The Borobudur was considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. This temple is located at Borobudur District, South of Magelang, Central Java.
Experts Said
The expression of experts who had been studing Borobudur Temple varied some way. Bernet Kempers expression was: “Borobudur is Borobudur”, meaning that Borobudur Temple is very unique in her own way. Nieuwenkamp (an artist) imaginated Borobudur as “a big lotus flower bud ready to bloom” which was floating” on lake. Nieuwkamps’ imagination was supported by N. Rangkuti (1987) that from the air, the Borobudur Temple looks floating. From the geological studies, experts were able to prove that Borobudur area was one time a big lake. Most of the villages around Borobudur Temple were at the same altitude, 235 meters above the sea-level. The same altitude included the Pawon and Mendut Temples. Thus, the area under 235 meter altitude was below the lake water level.
Based on the inscription dated 842 A.D. , Casparis suggested that Borobudur was one time place for praying. The inscription stated a phrase such as : “Kawulan I Bhumi Sambhara”. Kawulan means the origin of holiness, “bhumi sambhara” is a name of a place in Borobudur. Paul Mus stated that Borobudur Temple had the structure of stupa (conical form) with double expression. As a whole, the Borobudur Temple was a open-flat stupa, but on the other hand, the temple expressed the idea of a “closed world”. The latter expression could be felt when one is already inside the temple. Whenever a person is inside the temple, his or her view will be limited to high walls full on reliefs, the veranda is always squared in such a way that one could not see other parts of the temple, even in a same floor. The same feeling happened if one stood on arupadhatu round platform, he or she will have a wider view only on that level, buat are not able to see the lower level nor the upper level like the one on rupadhatu and kamandhatu. It could be said that Borobudur is a symbol of cosmic mountain covered by the sky roof, a specific world that could be reached through isolated alleys as stages. The closed structural design of the temple expressed the concept of a closed world, not just a technical reason as had been suggested by others experts (Daud AT, 1987).
Description
Borobodur was built by Samaratungga in the 8th century, and belongs to Budha Mahayana. Borobudur was revealed by Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles in 1814. This temple was found in ruined condition and was buried.
The overall height was 42 meters, but was only 34,5 meters after restoration, and had the dimension of 123 x 123 meters (15,129 square meters). There were 10 floors. The first floor up to the sixth floor was square form, the seventh to the tenth floor were round form.
Borobudur is facing to the East with a total of 1460 panel (2 meters wide each). Total size of the temple walls was 2500 square meters, full of relief. The total number of panels with relied was 1212. According to investigation, the total number of Budha statue was 504 including the intact and damaged statues. The temple undergone restoration from 1905 to 1910, and the last restoration was done in 1973 to 1983.
Structural Design
Eversince the first excavation, most experts speculated on the exact shape of the temple. Hoeing, in his book “Das form problem das Borobudur” speculated that the original form of Borobudur Temple had four gates and nine floors. The form of Borobudur Temple is similar to temples found in Cambodia. According to Parmenteir, the huge single stupa on top of the temple made the smaller stupas in the lower part looked drowned. Stutterheim who had been studying stupas in India and other parts of Asia concluded that the stupa structure was an Indian origin. The original purpose of stupa building was as storage of Budha Gautama and other holy priests cremation ash.
According to Stutterheim, the overall form of Borobudur Temple is a combination of ziggurat (miffle Asian Pyramid) and Indian stupa. Stutterheim opinion was supported by the existence of this type of form in Ancient Javanese literature.
The relief of Borobudur Temple started fromn the base of the temple up to the fourth platform. The relief at the base contained the story of Karmawibhangga. Under the main panel and above the Karmawabhangga relief, a wide-sized was inscripted at the wall. From this point along the alley, the relief did not show story in the sequence, but as a repeating part of the story with the same movies which expressed the world of spiritual beings such as half demonic body (Gandharwa, giants or Yataka, dragon, Sidha or angels and their ladies friends, Apsara and Nagi, all of them are heavenly beings who are tender and beautiful.
Division of panels are the first panel expressed a heavenly being in sitting position, on both side of this panel are small panel with a small standing statue. This figures are repeated 26 times for each side of the wall. Between the panels is carved three bodies, a male flanked by two women.
Reliefs at the Walls of the Alley
There were many beautiful ornaments inscripted at the wall of the fourth alley, because the fifth alley di not contained any ornaments. The fifth alley is a transitional alley to the next platform, the round platform. The next round platforms also did not contained any ornaments at all (Kaylan, 1959).
Reference :
Prasetyo, Bambang and Moertjipto, A Glimpse of Temples Lorojonggrang, Borobudur, Ratu Baka and The Legend of Bandung Bondowoso, Jakarta : Directorate General of Tourism Republic of Indonesia.
