The History of Java, v. 1-2

by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

CHÁNDI SÉWU, or THE THOUSAND TEMPLES.

In the whole course of my life I have never met with such stupendous and finished specimens of human labour, and of the science and taste of "ages long since forgot," crowded together in so small a compass as in this little spot; which, to use a military phrase, I deem to have been the head quarters of Hinduism in Java. These ruins are situated exactly eight hundred and thirty-five yards north-north-east from the northern extremity of those of Lóro Jóngran, and one thousand three hundred and forty-five yards from the high road opposite the bándar's house. Having had in view all the way one lofty pyramidal or conical ruin, covered with foliage, and surrounded by a multitude of much smaller ones, in every stage of humbled majesty and decay, you find yourself, on reaching the southern face, very suddenly between two gigantic figures in a kneeling posture, and of terrific forms, appearing to threaten you with their uplifted clubs; their bulk is so great, that the stranger does not readily comprehend their figure. These gigantic janitors are represented kneeling on the left knee, with a small cushion under the right ham, the left resting on the retired foot. The height of the pedestal is fifteen inches, of the figure, seven feet nine inches to the top of the curls; total, nine feet. The head twenty-six inches long: width across the shoulders, three feet ten inches. The pedestal just comprises the kneeling figure, and no more.

The character and expression of the face I have never met with elsewhere: it belongs neither to India nor to any of the eastern isles. The countenance is full, round, and expressive of good humour. The eyes are large, prominent, and circular; the nose is prominent and wide, and in profile seems pointed; the upper lip is covered with tremendous mustaches; the mouth is large and open, with a risible character, shewing two very large dog-teeth; the under lip thin, and the chin very strait and short; forehead the same; no neck visible; the breast broad and full, with a very prominent round belly; the lower limbs, as well as the arms, extremely short and stout. But the most extraordinary appendage of these porters, is a very large full-bottomed wig, in full curl all over, which, however, the Bramin assured me (and I really believe) is intended to represent the usual mode in which the Moonis are supposed to dress their natural hair; these gigantic genii, whose duty it is to guard the sanctuaries of the gods, requiring as formidable an appearance as possible. In other respects the images are in the Hindu costume. The lungota passes between the legs, the ends of it decorated, hanging down before and behind, over the waistband, and a curious square-linked chain, which encircles the waist. A snake entwines the body diagonally over the left shoulder, the tail and head twisted on the left breast. A small ornamented dagger is stuck in the girdle on the right loins. A pointed club of an octagonal form is held up in the right hand, and rests on the knee; the left hand, dropped down his side, grasps a circled snake, which seems to bite the fore-part of the left arm. The necklace is of fillagree-work (such as is called star); and the ears, which are large and long, are decorated with the immense ornamented cylindrical ear-rings worn by the Javan women of the present day. Round the two arms are twisted snakes, and round the wrist bracelets of beads. The waistband extends nearly to the knees. From the waist upwards the figure is naked.

The same description is applicable to the eight other pair of images, which guard the other approaches of Chándi Séwu; at twenty feet distance from the exterior line of temples, and facing inwards to each other about twelve feet apart. Each of these statues and its pedestal is of one piece of a species of pudding-stone, which must have required great care in working.

