History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c33.s16: Palaces.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c33.s16
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Palaces.
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Whether any of the immense structures already described were ever occupied as residences by the Cambodian monarchs is not known, but the latest writer on the subject, General de Beylié, assumes, and he is followed to a certain extent by some other French authorities, that some of the temples were built as palaces for the King and occupied by him, his family, and courtiers, though in a Brahmanic state this is hardly probable.² It should be pointed out, however, that in the outer court of Beng Méaleâ are two groups of structures which have been described as the palaces of the King and Queen respectively, whereas if the temple had been built for a palace, they would be found in the central enclosure. On the west side of Phimêanakas, and within the palace enclosure of Angkor Thom, are the foundations of buildings, which are supposed to have been the residences of the King and his family; the women's quarters occupying the whole width of the enclosure against the west wall, in which there is no entrance gate. At Vât Phu, near Bassak, on either side of the causeway leading to the temple, is a structure of about 150 ft. frontage with a rectangular court at the back and surrounded with a corridor vaulted like those in the temples: and those are considered to be palaces, though they may have been occupied only by the Kings of Bassak, who were subject to the Cambodian monarch. Again at Phnom Chisor, to which reference has been made, on the north side of the court the sills of the windows are 6 ft. from the ground, so that the corridor they lighted may have been occupied by women. But in all these cases the accommodation would barely be sufficient for a hunting box, and for a monarch like the King of Cambodia, whose retinue consisted of hundreds if not thousands, the temples of Angkor Vât and Beng Méaleâ, Ta Prohm and Prah-khan, are the only structures which could possibly hold them. As regard Bayon, situated within the city of Angkor Thom and in proximity to the palace, that may have been occupied by the priests only, but in Angkor Vât and Beng Méaleâ the series of magnificent halls which figure in the enclosures would seem to have been provided for the needs of a great court; this, however, is a subject which requires further investigation, on which it is hoped that other inscriptions found, when deciphered, may perhaps throw more light. The temple and the King's palace were the only buildings in Cambodia where permanence was obtained by vaulting them over in stone. As this, according to the Cambodian system of construction, could only be effected by horizontal courses of stone corbelled out, the dimensions of the galleries and halls were extremely limited in their width, and increased accommodation could only be met by their extension in length—thus the outer corridor of Angkor Vât was 2,400 ft. in length, the cross halls in front of the second enclosure and those of the latter measure 1,800 ft., and the inner enclosure, including the passages leading to the sanctuary, about 900 ft. more, or altogether about 4,300 ft. of corridor, of which 3,300 ft., with the double aisles, was only about 18 ft. wide, and the remainder 10 ft. wide or less. Halls of greater width must have had roofs of timber covered with tiles, which have all disappeared long ago, and can never have had a long existence, as the termites or white ants in Cambodia rendered timber an ephemeral construction, teak being the only wood they are unable to destroy. One or two bas-reliefs give representations of small structures in front of which are groups of figures supposed to represent the King and his family, and these in design are identical with the gopuras which form the entrances to all the temples.
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² It should be borne in mind that in earlier times the monasteries or Mathas of the Brâhmans, being also colleges for sacred studies, must have been extensive to provide accommodation for the numerous students and pandits, and were liberally supported by royal bounties. These great structures may in many cases have been such collegiate Mathas.—Conf. Lajonquière ‘Inventaire Descriptif,’ tome ii. introd. p. 29.
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The principal remains existing are those of the great enclosure walls and the gates of Angkor Thom the capital, founded by Jayavarman II., the first king, but not completed or occupied till the reign of Yasovarman, the fourth king. The city measured close upon 10,000 ft. from east to west, and 9,600 ft. from north to south, giving a perimeter of 7½ miles to the enclosure walls. Those walls, about 22 ft. high, were surrounded by a moat 300 ft. wide and entered through five gates, one on the north, south and west sides, and two on the east, the most important, called the Gate of Victory, leading to the palace. Its plan, like those of the gopuras to which reference has been made, was cruciform, consisting of a central gateway 52 ft. square, with recessed angles and side wings. Three towers, the upper portions of which were sculptured on all four sides with the Brahmâ mask in stone similar to those in Woodcut No. 468, rose above the central gateway and the side wings. On each side of the gateway and in the recessed angles elephants' heads and trunks were carved, and above them numerous figures of Nâgas and other subjects. This is probably the entrance gateway described by the Chinese visitor in 1295, as he refers¹ to the great heads in stone above the gateways which he thought to be those of Buddha, to the figures of elephants on each side of the entrance gateway, and to the great bridge over the moat in front, on each side of which were fifty-four statues in stone of great height carrying a serpent with nine heads. The trunk of the serpent's body in this case formed the balustrade and at the entrance to the bridge were immense Nâga heads similar to those shown in Plate XLIV., Fig. 2. Portions of these figures still exist, as also traces of those in front of the other gates. Similar parapets have also been found at Bântèai Prah-khan, north of Angkor Thom. The other eastern gate led to the temple of Bayon, already referred to. The palace enclosure, situated nearly in the centre of the city, measured about 2,000 ft. by 800 ft., and was surrounded by a double wall, with moat between. The western portion of the enclosure was probably occupied by the King and his family, and with the exception of the pyramidal temple of Phimêanakas, a few towers and many stone banks, no architectural remains have been found. In front of the palace enclosure was a great terrace over 800 ft. long by 45 ft. wide, and 15 ft. high, the walls of which were sculptured with elephants; no traces of walls of any description have been found in front of this terrace, suggesting that it formed an open space where reviews took place before the King and his courtiers on the terrace. At the north end of this square is a cruciform structure about 30 ft. wide and 60 ft. long, richly decorated, with six bands of sculptured figures, and it was on the top of this that the French explorers found the supposed statue of the leprous king to whom the monument was ascribed.
