The Golden Age of Hindu-Javanese Art

(Archeological Assistant, Madras Museum)

I

1925, Dr. J. Ph. Vogel, Professor of Sanskrit, Leiden University and President of the Kern Institute, Leiden, Holland, delivered a course of lectures in the University of Madras. One of his lectures was on the subject ‘Hindu-Javanese Art.’ By his scholarly exposition of the subject with the aid of a number of lantern slides, the Professor made the subject very interesting and provoked further research in that particular subject. The results of my work in this line will be published in the ‘Triveni’ in convenient parts.

"The spread of Indo-Aryan civilisation in the Malay-Archipelago is a subject of great historical interest." Indeed the spread was phenomenal and gigantic, for the places that were affected by such a spread were even tiny islands including the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Bali and Java. This civilisation does exist even today in Bali, though probably in a degenerate condition. But it is indeed Java that presents a singularly charming and highly interesting tale of herself. Her monuments breathe words of love to the artist, while to the archeologist they murmur her glorious past.

To the South Indian, Java is of particular interest, for he finds in Java almost similar work, similar gods, similar epigraphs and writing and, if we may be allowed to say so, of course with a certain amount of reservation, similar culture. This culture is more Hindu than Buddhist, though remnants of Buddhism are also found. To a student of the Javanese modern history, what may loom large and, therefore, may be considered as the most important event in the history of Java, is the adoption of Islam by a majority of the Javanese people in the course of the fifteenth century A.D. But the artist or the archeologist, who is on the look-out for remnants of Hindu-Javanese Art in Java, finds ample food for his noble study, for "Hinduism has left traces which four centuries of Muslim ascendancy have not been able to destroy."

Many of the present geographical names in Java cannot but instill in our minds a feeling of appreciation derived from the conviction that they should have been largely derived from or inspired by Indian originals. The highest peak of the isle is called Semeru or Smeru. It is needless for me to point out that one is at once reminded of the Mount Sumeru of Indian mythology.

Java is divided into many districts, one of which, the eastern-most one, is called Besuki. Surely this is the Javanese form of the Sanskrit Vasuki, the King of the serpents. The attribution of this name to that part of the isle is explained by Dr. Vogel as probably due to the existence of "some sanctuary dedicated to the serpent deity" (Vasuki).

The central river in Java, and for the matter of that the principal river of Java, which takes its origin from the southern slopes of a mountain called Prahu, bears the illustrious name Serayu, a name evidently derived from the Sanskrit Sarayu, the glorious river now known as the Gogra, on the banks of which was situated Ayodhya, the seat of Sri Rama.

The Javanese and the Malay languages are "as full of words of Sanskrit origin as the English is of Roman words." As is the case with Sanskrit words, in Malay words the accent falls on the last syllable but one. The name Arjuna, for example, will be pronounced by the Javanese as Arjuna. Other features worth mentioning are that the pronunciation of most of the Javanese words has undergone change, that the original meanings of the words have too often been modified and that the aspiration of aspirate consonants is not found.

The old Javanese language is denoted by two Sanskrit words, Basa, Kavi, i.e. "the language of poetry." We also find that the term Kavi is often used as a synonym for Ved. Whatever literature was treasured in that Kavi language it was, we may assert, largely derived from or inspired by Indian originals. We meet with Sanskrit names particularly among the birudas and designations of the nobility and the high functionaries of Java.

Rulers and other chiefs of Central Java are known by the titles, raja, prabu, adipati, and aria. The Indian or Sanskrit equivalents of these are raja, prabhu, adhipati and arya. Hereditary rulers and chiefs are known as bupati (Skt. Bhupati). The designations most common among officials are mantri, pati, dyaksa (Skt. adhyaksha), and wedono (Skt. vadana).

In the case of personal names, we find that there are not only names of Arabic origin but also names of Sanskrit origin. The Javanese nobility always appear to have had a distinct preference for such names as Suryavinata, Suryaputra, etc. It may be asked how these names, although they are of Sanskrit elements, appealed to the Javanese nobility, especially when we find that such names are not nowadays used in India. The answer that Dutch archeologists including Dr. Vogel give to this question is: - "The use of such names is, no doubt, primarily due to Hindu influence, but in their present form they must be the outcome of a prolonged independent development."

The architectural term, mandapa, which means "a pillared-hall" is of special interest to the student of Javanese architecture. Its Javanese equivalent is pendapa, a name which is applied to a big pillared-hall attached to the house, in front of it, in which the Javanese chiefs are wont to receive their guests.

A telling evidence of the influence of Hindu culture on that of Java is furnished by the Javanese mytholgy. Sri Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana and the five Pandava brothers, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva "enjoy among the population of Java as great a popularity as in the land of their origin." Indeed the legends narrated in the two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, have become so popular in Java and the stories have been so completely assimilated by the Javanese that their foreign origin has been forgotten, and "for the great mass of the population the Pandavas and Rama are truly national heroes, born and bred in the isle of Java."