The whole site or ground-plan of these temples forms a quadrangle of five hundred and forty feet by five hundred and ten, exactly facing the cardinal points. The greater extent is on the eastern and western sides, as there allowance has been made for wider avenues leading up to the grand central temples situated within, while on the north and south sides the spaces between the small exterior temples are all alike. There is no vestige of an exterior boundary wall of any kind. The outer quadrangle, which is the limit of the whole, and which encloses four others, consists of eighty-four small temples, twenty-two on each face: the second consists of seventy-six; the third of sixty-four; the fourth of forty-four; and the fifth, or inner parallelogram, of twenty-eight; in all two hundred and ninety-six small temples, disposed in five regular parallelograms. The whole of these are upon an uniform plan, eleven feet and a half square on the outside, with a small vestibule or porch, six feet two inches long, by four feet and a half externally. Within is an apartment exactly six feet square, with a door-way five feet nine inches high, by three feet four inches wide, directly opposite to which stands the seat or throne of the statue which occupied the temple. The walls inside rise square to the height of seven feet ten inches, and quite plain; thence the roof rises about five feet more in a plain pyramid, and above that a perpendicular square rises two feet more, where the roof is closed by a single stone. The interior dimensions of the porch or vestibule in front were three feet and a half by two and a half. The thickness of wall to each temple was about two feet nine inches, and of the vestibule one foot four inches. The exterior elevation of each must have been about eighteen feet, rising square to the cornices about eight or nine feet, according to the irregularities of ground, and the rest a fanciful superstructure of various forms, diminishing in size to the summit, which was crowned with a very massive circular stone, surmounted with another cylindrical one rounded off at the top. The whole of each superstructure thus formed a kind of irregular pyramid, composed of five or six retiring steps or parts, of which the three lowest appeared to me of the figure of a cross, with intermediate projecting angles to the two lower, and retired ones to the upper step, which varied in position also from the lower ones. Above that the summit appeared to rise in an octangular form, diminishing gradually to the stones above described. The same kind of stone appears also to have been placed on the four projecting angles of at least the lower part of the elevation above the body of the building. I saw none that were complete; but from the detached views I had of all, I think either nine or thirteen similar ones were disposed at the various points of the roof. Besides these, the roofs had little in the way of decorations to attract notice, beyond a profusion of plain cornices, bands, fillets, or ribands, forming a kind of capital to the crest of each stage of the superstructure, and on one of them small square pilasters cut in bas-relievo at intervals.

I have already stated, that the small temples appeared to be all upon one uniform plan, differing however according to their situation. The decorations, internal and external, are alike in all, except that the interior niches are all variously filled with the endless variety of Hindu mythology.

Proceeding inwards from the southern récha, and reckoning from the centre, the distances are as follow: to the exterior line of the outer quadrangle twenty feet; depth of these temples, including porch, sixteen feet; space from thence to the next line of temples eleven feet; depth of the second quadrangle sixteen feet; thence to the third quadrangle thirty feet; supposed depth of this line sixteen feet; thence to the fourth quadrangle thirty feet; depth of the fourth quadrangle sixteen feet; thence to the fifth or inner quadrangle thirty feet; depth of the inner quadrangle sixteen feet; thence to the bottom of the flight of steps leading up to the grand temple fourteen feet; in all two hundred and fifteen feet from the centre of the porters to the bottom of the steps. The spaces between all the temples on the same line are about twelve feet and a quarter, but on the east and west sides the central avenue is larger. Between the inner quadrangle and the central temple, at a distance of five feet from the bottom step of it, runs a line of stone fourteen inches high, and two feet four inches wide.

We now come to the great temple. You ascend from each of the cardinal points by a flight of fourteen stone steps, all rough hewn, and now mostly disjointed or displaced. The length of each flight was about sixteen feet to the edge of the upper step, the breadth eight over all, and the height about ten feet, that being the elevation of the terrace of the temple. The walls of this elevated terrace projected on either side of the steps, so as to form with the walls that received the steps three sides of squares, which the Sepoy who was with me immediately said must have been intended for small tanks, one at each side of every flight of steps, for the devotees to purify themselves in before their appearance at the shrine of the deity. On the third step from the bottom, on each side of it, was a figure of Hastu Singh (or the lion seated in the elephant's mouth), looking outwards and having a very fine effect. The same figures, facing outwards, supported each side of the four entrances to the vestibules. The terrace has a breadth of three feet and a half, clear of the walls of the temple all round, and as far as I could discern in the ruin, following the angles of the edifice.

