Yogyakarta–Borobudur Temple

Borobudur is one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. Founded by a king of the Saliendra dynasty, it was built to honour the glory of both the Buddha and its founder, a true king Bodhisattva. The temple’s design in Gupta architecture reflects India's influence on the region, yet there are enough indigenous scenes and elements incorporated to make Borobudur uniquely Indonesian.  The temple is 12166m length, 12136m wide, 3540m high.

              

         

There is no written record of who built Borobudur or of its intended purpose. Borobudur was likely founded around 750 AD, 300 years before Cambodia's Angkor Wat, 400 years before work had begun on the great European cathedrals. Little is known about its early history except that a huge army of workers worked in the tropical heat to shift and carve the 60,000 m³ of andesite stones taken from neighbouring stone quarries to build the monument.  The stone was cut to size, transported to the site and laid without mortar. Knobs, indentations and dovetails were used to form joints between stones. In total, this massive monument contains over 2 million stone blocks.  The construction has been estimated to have taken 75 years and been completed during the reign of Samaratungga in 825.  For centuries, Borobodur lay hidden under layers of volcanic ash. The reasons behind the desertion of this magnificent monument still remain a mystery. Borobudur was rediscovered in 1814 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

         

The design of Borobudur took the form of a step pyramid.  Borobudur contains approximately 2,670 individual bas reliefs (1,460 narrative and 1,212 decorative panels), which cover the façades and balustrades. The total relief surface is 2,500 square metres (27,000 sq. ft.).  A main dome, located at the centre of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside a perforated stupa.

    

    
Some scholars think that this massive monument is a gigantic textbook of Buddhism to help people to achieve enlightenment. To read this Buddhist textbook in stone requires a walk of more than two miles.

Representing the existence of the universe, Borobudur perfectly reflects the Buddhist cosmology, which divides the universe into three intermingled separate levels. The three levels are Kamadhatu (world of desire), Ruphadatu (world of forms), and Arupadhatu (world of formlessness).

Kamadhatu level (world of desire)
In 1885, a hidden structure under the base was accidentally discovered. The "hidden footing" contains reliefs, 160 of which are narratives describing the real Kāmadhātu. The 160 hidden panels do not form a continuous story, but each panel provides one complete illustration of cause and effect. The real base is hidden by an encasement base, the purpose of which remains a mystery. This level of Kamadhatu pictures the world of passion and the inevitable laws of karma. 

    

    

Ruphadatu level (world of forms)
The reliefs of the Rupadhatu level show the stories based on the manuscripts of Lalitavistara, Jataka-Avadana and Gandavyuha. (The Lalitavistara reliefs, consisting of 120 panels, tell us about the life of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. Born as Prince Siddhartha, Buddha's childhood was isolated from the outside world's misery. Accidentally witnessing the misery of sickness, decrepitude and death, young Prince Siddharta decided to escape from the worldly life and commencing his search of freedom from suffering. Siddhartha’s long and painful search finally led him to the highest level of enlightenment and made him Buddha, the Enlightened One.  The Jataka is a collection of stories about Buddha's previous reincarnation, chains and virtues. According to the Jataka, Buddha was born 504 times before being born as Prince Siddharta, taking on the forms of god, kings, princes, learned men, thieves, slaves, and a gambler. for the relief of Avadana, the main figure is not the Buddha himself. All the saintly deeds pictured in this part are attributed to other legendary characters.)

    

Arupadhatu level (world of formlessness)
On the last three circular uppermost terraces, 72 stupas circle the huge main stupa that crowns the top of the temple. The circular form represents the eternity without beginning and without end, a superlative, tranquil, and pure state of the formless world. There are no reliefs on the three circular terraces.
All but the largest central stupas on the upper levels contain a (more or less) life-sized statue of the Buddha kneeling, although many of these statues are missing or damaged. There are also many alcoves along the lower levels which contain similar statues but many of these are missing or damaged as well.

stupa

 

inside stupa

what was inside all stupa

                             

         

The monument is equipped with a good drainage system to cater for the area's high stormwater run-off. To prevent flooding, 100 spouts are installed at each corner, each with a unique carved gargoyle in the shape of a giant or makara.

         

After looking around the temple we had a walk through the museum.  The restoration work they have done is absolutely amazing!!!  Worth every penny of the very expensive entrance fee if this is what they can achieve with it!  As always, there is still much to be done.

                  

Shadow Puppets or Wayang Kulit if you can read Indonesian……;)

Yesterday we went to see a shadow puppet performance in the Pendopo Museum here in Yogyakarta.

As per normal walked there and on route promptly got lost, we are getting to be experts at this!

So got rescued by a rickshaw driver named ‘wounded bull’ who got us there just in time for the show and charged us for the ride an amount that did his nickname proud.

But what can you do, can’t see the riot squad helping us out here with our problems.

The show was good, there are rows of seats in front and behind the shadow screen.

In the olden days the men used to sit on the same side as the performers where you get to see the puppets which are beautifully made and coloured. As below photo.

The women sat ( in the cheap seats ) on the side where you can see the shadows only.

One of the staff took time out during the show to explain all this to us.