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¹ 'Description du Royaume de Cambodge par un voyageur Chinois qui a visité cette contrée à la fin du xiiie siècle,' traduit du Chinois par M. Abel Remusat. 1817.
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The walls of the cities were also of very great extent, and of dimensions commensurate with their importance. They seem generally to have been constructed of a coarse ferruginous stone in large blocks, and only the gates and ornamental parts were of the fine-grained sandstone of which the temples and palaces are built. Wonderful as these temples and palaces are, the circumstance that, perhaps, after all gives the highest idea of the civilisation of these ancient Cambodians is the perfection of their roads and bridges. One great trunk road seems to have stretched for 300 miles across the country from Korat, in a south-easterly direction, to the Me-kong river. It was a raised causeway, paved throughout like a Roman road, and every stream that it crossed was spanned by a bridge, many of which remain perfect to the present day. Dr. Bastian describes two of these: one, 400 ft. in length, and 50 ft. in breadth, richly ornamented by balustrades and cornices, and representations of snakes and the Snake king.¹ The extraordinary thing is, that it is constructed without radiating arches, but like every structure in the place, by a system of bracketing or horizontal arches, and without cement. Yet it has withstood, for five centuries at least, the violence of the tropical torrent which it spans.
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¹ 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' vol. xxxv. p. 75.
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Even if no vestiges of these roads or bridges remained, the sculptures of Angkor Vât are sufficient to prove the state of perfection which the art of transport had reached in this community. In these there are numerous representations of chariots, all with wheels from 3 ft. or 5 ft. in height, and with sixteen spokes, which must be of metal, for no London coachmaker at the present day could frame anything so delicate in wood. The rims, too, are in metal, and, apparently, the wheel turns on the axle. Those who are aware how difficult a problem it is to make a perfect wheel will appreciate how much is involved in such a perfect solution of the problem as is here found. But it requires a knowledge of the clumsiness of the Romans and our mediæval forefathers in this respect, and the utter barbarism of the wheels represented in Indian sculptures and still used in India, to feel fully its importance as an index of high civilisation.
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If, however, the Cambodians were the only people who before the 13th century made such wheels as these, it is also probably true that their architects were the only ones who had sufficient mechanical skill to construct their roofs wholly of hewn stone, without the aid either of wood or concrete, and who could dovetail and join them so beautifully that they remain watertight and perfect after five centuries of neglect in a tropical climate. Nothing can exceed the skill and ingenuity with which the stones of the roofs are joggled and fitted into one another, unless it is the skill with which the joints of their plain walls are so polished and so evenly laid without cement of any kind. It is difficult to detect their joints even in a sun-picture, which generally reveals flaws not to be detected by the eye. Except in the works of the old pyramid-building Egyptians, I know of nothing to compare with it.
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When we put all these things together, it is difficult to decide whether we ought most to admire the mechanical skill which the Cambodian architects displayed in construction or the largeness of conception and artistic merit which pervades every part of their designs. These alone ought to be more than sufficient to recommend their study to every architect. To the historian of art the wonder is to find temples with such a singular combination of styles in such a locality—Indian temples constructed with pillars almost purely classical in design, and ornamented with bas-reliefs so strangely Egyptian in character. To the ethnologist they are almost equally interesting, in consequence of the religion to which they are dedicated. Taken together, their circumstances render their complete investigation of the utmost importance.
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SIAM.
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CONTENTS.
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Structures in the temple enclosures—Temples at Sukhodaya, Phra Pathom, Sajjanâlaya, Ayuthiâ, Lophaburi, Sangkalok and Bangkok—Hall of Audience at Bangkok.
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ALTHOUGH the architecture of Siam is much less important than that of Burma on the one hand, or Cambodia on the other, it is still sufficiently so to prevent its being passed over in a general summary of styles. Its worst feature, as we now know it, is, that it is so extremely modern. In the 10th century the Thaï, a people from Sayam-desa on the north, began to press southwards against the earlier Brahmanical state of Cambodia, and founded a new kingdom. Up to the 14th century the capital of this country was Sukhothaï, or Sukhodaya, a city on the Me-nam, 250 miles from the sea in a direct line, and situated close to the hills.¹ About the year 1350 the Thaï, now known as Siamese, were successful in their wars with the Cambodians, and eventually succeeded in capturing their capital, Dwâravatî, which, under the name of Ayuthiâ, became the capital of the new empire, and practically they annexed all the western provinces of Cambodia to their dominion. They brought in Buddhism, which proved fatal to the Brahmanical civilisation, and architecture with the other arts degenerated.
