hand, but a bow and arrow
instead. Perhaps Rama? But Brahma and some other
gods are also sometimes represented with a bow and ar-
row, at least in India. The followers, by their bosoms, seem
to be maidens, and wear what Groeneveldt calls wo-
men's strings, though they also are worn by gods and
Bodhisatvas^). Their faces are however more masculine
1). See below under Chandi PSlahosan.
52 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
than their breasts would lead us to expect.
18. Kuvera, the infernal god of wealth, though with-
out the usually well-filled bags or vases with which he
is generally represented. Yet he is sufficiently characterized
by his obesity and his four infernal followers; though he is
provided with the winged conch of Vishnu as a symbol.
19. The image is so much injured that it cannot be
made out for whom it is meant. But the flower, here too,
bears a symbol in the. form of a cupola, with a little pro-
tuberance at the top, like a dagaba with the basis of
the cone that mostly crowns a dagaba. The four fol-
lowers are demons, the two on the left side of the god
are females.
20. The flower is all but gone. Of the symbol nothing
is left; the image, very beautiful, has a mark like Bud-
dha's urna on its forehead(i). The demonic countenance
of one of the six followers reminds us of the infernal
regions and of Yama, the divine judge of the dead.
21. Kala, i. e. §iva as the god of death, all -destroying
Time. We have already remarked that Kila in Java, un-
der Buddhistic influence, has lost his horrific attributes.
This being the case, this image affords additional eviden-
ce of the Buddhistic origin of these temples. The tri-
dent by the side of the god and the skull on the flower, as
well as the trigulas of two of the six followers, indi-
cate Kala.
22. Like the preceding image: another Kila.
23. The symbol on the flower represents the Veda,
leaves of palm-trees, tied in a bundle, which holy book
is one of Brahma's attributes. What the disc, on the
(1) Some more Bodhisatvas show this mark, a, o. the Bodhisatvas of
theOhandis Pglahosan aud Saji van, which have been placed in the
museum at Yogy&kartI,. See below. It is another Buddhistic mark of
tbe divine images of Parambanan,
The Siva-Temple. 53
right side behind the god, means, I do not presume to
decide. I hardly dare suggest the idea of a celestial globe,
surrounded by the horizon. The sacrificial ladles of two of
the six followers confirm the identification of the god with
Brahma.
24. This image too is so much injured that it has be-
come unrecognizable. The flame on the flower of one of
he folio wers may be an indication of A g n i.
B. THE VISHNU TEMPLE.
The chandiVishnuis situated north of the Si va temple.
Two flights of stairs lead to the terrace and from
there to the entrance of the inner room, which is smaller
than that of the §iva temple. The walls are devoid of .,
ornaments, but each of them has two projecting stones,
which perhaps served to place lamps or offering flowers
on. They are too small to have borne images.
The great Vishnu image (about 7 feet), like that of
Maha,deva in the chief temple, has been rebuilt with
its fragments by Mr. Gessner, and put on its pedestal,
or what remained of it. The latter is shaped like the pe- /
destal of the great god, but with less ornamentation.
Vishnu has a crown, a glory, and four arms; the
upper right hand bears a flaming c h a k r a, the symbol of the
radiant sun, and the left, the winged conch, §ankha
The lower right hand rests on a club, and the left
holds a triangle the base of which is turned upwards,
perhaps the pyramid turned upside down, the symbol of --?
waler.
In the same room we fbund the fragments of three
small figures, which we have placed in our museum. They
represent:
1. Vishnu bearing his wife or sak ti, Lakshml or
§rl, in_ the shape of a dwarf on his left arm, no un-
common representation of Indian gods with their wives.
The Vishnu Temple. 55
2. Vishnu in his fourth avatilra, as Narasinha
or lion-man, in which form he rips open the belly of the
demon HiranyaKasipu, who denies the existence of gods.
Though protected by Brahma against gods, men, and
animals, the demon cannot withstand the god in whom
human and animal force are united.
3. Vishnu's fifth avatara: VAmana. In the guise
of a dwarf he approached the pious D a i c h a- king Bali,
who by rigorous penance had obtained power o-ver the
three worlds, heaven, earth, and the lower world; and de-
throned the gods.
The dwarf asked and obtained as much as he could
step in three paces, whereupon, assuming the appearance
' of a giant, he strode in three steps through the world :
earth, heaven, and the lower regions-. Fatal a, but out
of compassion he left the lower world in the possession
of the conquered king. Hence the representation of Va-
mana, as he is found here, standing on one leg and
stretching the other heavenward. Another, smaller image
of V a m a n a, found among the rubbish shows a third leg,
directed towards the lower world. This image, too, is now
at Yogy^karta.
Our visit to the terrace need not take much time, as
only a few stones of the third series have remained in
their places, so that it is as yet impossible to make out
the connection between the representations.
The fourth series has not suffered much. The east
side of the temple being the only one, divided into two
by stairs, there are not more than 21 mural faces with
27 groups of images, 3 of which are found on each of the
longer outsides of the southern, western, and northern pro-
jections. Each group is again a modified representation of
the same idea: a god as Bodhisatva, seated on a high
56 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
throne without a p a d m A s a n a, between two women, stand-
ing behind him, generally holding in one hand the stalk
of a lotus, which shoots forth from the ground, and whose
flower rises above the shoulder.
They are hke the women on the wall of the B&r&bu-
dur, on both sides of the men resembling Bodhisat-
vas, who present offerings. They might be taken for
heavenly nymphs, apsarasas, attendant on the gods be-
fore them, but for the up a vitas, the crowns, and the
glories, which mark nearly all of them as superior beings,
perhaps — the lotus-stalks make this supposition probable—
(female) Bodhisatvas.
Inspecting the groups one by one, starting south of the
stairs, we find :
1. on the flower the same symbol that in the first tem-
ple suggests a dagaba; a spherical cupola, crowned with
a small protuberance, like the base of a top-piece in the
shape of a column oe cupola. For briefness' sake, I shall
use the word dagaba to denote this object, which by
far the greater number of the divine images and a few
of the women or nymphs have on their flowers. The god
holds the lotus- stalk in his right hand. Each of the two
women has a flower-stalk in the outer hand, and one a
chamara in the other.
2. The tri§ula on the right is a mark of Siva. The
women hold the lotus-stalks in their left hands. They are
not finished. There is a dagaba on the flower.
3. The same symbol. The nymphs have the stalk by the
inner side. The woman on the left behind the god has
the bud of another lotus-flower in her right hand.
4. The right hand is like that of Ratna Sambhava,
the third Dhyani-Buddha. There is a dagaba on the
flower. The woman on the right holds the lotus-stalk in
her left, the other a lotus-flower in her right hand.
The Vishnu Temple. 57
5. A dagaba on the flower. The woman on the left
of the god has the flower-stalk by her left side. The other
is scarcely half-finished, and the lotus-flower on her right si-
de is still indistinct.
6. The chakra on the flower denotes Vishnu. The
flowers on the outer sides of the nymphs are crowned
with dagabas. The woman standing on the right behind
the god has another lotus-bud in her right haind. The god
has the posture. of the third Dhydni-Buddha.
