Ruins of Buddhistic Temples
IN
Prågå-Valley.
Tyanḍis Båråbudur, Mĕndut and Pawon
BY
Dr. I. GRONEMAN,
translated from the dutch by J. H.
Druk van H. A. BENJAMINS,
Semarang,
1912.
Preface.
When in 1896 I was obliged to retire from practice, on account of sickness, I shortly after took up my residence at Jogyåkartå again in order to devote myself to the antiquarian and ethnological studies dear to me, and to which purpose I had to establish myself in the neighbourhood of the principal Hindu ruins in Java, that is, in the plain of Parambanan, and in the valley of Prågå whereas I could not rely on being assisted by the Dutch Government or whomsoever; I had grown too old under a system of Government who even refuse a professor septuagenarian to follow his profession.
As for the Indian antiquities however, there are still many things to be learned, not only because many a sculpture and symbolical ornament of building has not yet been explained or, so to say, insufficiently interpreted, but also because some of these images have been wrongly understood and expounded. I therefore thought it my duty to have my knowledge of them increased by a continued study of the antiquities themselves, and by consulting such writings as I could dispose of with my limited means.
I also would comply with other people’s wishes by giving a simple description of the most interesting ruin in the village of Mĕndut situated by the way-side to the Båråbudur, and mention the small tyanḍi Pawon lying in its neighbourhood.