Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/637

 JAVA 609 use the Javanese name) are common in both middle and eastern Java, in Banyumas, Bagelen, Kadu, Jokjokarta, Surakarta, and Samarang, and in Surabaya, Kediri, Pasu- ruan, and Probolingo. They are absent from the Sunda lands in the one direction and from Madura in the other. Most famous of all the temple ruins is that of Bar;l-Bud.ur. It lies a little to the west of the right bank of the Praga, which falls into the Indian Ocean. A hill rising above the plain 154 feet afforded a ready site for the structure, and the lava blocks with which the ground was strewn supplied abundance of material. The accompanying view and ground plan will give some idea of the general arrangement and eff ect. 1 A square terrace, each side 497 feet long, enclosss the hill at a height of 50 feet ; 5 feet above this there is a second terrace, each side 365 feet ; 11 feet higher comes a third terrace of similar shape ; and then follow four other ramparts and FIG. 2. Ground Plan of Bara-Budur. four other terraces. The whole structure is crowned by a cupola 52 feet in diameter, surrounded by sixteen smaller bell-shaped cupolas. It is suggestive of the richness of the style to mention that on the outside of the wall of the second enceinte there are one hundred and four niches, each with its image of Buddha on a lotus throne hewn out of a single block 5 feet high ; and between the niches are sitting figures, man and woman alternately. The inside of the same enceinte is even more richly adorned with at least five hundred and sixty-eight bas reliefs, representing scenes in the Buddha legend. Of the chronological date of the temple there is no certain knowledge, but it contains evidence enough in itself to fix its position in the historical movement of the Hindu creeds. &quot; The mixture of Buddhism and Brahmanism is best seen,&quot; says R. Friederich (Tijdsch. der Ind. T. L. m Volkenkunde), &quot; in the three upper and inner galleries of Boro Buclur. In the first we see the history of Sakyamuni from the annuncia tion of his descent from the heaven of Indra till his transformation into Buddha, with some scenes of his life. The thirteen first scenes in the second gallery like wise represent Buddha as a teacher with his pupils ; after that it would seem as if a concordat had been formed between the different cults; we have first in three separate scenes Buddha, Vishnu (Batara Guru), and Siva, all together, and other groups follow, Buddhistic and Sivaite without distinction. It is only in the fourth gallery that we again find Buddha dominant Already in the first gallery we also see Brahmanic divinities, Garonda for example, but not in separate scenes. In my opinion the cupola is the principal and the most ancient part of the temple of Boro Budor; it must have been intended to serve as a daha- gopa (dagoba), i.e., a place for the enshrining of relics. I do not as yet know of any other dagoba in Java; but I should not be surprised at their discovery. The dagobas of Ceylon have an exterior resemblance to the Boro Budur cupola; but I prefer to classify it rather with the topes or stupasof Afghanistan.&quot; The writer goes on to point out that the sculptures of the lower galleries are not so carefully finished ; and the lions and some other subjects on the outside of the temple have never been com pleted. About 3 miles to the north-east of Bar& Budur, and pro bably belonging to the same period, stands another beautiful temple Tjaudi Mendut or Mundut on the left bank of the Ella before it joins the Praga. It was first discovered by Hartmann, the resident of Magelang, in 1834, under the sand and ashes with which the Merapi volcano had covered it. See C. W. Mieling s Javasche Oudheden, 1852 and 1856 ; and Colonel Yule s account of his visit in Journ. Eoy. As. Soc. Bengal, 1862. On the Dieng plateau in Bagelen, mentioned as a holy mountain 1 See Leeman s B6r6 Boedoer, based on the MSS. of Wilsen and Brumund, and accompanied by 394 plates on elephant folio, Leyden, 1873. in the oldest known Javanese inscription, there exists a remarkable group of temples which has been styled the Benares of Central Java. They stand 6500 feet above the sea ; and roads and stairways (locally known as Buddha s roads) lead up from the lowlands of Bagelen and Pekalongan. The stairway between Lake Mendjer and Lake Tjebong alone consisted of upwards of 4700 steps. A great subterranean channel served to drain the plateau. The Tjandis are very numerous, the largest and most beautiful being Tjandi Bima, but the best preserved the Ardjuna group. The buildings are unfortunately covered to about a third of their height. In the same residency as Dieng are situated the temple caves of Kuta Ardja discovered by Kinder in 