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¹ This city was visited by the late M. Lucien Fournereau, who was sent by the French Government in 1891 on an archæological mission to Siam. The results of his researches are published in two quarto volumes with admirably drawn plans of numerous temples and photogravures of their remains. The second volume appeared after the author's death in 1906, and contains plans of the older temples at Sangkalok, Phitsanulok, Lophaburi and Ayuthiâ, but unfortunately without descriptions.—'Le Siam Ancien: Archéologie—Epigraphie—Géographie' ('Annales du Musée Guimet,' tome xxvii. part 1, and xxxi. part 2), 1905 and 1908.
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Having accomplished this, they moved their capital down to Ayuthiâ, a little more than 50 miles from the sea; and three centuries afterwards Bangkok succeeded it, and is now the capital. It is by no means certain whether this migration downwards was caused by political events and increasing commerce, or from the country gradually becoming drier and more fit for human habitation. Judging from what happened in Bengal in historical times, I should fancy it was the latter.
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In India we find civilised nations first established in the Panjâb and on the watershed between the Satlaj and the Jamnâ. Between 2000 and 3000 years B.C. Oudh seems to have become dry enough for human habitation, and Ayodhyâ (from which the Siamese capital took its name) became the chief city. Between 1000 and 500 B.C. Jânakpur on the north, and Râjagriha on the south, were the capital cities of Bengal; but both being situated on the hills, it was not till Asoka's time (250 B.C.) that Patna on the Sôn and Vaisâlî on the Ganges, became capitals; and still another 1000 years elapsed before Gaur and Dacca became important, while Murshidâbâd, Huglî, and Calcutta, are cities of yesterday.¹ The same phenomenon seems to have occurred in Siam, and, what is of still more interest, as we shall presently see, in Cambodia.
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¹ For the particulars of this desiccation of the Valley of the Ganges, see the 'Journal of the Geological Society,' April, 1863.
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472. Ruins of a Pagoda at Ayuthiâ.
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As Ayuthiâ was for three centuries the flourishing capital of one of the great building races of the world, we should, of course, look for considerable magnificence having been displayed in its architecture. From the accounts of the early Portuguese and Dutch travellers who visited it in the days of its glory, it seems to have merited the title they bestowed upon it of the "Venice of the East," and the remains justify their eulogiums. Some of the buildings, however, seem to have been constructed of brick and wood; and as the city has now been practically deserted for more than a century, the wild fig-trees have everywhere inserted their roots into the masonry, and decay has progressed rapidly among the wooden erections. As described by recent visitors, nothing can be more wildly picturesque than this once splendid city, now overgrown with jungle; but such a stage of decay is, of all conditions, the least favourable to the researches of the antiquary. Fournereau, however, was able not only to measure and work out the plans of some twenty temples, which are illustrated in his work already referred to, but to classify and describe the various constructions found in the enclosures of the temple, giving them the local names, and thus throwing an entirely new light on Siamese architecture.
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Vât is the name given to the outer enclosure of a temple, which was always rectangular, and generally of greater length
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473. Transverse section of the Bot of Vât Jaï, Sukhodaya.
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than width. The enclosure walls were as a rule about 3 ft. thick, and from 12 to 14 ft. high. The most important building in the Vât was the Bot—the sacred temple—and usually the first built. This would seem to correspond with the Burmese *Thein*, or ordination hall for priests,¹ but in Siam it was always included in the temple enclosures, where it stood opposite the principal The scanned page is entirely blank (an empty page or endpaper). There is no text to transcribe.
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¹ Sanskrit, *Uposathâ-gâra*, or *Upasthâna-sâla*.—*Ante*, vol. i. pp. 213, 242.
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entrance. In Burma it seems sometimes to have been built in a separate enclosure of its own. The Bot was rectangular on plan, and was divided into central and side aisles by columns in stone, carrying open timber roofs covered with glazed tiles in bright colours. The illustration of the Bot of the Vât Jaï at Sukhodaya (Woodcut No. 473) shows that in section it resembled that of an early Christian church with nave and side aisles. The roofs over the side aisles were at a lower level than that of the central aisle, leaving space for a clerestory, which consisted of pierced terra-cotta slabs. Similar perforated screens were built in between the outer columns of the aisles. In important temples the Bot had double aisles on each side. The system of tenoning beams into the columns is similar to that which is found in Chinese temples and halls, but here in Siam the columns are sometimes crowned with capitals carved with lotus leaves, the main beams and plates resting on the top of the capitals, the transverse beams across the aisles, and the beams carrying the clerestory being tenoned into the columns.
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The principal feature in the Bot, admission to which was confined to the priests, was the great altar carrying a gilded statue of Buddha, which was always placed in the central aisle, in the last bay but one. The Bot, which was always preceded by a porch, as a rule stood opposite the east entrance of the enclosure.
