Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c46.11

c46.11

Of these temples dedicated to the Buddha, the most notable are the Kalasan (c 778), the Sari, the Mendut (c 800), and the Pawon, and although none of these is of any great size—the largest, the Sari, (Plate CLXIII) being only eighty feet in its extreme width—they represent a phase in the building art of Java of great significance But contrasting with the relatively moderate dimensions of the above, and included with this group, as it was built about the same time, is the stupa of Borobudur, the largest and most remarkable monument erected to the Buddhist faith, and therefore in every way standing in a class by itself. Taking the lesser buildings of this period first, the earliest is the Kalasan, its date being verified by an inscription, and it is accordingly the first Buddhist temple to have been raised in Java. Dedicated to the goddess Tara it is planned in the shape of a Greek cross, its projecting wings forming side chapels each approached by a stairway through a prominent portico Standing on an elegantly moulded base, it appears to have been of one story only, but above is a substantial cornice, supporting a cluster of ornamental stupa-finials, the whole crowned by a graceful central tower. On the broad middle wall-space of the exterior, sculpture has been freely applied in a scheme of niches, alcoves, and openings, each embellished with a foliated pediment in the form of a *kirti mukha* of intricate design. In spite of being considerably ruined, it is clear that the Kalasan temple presents a complete and finished example of a style of architecture, not self-originated, but the logical result of a long tradition of structural experience in the art of building The question naturally arises from whence was this experience obtained, thus enabling this fully matured structure to emerge towards the end of the eighth century in the heart of Mid-Java? An analysis of the mode illustrated in this building may partly solve the problem In some of its aspects the Kalasan recalls the manipulation of the Khmer productions in Cambodia of the same date, and also in a similar manner with the earlier monuments at Pagan in Central Burma But the general character of much of the work on the Kalasan temple and other examples of this group seems most nearly allied to the art of Bengal at the beginning of the Pala period (8th century A D.). As almost all the productions of this Indian School have perished, mainly owing to the Muhammadan invasion of the thirteenth century, a comparison is difficult, but what has been referred to as the "lost temple type of pre-Islamic Bengal" may provide some data. Fragments of this type of structure recovered from various sites in Bengal and Bihar, bear a peculiar resemblance to some of the plastic art on the buildings in Java, while the same patterns and relief treatment are observable in the architecture of Burma and Cambodia of approximately the same date It appears therefore that during the latter half of the first millennium an art movement encompassing a very large region extending from the lower Gangetic plain to the islands of the China Sea was in operation, carried to distant places mainly through the medium of the Indo-Buddhist faith.