Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
Tjandi Djago is in the province of Pasoeroean. According to the
Pararaton and the Nâgarakrĕtâgama[416], Vishṇuvardhana, king of
Toemapĕl, was buried there. As he died in 1272 or 1273 A.D. and the
temple was already in existence, we may infer that it dates from at
least 1250. He was represented there in the form of Sugata (that is
the Buddha) and at Waleri in the form of Śiva. Here we have the
custom known also in Champa and Camboja of a deceased king being
represented by a statue with his own features but the attributes of
his tutelary deity. It is strange that a king named after Vishṇu
should be portrayed in the guise of Śiva and Buddha. But in spite
of this impartiality, the cult practised at Tjandi Djago seems to have
been not a mixture but Buddhism of a late Mahayanist type. It was
doubtless held that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are identical with
Brahmanic deities, but the fairly numerous pantheon discovered in or
near the ruins consists of superhuman Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with
their spouses[417].
In form Tjandi Djago has somewhat the appearance of a three-storied
pyramid but the steps leading up to the top platform are at one end
only and the shrine instead of standing in the centre of the platform
is at the end opposite to the stairs. The figures in the reliefs are
curiously square and clumsy and recall those of Central America.
Tjandi Singasari, also in the province of Pasoeroean, is of a different
form. It is erected on a single low platform and consists of a plain
rectangular building surmounted by five towers such as are also found in
Cambojan temples. There is every reason to believe that it was erected
in 1278 A.D. in the reign of Krĕtanâgara, the last king of Toemapĕl, and
that it is the temple known as Śiva-buddhâlaya in which he was
commemorated under the name of Śiva-buddha. An inscription found close
by relates that in 1351 A.D. a shrine was erected on behalf of the royal
family in memory of those who died with the king[418].
The Nâgarakrĕtagama represents this king as a devout Buddhist but his
very title Śivabuddha shows how completely Sivaism and Buddhism were
fused in his religion. The same work mentions a temple in which the
lower storey was dedicated to Śiva and the upper to Akshobhya: it also
leads us to suppose that the king was honoured as an incarnation of
Akshobhya even during his life and was consecrated as a Jina under the
name of Śrîjnânabajreśvara[419]. The Singasari temple is less ornamented
with reliefs than the others described but has furnished numerous
statues of excellent workmanship which illustrate the fusion of the
Buddhist and Sivaite pantheons. On the one side we have Prajnâpâramitâ,
Manjuśrî and Târâ, on the other Ganeśa, the Linga, Śiva in various forms
(Guru, Nandîsvara, Mahâkâla, etc.), Durgâ and Brahmâ. Not only is the
Sivaite element predominant but the Buddhist figures are concerned less
with the veneration of the Buddha than with accessory mythology.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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