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In its rear was the principal Phra, or stûpa, of the temple, of which there were two types of design (Plate XLVI.), the Phra-Prang and the Phra-Chedi. The former is of a type peculiar to Siam; about half-way up is the cell, with its entrance door on the eastern side, access to which was obtained by a steep flight of steps, and recessed niches on the three other sides; the form which it takes differs in many essential respects from those we find either in India or Burma. The top, or upper part (Woodcut No. 472), has a domical shape, which we can easily fancy to be derived from the stûpa, but the upright part looks more like the Sikhara of a Hindû temple than anything Buddhist.
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The Phra-Chedi is based apparently on the stûpas of India, the cell containing the relics of Buddha, however, being placed underground, and reached in the larger examples by secret passages in the thickness of the walls. There is also sometimes one characteristic Siamese feature not found in India or Cambodia, in the lower storey of the annulet spire, round which a series of detached columns or piers are built, giving the aspect of a classic peristyle; this exists in one of the Phra-Chedis of Vât Jaï, at Sukhodaya, and in the great example at Phra Pathom. The enormous structure now existing of the Pathom Chedi is the second enclosure or envelope of the original Chedi, and rises to the height of 344 ft. It is surrounded by a triple gallery with numerous pavilions, the roofs of which were in the last rebuilding of 1862 copied from those of Angkor Vât in Cambodia.
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Among other buildings cited by Fournereau are the Vihâns (Vihâras) and Kamburiens, similar in design to the Bot, but of smaller dimensions, where the people assembled to offer up prayers and listen to sermons.
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Of the exceptional buildings found only in the Royal temples are the Chattamukk¹ and the Mondob (Mandapa) or Mora-dob. The former, cruciform in plan, was originally built to shelter a statue of the four-faced Brahmâ; this has been destroyed, and its place taken by four niches, placed back to back, each with a statue of Buddha facing the cardinal points. The finest example is found in the Vât Mondob Sì Nà at Sajjanâlaya, where the plan is that of a Greek cross, nearly 100 ft. in its extreme dimensions, with central and side aisles to each arm. The Mondob is usually a rectangular building, containing a statue of Buddha. In the Vât Si Jum at Sukhodaya, it measured 57 ft. wide by 70 ft. deep, and sheltered an immense statue of Buddha, nearly 50 ft. high, which was constructed in brick, coated with stucco and gilded. The walls of the Mondob were also built in brick, and they carried a lofty roof or tower of the same material; at a height of 32 ft. from the ground the brick courses commenced to project one in front of the other, till they met at the top, thus forming in section an inverted pyramid. Both externally and internally, the brick walls and roof were coated with stucco. The roof has now fallen in, but the structure when built was probably over 100 ft. high. Smaller Mondobs or pavilions were built to hold the Buddhapâda, the mythical representation of the sacred foot of Buddha.² Two other buildings are quoted by Fournereau, the Ho' Rakhang, or belfry, and the Ho' Trai, or sacred library, the latter found only in the Royal temples. The sacred tank in the enclosures was known as the *Sa*, equivalent to the Cambodian *Sra*.
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¹ Sanskrit, *Chaturmukha*; these are analogues of the Jaina Chaumukhs. Brahmâ is styled Chaturmukha and Chaturvaktra—having four heads.
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² Called the *Phrabat*.—Alabaster, ‘Wheel of the Law,’ pp. 283ffg. and plate. The most famous Phrabat in Siam is about 12 miles from Lophaburi.
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Of some of these structures many examples would be found in the same enclosure, thus in the Vât Jaï at Sukhodaya, the most important temple illustrated by Fournereau, there was one great Phra-Chedi and its annexes, two Bots, six Vihâns, three Kamburiens, one Mondob, ten small pavilions, five Phra-Prang, and over a hundred Phra-Chedi, most of these being VÂT SISAVAI, SUKHODAYA.
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erected by private persons as funeral monuments and memorials—altogether nearly two hundred structures, all of which are shown on Fournereau’s plan; the photographs published in his work show the great extent of the remains still existing of the Vât Jaï at Sukhodaya. The principal Phra differs slightly in design from those already described—the upper part being partly Chedi and partly Prang, it is raised on a platform and surrounded by eight smaller towers, consisting of a lower storey, with niche on each side containing a statue of Buddha, with a superstructure recalling the entrance doorways of Cambodia and Java, though the sculpture is very inferior. Above the architrave, carried by rectangular piers with moulded capitals, is a pediment enclosed with richly carved moulding, with dragons’ heads on each side, and in the tympanum, which forms a niche, is a figure of Buddha in the Nirvâna posture, with other figures much mutilated below. Above there is a second storey with a repetition of the pediment and niche to a smaller scale, and there may have been a third storey, rising about 25 feet in height, the great Phra in the centre being 80 to 90 ft. high. Three towers of a similar kind, placed side by side, exist in the Vât Sisavaï, also at Sukhodaya (Plate XLVII.), where they take the place of the Phra. Above a plain ground storey, with three angle projections, are other storeys, of which six still exist in the western tower on the right, and on each face is a niche with trefoil head and Nâga terminations enclosing a statue and, on the angle projections, antefixæ carved with heads of Garudas and other deities. The upper storeys are only slightly set back one behind the other, so that they may be the prototypes of the Phra-Prang already described.
