Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c46.18

c46.18

In somewhat the same manner as all colossal monuments make their appeal, as for instance the pyramids of the Pharoahs, the stupa of Borobudur stirs the emotions not so much on account of its architectural character, but more through its phenomenal proportions, for what to the spectator seems to form part of the natural landscape, dwarfing its immediate surroundings, he realizes is a structure laboriously built up stone upon stone by means of the puny hands of his own kind. And it is also within the nature of things that such a unique creation should evoke feelings of a mystic quality with which in the course of time it has become associated. For example an attempt has been made to interpret its plan as a structural form of a "mandala," a subject pictured not unfrequently in the imaginative designs painted on Tibetan "tangkas" or temple banners. The mandala is a visionary conception reproduced in one dimension, of an assembly of celestial "mansions in the skies," as viewed by the Buddhist artist priests working in the Lamaseries on the heights of the Himalayas, and in some of the concentric passages and geometrical shapes of the Borobudur there is a certain resemblance to these magic buildings The fact that this great pile takes the form of a tumulus, but in plan is square has moved one writer to state that the architect's conception was "to erect a stupa on at pyramid."¹ Another has described it as "in its mass a cupola half rising from the earth, and holding within its bosom a stepped pyramid, loaded with images."² While a third remarks that its designer "instead of putting the stupa above the pyramid, really put the pyramid inside the stupa,"³ adding that it is a "symbolic microcosm, of which the superimposed stories symbolize the different stages of the ecstasies of dhyana" The actual facts no doubt were that under a powerful Buddhist hegemony and an inspired hierarchy it was resolved to raise a monument which while conforming in its general scheme to the traditional stupa ideal, should in the first place exceed all previous productions of a like nature in its dimensions, and secondly excel them in the prodigality of its sculptured themes. That both these objects were attained in the Borobudur is clearly demonstrated, on the one hand its immense size cannot fail to fill the spectator with awe, while on the other, the vast amount of statuary and the continuous friezes of plastic forms all of the highest quality are excelled in no other building. These friezes consist of a double series of panels numbering some thirteen hundred in all, and which if placed end to end it is estimated would extend in length for over three miles In these reliefs the projection is bold, what may be described as almost in the half round, and the vigour, perceptivity, and emotion expressed in the compositions entitle this Javanese school of plastic art to take a prominent place in the field of sculpture as a whole.