The History of Java, v. 1-2

by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

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.