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No description is given by Fournereau of the temples in Ayuthiâ and Lophaburi, nor are there any views of the ruins, but his plans suggest a close resemblance to those of Cambodia. Thus in the Vât Thâ Sâo, at Ayuthiâ, the central court, with the great Phra in the centre, is more or less identical with those of Beng Méaleâ and Angkor Vât. The galleries round it and the towers at the angles and in the centre of each front are evidently derived from Cambodia, and may have been carried out by Cambodian architects. The plan of the Phra-Prang in the centre is similar to that of the Cambodian and Javanese temples, with long flights of steps to the entrance porch, and the three small cells or recesses on the three other sides, instead of the one steep flight, as in Siam. The Bot in this temple measures 228 ft. long by 49 ft. wide, and is one of the largest examples in Siam. In the Vât Phu Tai, also at Ayuthiâ, the inner court has galleries round it, the entrance to the same being flanked by This image contains an empty page with no printed text or figures.
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The Great Tower of the Pagoda Vat-ching at Bangkok. (From Mouhot.)
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PLATE XLVIII.
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PLAN OF THE VAT NÂ PHRA-THÂT, LOPHABURI.
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two Vihâns, one on either side, the Bot being here transferred to the rear, or the west side, with a western entrance.¹ In the Vât na Phra-Thât at Lophaburi (Plate XLVIII.), the plan is more complicated, there being an outer and inner galleried court, united by the Bot, in front of which is a porch of unusual dimensions, preceded by what seemed to be a triumphal entrance gate. Numerous Phras and other structures are shown in the outer galleried court, such as exist in all the plans drawn by Fournereau. A view of the central temple is given in P. A. Thompson's 'Lotus Land' (p. 240), its tower bears considerable resemblance to one of the Vât Sisavaï towers (Plate XLVII.). The gallery is shown also on the plans of two temples at Sangkalok and in the Vât Xang Phuek at Sajjanâlaya. An exceptional Vihân is found in the Vât Phra-nôn, also at Sajjanâlaya, where the roof is carried by sixteen square piers, four rows of piers with four in each row.
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¹ The Bot can usually be distinguished from the Vihân by the Phra-Sema, or boundary stones which are set up round it; these are shown on many of Fournereau's plans, and on the plan of Vât Phu Tai round the western structure.
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The influence of Cambodia is shown also in the Vât Phra Prang Sam Yôt at Lophaburi, which consists of three sanctuaries, cruciform on plan, side by side, with corridors between them. Above each of these sanctuaries is a lofty tower with five receding storeys, enriched with sculptured features, similar to those of the Vât Sisavaï at Sukhodaya (Plate XLVII.).
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The design of the Phra-Prang is found in the crowning members of the pagodas of Bangkok, but they are covered with an elaboration of detail and exuberance of coloured ornament that has seldom been surpassed, nor is it desirable it should be, for it is here carried to an extent truly barbarous (Woodcut No. 474).
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Notwithstanding the bad taste which they display, these Bangkok pagodas are interesting in the history of architecture as exemplifying the instinctive mode in which some races build, and the innate and irrepressible love of architecture they display. But it also shows how easily these higher aspirations degenerate into something very like vulgarity, when exercised by a people in so low a stage of civilisation as the modern Siamese.
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The same remarks apply to their civic buildings: palaces and porticos, and even dwelling-houses, are all as rich as carving and gilding and painting can make them; but, as in the pagodas, it is overdone and fails to please, because it verges on vulgarity.
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The typical design of all these halls and minor buildings will be understood from the following woodcut (No. 475), representing the Hall of Audience at Bangkok. Like all the others, it has two roofs intersecting one another at right angles, and a spire of greater or less elevation on the intersection. Sometimes one, two, or three smaller gables are placed in front of the first, each lower than the one behind it, so as to give a pyramidal effect to the whole. Generally, the subordinate gables are of the same width as those in the centre; but sometimes the outer one is smaller, forming a porch. In the audience hall just quoted there are three gables each way. These may be seen on the right and left of the central spire in the view, but the first and second towards the front are hidden by the outer gable. The point of sight being taken exactly in front, it looks in the view as if there were only one in that direction.
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475. Hall of Audience at Bangkok. (From Mouhot.)
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The Burmese adopt the same arrangement in their civil buildings, and in Siam and Burma the varieties are infinite, from the simple pavilion with four gables, supported on four columns, to those with twelve and sixteen gables, combined with a greater complication of walls and columns for their support.
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As the Siamese are certainly advancing in civilisation, it may be asked, Will not their architecture be improved and purified by the process? The answer is, unfortunately, too easy. The new civilisation is not indigenous, but an importation. The men of progress wear hats, the ladies French gowns, and they build palaces with Corinthian porticos and sash-windows. It is the sort of civilisation that is found in the Bâzâr in Calcutta, and it is not desirable, in an architectural point of view, at all events, if, indeed, it is so in any other respect.
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JÂVA.
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History—Boro-Budur—Temples at Mendut—On the Dieng Plateau—At Jabang—Prambânan—Suku—Near Melang, and at Panataran.
