Borobudur - historical records


	...historical records

Borobudur stands in the geographical center of the island of Java, fifteen miles from Yogyakarta, on a plateau that is the caldera of an ancient volcano ringed by the Menoreh mountains. Two sets of twin volcanoes – Merapi and Merbabu to the northeast, Sumbing and Sindoro to the northwest – stand sentinel across the plains. Merapi, the "fire mountain," is active.

A legend is told of a heavenly architect who built Borobudur in a single day and laid a curse on anyone who dared ascend his holy shrine. According to Asian art historian, Jan Fontein: "There is a mountain south of Borobudur that when viewed from the monument looks very much like the profile of a man; the nose, lips and chin are clearly delineated. The story goes that the ridge depicts Gunadharma, the architect of Borobudur, who is believed to keep watch over his creation through the ages."

There were only two fleeting references to Borobudur in historical reports of the 18th century. The first recorded visitor to Borobudur was a rebel who fled to the mountain called Bara-Budur in 1709 after leading an attempt to usurp the throne from the Sultan of Matara. The Sultan sent troops who surrounded the mountain, captured him and sent him to be executed.

The next documented visitor to the monument was the heir apparent of Yogyakarta, a defiant young prince who had a reputation for rebellious and depraved behavior. In 1758, he set out to visit the "mountain of a thousand statues" against the advice of a prophecy that royalty who climbed the mountain would die. When he did not return to court, the king sent his men to bring back the wayward son. He was found vomiting blood and soon after died.

But records revealed no consensus on the meaning of the name "Borobudur." Two alternatives were proposed based on Javanese manuscripts from 842 AD: "the mountain of the accumulation of virtue on the ten stages of the Bodhisattva," or "the mountain which is terraced in successive stages." Sir Thomas Raffles, the British governor of Indonesia responsible for the excavation of Borobudur in 1814, thought that "boro" might mean "great" and "budur" might correspond to the more modern Javanese word "buda," interpreted as "The Great Buddha." One Javanese expert indicated that "boro" is related to the word for "monastery," and "budur" is a place name. This would suggest that Borobudur means "Monastery of Budur."

Fortunately, because of the native tolerance of religious diversity, many of the monuments of Java were simply abandoned rather than destroyed or defaced, and a cloud of mystery and superstition descended on Borobudur.