The form of the building, like that at Lóro Jóngran, is a cross, with the same intermediate angular projection, in order to afford room for the grand central apartment. Entering from the east you pass through a portal, five feet eight inches in width by five feet nine inches in length (which is the thickness of the walls), into an outer vestibule, twelve feet wide by ten deep. The walls of this vestibule are ornamented with three niches, a large and two smaller ones, with pointed arches, and all the profuse decoration of Hindu architectural sculpture. In most of these niches remained the throne of the inferior deities, who the Sepoy said must have originally occupied them: not one was now to be found. The throne was generally a single stone, decorated in front with a vase and profusion of flowers, filling the whole space in a natural easy manner. Leaving this room you pass on through a door-way four feet five inches in width, and four feet in depth (the thickness of the wall), but of uncertain height, to a second vestibule, fourteen feet nine inches wide, and four feet four inches deep. At either end of this vestibule is a door, twenty-six inches wide in the clear, four feet two inches deep in the passage or width of the wall, and barely five feet and a half high, which communicates with the surrounding terrace. This vestibule is perfectly plain, with the exception of a raised spiral fluting, which surrounds the large portal or gate leading into the central apartment, and terminates near the bottom steps in the representation of the elephant's mouth and trunk, simply cut in relief on the wall, with no other addition but several strings of beads descending from the top of his proboscis. The roofs of the vestibules or limbs of the building, though entirely fallen, were originally shaped like the Syrian, that is pointed and falling down to the upper cornice of the walls, with a gentle double swell or curve. The northern limb is an entire mass of confusion and ruin; but the description just given of the double vestibule on the east side of the temple, answers with a very trifling variation of dimensions to those on the south and west, but that instead of the large and spacious portal to be seen on the east, there are five very lofty niches let into the main walls about a foot, with pointed Indian arches, standing on square pilasters of the same fashion, the capitals of each of which are supported by a small, squat, doubled-up human figure, having its arms embowed over its head, which my Cicerone informed me was very common in the like situations in India. He concluded also, that images of the gods had occupied the niches in front against the main walls of the temple, on the north, south, or west sides; but we saw not one, and only the centre niches had even the thrones remaining. The niches and pilasters are surmounted with a very deep elaborate projecting cornice, crowned again with five representations of small temples on each side, and immediately over these are seen the two swells or curves of the original Syrian roof.

So far we have gone on a level with the external terrace or platform which surrounds the whole; but on the east side you ascend by a flight of eight steps, at least six feet high, through the spacious portal before mentioned, which is twelve feet high from the top of these stairs, and six feet eight inches wide in the clear, formed entirely of massive blocks of stones, well squared. The depth of the passage or thickness of the wall is ten feet. The top of the portal, which is flat or square externally, surmounted in the centre with a very large and terrible gorgon visage, changes with the ascent of the stairs, in a very artful manner, to the pyramidal form, internally, formed by the overhanging of the stones to resemble inverted square steps closed at the top with a single stone. You thus find yourself in the sanctum sanctorum, the spot which has rewarded the toil and zeal of many a weary pilgrim. My expectations were raised, and I imagined I should find the great and all-powerful Brahma seated here, in glory and majesty proportionate to the surrounding splendour and magnificence of his abode. Not a single vestige, however, remains of Brahma, or of any other deity. The apartment is a plain, unadorned square, of twenty-one by eighteen feet. Four feet from the eastern wall or door is a raised platform, three feet and a half high, extending all across the room (north and south), surmounted with a deep projecting capital or crest, to ascend which are two small flights of six steps each, situated at the extremities on either hand. The walls of this sanctuary, to the height of about forty feet, rise square and plain, and are composed of uniform blocks of greyish stone, well squared, and fitting closely without cement, grooved into each other, according to the general manner of all the buildings at Brambánan. Above this is a projected cornice of three or four stones, from which the roof assumes the pyramidal form of overhanging stones, or inverted steps, to the height of ten feet nearly; thence it rises perpendicular, plain and square, for about ten feet more, and hence to the top in an octangular pyramid of overhanging stones, approaching each other gradually by tiers or layers, for nearly fifteen feet more, where it closes finally with a stone, about two and a half or three feet across.

