DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0675
Chap. III.
BEAMBANAM.
051
nally, is Laksmi, eight-armed, seated on a lotus, with attendants.
On another face is a figure, four-armed, seated cross-legged on a lotus,
the stem of which is supported by two figures with seven-headed
snake-hoods. It is in fact a slightly altered repetition of a group
inserted among the older sculptures on the facade of the cave at
Karli.1 That insertion I have always believed to be of the Gth or 7th
century; this group is certainly slightly more modern. The curious
part of the matter is, that the Mendoet example is so very much more
refined and perfect than that at Karli. The one seems the feeble
effort of an expiring art; the Javan example is as refined and elegant
as anything in the best ages of Indian sculpture. The same remarks
apply to the sacred tree under which the figure is seated. Like
all the similar conventional trees at Boro Buddor, they are compli-
cated and refined beyond any examples known in India.
The great interest, however, of this little temple arises from the
fact that it almost certainly succeeded immediately to Boro Buddor.
If it is correct to assume a.d. (550-750 as the period during which
that temple was erected, this one must have been built between a.d.
750 and a.d. 800. It shows, too, a progress in design at a time when
Buddhist art in India was marked by decay ; and it exhibits such pro-
gress in mythology, that though there can be no doubt as to the purity
of the Buddhism of Boro Buddor, anyone might fairly argue that this
temple belonged either to that religion or to Hinduism. It is in fact
one of those compromises that in India would be called Jaina ; in other
words, one of those transitional examples of which we have many in
Java, but the want of which leaves such a gap in our history of
architecture in India.
Brambanam.
At a distance of twenty miles south-east from Boro Buddor is a
group of temples, marking the site of the old Hindu capital of the
island, which are almost as interesting as that great temple itself.
They are unfortunately much less known, or, at all events, have not
been illustrated to anything like the same extent. They are, how-
ever, so much more ruined, that it may be owing to this that their
details have not been so completely made out; but from whatever
cause, we cannot speak of them with the same confidence as of Boro
Buddor.
The oldest group at Brambanani seems to be that known as Loro
Jongram, consisting of six larger temples, enclosed in a wall, and sur-
rounded by fourteen smaller cells.2 They may be of the age of Deva
1 An imperfect representation of this i plate 53.
sculpture will be found in the 'Journal j 2 Sir S. Raffles' ' History of Java,'vol.
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vi. I ii. plate 32.
BEAMBANAM.
051
nally, is Laksmi, eight-armed, seated on a lotus, with attendants.
On another face is a figure, four-armed, seated cross-legged on a lotus,
the stem of which is supported by two figures with seven-headed
snake-hoods. It is in fact a slightly altered repetition of a group
inserted among the older sculptures on the facade of the cave at
Karli.1 That insertion I have always believed to be of the Gth or 7th
century; this group is certainly slightly more modern. The curious
part of the matter is, that the Mendoet example is so very much more
refined and perfect than that at Karli. The one seems the feeble
effort of an expiring art; the Javan example is as refined and elegant
as anything in the best ages of Indian sculpture. The same remarks
apply to the sacred tree under which the figure is seated. Like
all the similar conventional trees at Boro Buddor, they are compli-
cated and refined beyond any examples known in India.
The great interest, however, of this little temple arises from the
fact that it almost certainly succeeded immediately to Boro Buddor.
If it is correct to assume a.d. (550-750 as the period during which
that temple was erected, this one must have been built between a.d.
750 and a.d. 800. It shows, too, a progress in design at a time when
Buddhist art in India was marked by decay ; and it exhibits such pro-
gress in mythology, that though there can be no doubt as to the purity
of the Buddhism of Boro Buddor, anyone might fairly argue that this
temple belonged either to that religion or to Hinduism. It is in fact
one of those compromises that in India would be called Jaina ; in other
words, one of those transitional examples of which we have many in
Java, but the want of which leaves such a gap in our history of
architecture in India.
Brambanam.
At a distance of twenty miles south-east from Boro Buddor is a
group of temples, marking the site of the old Hindu capital of the
island, which are almost as interesting as that great temple itself.
They are unfortunately much less known, or, at all events, have not
been illustrated to anything like the same extent. They are, how-
ever, so much more ruined, that it may be owing to this that their
details have not been so completely made out; but from whatever
cause, we cannot speak of them with the same confidence as of Boro
Buddor.
The oldest group at Brambanani seems to be that known as Loro
Jongram, consisting of six larger temples, enclosed in a wall, and sur-
rounded by fourteen smaller cells.2 They may be of the age of Deva
1 An imperfect representation of this i plate 53.
sculpture will be found in the 'Journal j 2 Sir S. Raffles' ' History of Java,'vol.
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vi. I ii. plate 32.