7. The same posture and the same symbol. The lotus-
stalks of the women rise through the hands on the
inner side,
8. Posture and symbol as before. The lotus-stalks by the
left sides of the women.
9. The same symbol. The woman on the left of the god
has the stalk by her left side and a flower in her right
hand. Of the other woman, with the flower-stalk on her left
side, only the outlines are sketched. No glory seems to
have been intended for her.
10. The god has on his left side a bow and arrow, instead
of a lotus. The woman on the left has the flower-stalk on
her right side. The other has no flower.
11. The god has no flower-stalk. Each of the two
nymphs holds a flower-stalk in her' right hand.
12. A broad-ended sword or a club (?) in the right hand
of the god. The women have the flower-stalks on their
right sides. The woman on the left has no glory.
13. The god has in his left hand, in stead of a flower-
stalk, an indistinct object resembUng a staff or stick,
with a flag attached to it; and in his right hand a lotus
surmounted by a cone provided with an unrecognizable
appendix, seemingly hanging down from the top. The wo-
man on the left has no glory. Both the women have the
lotus -stalks on their left sides, but are very roughly worked
58 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
or have suffered much injury from the weather. Pro-,
bably the sculptor had not finished them.
14. The god is wanting. The stone out of which he was
to have been sculptured, is still plain. An additional proof
that the building of the temple was first completed, and
the sculptures were cut out afterwards.
The women hold their lotus-stalks in the hands on the
inner side. The woman on the -left is unfinished, the other
is a little nearer completion.
15. The god has the posture of the third DhyAni-Buddha.
On the lotus there is a ve da-bundle, which, for want
of room, has been placed upright. This symbol is a mark
of Brahma. The lotus-stalks of the two women are on
their inner sides. The right hand seems to water the flo-
wer out of a jar, but is not finished. The dagaba -sym-
bol is seen on both flowers.
16. A nicely finished image of some god. On the flower
a dagaba. The women hold' the flower-stalks in their
left hands. The woman on the left is only rough-hewn.
17. The symbol is a dagaba. The posture of the third
Dhyani-Buddha. The woman on the left has a flower-stalk
by her left side, the other only a flower in her right hand.
18. A well-finished image of some god with Vishnu's
chakra on the flower and, in his right hand, a flower
with a dagaba. The woman on the left is not wholly
finished. Both the women have the lotus by their right sides.
19. The symbol is a dagaba. The posture of the t h i r d
Dhy^ni-Buddha. Both the women are without glories and
not quite finished. The woman on the left has the flower-
stalk by her left side ; the flower of the other woman was
apparently intended for the right side.
20. The god has in his left hand a sacrificial ladle with
a crooked handle instead of the lotus-stalk. This may also
be indicative of Brahma. The posture is like that of the
The Vishnu Temple. 59
second Dhytoi- Buddha, Akshobya. The women have
the stalk by their inner sides.
21. Guru, without a flower. The two hands, like those
of the fourth Dhygini- Buddha, in the lap. Half-finished.
The woman on the left is well-finished and beautiful.
She has the stalk in her right hand, and the left hand holds
only a flower with the dag aba symbol. The other is riot
finished.
22. Posture of the third Dhyani- Buddha. The symbol
is a dagaba with something Mke a rising flame, not distinct.
Agni? Both the women have the flower-stalk in their
inner hands, but the woman on the left holds a flower
in her right hand too.
23. A sword (?) on the flower. The flower-stalks by the
inner sides of the women.
24. The (perpendicular) veda-bundle of Brahma on
the flower, which rises from the right hand. The woman on
the left has the stalk by her right side; the other grasps,
with both her hands before her breast, a straight stalk
or stem, pointed to her right shoulder. At the top of the
stem there is something like a bud or flower (?).
25. To the right of the god there is a flower with the
§ankha or conch of Vishnu on the top. The women
too have their flowers, crowned with d a g a b a s, by their
right sides. The woman on the left, whose flower-stalk
reaches no higher than the right hip, seems to hold the
symbol in her left hand over the flower.
26. Instead of the lotus-stalk there is Siva's cobra with
the crowned head in the left hand of the god. The women
have no flowers.
27. The god has in his right hand the flower with an
indistinct symbol, and in his left hand a straight stick to
which an object unknown to me is attached, like a
pick-axe to its shaft. The woman on the left has a stalk
60 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
surmounted by adagababy her right side. The stalk
of the other woman, rising by her right side, is bent round
behind her back, so that the flower is placed outside her
left shoulder, with its top in front, and consequently has
no symbol. She has a jar in her left hand.
C. THE BRAHMA TEMPLE-
The southern ruin was, in its form, like the Vishnu
temple, but has suffered more still. The Brahma image
in its inner room lies still, broken into pieces, on the
floor. It was a few iilches higher than the Vishnu ima-
ge, and had four arms and four crowned faces, so that
there was no room for a glory. A wart, resembling a bud,
in a little circle over a small curve on the forehead, unit-
ing the §iva and the Vishnu marks, which the cre-
ative god sometimes wears, probably testified that he par-
took of the power of both.
The upper right handholds the rosary, the left a pad-
ma or lotus-flower, the other two hands, hanging down,
hold a water-jar on the left and a lotus-rosette on the
right. The pedestal is like Vishnu's, and is also much
damaged.
In the same room the fragments of three smaller ima-
ges have been found. During my six years' absence from
Yogy^karta they disappeared, and 1 have not yet found
them back.
They were:
a four-headed Brahma image with eight arms, in
whose hands we still recognized a flower-stalk, the hilt
of a sword, and a lotus-bud;
62 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
a four-headed image, with six arms, holding a sword,
an arrow, a shield, and a conch; and
a four-headed, four-armed image, which held in its
hands a flower, a trident, a shield, and a conch.
These Brahma's, for as such we must consider them,
though provided with § i v a and Vishnu attributes, may
again serve as evidence that the three chief gods of the
Hindus in these temples were thought to be one, or, to ex-
press it more correctly, a v a t a r a s of one primogenial god or
one original principle. That this can have' been no other
but Buddha or Adi-Buddha, is, I think, evident from
the Mahayanistic character, which various marks, indu-
bitably Buddhistic, lead us to assign to these ruins.
The remains of the third series of sculptures on this
temple are still scantier than on the Vishnu temple. Of
the second series, on the outside of the parapet, just
like there, nothing is left. The detached lower stones
with little Gurus or monks (bhiksh us), which were put
outside against the few (higher) stones of the third se-
ries (during my journey to Europe in 1890), ought not to
be placed there, as the second and third series of the-
se two temples too must have been of equal height and
crowned by a common cornice.
This cornice, like that of the Siva temple, bore, at
the tops of the stairs, in the shallow circular exavations
which are still perfectly visible on the great middle tem-
ple, the fluted spherical blocks of stone, crowned, like
dagabas, with little columns or cones, which J take to
be chaityas, resembling some on the sculptures of the
B&r&budur, where they are, however, not channelled.
That the latter, notwithstanding the bell shape is much
more usual, are chaityas, i. e. ornamental dagabas,
devoid of ashes or relics, is proved by the indications
scratched in the stone over them.
D. THE TEMPLES ON THE EAST SIDE
and the little temples outside the terrace.
