The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.2

c11.2

The ruins of Boro-Budur (¹) constitute indisputably the most important Buddhist monument of the island of Java. We know also that they alone can compete, in the amplitude of their dimensions and the profusion of the bas-reliefs with which their walls are covered, with the other gem of Far-Eastern archæology, I mean Angkor-Vat. In beauty of site they even far surpass the rival wonder of Cambodia. Occupying a detached position in advance of a small chain of mountains, which forms a screen on the south, the eminence on which stands Boro-Budur dominates the vast valley of Progo, all covered with shimmering palm-groves and framed on both sides by the majestic summits of great volcanoes. To the west stretch the deep recesses of the Menoreh, flanked by the imposing sugar-loaf of the Sumbing, in height exceeding 10,000 feet; to the east extend the wonderfully pure curves of the twin peaks of the Mer-Babu, the Mount of Ashes, and of the Mer-Api, the Mount of Fire, the latter still active; and in the northern distance, half-way to the sea, whose vapours may be faintly descried, the rounded hill of Magelang represents the head of the nail which, according to the native tradition, fixed Java to the bottom of the ocean. The flat and marshy borders of the Cambodian Great-Lake have nothing to compare with this sublime scenery; and yet it is a fact of common experience that Boro-Budur produces at first sight a general impression much less profound than does Angkor-Vat.