| 364. Section of one of the smaller Domes at Boro Buddor. | 365. Elevation of principal Dome at Boro Buddor. (From Sir S. Raffles’ ‘History of Java.’) |
With the idea of a dagoba, however, Boro Buddor also combines that of a vihara, such as that illustrated by Woodcuts Nos. 66, 67. There the cells, though only copied solid in the rock, still simulated the residences of the monks, and had not yet advanced to the stage we find in the Gandhara monasteries, where the cells of monks had become niches for statues. Here this is carried further than in any example found in India. The cells of the Mahavellipore example are here repeated on every face, but essentially as niches, and are occupied by 436 statues of Buddha, seated in the usual cross-legged attitude. In this respect Boro Buddor is in advance of the Takht-i-Bahi, which is the monument in India that most nearly approaches to it in mythological significance. So great, indeed, is the similarity between the two, that whatever date we assign to the one drags with it that of the other. It would, indeed, be impossible to understand how, in the 7th century, Buddhism had been so far developed towards the modern Nepalese and Thibetan systems if we had not these Gandhara monasteries to fall back upon. On the other hand, having so similar a Buddhist development in Java in the 7th century, it seems difficult to separate the monuments of the north-west of India from it by any very long interval of time.
As will be observed from the plan and elevation (Woodcuts Nos. [362], [363], page [645]), the monument may be described either as a seven or a nine-storeyed vihara, according as we reckon the platform on which the seventy-two small dagobas stand as one or three storeys. Its basement measures over 400 ft. across, but the real temple is only 300 ft. from angle to angle either way. It is not, however, either for its dimensions or the beauty of its architectural design that Boro Buddor is so remarkable, as for the sculptures that line its galleries. These extend to nearly 5000 ft.—almost an English mile—and as there are sculptures on both faces, we have nearly 10,000 lineal ft. of bas-reliefs; or, if we like to add those which are in two storeys, we have a series of sculptures, which, if arranged consecutively in a row, would extend over nearly three miles of ground. Most of them, too, are singularly well preserved; for when the Javans were converted to Mahomedanism it was not in anger, and they were not urged to destroy what they had before reverenced; they merely neglected them, and, except for earthquakes, these monuments would now be nearly as perfect as when first erected.
The outer face of the basement, though extremely rich in architectural ornaments and figure-sculptures, is of comparatively little historical importance. The first enclosed—or, as the Dutch call it, the second—gallery is, of all the five, the most interesting historically. On its inner wall the whole life of Sakya Muni is pourtrayed in 120 bas-reliefs of the most elaborate character. The first twenty-four of these are occupied with scenes in the Tusita heavens, or events that took place before the birth. In the twenty-fifth we have Maya’s dream, depicted exactly as it is at Bharhut or Sanchi, 700 or 800 years earlier. In the following sculptures it is easy to recognise all the familiar scenes of his life, his marriage, and domestic happiness, till he meets the four predictive signs; his subsequent departure from home, and assumption of the ascetic garb; his life in the forest; his preaching in the Deer-garden at Benares—the whole Lalita Vistara, in short, pourtrayed, with very few variations from the pictures we already possess from Gandhara to Amravati, with this singular exception: in all Indian examples the birth and the Nirvana are more frequently repeated than any other events; for some reason, not easily guessed, they are omitted here, though all the events that preceded and followed them are minutely detailed.[611] Below these bas-reliefs depicting the life of Buddha is an equally extensive series of 120 bas-reliefs of subjects taken from the Jataka, all of which might, no doubt, be easily identified, though this has not yet been attempted.
In the three galleries above this Buddhism is represented as a religion. Groups of Buddhas—three, five or nine—are repeated over and over again, mixed with Bodhisatwas and saints of all sorts. Among these, the five Dhyani Buddhas are conspicuous in all, perhaps more than all, the variety of manifestations which are known in Nepal and Thibet,[612] which, as Lassen points out, almost inevitably leads to the conclusion that this form of faith was introduced from Nepal or Western Thibet.[613]
Whether this is exactly so or not, no one probably who is familiar with Buddhist art in its latest age on the western side of India will probably doubt that it was from these parts that the builders of Boro Buddor migrated. The character of the sculptures, and the details of the ornamentation in cave 26 at Ajunta, and 17 at Nassick, and more especially in the later caves at Salsette, at Kondoty, Montpezir, and other places in that neighbourhood, are so nearly identical with what is found in the Javan monument, that the identity of the workmen and workmanship is unmistakeable. It is true we have no monument in that part of India to which we can point that at all resembles Boro Buddor in design, but then it must be borne in mind that there is not a single structural Buddhist building now existing within the limits of the cave region of Western India. It seems absurd, however, to suppose that so vast a community confined themselves to caves, and caves only. They must have had structural buildings of some sort in their towns and elsewhere, but not one fragment of any such now exists, and we are forced to go to Gandhara, in the extreme north-west, for our nearest examples. As already pointed out, there are many points of similarity between Jamalgiri, and more especially between Takht-i-Bahi and Boro Buddor; and if any architect, who was accustomed to such work, would carefully draw and restore these northern monasteries, many more might become apparent.[614] We know enough even now to render this morally certain, though hardly sufficient to prove it in the face of much that may be brought forward by those who care to doubt it. Meanwhile, my impression is, that if we knew as much of these Gandhara monasteries as we know of Boro Buddor, we could tell the interval of time that separated them, probably within half a century at least.
366. View of Central Entrance and Stairs at Boro Buddor. (From a Lithographic Plate.)