In the middle temple, the principal of these smaller
ruins, there is a humped Indian bull of magnificent build,
as large as life, on a plain pedestal, which has not the
shape of an altar. This colossal monolith represents Siva's
vahana, the Nandi. His head is turned towards the
chief temple of the western row, where his master is
enthroned.
Among the Javanese and the Mongohans, who are re-
lated to them, and even among the Europeans, there are
some who believe that a man, who, mounted on the Nan-
di's back, wishes to become rich, stands a fair chance
of having his wish fulfilled some day.
Behind the bull there are two small images, each stand-
ing on a chariot, so small as to be out of all proportion,
drawn by horses. The one with seven horses is Surya,
the sun -god; the other, with ten horses, Chandra or
Soma: the Moon. Surya holds a flower in each hand.
Chandra has three eyes, the third being placed in the
forehead; a flower wrapped in clouds in his right hand,
and a banner in the left. These symbols, notwithstanding
others are wanting, are sufficient indications of the two gods.
The northern chan^i contained a Siva image with a
common up a vita, a skull and a lunar crescent ; the third
64 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
eye over the nose, a glory behind the head, and some
fragment of a chamara over the left shoulder. All the
other attributes, as well as the four hands, were lost.
The pedestal was shaped like an altar, but smaller and
plainer than those of the chief images in the western chandis.
We can say but little with certainty about the remains
of the 157 miniature chancjis. They consist of the base
and some blocks of the walls, but the images and the
contents of the little wells which once were enclosed by
them, and which might have taught us so much, have
disappeared altogether.
Innumerable carved stones were carried off out of the
vast heap of rubbish which till 1889 and 1890 covered and
hid the greater part of the three western ruins. I have
spoken before of the many fluted c baity as and cone
or column-shaped top-stones.
Equally numerous are other top-pieces, some with four
sides ending in a point, some shaped like pears or flames.
Their original places can no more be found out.
Some of them have been arranged by the sides of the
roads or elsewhere, others have been collected in great
masses, but the images, as far as possible, have been placed,
partly in and about the wooden building where visitors are
received, partly in the museum of the capital.
Vaster and grander than this group of temples is the
magnificent, the unique B^r^budur, which is perhaps
only second to the ruins of Angkor in SiameseKam-
bodia, though certainly not in its details; but in beauty,
exquisite workmanship, and imposing majesty the sculp-
ture-works of Parambanan are not surpassed by those
on any other monument of an extinct civilization.
IV. CflANDI LUMBUNG AND'
CHANDI BUBRAH.
On the right side of the country-road which leads from
the Parambanan temples northward to the ^thousand
temples", beyond the boundaries of S&M, at about half
a mile's distance, there is, first, a small group of ruins,
which from the form and the size of the little temples
was named chancji Lumbung (a rice-barn); and, farther
on, a single changli, still more dilapidated, which was
therefore called by the Javanese chanqli B u b r a h .
Both are, no doubt, of Buddhistic character.
The group consisted of one chief temple in a square
of 16 smaller chandis. The latter were squares with pyra-
midal roofs, at the base with eight sides, over the cornice^
the four angles of which bore d a g a b a s , bell-shaped or
rather cylindrical and ending in cupolas, which were
crowned with little columns or cones.
Probably the roof pyramid of the great central ruin,
though higher, had the same form.
This chief temple had an entrance in the east wall, with
or without a porch, which was reached by steps.
The entrances, with steps, of the 16 small chandis were
66 The Hindcj Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
either in the wall facing the chief temple or in one facing
another temple of the same row.
The wells (of course) were robbed of their contents long
ago, and images have not been found by us, save one in
high relief sculpture, which was lying outside the main
temple.
It has no distinct marks. Perhaps it represents a Bo-
dhisatva (though no DhyAni-Bodhisatva) or a god. The
right hand holds a long-shafted object, which may be
either achamara or fly-flap, or a lance with a streamer
floating flom the top.
The chancji Bubrah, though larger than the principal
temple of the Lumbung group, is a great deal smaller
than that of Paramban an. Its foot, which is the only
part remaining, had 20 sides and was placed upon a
basement, forming a small terrace, wnich surrounded it
on all sides. The outside of the basement was of a plain,
but tasteful style. The superstructure probably bore Bud-
dha niches, either in the walls or over the cornice; this
may be inferred from several DhyAni-Buddhas, found
among the rubbish. These images are comparatively small,
and all headless now. The only Buddha head found back
fitted on one of the images, an Amitabha, which was,
with the head, placed in the museum of the capital.
The well, which was opened, searched, and filled up
with earth and stones, many years ago, of course now
contained no cinerary urn or other particular object that
might have proved instructive, if I mistake not, a. o. the
famous painter raden Saleh was digging here thirty and
odd years ago.
The entrance to the inner room and the steps leading
to it were on the east side.
Y. CHANDI SEYU.
The "thousand temples" had the largest circumference
of all the chaniji groups in these parts.
The principal temple, much surpassing the others in size,
stood on a raised rectangular terrace, enclosed by a (pro-
bably) low wall, which was pierced by four gateways in
the middle of the sides.
A little lower there were 28 chandis forming a rectangular
enclosure, and another more spacious court was enclosed
by 44 miniature temples. The entrances of all the temples
were in the sides turned away from the chief temple.
It is probable that this rectangular terrace was enclosed
by a lower one, much more spacious, bearing not more than
5 middle-sized temples, of which only part of the found-
ations remain, two about the middle of the east side, two
in the west and one in the north side.
This almost empty space was enclosed by a rectangular
lower terrace with 80 miniature temples, all having their
entrances in the walls facing the chief temple; and finally
there was the outermost, and lowermost, restangular court
formed by 88 small mausolea, each with its entrance on
the outside.
68 The Hindu Ruins in. the Plain of Parambanan.
The intervening space between the last two enclosures
is larger than that between the first two.
The corner temples had their entrances in the walls
forming part of the longer sides of the rectangles, east
and west.
We may suppose that there were paths, leading from
the middle of the including lines of the whole group to
the corresponding sides of the central terrace and the
entrances of the chief temple, and that there were steps
leading up to the successive terraces.
There were also four flights of steps leading to the outer-
most terrace.
At present we find no regular terraces there, but uneven,
overgrown ground, gently rising to the middle.
The steps too are gone.
At the bottom of the outermost stairs there were — or
rather, there are still — two huge guards of the temples,
each cut out of one piece of stone, one facing the other.
Their outer legs rest on the knees, the others, bent in the
knees, rest with the soles of the feet on the ground, or
on plain pedestals, sunk into the ground.
Their hair-dress is like that of the demons found among
the sculptures of other chan^is, such as the third series
of images on the §iva temple at Parambanan, and it
is for this reason, and on account of teir protruding
eyes and their tusk-like canine teeth, that they have often
— though unjustly (1) — been described as rakshasas.
We can hardly admit that the Hindus, who believed in
repeated re-births, should have entrusted their dead to
the care of evil spirits, who desecrated graves and
outraged the dead.
(1) See my article: "Tempelwachters" in the Tijdschrift voor
de Indische Taai-, Land-en Voikenkunde of 1899.
