DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0671
Chap. III.
BORO BUDDOIi.
647
to it in mythological significance. So great, indeed, is the similarity
between the two, that whatever date we assign to the one drags with
it that of the other. It would, indeed, be impossible to understand
how, in the 7th century, Buddhism had been so far developed towards
the modern Nepalese and Thibetan systems if we had not these Gand-
hara monasteries to fall back upon. On the other hand, having so
similar a Buddhist development in Java in the 7th century, it seems
difficult to separate the monuments of the north-west of India from it
by any very long interval of time.
As will be observed from the plan and elevation (Woodcuts Nos. 362,
363, page 645), the monument may be described either as a seven or
a nine-storeyed vihara, according as we reckon the platform on which
the seventy-two small dagobas stand as one or three storeys. Its
basement measures over 400 ft. across, but the real temple is only
300 ft. from angle to angle either way. It is not, however, either
for its dimensions or the beauty of its architectural design that Boro
Buddor is so remarkable, as for the sculptures that line its galleries.
These extend to nearly 5000 ft.—almost an English mile — and as
there are sculptures on both faces, we have nearly 10,000 lineal ft.
of bas-reliefs; or, if we like to add those which are in two storeys,
we have a series of sculptures, which, if arranged consecutively in
a row, would extend over nearly three miles of ground. Most of
them, too, are singularly well preserved; for when the Javans were
converted to Mahomedanism it was not in anger, and they were not
urged to destroy what they had before reverenced ; they merely
neglected them, and, except for earthquakes, these monuments would
now be nearly as perfect as when first erected.
The outer face of the basement, though extremely rich in archi-
tectural ornaments and figure - sculptures, is of comparatively little
historical import: nee. The first enclosed—or, as the Dutch call it,
the second—gallery is, of all the five, the most interesting historically.
On its inner wall the whole life of Sakya Muni is pourtrayed in
120 bas-reliefs of the most elaborate character. The first twenty-
four of these are occupied with scenes in the Tusita heavens, or
events that took place before the birth. In the twenty-fifth we
have Maya's dream, depicted exactly as it is at Bharhut or Sanchi,
700 or 800 years earlier. In the following sculptures it is easy to
recognise all the familiar scenes of his life, his marriage, and domestic
happiness, till he meets the four predictive signs; his subsequent
departure from home, and assumption of the ascetic garb; his life hi,
the forest; his preacliing in the Deer-garden at Benares—the whole
Lalita Vestara, in short, pourtrayed, with very few variations from
the pictures we already possess from Gandhara to Amravati, with
this singular exception : in all Indian examples the birth and the
Nirvana are more frequently repeated than any other events ; foT
BORO BUDDOIi.
647
to it in mythological significance. So great, indeed, is the similarity
between the two, that whatever date we assign to the one drags with
it that of the other. It would, indeed, be impossible to understand
how, in the 7th century, Buddhism had been so far developed towards
the modern Nepalese and Thibetan systems if we had not these Gand-
hara monasteries to fall back upon. On the other hand, having so
similar a Buddhist development in Java in the 7th century, it seems
difficult to separate the monuments of the north-west of India from it
by any very long interval of time.
As will be observed from the plan and elevation (Woodcuts Nos. 362,
363, page 645), the monument may be described either as a seven or
a nine-storeyed vihara, according as we reckon the platform on which
the seventy-two small dagobas stand as one or three storeys. Its
basement measures over 400 ft. across, but the real temple is only
300 ft. from angle to angle either way. It is not, however, either
for its dimensions or the beauty of its architectural design that Boro
Buddor is so remarkable, as for the sculptures that line its galleries.
These extend to nearly 5000 ft.—almost an English mile — and as
there are sculptures on both faces, we have nearly 10,000 lineal ft.
of bas-reliefs; or, if we like to add those which are in two storeys,
we have a series of sculptures, which, if arranged consecutively in
a row, would extend over nearly three miles of ground. Most of
them, too, are singularly well preserved; for when the Javans were
converted to Mahomedanism it was not in anger, and they were not
urged to destroy what they had before reverenced ; they merely
neglected them, and, except for earthquakes, these monuments would
now be nearly as perfect as when first erected.
The outer face of the basement, though extremely rich in archi-
tectural ornaments and figure - sculptures, is of comparatively little
historical import: nee. The first enclosed—or, as the Dutch call it,
the second—gallery is, of all the five, the most interesting historically.
On its inner wall the whole life of Sakya Muni is pourtrayed in
120 bas-reliefs of the most elaborate character. The first twenty-
four of these are occupied with scenes in the Tusita heavens, or
events that took place before the birth. In the twenty-fifth we
have Maya's dream, depicted exactly as it is at Bharhut or Sanchi,
700 or 800 years earlier. In the following sculptures it is easy to
recognise all the familiar scenes of his life, his marriage, and domestic
happiness, till he meets the four predictive signs; his subsequent
departure from home, and assumption of the ascetic garb; his life hi,
the forest; his preacliing in the Deer-garden at Benares—the whole
Lalita Vestara, in short, pourtrayed, with very few variations from
the pictures we already possess from Gandhara to Amravati, with
this singular exception : in all Indian examples the birth and the
Nirvana are more frequently repeated than any other events ; foT