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There is no chapter in the whole history of Eastern art so full of apparent anomalies, or which so completely upsets our preconceived ideas of things as they ought to be, as that which treats of the architectural history of the island of Jâva. In the Introduction, it was stated that the leading phenomenon in the history of India was the continued influx of race after race across the Indus into her fertile plain, but that no reflex wave had ever returned to redress the balance.¹ This seems absolutely true as regards the west, and practically so in reference to the north, or the neighbouring countries on the east. Tibet and Burma received their religion from India, not, however, either by conquest or colonisation, but by missionaries sent to instruct and convert. This also is true of Ceylon, and partially so at least of Cambodia. These countries being all easily accessible by land, or a very short sea passage, it is there that we might look for migrations, if any ever took place, but it is not so. The one country to which they overflowed was Jâva, and there they colonised to such an extent as for nearly 1000 years to obliterate the native arts and civilisation, and supplant it by their own. What is still more singular is, that certain of the traditions assert that it was not from the nearest shores of India that these emigrants departed, but from the western coast. We have always been led to believe that the Indians hated the sea, and dreaded long sea voyages, yet it seems not improbable that the colonists of Jâva came not from the valley of the Ganges, but from that of the Indus, and passed round Ceylon in thousands and tens of thousands on their way to their distant sea-girt home. The solution of this difficulty may perhaps be found in the suggestion that the colonists were not Indians after all, in the sense in which we usually understand the term, but nations from the north-west—the inhabitants in fact of Gandhâra and Kâmbojâ,¹ who write. The few essays he attempted are meagre in the extreme, and nine-tenths of his knowledge perished with him. Had these two men been able to work together to the end, they would have left little for future investigation. There was, however, still a fourth labourer in the field—Dr. John Leyden—who, had his life been spared, could have easily assimilated the work of his colleagues, and with his own marvellous genius for acquiring languages and knowledge of all sorts, would certainly have lifted the veil that shrouded so much of Javan history in darkness, and left very little to be desired in this respect. He died, however, almost before his work was begun, and the time was too short, and the task too new, for the others to do all that with more leisure and better preparation they might have accomplished.
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¹ "As for the Indian kings none of them ever led an army out of India to attempt the conquest of any other country, lest they should be deemed guilty of injustice."—Arrian, 'Indica,' ch. ix.
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During the last ninety years the Dutch have done a good deal to redeem the neglect of the previous centuries, but, as has happened in the sister island of Ceylon, it was for long without system, and no master mind appeared to give unity to the whole, or to extract from what is done the essence, which is all the public care to possess. The Dutch Government, however, published in 1874, in four great folio volumes, 400 plates, from Mr. Wilsen’s drawings, of the architecture and sculptures of Boro-Budur; and the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences published sixty-five photographic plates of the same monument; and as Dr Leemans of Leiden added a volume of text, historical and descriptive, there is no monument in the East so fully and so well illustrated as this one, and probably none that better deserves the pains that have been bestowed upon it. The same Society published also 333 photographs of other Javan antiquities and temples, but, unfortunately, for the most part without any accompanying text. A thoroughly well qualified antiquary, Heer Brumund, was employed to visit the localities, and write descriptions, but unfortunately he died before his task was half complete. A fragment of his work is published in the 33rd volume of the ‘Transactions’ of the Society, but it is only a fragment, and just sufficient to make us long for more. At the same time an Oriental scholar, Dr. R. H. Th. Friederich, was employed by Government to translate the numerous inscriptions that abound in the island, which would probably explain away all the difficulties in the history of the island and its monuments, but none have appeared since some of these were published in the 26th volume of the ‘Verhandelingen’ in 1856.
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Within the last twenty years, however, many works have been published, which add considerably to our knowledge, one of the earliest being that of Herr J. W. Ijzerman¹ on the country between Surakarta and Jogjakarta (1891). His work includes all the temples in the vicinity of Prambânan and a conjectural restoration of the temple of Kali-Bening, unfortunately drawn to so large a scale that the elevation is on two sheets as also the plan. An excellent map of the country also is given with four photographs of the monastery of Sari, which are of great interest. Dr. J. Groneman,² working in the same district, has given sixty-two photographs of one of the most important temples, *i.e.*, that at Loro Jonggrang. The plan of this temple is given in a third work by Albert Tissandier,³ who spent some time both in Jâva and Cambodia measuring the temples of which the plans are published in his book, as also many valuable photogravures. The temples on the Dieng Plateau, described in a work by Herr von Saher,⁴ had already been photographed by the Batavian Society, from which series some have been reproduced. Two monographs have also been published, one by Herr Kersjies and G. den Hamer⁵ on the small temple of Mendut, 2 miles from Boro-Budur, and the other, by Dr. J. E. A. Brandes, as the first volume of the Archæological Survey on the temple of Jago in the eastern part of the island,⁶ followed by a second volume on Singasari and Panataran, in all cases with much architectural detail and excellent plans. A large number of plans and elevations have also from time to time been published in the Reports of the Government Commission appointed in 1901,⁷ of which five volumes have appeared. The same subject is also treated in General de Beylié's work,⁸ dealing generally with architecture in India and the extreme East.