Chanpi Sevu. 69
My opinion is that all these images represent K^la,
i.e. Siva as the god of Death or all-consuming Time,
to whom the worshippers of § i v a attributed all the hor-
rors of the Indian Kail a — as is shown by the two co-
lossal temple-guards of S i n g a s a r i (between Lawang and
Malang) — but whom the Buddhists, to whom death was
no enemy, but a deliverer, represented as a peaceful god,
with no other symbol of death but a club, and occasionally,
as here, a grim, fierce countenance, both attributes being
derived from the original Indian K§,Ia.
This opinion is confirmed by another symbol, viz. the
up a vita they wear. It is here, as in most cases, the co-
bra, which belongs exclusively to $iva as Mahddeva
or as Kdla, and his son Gane§a, of whom there can
be no question here, as all other emblems of this god are
wanting.
In front of the Pelahosan ruins (^), and in the grounds
of the resident's house at Yogy^kart^, there are some
temple-guards wearing the common sacred thread about
their chests.
The enormous weight of these eight images explains the
fact that they are still in their places, though sunk more
or less out of the perpendicular now. The images of the
guards in the grounds at Yogy^karta, which are not
much less heavy, were probably removed to their present
position in the time when the Government's civil ofiicers
could still command almost unhmited unpaid labour.
Many of the 240 miniature temples have come down
altogether, some for the greater part, but of a few, though
they too have suffered much, the form can still be made
out sufficiently.
(1) See below.
70 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
Mr. L. Melville, the draughtsman I had occasion to
mention in a preceding chapter, now a State-Railway
functionary, made a careful drawing of it for the com-
mittee appointed by the Dutch government to regulate
the works of group XVII of the Paris International Ex-
hibition of 1900 (1).
Each of the diminative temples formed a square with
a little porch and small steps leading up to the inner
room. The entrances, at least of the chan^is which were
completed, were framed with Naga-Garugla ornaments.
The outside of each porch was adorned with bas-relief
sculptures, and the front walls of the temple on each side
were cut into panels filled with standing images, holding
lotus-stalks in one hand, and some with a lotus-flower
in the other.
Each of the other walls showed a central image arid,
separated from it by plain pilasters, two smaller side figures.
Some of the central images suggest Bodhisatvas, some
are women. They are surmounted by more or less dis-
tinct Garu(Ja ornaments. Prayer-bells are hanging from
some open N^ga mouths, arid garlands of flowers from
the Garuqla mouth.
Some sculptures, especially of the outmost temples, are
unfinished; a few walls are still blanks.
('). For this purpose Mr. M. spent a considerable time in the plain
of Parambanan, but he is said by the directors of the Archaeological
Society who live there and are charged with the immediate super-
vision of the labours undertaken by the Society, to have proceeded so
roughly that the state of some of the ruins has become much worse.
Some directors of the Bat avian Society who recently visited Param-
banan, have laid the blame upon the'directors of the Archaeological
Society, without knowing that Mr. M. asserted thas this Society had
no right to interfere with his work and that he was free to do as he
liked. Which he did.
Chanpi Sevu. 71
The lower part of the roof consisted of eight perpen-
dicular sides over the cornice, leaving room for a d a g a b a
or chaitya, more cylindrical than bell-shaped, on each
of the four corners of the temple. Here, as elsewhere,
these ornaments were surmounted by small cones.
On the octagon rested a padm^sana, crowned with
a larger dagaba. As a rule the walls of the inner rooms
are void of ornamentation. There is a very beautiful ex-
ception in a little temple in the inmost rectangle, east of
the southern entrance to the chief temple. Here each of
the three walls shows a thick lotus-stalk rising out of the
ground, from which, at the height of a man's waist, three
branches shoot forth, a perpendicular one in the middle
and two bent sideways, each ending in an unfolded flower
bearing a nicely-sculptured niche, in shape not unlike a
lantern. No images have been found in them.
In front of another temple, in the rectangle enclosing
the preceding one, west of the same path, Mr. Melville
dug up an oblong block of stone, perhaps the lintel
of a door. Its front side was ornamented with foliage,
under which there was a narrow projecting band,
bearing a rough shallow inscription in Old-Javanese cha-
racters, which was read by Dr. Brandes and by profes-
sor Kern. Brandes deciphered (one of the last letters
is rather indistinct): "mahaprattaya sang ragun-
ting", i. e. a votive donation of Gun tin g (i), and
Kern: "mahaprattaya sang Rangganting, or:
great donations of the Rangga Anting. (2).
It is difficult to say what is meant by the donation
now. Is it the stone alone, or is it the whole of the little tem-
(*) Minutes of the meeting of directors of the Batavian Society,
June 1898.
(2) Bijdragen of the Koninlilijli Instituut of 1898, p. 548.
72 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
pie, perhaps built over the remains of some distinguished
relation or some venerated person, or does it mean some
sculpture- work either in this temple or another? In any
case we may infer that such chan(Jis or such groups of
temples, though the general design was prescribed by
government, were built by the cooperation of several per-
sons, perhaps in the manner followed in our days in the
celebrated Campo Santo of Genoa.
The stone has found a place in the little museum at
Yogylkarta.
Some of the smaller ruins contain a small square pe-
destal more or less beautifully hewn, without a sink.
Others probably have found their way to surrounding
estates, where they serve the purpose of ornaments for
the garden or stands for flowerpots.
Of course they were originally intended to bear ima-
ges, namely of Dhy ani-Buddhas, like the few which
— though headless — are still found round about the
ruins. The loss of all the others may, therefore, be im-
puted not only to more or less unprincipled collectors,
but certainly also — and in the first place — to destroy-
ing fanatics.
Nearly a century ago the statement was made that the
position of the hands proved the Dhyani-Buddhas then
found about the chantjis in the different sides of the rect-
angles to be not exclusively those commanding the cor-
responding quarters of the horizon, there being a. o.
Amitabhas in the east and south, Amogasiddhas
in the south, Akshobhyas in the western and R a t n a -
Sambhavas in the northern and southern rows. Still
we are bound to assume that, in accordance with what
we see on the B^rabudur in Java and many other
ruins on the continent of Asia, here too the second D h y a n i-
Buddha was enthroned in the eastern row of temples,
Ghanpi Sevu. 73
the third in the south, the fourth in the west, and
the fifth in the north. And the first, Vairochana?
Opposite to the zenith of course, hence, either in or
upon the chief temple, or in the chancjis of the inmost,
the highest, rectangle.
There are hardly any remains of the 5 somewhat lar-
ger ruins in the space between the inmost and the out-
most rectangles.
The chief temple, like many others, formed a square
with a rectangular projection on each side, or a polygon
of 20 sides and eight re-entering angles. Its foot had the
same form and must have made a narrow terrace round
about the temple.
The four projections extended so far — much farther
indeed than elsewhere — that the whole had the appear-
ance of a broad-armed cross with square annexes in the
four corners.
The eastern projection contained the porch and the en-
trance to the inner room ; in the other three there were
separate chapels, communicating with each other and the
porch.