The show took two hours ( made this short to please the tourists ) and was a love story with a happy ending, lots of fighting, the usual baddies versus goodies plot.

If this was a proper show it could go on for up to twelve hours.

After, we got taken by the man who explained it all to us, to his house as he happened to be a puppet maker ( surprise surprise ) for these performances. Interesting to see how they are made and the detail that is required for these puppets.

It takes weeks to make one puppet by hand, the material is buffalo hide and buffalo horn. They are truly works of art.

Later of course we had a dose of the hard sell regarding buying puppets but we ran away pleading everything under the sun to explain our lack of buying power.

We were out of there, got a ride with ‘Wounded Bulls’ cousin got slightly less ripped off this time and we were in BFC ( Borneo Fried Chicken ) by midnight for a snack.

Can’t wait for tomorrow you just got to keep smiling here.

Yogyakarta - Water Palace

We got off at the train station, and already the tourist information was easy to find, with free colourful maps and helpful guides with good directions!  We found the coolest hostel, we opted for AC as we felt like a bit of luxury (still no hot water though) we got some beers and relaxed on the rooftop garden!

Next morning we decided to go for a walk, we met a local, who was tall for Indonesia so was very excited to meet Andre, he took us to a Indonesian artist exhibition which was really interesting.  The owner showed us the process of Batik, and we got to see all the artists from Indonesia (and a cup of tea), after that we decided to walk and see the Sultan’s Palace, however, seeing as it is in use, it happened that the Sultan was meeting with the President, and would not be open until 2pm.  A friendly local suggested we go to Batik Art Group, another friendly local (60’s) said it was near his home and he would walk with us.  All was going well until a woman (20’s) pulled up on her motorbike, grabbed him by the shirt and started yelling at him.  Yet another friendly local said he would walk us there, as the older guy had apparently caused an accident earlier that day, and the woman was not finished with him yet!!!!

The Batik art group was awesome, once again we were shown how to do Batik (involves beeswax, paraffin and a hell of a lot of time, ba means lines and tik means dots) and were encouraged to buy something.  Batik is dying of cotton or silk and then using a tool with melted wax to make designs, dye, then more wax and another colour etc, can take weeks to do.  There was heaps of designs to choose from, and for once we both caved, it was handmade and beautifully done, and can be washed, ironed, and folded into a small square, easy for travellers!  Then we decided to keep walking and find the ‘water palace’ Taman Sari.  It is not signposted, and we were about to give up, when a guy leaped out and offered to show us around.

The palace was used by the Sultans in the past for his harem and was surrounded by a lake with access only by boat.  First of all we were shown the underground mosque.

                                       

At the top of the stairs the priest would do a 20 minute sermon, the acoustics were fantastic, underneath the stairs used to be a spring, which Muslims would use to wash before the sermon.

The next shot is where the priest would spend time in solitary prayer before calling out to all Muslims that it was time to pray, the room is made to face Mecca.

This is the entrance to the water castle, the second shot is from the 2006 earthquake, 2 men died there, and the 3rd shot is of part of the old palace, it used to be 2 stories.  The entire complex was made without concrete or steel.

                             

These are some random shots of the old palace, the 3rd one you can see the old towers, but houses have been built over the years where the lake would have been.

                            

Below are photos of the entrance to the harem pools and gardens,the 3rd picture is where the Sultan used to meditate before events like taking a new woman, circumcision, big ceremonies and other important things.

                            

This is where the old harbour was, and the next photo is one of the boundaries of the old palace.

                                              

There were 3 harem pools, the furthest away one was for harem and children, the closer one was filled with girls when he wanted a new woman for his harem, he would stand in a tower and throw flowers (and call out their number as the flowers were unreliable to land on the correct girl) and she would be escorted to the third pool, full of gratitude of course! The third pool was a lot smaller so his new woman was easier to catch ( Andre’s theory )
The first photo is the entrance to the pools, either side is a dragon, one for the sultan and one for his wife!

                             

the new selected girl pool, pool in distance is the older harem and children

tower the sultan picks the new harem from

new harem pool

little dragon with water coming out of his mouth

                              

The next photo is the harem gardens, all the pots have jasmine and other sweet smelling flowers.  The harem used to perform dances for the sultan and his guests here, however as it could only be performed at night, the sultan would have to wait until a full moon, as there was no way to see the dancers otherwise!  And a photo of the giant that guards the harem.

                                           

The following picture is the sultans bedroom in the harem (still original) and the motif of the sultan, the tree is a clove tree which means multipurpose.  The third photo is the harem’s changing room the vessel is of sacred water, and if any of the girls were angry or old, they had to go wash using the water for three days, if that didn’t work they were sent away.

                                   

The next picture is the old entrance to the harem, the square in front is where the sultan would allow his people to be taught batik, puppetry, dance and arts (batik used to be only for the sultans use) the entrance is no longer the official entrance as houses started being built over the ruins inside and there was no room for hawkers when it re-opened.  The next photos are of the restoration that is underway.  In 20 years all the people that live there (some are 8 generations) will have been moved out and the palace will once again have a lake, an exact replica of the old palace. Lets hope i get to visit it then!