Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/501

 CHAP. IV. HISTORY. 419 in size and splendour : artists, particularly in stone and metals, arrived from distant countries, and temples, the ruins of which are still extant, were constructed both at this place and at Boro-Budur, in Kedu, during this period by artists invited from India." 1 This is supported by an inscription found at Menankabu, in Sumatra, wherein a king, who styles himself Maharaja Adiraja Adityadharma King of Prathama the first or greatest Java boasts of his conquests and prowess, and he proclaims himself a Buddhist, a worshipper of the five Dhyani Buddhas, and records his having erected a great seven-storeyed vihara in honour of Buddha. 2 This inscription is dated fifty years later, or in A.D. 656, but its whole tone is so completely con- firmatory of the traditions just quoted from Sir S. Raffles, that there seems little doubt the two refer to events occurring about the same time. The only other event of importance in these early times bearing on our subject is Fah Hian's visit to the island in A.D. 414, on his way from Ceylon to China by sea. It might perhaps be supposed that Java the Less, or Sumatra, was really the island he visited. It certainly was the labadios, or Yavadwipa, of Ptolemy, and just possibly the Java the Less of the Arab geographers and of Marco Polo ; 3 but the circumstances of the voyage afford no details to point rather to this island than to Java proper. "In this country," he says, " Heretics and Brahmans flourish ; but the Law of Buddha is not much known." 4 As he resided there five months, and had been fourteen years in India, he knew perfectly what he was speaking about. That there were Brahmans in these islands before the advent of the Buddhist emigrants in the 7th century seems more than probable from the traditions about the Brahman Tritresta or Tritastri, collected by Sir S. Raffles 5 and others; but, if so, they were Aryan Brahmans, belonging to some of the non- building races, who may have gone there as missionaries seeking converts, but hardly as colonists or conquerors. Indeed all over the island circles of stone are found, either wholly un- fashioned or carved into rude representations of Hindu deities 1 Sir S. Raffles' ' History of Java,' vol. ii. 8vo. edition, pp. 87 ctscqq. ; Lassen's, ' Indische Alterthumskunde,' Bd. ii. (2 Aufl.). Ss. 1059 et seqq. 2 I am perfectly aware that this is not borne out by the translation of this in- scription given by Dr. Friederich in vol. xxvi. of the ' Verhandelingen ' : but being dissatisfied with its unmeaningness, I took it to my friend, Professor Eggeling, and he fully confirms my view as above expressed. 3 Yule's 'Marco Polo,' 2nd. ed. vol. ii. pp. 266 et seqq. 4 Beal's translation, p. 169, * Buddhist Records,' vol. i. p. Ixxxi. 5 Raffles, vol. ii. pp. 77 et seqq. ; but see Lassen, ut sup., pp. 1063 et seqq.