Ruins of Buddhistic Temples in Prågå Valley—Tyandis Båråbudur, Mendut and PawonGroneman, I. (Isaac)
Religion
Ruins of Buddhistic Temples in Prågå Valley—Tyandis Båråbudur, Mendut and Pawon
Groneman, I. (Isaac)
Buddhist temples; Temples -- Indonesia -- Java
Let me mention another example of Wilsen’s inaccuracy, the _thirtieth_
sculpture we see on the back-wall of the _second_ gallery, and so much
the more, because it might have been easily photographed. More than one
expert did so, among others, in 1901 (in my presence) the known _Padang_
and _Atyèh_ photographer C. Nieuwenhuis. Comparing this photo with
Wilsen’s drawing we shall perceive that the two inner-pilasters of the
small temple have been wrongly drawn, and that the outer-pilasters,
behind the standing women, have been _forgotten_; that the _prabha_
(glory) _behind_ the saint’s head, we see sitting _inside_ this small
temple, impossibly goes upward before the upper-threshold of the
entrance; and that the young lions and the throne’s carpet have been
disfigured as well as the garlands and prayer-bells, both in form and
placing. This also refers to the visitor’s parasol, and to the
flower-offering we see near him. The second parrot, just above the right
bodhi-tree, and one flower-piece to the right under this tree, have been
wholly left out. This visitor’s hand _flatly_ folded for a _sĕmbah_
(salaam) has not been folded _flatly_, because the finger-tips only
touch each other, so that the _sĕmbah_ itself is to be recognised no
more. The right foot of this man the drawer also forgot[61].
It is not difficult to show such mistakes in other drawings of Wilsen’s;
and I therefore suppose them not to be relied upon for the explanation
of further particulars.
There where Wilsen copied monks (_bhiksyus_) he nearly always raised
them to _Buddhas_ by decorating their clean-shaven heads with the
hair-crown, the _tiara_ or _usynîsya!_ as if he, who didn’t even know
the text the sculptor had followed, knew far better than the latter! And
don’t we know how he, just like Ovid in his _Metamorphoses_, changed
women into men or otherwise?
I further point to the above mentioned sculpture because of the worship
of the _bodhi-tree_ characterised by parasols and _tyĕmaras_
(fly-flaps), rosettes and prayer-bells. Such fig-trees are still
cultivated and honoured by all the _Ceylon_ (and elsewhere) pagodae even
at this day, and in consequence of this worship by buddhistic ancestors
the Sundas and Javanese always respect _kiaras_ and _wĕringins_
(_banyan-trees_) and other akin _Ficaceae_.
Such trees as we always see on the _alun-aluns_, the front-places of
_kratons_ and _dalĕms_ of princes and native chiefs originally meant, I
think, a recognition to _Buddha_’s fig-tree. The preacher and his
doctrine are forgotten here in Java, but one of the forms of this
worship still exists.
I mention the _eighteenth_ and the _twenty-second_ sculpture (eastern
staircase, _fifth_ corner, 2 and _sixth_ corner, 1) because of the
winged shell, the _syankha_, provided with _payongs_ and _tyĕmaras_ as a
sign of dignity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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