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¹ 'Beschrijving der Oudheden nabij de Soerakarta en Djogdjakarta,' door J. W. Ijzerman, met Atlas, 4to. S'Gravenhage, 1891. The Atlas consists of map and 32 folding plates, and in the text are 15 photographs on 10 plates.
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² 'Tjandi Parambanan op midden Java na de Outgraving,' door Dr. J. Groneman, met 62 Lichtdrukken. Leiden, 1893.
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³ Albert Tissandier, 'Cambodge et Java,' Paris, 1896.
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⁴ 'De Versierende Kunsten in Nederlandsch Oost-Indie einige hindoemonumenten op midden Java,' door E. A. Von Saher, 1900.
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⁵ 'De Tjandi Mendoet voor de restauratie,' door B. Kersjies en G. den Hamer (with 22 photo-plates), 1903.
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⁶ Of the Archæological Survey under the Government Commission have been published:—Tjandi Djago; 'Archæologisch Onderzoek op Java en Madura,' door Dr. J. L. A. Brandes (with 104 photo-plates, 24 sheets of drawings and a map), vol. i. 1904; and 'Beschrijving van Tjandi Singasari en Wolkentooneelen van Panataran,' door H. L. Leydie Melville en J. Knebel (with 113 photo-plates, 19 drawings and 2 maps), vol. ii. 1909.
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⁷ 'Rapporten van de Commissie in Nederlandsch-Indie voor Oudheidkundig Onderzoek op Java en Madura,' 1901-1906; also, 'Tonnet (Martine) Het werk der Commissie in Nederlandsch-Indie voor Oudheidkundig Onderzoek op Java en Madura,' 1907.
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⁸ Beylié (Genl. L. de), 'L'Architecture Hindoue en extreme Orient,' Paris, 1907.
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Amidst the confusion of their annals, it is rather fortunate that the Javans make no claim to more remote political history than the fabled arrival in the island of Âdi Sâka, the founder of the Saka era, in A.D. 79.¹ It is true that in the 8th or 9th century they obtained an abridged translation of the Mahâbhârata, and, under the title of the 'Brâta Yuddha,' adopted it as a part of their own history, assigning sites on the island for all the principal scenes of that celebrated struggle which took place in the neighbourhood of Delhi and Hastinâpura, adding only their own favourite Gendara Desa (Gandhâra), to which they assigned a locality on the north of the island.² It is thus, unfortunately, that history is written in the East, and because it is so written, the Javans next thought it necessary to bring Sâlivâhana, the founder of the Saka era, to their island also. Having adopted his era, their childish vanity required his presence there, but as it is certain he never saw the island, his visit is fabled to have resulted in failure, and said to have left no traces of his presence.
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¹ In Jâva this era dates from A.D. 75, but it may have been altered at a late date.—W. von Humboldt, 'Ueber die Kawi Sprache auf Java,' Bd. i. S. 10, *note*.
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² Sir S. Raffles' 'History of Java,' pl. 24; text, vol. i. p. 465, 8vo. edition.
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Leaving these fabulous ages, we come to a tradition that seems to rest on a surer foundation. "In the year 525 (A.D. 603 or 599), it being foretold to a king of Kuj'rât, or Gujarât, that his country would decay and go to ruin, he resolved to send his son to Jâva.³ He embarked with about 5000 followers in six large and about 100 small vessels, and after a voyage of four months, reached an island they supposed to be Jâva; but finding themselves mistaken, re-embarked, and finally settled at Matârem, in the centre of the island they were seeking." "The prince now found that men alone were wanting to make a great and flourishing state; he accordingly applied to Gujarât for assistance, when his father, delighted at his success, sent him a reinforcement of 2000 people." "From this period," adds the chronicle, "Java was known and celebrated as a kingdom; an extensive commerce was carried on with Gujarât and other countries, and the bay of Matârem was filled with adventurers from all parts."
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³ Lassen rejects the statement that the emigrants came from Gujarât or Western India, in favour of another, perhaps earlier, tradition that they came from Kalinga.—'Indische Alterthumskunde,' Bd. ii. (2nd. ed.), Ss. 1066 and 1085, *note*.
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During the sovereignty of this prince and his two immediate successors, "the country advanced in fame and prosperity. The city of Mendang Kamûlan, since called Prambânan, increased 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
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¹ Sir S. Raffles’ ‘History of Java,’ vol. ii. 8vo. edition, pp. 87 *et seqq.*; Lassen’s, ‘Indische Alterthumskunde,’ Bd. ii. (2 Aufl.). Ss. 1059 *et seqq.*
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This is supported by an inscription found at Menankabu, in Sumatra, wherein a king, who styles himself Mahârâja Adirâja Âdityadharma King of Prathama—the first or greatest Jâva—boasts of his conquests and prowess, and he proclaims himself a Buddhist, a worshipper of the five Dhyâni Buddhas, and records his having erected a great seven-storeyed vihâra in honour of Buddha.² This inscription is dated fifty years later, or in A.D. 656, but its whole tone is so completely confirmatory of the traditions just quoted from Sir S. Raffles, that there seems little doubt the two refer to events occurring about the same time.
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² I am perfectly aware that this is not borne out by the translation of this inscription 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.