The extreme favour that these Indian legends have found among all classes of society in Java is due to two causes. First, they are sung in old Javanese poems. This reminds us of our own ballads singing the praises of these heroes. Secondly, they are staged. A similar treatment is given to them in the land of their origin. While, however, in India they savour of the ordinary kind of drama that everyone is acquainted with, in Java they are done in a queer way, the performance being a shadow-show known as the Wayang.

This Wayang is often described as the most popular of entertainments known to the Javanese, lasting for 12 hours without any interruption, from sunset to sunrise. Java having the same climatic conditions as South India, this kind of pantomime performance, which reminds us of the South Indian ‘Koottu,’ with, however, the difference that while the Wayang is silent, our ‘Koottu’ is most noisy, commences at 6 P.M. and terminates at 6 A.M. "Indians would be surprised to see Arjuna, Krishna and Rama appear here in the quaint garb of Wayang puppets, which, in their strangely fantastical, yet un-mistakably artistic, character are the true children of Indonesian art."

Coming to the monumental remains of Java, we find that the isle is studded with quite a number of them. These, with the sculptures in them, prove how effectively Hinduism had penetrated into the very vitals of Javanese culture and had almost shaped the Javanese life. Such monuments, which are, as it were, the ancient sanctuaries of the Hindu period, are "now, alas! in a more or less ruined condition due to centuries of indifference and neglect." It is only since the beginning of the 19th century A.D., thanks to Dutch savants, these Hindu vestiges of Java have again excited curiosity which has gradually grown into admiration.

While the credit for stimulating archeological research in Javanese things should strictly go to Sir Stamford Raffles, Governor-General of Java, during the very short period of British supremacy (1811-16 A.D.) over the isle, our thanks for the best results of this research, which make the glory of these monumental remains no longer a mystery, go most deservedly to a band of Dutch archeologists that worked under the leadership of Dr. Kern, a great Sanskrit scholar and an authority on the languages of Indonesia and the founder of the Kern Institute of Leiden, Holland.

The main result of their study is that "the numerous stone and brick temples which, in their dilapidated condition still excite our admiration, owe their existence primarily to a mighty wave of civilisation carried across the sea from the Indian mainland." This wave appears to have created two creeds–Brahmanism and Buddhism. We shall for the present confine ourselves to the first creed–Brahmanism.

An examination of the various sculptures adorning these monuments reveals a sufficiently long list of Hindu gods, chief among whom are Brahma, Vishnu, Siva (the Trimurti), Ganesa and Durga. Though most of these gods are enshrined in the many ruined temples with which the isle abounds, much prominence appears to have been attached to the cult of Siva, for Siva is assigned the central and therefore the chief place in all these shrines. There is no doubt, from the relative position of these various gods, that Siva was considered the chief deity. From the writings of these Dutch savants, it is easy to conclude that "the Brahmanism practised in Java was decidedly Saivism" which, in course of time, became blended with Buddhism.

What has been characterised as the golden age of the Hindu- Javanese Art would fall in a period of two centuries ranging roughly from 700 to 900 A.D. And it is this period that is also characterized as "the classical period of the Hindu-Javanese Architecture."

But, whereas those two centuries, to which the Brahrnanical monuments of Central Java are assigned, may rightly be called "the golden age of the Hindu-Javanese art," we know that the beginnings of Hindu civilisation in Java must lie at least three centuries farther . For our knowledge of those early relations between India and Java we have to rely entirely on the evidence of inscriptions, luckily supplemented by the itineraries of Chinese pilgrims.

Earliest among these pilgrims is Fa Hian who, in the year 414, on his voyage home from Ceylon, having been assailed by a storm, arrived at a land which he calls Ye-po-ti and which must have been either Java or Sumatra. According to the pilgrim, there were heretics and Brahmins flourishing in the country while "the law of Buddha is not much known." This information acquaints us with the historical fact that at about 400 A.D., Indian civilisation was established in the Archipelago and that this civilisation was essentially Brahmanical.

Let us now see how the information supplied by the Chinese pilgrim receives confirmation from inscriptional evidence. The earliest epigraphical records of Java are a group of four rock inscriptions found in the western part of the island, at no great distance from Batavia, the present seat of government. These inscriptions speak of a king who is called Purnavarman, who styles himself as the ruler of the town of Taruma. Though they bear no dates, they have been assigned, on the strength of the paleographical features of the letters, to the middle of the fifth century A.D.