The fronts of the projections being broken by the doors,
there were 24 divisions on the outside of the temple,
ornamented with nicely framed panels. .lust as the insides
of the walls of the Siva temple at Parambanan, they
were filled with flowers or rosettes in basrehef (i), and
occasionally showed the images of deer, tigers, or other
animals. The 8 divisions in the corners of the projections
may have had niches. The outside of the base was divided
into foliaged panels.
CI) The resemblance is so great, that the ornaments in the two tem-
ples seem to be made by the same hand after the same designs.
74 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
The cornice of the interior part of the building, which
rose to a great height and was higher than the outer
parts, and the pyramidal roof, which must have rested
on it, are lost, but the hewn stones and especially the
dagabas and cone-tops found among the rubbish, justify
the belief that, just as at Kalasan, the cornice bore an
octangular superstructure, which was divided into niches
and small panels or bands of foliage, and had a less pon-
derous cornice of its own, covered with dagabas.
Higher up and further inward there was perhaps another
series of smaller niches and dagabas, but undoubtedly
one grand dagaba crowned the whole.
The roof-niches may have held images of the first
Dhyani-Buddha, who, we know, ought to command the
zenith.
There were flights of rather broad steps, leading to the
four entrances; in the east side to the porch. Then there
was a larger front-room with a smaller back-room, inter-
communicating through a door-opening in the transverse
wall between them. Each of the two side-walls of the
front-room contained three high narrow niches, framed
and separated by broad pilasters. The capitals, have the
shape of an unfolded flower-bud, the leaves of which,
partly standing out, in three pairs form pointed arches
over the niches.
The niches, as usual, are crowned with Garuda orna-
ments.
The little back-room has on each side an outlet to a
terrace running close along the wall of the inner part of
the building, and leading in the same way through the
other three outer parts.
On the foot of the bands in the corners of the inner
Walls there are images of animals.
Some steps lead to a third passage through the back-
Chanpi Sevu. 75
wall to the inner room, the high walls of which are not
ornamented. An altar-shaped throne along the whole
length of the back-wall occupies more than half the space
in the room. This altar too is wholly void of ornamenta-
tion, though it must have been the seat of the principal
image in this temple. Which image? Perhaps, as I have
hinted above, the first Dhyani-Buddha? i think not,
for in cleasing these inner rooms another large Buddha
image has been found, far surpassing in size those of the
miniature temples, and even the images of the Bar&budur.
But this image has lost its head and its right hand. The
left hand rests in its lap, as that of the last 4 Dhydni-
Buddhas, so it cannot have been a Vairochana. Only
the right fore-arm is raised a little above the thigh in front,
being supported by a little edge. But where is the lost hand ?
It has not been found back, though I have promised a reward
of ten guildens for the finder.
I know only two Buddhas who hald their right fore-arms
above their thighs and their left hands in their laps. It
is the fifth DhyElni-Buddha, Amogasiddha, and the
preacher on the highest wall of the Bar^budur, who
commands all the quarters of the sky. (i)
But I am. of opinion that there can be no question of
the former, i. e. the fifth, the future Buddha, the de-
liverer of a yet uncreated world hereafter, unless in
connection with all the others as avataras of the one,
immaterial A d i-Buddha, hence in the northern miniature
temples of the rectangles, in which all of them (or all
except the first) are represented, and on the northern
walls of the B^r&budur.
To the Buddhists of this world only the Buddha, Gau-
tama or the fourth Dhy^ni- Buddha of the Mahdyanists,
(1) See my B§.ilbudur-guide, pp. 57 et seq.
76 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
is of superior value, but the fifth, the future, of no
value at all.
But the Buddha of this world (hence no Dhydni-Bud-
dha) in the highest state of development, after attaining Bud-
dha-hood, which is typified by the postur^ of the second
Dhydni-Buddha (i), seems to me to be quite logical in
the seat of honour, as in the great central dagaba of the
Barabudur; and no less the same "Enlightened one",
the perfect teacher; preaching the law, which is re-
presented by the c h a k r a, formed by the thumb and the
fore finger of the raised right hand.
Our image, however, cannot have represented the for-
mer (as the fore-arm is n o t resting o n the thigh), but it
may have been meant for the latter, and this is why I
think that the latter, the teacher of the law, the Bud-
dha in his highest manifestation of life, was once enthroned
on the altar in this temple. If we assume that another
image was placed on it, the question rises, what purpose
the image found in the temple had to serve.
To prevent further damage I have got the image trans-
ported to the museum {^).
The interior of the three chapels is like that of the
porch, with this difference only that the back- wall of each
of the small back-rooms has no outlet and is adorned
with three high niches.
■ (1) See my "Tyandi-Blirlbudur in Central Java", p. 62.
(a) A larger image coula not have got through the inner door-ope-
ning, so that, if such a one had been there, we must have found it
among the rubbish. From this we infer that no such image ever was
there at the time when the temple was destroyed, though, like the
colossal images of the cftandi M g n d u t, it must have been placed there
before all the walls of the temple were built, leaving no passage but
through the door-openings.
Candi Sevu. 77
Remains of pedestals have been found only in a few of
the central niches. (The total number of the niches in
the back- walls was once 9 (3 x 3), and, if we include the
lateral niches, it amounts to 33). ■
Perhaps B u d d h a-images (V a i r o c h a n a'?) were seated
on the pedestals, and the side-niches may have contained
Bodhisatvas as attendants.
Since the rubbish has been removed from all the inner
rooms which are not wholly destroyed, one can walk
through and about them, to inspect all the walls from the
inside and from the outside, so that there is no occasion
for further clearing, as the walls, which, though stand-
ing, are anything but firm, can scarcely suffer to be de-
prived of what has become an indispensable support.
All the door-openings are surmounted with the Garuda-
Ndga-ornament.
yi. CHANDl PELAH08AN.
The group of ruins called by this name is situated about
a mile east north east of chan^i S e v u. The appellation of
chan(Ji properly applies only to the great number of
small funeral temples which surrounded the two princi-
pal buildings at some distance, but these buildings, like the
so-called "chandi" Sari, must have been no mausolea but
monasteries.
There are only few traces left of these little chandis,
but their foundations may be found back among the a 1 a n g-
alang and under the bushes and shrubs of the over-
grown spot.
Jn Yzerman's book we read (i), and the drawings by
Melville, added to it, show, what the whole group may
have looked like in earlier times : the two monasteries in-
closed by one rectangle of miniature temples, lying within
two rectangles of many circular and some square mo-
numents, with, at some distance north and south of
this group, two square spaces, surrounded by similar
round and square fabrics.
These square miniature temples, whose entrances were
not exclusively in the sides farthest from the principal
buildings, were little chandis, like those of Par am ban an
and chandi Sevu, and, presumably, were built over the
(') Pp. 101 et seq; plates XXlX ei XXX.
Ghan5I Pslahosan. 79
ashes of monks oF' priests attached to the temples in the
vicinity, who lived in the monasteries.
The round pedestals ma,y, in accordance with similar
graves in India, liave borne plainer and less expensive
tombs in the shape of d a g a b a s, such as can still be pointed
out amidst the rubbish round about; perhaps they be-
longed to less noted or travelling monks or lay-brothers.
Their equal size and their place in the same rectangles
inclosing the same monasteries can hardly be accounted
for differently, and their shape suggests the original Bud-
dhistic grave-stone, the stupa or dagaba.