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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 Jâva the Less, or Sumatra, was really the island he visited. It certainly was the Iabadios, or Yâvadwîpa, of Ptolemy, and just possibly the Jâva 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 Jâva proper. “In this country,” he says, “Heretics and Brâhmans 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.
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³ Yule’s ‘Marco Polo,’ 2nd. ed. vol. ii. pp. 266 *et seqq.*
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⁴ Beal’s translation, p. 169, ‘Buddhist Records,’ vol. i. p. lxxxi.
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That there were Brâhmans in these islands before the advent of the Buddhist emigrants in the 7th century seems more than probable from the traditions about the Brâhman Tritresta or Tritâstri, collected by Sir S. Raffles⁵ and others; but, if so, they were Aryan Brâhmans, 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 unfashioned or carved into rude representations of Hindû deities —so rude that even Ganesa can hardly sometimes be recognised; and it frequently requires an almost Hindû trustfulness to believe that these rude stones sometimes represent even Siva and Vishnu and other gods of the Hindû Pantheon.¹ It seems as if the early Brâhmans tried to teach their native converts to fashion gods for themselves, but, having no artistic knowledge of their own to communicate, failed miserably in the attempt. The Buddhists, on the contrary, were artists, and came in such numbers that they were able to dispense with native assistance, nearly, if not altogether.
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⁵ Raffles, vol. ii. pp. 77 *et seqq.*; but see Lassen, *ut sup.*, pp. 1063 *et seqq.*
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¹ About half of the earlier photographs of the Batavian Society are filled with representations of these rude deities, which resemble more the images of Easter Island than anything Indian.
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The next recorded event that seems to bear on our investigations is the mission of the children of Deva Kasûma to Kling or India, in order that they might be educated in the Brahmanical religion.² This event took place in A.D. 914, and seems to point to a time when the Buddhist religion, as evidenced by the erection of Boro-Budur, had died out, and the quasi-Hindû temples of Prambânan and Singasari had superseded those of the Buddhists. Those at Prambânan are said to have been completed in A.D. 1097, which seems an extremely probable date for the Chandi Sewu or "1000 temples." From that period till the beginning of the 15th century, the series of monuments—many of them with dates upon them³—are tolerably complete, and there will be no difficulty in classifying them whenever the task is fairly undertaken.
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² Raffles, 'History of Java,' vol. ii. p. 93.
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³ The compilers of the catalogue of the photographs of the Batavian Society use 53 instead of 78 or 79 as the factor for converting Saka dates into those of the Christian Era. As, however, Brumund, Leemans, and all the best modern authors use the Indian Index, it is here adhered to throughout.
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At this time we find the island divided into two kingdoms; one, having its capital at Pajajaram, about 40 miles east of Batavia, occupied the whole of the western or Sunda part of the island. The Sundas, however, were not a building race, and the portion occupied by them need not be again referred to here. It contains no buildings except the rude Hindû remains above referred to.
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The eastern portion of the island was occupied by the kingdom of Majapahit, founded, apparently, about the year 1300. It soon rose to a higher pitch of power and splendour than any of the preceding kingdoms, and the capital was adorned with edifices of surpassing magnificence, but mostly in brick, so that now they are little more than a mass of indistinguishable ruins. When, however, it had lasted little more than a century, Muhammadan missionaries appeared on the island, and gradually—not by conquest or the sword, but by persuasion—induced the inhabitants of the island to forsake the religion of their forefathers and adopt that of the Arabian Prophet. In the year 1479 the Muhammadans had become so powerful that the city of Majapahit was taken by them by storm, and the last Hindû dynasty of the island overthrown, and those that remained of the foreign race driven to take refuge in the island of Bali.¹
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¹ These latter dates are taken from Raffles and Crawfurd, but as they are perfectly well ascertained, no reference seems needful.
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Then occurred what was, perhaps, the least-expected event in all "this strange eventful history." It is as if the masons had thrown away their tools, and the chisels had dropped from the hands of the carvers. From that time forward no building was erected in Jâva, and no image carved, that is worth even a passing notice. At a time when the Muhammadans were
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[Figure: 476. THE PRINCIPAL TEMPLES OF JÂVA. A. Dieng Plateau. B. Prambânan. 1. Chandi Plaosan. 2. Chandi Sewu. 3. Chandi Lumbang. 4. Chandi Loro Jong-grang. 5. Chandi Sari. 6. Chandi Sojiewan. 7. Chandi Kali-Bening.]
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adorning India with monuments of surpassing magnificence no one in Jâva thought of building either a mosque, or a tomb, or a palace that would be deemed respectable in any second-class state in any part of the world.
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For nearly nine centuries (A.D. 603-1479) foreign colonists had persevered in adorning the island with edifices almost unrivalled elsewhere of their class; but at the end of that time, as happened so often in India, their blood had become diluted, their race impure, their energy effete, and, as if at the touch of a magician's wand, they disappear. The inartistic native races resumed their sway, and art vanished from the land, never, probably, again to reappear.
Cites (6)
- Ἰνδική — Λούκιος Φλάουιος Ἀρριανός, Ancient Greek
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Vaiśālī
- Rājagṛha
- Ayodhyā (Sāketa)
- Dhaka