The exterior of this great temple contains a great variety of ornamental sculpture; but no human or emblematical figures, or even niches in the walls, as in all the small temples surrounding it. The capitals of the pilasters (as in the niches against the body of the temple) are indeed supported by the very diminutive figures before mentioned; but nothing further appears in that way throughout the whole structure. The style, taste, and manner of execution, are every where light, chaste, and beautiful, evincing a fertile invention, most delicate workmanship, and experience in the art. All the figures occupying the niches of the smaller temples (and there were thirteen to each of the two hundred and ninety-six) are a wonderful variety of mythological characters, which the Brahmin said figured in the Hindu legends.

Of the small temples, at least two-thirds are strewed along the ground, or are mere ruined heaps of stone, earth, and jungle. On the third quadrangle no more than six large heaps of dilapidation remain: fields of palma christi, sugar-cane, and tobacco, occupy the place, and many detached spots on the site of the temples. Not one, in fact, is at all perfect: large trees and many kinds of herbage have shot up and split them asunder. They are covered with the foliage which has hastened or produced their destruction, certainly prematurely; for the stone itself, even externally, and where it would be most perceptible, on the sculpture, exhibits not the least token of decay. The whole devastation is caused by a most luxuriant vegetation. Towering directly over the temples the waríngin, or stately banyan, is conspicuous, both for its appearance and the extraordinary damage it has caused. In short, hardly twenty of the temples give a satisfactory notion of their original form and structure.

Under such circumstances it can hardly be supposed that I examined the interior of many of them. Few could boast of the original four walls alone; but within such as I did examine I found only five of the original images occupying their places. As these five, however, were found in points very remote from, and bearing no relation to each other, and were all exactly counterparts in size, shape, character, and general appearance, I may safely conclude, that each of the two hundred and ninety-six smaller temples contained a similar image. Of these five, which are exactly the same with those Colonel Mackenzie calls Jain, only one was perfect: the others had lost their heads and received other damage in the fall of their habitations; but all were manifestly intended to represent the same figure. The Bramin maintained that these were all tupés-wurri, or devotees, represented by the Braminical founder of these temples in the act of tupísya, around the sanctuary of the divinity himself, situated in the centre of them.

Returning from Chándi Séwu towards Lóro Jóngran, about half-way on the left of the road, two hundred yards distant, are the remains of a small assemblage of temples, which, on examination, proved to consist originally of a small square of fourteen temples, with a larger one in the centre. Five temples were on the east and west faces, and four on the north and south, including throughout those at the angles. The only difference, however, between these temples and the small ones of Chándi Séwu was, that they were rather smaller, and the elevated terraces raised much higher, those of Chándi Séwu not being a foot above the ground, while these were raised nearly four feet, and had a small flight of steps and a door-way inwards towards the middle temple. The exterior of all these buildings was perfectly plain, excepting a very simple square pilaster and cornice surmounting it. The central building alone possessed the very same kind of decorative sculpture which is seen on those of Chándi Séwu, was about twice the size of its neighbours, and about four feet larger either way than those of Chándi Séwu, from which it only further differed from having no porch. I shall only add to this brief notice, that the whole site of this cluster seems comprised in an area of eighty feet by sixty; that the spaces between the temples of this quadrangle are equal to the extent of each building; that only nine of the exterior temples, of which one is a mere heap of stones, exist in any form indicating their primitive order or position; and lastly, that no statuary of any kind remains, to indicate the deity in whose honour they were erected, except the relievos in the eleven niches round the central building, which certainly seemed, as the Bramin asserted, to be of the tribe of Gopias, or demigods and goddesses, which occupy the walls of the two hundred and ninety-six temples of Chándi Séwu.

The only name the Javans could give this assemblage was the generic term chándi, or temples. The inclosures of the surrounding fields attest the extent to which the farmers have turned to account the devastations made by the waríngen trees.