The two monasteries, still resting on their old founda-
tions, are without roofs or cornices, so that they are in
a further state of dilapidation than the so-called c h a n d i
Sari.
They are situated near each other in one line between
north and south, and their fronts face the west. They
have the form of a long square with a small porch in.
front. The eight steps leading to the porches were pro-
vided with banisters, shaped hke N a g a s, and terminating
in monster-heads. These banisters are entire only at the
northern building ; of the banisters of the southern build-
ing only the Naga-heads at the bottom, and the Ga-
r u d a-heads at the top end are left. There are small lions
in a sitting posture in the months of the Ndgas.
A path must have led from the open field outside the
miniature temples up to each of the flights of steps, but
not a straight one, as opposite and very near to. the stairs
of the northern monastery there is a set of 5 steps lead-
ing to the one of the miniature temples, a greater part
of which is still extant than of any other. M.'s drawing
in the work of Yzerman (pi. XXIX) is, therefore, not correct.
Outside the whole rectangle, on the spot, where the
80 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
paths began, there are still four temple-guards, two at
each path. They are a good deal smaller than those of
chan(Ji Sevu and wear no cobras, but the usual cord as
upavita round the chest, but they have a serpent in
one hand, a club in the other, and a short sword on the hip.
The whole rectangle must once have been walled-in,
and was perhaps divided into two squares by a transverse
wall. 1 say : perhaps, because the transverse wall is not
in keeping with the undivided rectangle of miniature
temples and dagaba-bases, nor should I have made men-
tion of it, if it were not marked in Melville's drawing.
Leaving out of consideration the little projectiong porch,
each of the two principal buildings had the form of a
long rectangle, divided into three oblong rooms, the longer
sides of which run parallel to the shorter ones of the building.
The walls, again, are very thick.
The central room communicated through a door-open-
ning in the front- wall with the porch, and two doors in the
front pa^t of the side-walls opened into the two side-
rooms, each of which received some air and light through
two small square windows in the two sides forming. the
outer front-corner.
Low-relief sculptures were cut with much art in the
outside of the walls. They are seen in the best state of
preservation in some walls of the northern building.
Its foot still shows small panels with festoons, framed
between pilasters, and over them there are large panels
with standing Bodhisatvas, flanked by high pilasters,
which are disproportionately narrow, and covered by a
wreathed arch, from which 4 prayer-bells hang down.
The entrance at the top of the stairs, of course, was
also adorned with a richly-worked conventional Naga-
Garuda ornament, of which only the Naga-heads are still
extant, but so much spoiled by the influence of the weather
Chandi Pelahosan. 81
arid overgrown with moss, that the animals, which may
have been contained in the widely opened mouths, have
become unrecognizable.
Beside the entrance to the porch of the southern ruin
we still see the feet of a standing panel-image, holding
a scent-offering, but no lotus-plant.
The Bodhisatvas, as far as we can still distinguish them
on the temple-wall, have beautiful lotus-stalks by their
sides, and their left hands hold large rosettes, inclining
in front, without any symbols.
Each side-wall of the. porch has a niche, framed with
the ornament common tp all the niches and doors, but
there are, besides, two gandharvas, hovering over the
Garucja head.
The inner door too was adorned with the same orna-
ment, but only the Naga- heads are extant, and the
parrots in the mouths are hardly recognizable now. Be-
neath these heads there is a basement with a covering
piece, supported by dwarfs.
Along the back- wall of each central and each side
room there was a broad altar, which is either wholly
destroyed or badly damaged. In the former case the side-
images still extant, which were enthroned on them, now
sit on the ground with their lotus-cushions under them.
The central images have all disappeared. In one of the
6 rooms, however, a piece of the p a d m a s a n a is left.
In each side-wall there was a niche again. No heavenly
beings are hovering over the Garuda-ornament of- these
niches.
' We may suppose that all these niches once held ima-
ges, the greater part of them, however, are gone, without
leaving any trace. Those of the porches have been found
there, but thrown down from their niches. Their legs are
crossed under or before the body. The whole number must
82 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
have amounted to 2x8 = 16 niche-images, and 3x6 = 18
altar images, total 34, only 14 of which have been found.
The altar images extant have, or had, their right legs
hanging down in front of the padmdsana, and their feet
resting on a small lotus-cushion, which once was support-
ed by a sitting little lion. Two of the little lions, which
were still to be seen 12 years ago (in the northern room
of the northern building) have disappeared since.
The only remaining lotus-cushion, on the middle of one
of the six altars (in the same northern room) proves that
the central images were smaller than the others and were
not one with their padmslsanas. All the others were cut
together with their lotus-cushions and glories out of one
block of stone. The central images, being smaller and
lighter than the other images, could of course be removed
with less difficulty, so that not a single one is left.
The front-walls of two side-rooms show Buddhistic re-
presentations, cut in panel-like divisions. Some more groups
of half-relief images adorned a few of the side-walls
between the niche and the altar.
A cornice, with a frieze decorated with parrots and
garlands of flowers, shows in one of the rooms of the nor-
thern ruin traces of cavities, in which the beams of an
upper floor may have rested;
On entering the southern ruin, we see the two niches
holding images of Bodhisatvas, nicely -finished, and half
the size of life. One of them is partly destroyed. The other
has the ve da-bundle on the flower and the crossed cord
round the breast.
On the forehead over the root of the nose there is the
urn a of the Buddha, and the crescent behind the nape
of the neck.
This image and the two of the porch of the northern
ruin have been placed in our museum at Yogy^kartl, and
Chanpi Pelahosan. 83
I regret that we have not been able to remove thither all
the loose images, which are now exposed to the destroy-
ing influences of sun and rain. But the museum is too
small to hold them all.
We may suppose that all the niche images, also those
of the inner rooms, had their two legs crossed under their
bodies on the lotus -cushions, and that all of them were
Bodhisatvas, hke those of the niches in the porch.
The badly damaged image remaining in the porch has
the broad edge of the monastic dress, which leaves the
right shoulder and arm bare, over the chest under the
upavita.
The right hands of all the images, the altar images
included, are resting with their backs on the right knees,
and open in most cases, like the third Dhydni- Bud-
dha's, the attitude of the begging monk.
In the middle room we have found only the southern
image of the altar, but in a bad state. The lower parts
of the legs, the right arm, and the head, with the lotus
and its symbol, are gone. The lotus-stalk rests in the
left hand by the side of the hip.
The northern altar-image in the southern room has
also lost its head and left hand, and part of the p r a b h a,
but wears the monastic dress below the cord.
The southern image is without its right arm and leg,
its head and its glory. It wears the crossed cord, hence
no upavita.
In the southern wall there is a sculpture representing
a man with four attendants, one of whom holds the
payung over the head of his master, and another the
sente leaf, (') as a mark of his dignity.
The northern and western walls have no divisions.
(X) An Aroidee: Alocasia macrorhiza. The Javanese still
occasionally use it as an umbrella.
84 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
The altar in the northern room is gone. The northern
image has lost its right arm, and has no sym,bol on the
flower. It wears the monastic dress below the upavita.
