Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c46.17

c46.17

The stupa of Borobudur, or "Many Buddhas," so called on account of the innumerable images distributed over its various surfaces, stands on the summit of a low hill-top, the upper portion of which was levelled for its reception. Square in plan, but its right lines interrupted by projecting faces, it measures some five hundred feet side, and mounts up by a series of terraces to a total height of one hundred and sixteen feet. It assumes therefore the appearance of a huge mound of masonry with its paraboloid skyline fretted by a range of turrets, replicas in miniature of the stupa-shape, thus giving it a serrated contour. As a whole, and seen from a distance, the Borobudur presents no inspiring architectural composition as it lies tortoise-wise basking on the wide rocky bed prepared for it, yet one cannot fail to be moved by its immense size and massive bulk, and also on closer approach by its overwhelming spiritual significance emphasized by the long galleries of sculptured friezes carried around the corridors of its elevated terraces. These terraces, three in number, make up the square formation of the building, and each is approached by a steep flight of steps through an elaborately carved arched doorway. It is by means of these doorways that access is obtained to the galleries of sculpture, probably the most remarkable feature of the monument. Up to this height the stupa has followed the shape of a low pyramid in its general configuration but above the third terrace this pyramid becomes truncated to produce a wide flat surface, and from this stage what may be referred to as a change of key in its structural scheme takes place. Here the square system ceases, and a circular formation is introduced. For over the square platform three circular terraces arise, one above the other, diminishing in size, on each of which is disposed a regular series of smaller stupas amounting to seventy-two in all, and it is from these that the crenellated outline of the composition is derived. Then to crown the summit of the entire conception is a larger stupa raised in the centre forming the finial or pinnacle of the whole. (Plate CLXI).