One of these inscriptions that has come for some critical study at the hands of scholars is carved in rather bold letters on a rock in the ‘Chiaruten torrent.’ It is in 4 lines and is incised below a pair of foot-prints deeply cut in the rock. The inscription embodies a verse in correct Sanskrit and runs as follows: -

Vikrantasya avanipateh
Srimatah Purnavarmanah 1
Taruma-nagarendrasya
Vishnoriva padadvayam 2

"The couple of feet (i.e. foot-prints below which the inscription is incised) is of (i.e. represents the feet of) the prosperous Purnavarman, a lord of the earth and the chief of the city of Taruma, whose prowess was sufficiently demonstrated even as was also done by Vishnu (during the latter's incarnation as Trivikrama)."

The idea suggested by the term ‘vikrantasya’ and the comparison of the feet with those of Vishnu is that "just as Vishnu measured the whole earth and the sky with two strides, so also Purnavarman conquered all the country around." In short, the comparison with Vishnu was only meant to indicate the extent of the domain and the superior prowess of King Purnavarman. But it is, however, funny to note that this comparison has led certain writers to rush to the unwarranted conclusion that King Purnavarman was a worshipper of Vishnu, and as such a Vaishnava in faith. Far from there being any room for this conjecture, there is ample proof to show that all the records of Purnavarman are Brahmanical.

Though the Purnavarman-records are undated, there are other inscriptions in the isle in which dates and eras are recorded. In the later dated inscriptions of Java, we are happy to find that it is the Saka reckoning that is adopted, a reckoning that is exclusively South Indian. As proof of our theory that the Hindu culture that went to Java was from South India, it can be pointed out that not only the Saka reckoning is found but also that the Vikrama era, the reckoning known to North India alone, is conspicuous by its absence not only in Java but also in Malay-Archipelago.

Among the earliest dated inscriptions of Java, we can single out two as the most important for our study. They are those of Changal and Dinaya. Both have been critically studied by the Dutch scholar, Dr. Kern. The former is in good Sanskrit verse and records the consecration of a linga in a temple by a king called Sanjaya, whose ancestors belonged to Kunjarakunja, a locality which, according to Dr. Vogel, was situated somewhere in South India. Can Kunjarakunja be, by any means, the Anegondi of the Vijayanagara Kings, the Sanskrit equivalents of which are ‘Kunjarakona’, ‘Hastikona’ etc? Dr. Vogel assumes on good grounds that Purnavarman belongs to a dynasty that left the South Indian shores for Java and settled in Central Java. The point that is most important for our main purpose is that this inscription is dated Saka 654, corresponding to A. D. 732. The temple mentioned in this inscription is not traceable.

The second inscription (i.e. the Dinaya one) dated Saka 682 (i.e., 760 A.D.) contains information of vital interest to the student of Tamil culture, for it speaks of the construction of a stone image of the sage Agastya, whom we (the Tamils of South India) take to be ‘the father of Tamil.’ This sage, who is credited with short size, is said to have carried Brahmanical culture from North India into the Dekhan across the Vindhya Mountains. He is also identified with the asterism Canopus. Particularly among the sea-faring population of South India, he is very popular and has been deified. The reason for this is not far to seek. There is the belief,–even Kalidasa records it,–that on sight of him or when he rises (this would refer to Agastya as the star) troubled waters (as for instance the sea in storm) become calm. This belief is recorded by the poet in the statement "Agastyodaye jalani prasidanti" ("When Agastya rises, or on the advent of Agastya, waters come to rest.") With such an aphorism in the ground it is easy to understand how these sea-farers should have carried the Agastya-cult to distant shores like those of Java etc. We have therefore no hesitation in agreeing with Dr. Vogel that "in all probability, it was through their agency that the cult of Agastya was carried to Java."

We shall now consider the evidence of scripts. Almost all the early inscriptions of Java are written in a character which is unmistakably South Indian, resembling what is known as the ‘Pallava-Grantha’ script. This script, as we know, was adopted by the Pallavas, the rulers of South India that held sway over the Coromandel coast for nearly six centuries, say from 300 A. D. to 900 A. D.

There can be no doubt that the Pallavas had dealings with powers across the seas. We have in Java in the various Chandis dedicated to the Pandava brothers (as for instance Chandi Vrikodara, Chandi Bhima, etc.) just a counter-part of the ‘Pallava rathas’such as those that we find at Mahabalipuram, a group of splendid temples considered as "a lasting memorial of Pallava rule." Even the idea of associating these rathas with the Pandava brothers appears to have gone over to the other side of the sea. The above observations coupled with the fact, (this we must needs stress again), that the Pallava-Grantha script is also found in Java gives us, as it gave the Dutch archeologists, good reason to assume that "it was South India, and in particular the Coromandel coast, which sent forth the emigrants who carried their Brahmanical religion and sacred language to the eastern islands."