The southern image holds in the half-opened right hand
an object, which is no longer recognizable.
On the northern wall we see only the feet and two
attendants of a standing image, but the southern wall,
is sculptured in the same way as that in the southern
room; the western (or front-) wall showing two men of
rank sitting under three bo-trees. They raise their joined
hands to the respectful sembah salutation, which prac-
tice has probably been handed down to the Javanese by
tradition from their Buddhistic ancestors or teachers. {^).
Two attendants hold the payung and the s e n t e- leaf.
In, a panel of the southern wall there are sculptures of
two men, standing under two payungs, held by attendants.
One of the Bodhisatva-images in the porch of the
northern ruin also had the v e d a- bundle with a cord
wound round it on the flower (2), but had not an u r n a
on its forehead. The other has, and also wears the mo-
nastic dress under the upavita. On the lotus- flower there
is a bunch of three open rosettes with single leaves (no
lotus- leaves of course).
In the middle room the cornice which once must have
supported the upper floor is partly preserved.
The northern altar- image has an Amitabha figure
in the crown, the monastic dress below the cord, and the
veda on the flower. The other image is gone.
('). In Ceylon I saw Buddhists approach their Buddhas or dagabas with
the same kind of salutation.
f). I saw similar bundles of palm-leaves with cords wound round
them in a Buddhistic college at C 1 m b 0. In Java too such "kropaks"
are not unknown, though dating from earlier times. In Bali they are
still found and perhaps used as writing-material.
Chanpi Pelahosan. 85
The northern image in the southern room has lost the
lotus with its symbol. It wears a monatic dress.
The other image still has the veda on the flower, the
moon behind the head and the woman's cord Q-) across'
the breast.
The sculptures of the southern wall are similar to
those of the southern room of the southern ruin, but all
represent women.
The panels of the two side- walls in the northern
room have hardly been damaged. Here also two women
are represented, and over the group of the northern wall
there are two celestians hovering.
The lotus of the southern altar-image bears a bunch
composed of three lotus-buds with long stems, from which
something like a flame seens to rise. The- northern image
has a bunch of flowers and a monastic dress below the
upavita.
No gandharvas or other celestians are hovering over the
well preserved sculptures which crown the niches.
It is here that a fragment of the padmasana of the loose
image which once was enthroned on it, is still lying on
a flat square base. The conventional seeds or cells of the
seed-vessel of the lotus leave no room for a big image.
There can be no doubt that these central images were
D h y a n i-Buddhas or at least B u d d h a s, first, because they
have a right to the place of honour on the altar, second-
ly because this opinion is corroborate4 by other ruins,
such as those of S^jivan.
The altar and niche images extant are Bodhisatvas.
They are marked as such by their dress, their noble fea-
(1). ProvisioEally I use this name, which is not correct, as many
ima'^es of men are found with this cord. Cross- c o r'd would perhaps
be better.
86 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
tures, the urn a, the lunar crescent, and the Buddhistic
habnastic dress under the upavita, in connection with the
lotus-stem shooting upwards from the ground, and gras-
ped by the left hand resting on or beside the thigh, and
the pad ma by the side of the face. But which Bodhi-
satvas? Not those of the 5 D h y d n i-Buddhas, for their
symbols do n o t rise on or from the flowers.
The urn a is not worn by all, nor the monastic dress
of the magnificent image of the Buddhistic prince on the
right side of the great Buddha in the chandiMendut (i).
But there are also some Buddhas of the Bar&budur with-
out an urn a on the forehead.
This coil of hair, which is pecuUarly characteristic of
Buddhistic images, may have been forgotten or neglected
by the sculptor or have been destroyed by the influence
of the weather or some accidental injury.
The occasional absence of these marks, therefore, does
not invahdate our opinion about their meaning in other
similar images with the same environment.
The Buddhistic character of these images cannot be
called in question, even though the real Buddha images
of the altars have not been found back. The d a g a b a in
the front of the crown worn by at least two images and
one A m i t El b h a figure in the head-covering of another
among the altar images leave no room for doubt about
their Buddhistic meaning.
As other images are found in other places with iden-
tical marks, including even the urn a on the forehead,
and the same symbols on the lotus as at Parambanan,
the Buddhistic character of the latter is confirmed by that
of Pelahosan, and this is why the Bodhisatvas of P e-
lahosan, an undeniably Buddhistic building, is highly
(1) See Tij d s dh r. v o o r I n d. T.-, L.-e n V k k. of 1896, pp. 397 and seq.
and „Eigen Haard" of 1897, parts 42 and 43.
Ghan5I Pelahosan. 87
remarkable, both here and there the symbols on the
flowers pointing to Hindu divinities as manijfesta-
tions of the original Buddha, avataras of the
one, immaterial primordial divinity, the Adi-Buddha
of the northern Church.
Two of the four porch images and no less than three
among the ten altar images extant have the v e d a- bundle
on the pad ma, a symbol of the creative god, Brahma.
The emblem of others is a bunch of flowers, in one in-
stance bearing a flame, which might bo symbolical of
Agni, the god of fire. The bunch of flowers is not an
emblem of one god exclusively.
It is much to be regretted that all the other Bodhisatvas
are wanting; and we are sorry to think that they were
destroyed or removed by devastating treasure-seekers, who
broke the floors and dug up the earth underneath, not
knowing that there could be no graves in the rooms of
these monasteries. It is not unlikely that by accident
some have found their way to the grounds of some houses,
but what can they teach us there about these ruins, so
long as we cannot establish where they came from.
Jn the front part of the resident's garden at Yogy^kart^
there is a Bodhisatva image of the same size sitting on
a Vaishnavitic altar (with a Garugla under the sink)
to which it certainly does not belong (i). It has the vajra,
Indra's lightning, on the flower. But the vajra being
likewise symbolical of the second Dhyani- Bodhisatva:
Vajrapani, we should be entitled to take this image
for this Buddha's son, if it had been found together with
other Dhyani-Bodhisatv as. Among the divine images of
('") Thouo'h a garden may be adorned with such images, it is certainly
more detrimental than advantageous to science that they are used for
this purpose.
88 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan. .
Pelahosan it would represent Indra, as at Parambanan.
From this we learn again what wrong is done by the
removal of such images, if the place where they have been
found is not recorded.
On and about the terraces which bore the squares of
small temples and dagabas, north and south of the great
terrace of the monastery, we still find the images which
were there 14 years ago; but by far the greater number
of them have been broken to pieces or so much damaged
as to baffle all efforts at recognition.
Yet it is possible to point out among them some Dhya-
ni-Buddhas and one Kuvera, though all the heads and
some other parts are wanting. One Bodhisatva with the
veda on the flower, but without a right hand, is, for the
rest, nearly entire.
It is cross-legged and might therefore have been en-
throned in one of the niches of the ruins. The same thing
may be said about another Bodhisatva, wearing the u r n a
and having its right hand lying on its knee in the third
Dhydni-Buddha position.
These two images, however, are far greater than the
niche or altar images in the viharas. Possibly they belonged
to two of the smaller temples.
On the site of the southern miniature chanqlis I have
found two women's images, with their legs crossed under
. their bodies and their right hands lying open on their right
knees. One had lost the lotus-flower and the symbol thereon,
and wore the woman's cord across her breast. Judging
from the lotus-stalk which has been preserved, we may
take her for a female Bodhisatva.