1853. They are distributed in four groups, and apparently from the linga symbol belong to the worship of Siva. Near Raga Djampi (Banyuwaiigi) are the ruins of the town of Matjan Putih of astonishing extent, but for the most part only shapeless mounds. The town walls were 12 feet high and 6 feet broad. A temple built of white limestone is the chief ruin. It seems to belong to the late Siva period of Javanese Hindu art. The much more famous city of Madjapahit has left its ruins not far from Madjakerto, in Surabaya. Of the minor antiquities of Java the most valuable are the in scriptions on stone and copper, though, owing to the variety of the characters which have been employed, the task of deciphering and interpreting is peculiarly difficult. The proposal of the Batavian Society in 1843 to issue a Corpus of Javanese inscriptions came to ,nought ; of private investigators the most successful are Friederich and Kern. The inscriptions of Batu Beragung (1347) and Payer- rayung (1356), that on an image of Buddha now in the Berlin Museum, that on a rock in the Dieng mountains discovered by Junghuhn, and that preserved at Minto House, in Scotland, are considered of special importance. At Sukuh and Tjeta, on the slope of Lawu, there is a peculiar series in a special character deciphered by Van der Vlis. The famous Menang Kebau inscrip tions, being the work of Javanese settlers, belong rather to Java than Sumatra; but Professor Kern has shown that, instead of being, as at one time supposed, the oldest epigraphic monument in the Archipelago, they really belong to the most modern Hindu period (cf. Cohen Stuart in Bijd. tot de T. L. en V. Kunde, viii. 1, 1873). Of the Javanese copper plates the most important collec tion is Cohen Stuart s Kaivi Oorkonden in Facsimile, 1875. The Name Java. The origin of this name is very doubtful. It is not improbable that it was first applied either to Sumatra or to what was known of the Indian archipelago the insular character of the several parts not being at once recognized. Jawa Dwipa, or &quot; land of millet,&quot; may have been the original form 2 and have given rise both totheJaba diu of Ptolemy and to the Je-pho-thi of Fattien, the Chinese pilgrim of the 4th or 5th century. The oldest form of the name in Arabic is apparently Zabej. The first epigraphic occurrence of Jawa is in an inscription of 1343. In Marco Polo the name is the common appellation of all the Sunda islands. The Jawa of Ibn Batuta is Sumatra ; Java is his Mul Jawa (i.e., pos sibly &quot;original Java&quot;). Jawa is the modern Javanese name (in the court speech Jawi), sometimes with Nusa, &quot;island,&quot; or Tanah, &quot;country,&quot; prefixed. History. The history of Java in its main outlines can be very briefly given ; in detail it is burdened with endless complications, inconsistent accounts, and imaginative adornments. It is impos sible to extract a rational narrative from the earlier babads or native chronicles, and even the later are destitute of any satisfac tory chronology. The first great moment in the history is the ascendency of the Hindus, and that breaks up into three periods, a period of Buddhism, a period of aggressive Sivaism, and a period of apparent compromise. Of the various Hindu states that were established in the island, that of Madjapahit was the most widely dominant ; its tributaries were many, and it even ex tended its sway into other parts of the archipelago. 3 The second moment of the history is the invasion of Islam in the beginning of the 15th centuiy ; and the third is the establishment of European and more particularly of Dutch influence and authority in the island. In its general features this last and most important section reads very much like the narrative of the British subjugation of India. At the time when the Dutch East Indian Company began to fix its trading factories on the coast towns, the chief native state was Mata- ram, which had in the 16th century succeeded to the overlordship possessed by the house of Demak one of the states that rose after the fall of Madjapahit. The &quot;emperors of Java,&quot; as the princes of Mataram are called in the early accounts, had their capital at Karta- sura, now an almost deserted place, 6 miles west of Surakarta. At first and for long the company had only forts and little fragments of territory at Jakatra (Batavia), &c. ; but in 1705 it obtained de finite possession of the Preanger by treaty with Mataram ; and in 1745 its authority was extended over the whole north-east coast, from Cheribon to Banyuwangi. In 1755 the kingdom of Mataram 2 Dwipa is also part of the names Maldive and ~La-c.cs.dive. 3 The work entitled Madjapahit, by Gramberg, is an historical romance based on the somewhat extravagant accounts of this kingdom. XIII. - 77