Viewed from the air, the structure resembles a colossal three-dimensional tantric mandala (symbolic circular figure). It has been sugsted, in fact, that the people of the Buddhist community that once supported Borobudur were early Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhists who used it as a walk-through mandala.
The monument was conceived as a Buddhist vision of the cosmos in stone, start ing in the everyday world and spiralling up to nirvana, the Buddhist heaven. At the base othe monument is a series of reliefs represent ing a world dominated by passion and desirwhere the good are rewarded by reincarna tion as a higher form of life, while the evil arpunished by a lowlier reincarnation. Thescarvings and their carnal scenes are covered by stone to hide them from view, but they arpartly visible on the southern side.
Starting at the main eastern gateway, go clockwise (as one should around all Buddhist monuments) around the galleries of the stupaAlthough Borobudur is impressive for its sheer bulk, the delicate sculptural work when viewed close up is exquisite. The pilgrim’s walk is about 5km long and takes you along narrow corridors past nearly 1460 richly deco rated narrative panels and 1212 decorativpanels in which the sculptors have carved a virtual textbook of Buddhist doctrines as well as many aspects of Javanese life 1000 years ago – a continual procession of ships and elephants, musicians and dancing girls, warriors and kings.
On the third level there’s a lengthy panel se quence about a dream of Queen Maya, which involved a vision of white elephants with six tusks. Monks and courtiers interpret this as a premonition that her son would become a Buddha, and the sequence continues until the birth of Prince Siddhartha and his journey to become a Buddha. Many other panels are elated to Buddhist concepts of cause and fect or karma.
Some 432 serene-faced Buddha imageare out from open chambers above the gal leries, while 72 more Buddha images sit only partly visible in latticed stupas on the top three terraces – one is considered the lucky Buddha. The top platform is circular, signify ing never-ending nirvana.
Admission to the temple includes entrance Karmawibhangga archaeological museum, which is just east of the monument and contains 4000 original stones and carvings from Borobudur,
an exhibition of tools and chemicals used in its restoration, and some interesting photo graphs, including some recording the damage caused by the 1985 bomb.
Close by, the new Samudraraksa museum is dedicated to the importance of the ocean and sea trade in Indonesia. There’s an 18m wooden outrigger here, a replica of a boat depicted on one of Borobudur’s panels. This boat was sailed to Madagascar and on to Ghana in West Africa in 2003, a voyage that retraced ancient Javanese trading links – the original spice trade – with the continent over a thousand years ago.
An audiovisual show at the Manohara Hotel costs 5000Rp, and there are a few other attrac tions at Borobudur, including a children’s playground and a tacky magic museum.
Borobudur is Indonesia’s single most popu lar tourist attraction; it can be crowded and noisy, especially on weekends. Hawkers both outside and inside the archaeological park can be very pushy but are sometimes put off if you tell them in Bahasa Indonesia that you are a resident of Yogyakarta (saya tinggal di Yogyakarta). The finest time to see Borobudur and capture something of the spirit of the tem ple is at dawn or sunset, but you won’t have it to yourself. These are popular times for the bus loads of tour groups to visit Borobudur. The temple is usually at its quietest during Ramadan.
It is, however, possible to beat the crowds at sunrise; for 300,000Rp (150,000Rp if you’re a guest at the hotel) Manohara Hotel lets visi tors enter the temple’s grounds at 4.30am. A passport is required for entry.
Mendut Temple
The Mendut temple, also called Venu Vana Mandira (Temple in the Bamboo Grove), was discovered in 1836, and restoration attempts were made by the Dutch between 1897 and 1904. The gracefully carved relief panels on its outer walls are among the finest and larg est examples of Hindu-Javanese art in the country. The statues are particularly evocative at night, when spotlit against the evening sky, and the inner chamber appears charged with an almost supernatural energy. Guards here will sometimes allow visitors to enter Mendut after dark if accompanied with a local guide (speak to Jaker; see right ). Next to the temple is the Mendut Buddhist Monastery . You can join the monks here for prayers at around 6pm every day, and medita tion courses are often held in December.
Pawon Temple