The other never had a lotus-stalk or flower, since no trace
of a fracture is to be found on the prabha or the left
thigh. The head has disappeared. So there is no attribute
Chan5I Pelahosan. 89
to prove that this woman was a Bodhisatva. She also
wears the woman's cord, but the whole image is thickly
overgrown with white moss.
A third image without a head, cross-legged, wore no
upavita, but had a monastic dress and a veda on the
pa dm a: hence, another Brahma, as Bodhisatva
Of the other images only fragments were left.
YIL CHANDI SAJIVAN.
This ruin, situated within a mile of Parambanan station,
to the south, is the only one remaining out of a group which,
like those spoken of before, seems to have been composed
of a monastery surrounded by small chandis. I am of opi-
nion, however, that this ruin, which contains only one room,
was not a residence of monks.
It is partly built of whitish sandstone (from the Southern
Mountains in the vicinity), in the form of a small square
with an entrance facing the west, and bearing still traces
of the Naga ornament.
The room inside received its light from a window in each
side- wall.
The altar, which runs along the (eastern) back- wall, may
have supported three images. Where their original position
was, can only be surmised, as they have been found outside
the building.
On the remnants of the pedestal of the middle image —
hence, the principal one — there was still a lotus-flower
with a sword on it as a symbol, but this fragment was
perhaps deposited there when the three images, which
now have a place in our museum, were put inside again.
Between the altar and the windows there are still two
niches, where the two Bodhistava images perhaps ought
to sit, M/hich had been replaced there.
Ghanpi Sajivan. 91
The Dhyani-Buddha, Amitdbha, smaller than the
other two images, with his padmasana cut out of the
same stone-block, had been put on the vacant lotus-cushion
of one of the side-images of the altar.
I suppose that this or a similar Buddha, as the chief image,
once was enthroned on the middle pedestal.
A piece of the lotus-throne is all that is left of the other
side-image.'
The right leg of each of the two Bodhisatvas hangs
down in front of the padm4sana, the left being bent
and resting on it.
The two left arms are broken off above the elbow and lost.
The urn a adorns each of the foreheads. One wears the
u pa vita, the other the crossed cord. The right hands,
in the third Dhyani-Buddha position, rest with their backs
upon the right knees. One is empty, the other holds a rosette.
JThe first is without a glory now, the second has two
p r a b h a s, the outer one with a flaming edge, from whi-ch
a fragment of the padma is still hanging down.
This ruin, therefore, is another monument of the Bud-
dhism of the northern church, which reigned in the
whole plain. As far as I know, there is not a single
non-Buddhistic building in the plain, the mahdyanistic
character of the Parambanan group being convincingly
established.
The one group of chan(Jis in these parts, which, some
time ago, I firmly beheved to be §aivitic buildings, is situated
several miles further to the south, at some distance from
the plain and at a height of above 300 yards in the
Southern Mountains, hence in another locality and amidst
quite different surroundings.
But this group, which was, moreover, built on a to-
tally dissimilar plan, and in the chief temple of which
we found what we took for a 1 i n g g a, is no part of the
92 The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan.
Parambanan ruins, the description of which is the
exclusive object of this work. Besides, I described this
chan^i group of gunung Ijo amply, so that there is no
need to speak of them again (i). ,
Still it is possible that, among the few ruins, lying mo-
re or less near the margin of the plain, in so dilapidated
a condition that they can teach us only the transientness
of even the most beautiful creations due to 'Buddhism,
there may be hidden some single Brahmanic ruin, but
then it is only an exception to the rule which points out
Buddhism as the cult of the mighty Hindu empire, which
flourished and was destroyed here many centuries ago,
and which, as it did in India in olden times and as it
does in Ceylon, now was tolerant enough to suffer the
existence of other cults or worships by its side.
But the state of these ruins is such as to make even
a conjecture as to what they were centuries ago next to
impossible.
We ought to be cont-ented with what is still extant and to
do what we can to preserve what is not entirely lost,
and we may certainly deem it a fortunate circumstance
that our Government is willing to do what only this is
able to accomplish.
(ijSee the Tijdschr. voorlnd, Taal-, Land-enVolkenk., 1888.
ADDENDA.
I subjoin some brief observations on a remarkable find
I made among the rubbish of two of the ruins described
after I had finished this guide. One was at Parambanan,
the other atPelahosan.
In each case it is a lintel with a sculpture of the well-
known conventional G a r u (J a-head. But amidst the fo-
liaged curls in which these heads terminate on both
sides appear two unmistakable talons with three
scaled toes and curved nails.
They confirm the accuracy of Mr. Finot's statement that
these heads represent G a r u d a, constituting additional
evidence of the common (Buddhistic) origin of the two
groups of temples, consequently of Parambanan too.
The Parambanan stone has already been received, as
no. 3, in our museum in the capital.
The cornerstones of the cornice of the parapet on the
chief temple ,of Parambanan, beside the lateral steps to
the platforms between the lower and the upper flight of
stairs, as far as they are still extant, have also retained
the Garu(Ja-heads with the talons.
The beautiful woman's image in the grounds of the re-
sident's house, which sometimes suggested to me the idea
that it might be the lost Tar a of K alas an, is represented
on Plate I of von Saher's illustrated work: "Versie-
rende Kunsten in Nederlandsch-Indie" (Deco-
rative Arts in the Dutch Indies), with the subscription:
94 Addenfa. . !
"TarEl of vrQ.uwelijke Bodhisatwa, vermoedelijl
afkomstig van Plaosan" (Tara or female Bodhisatva*!
probably belonging to Plaosan).
There is no reasonable ground for this supposition!
nobody knowing where it was found, as those who could
know are either dead or not to be found.
Besides it is not in keeping with the images of Pela
hosan, aU of which are provided with the marks of mali
Bodhisatvas. ;
Nor has it a^y'of the attributes,,' either of the fivi
Bodhi§aktis i. e. Buddhistic Tdras (^), ot" of a female
B d h i s a t v a, or of, any Hindu divinity we know, so tha|
we are not entitled to take this' , image for any one of
these beings.
Moreover, it is one with its own lotus-cushion, being
cut together with it out of one block of stone, while on
the altar in the inner room of changli Kalasan there
is a cushion, though no padmasana.
The only statement we are able to make about this imagd
is, that it is a beautiful woman's image, wearing the garb'
of a goddess; sitting with her legs crossed under her oH
a lotus-cushion before a large blazing glory; pressing her
two hands against her breast, the left being put over thi
right, with the palms turned viikiiwn and' the fingers ben'tj
crowned with an elegant makuta, arid adorned with
woman's cord across* the well-formed bosom. This is all
As it is not probable that the highly artistic 'Mahaya-
nistic architect should have put in the very beautiful
TarA-temple a Bodhi?ak,tl without T a r a,-symbols.
and even without the indispensable lotus-stem, 1 conclude
that this image cannot be the lost TS,r4.
■^'.>l%i' . ''iov; — — '
(1) yee Oldfield, Sketches from Nipal, II, p.; p. 172-175,
