The Golden Age of Hindu-Javanese Art

The Golden Age

of Hindu-Javanese Art

THE RESTORATION PERIOD (860-915 A.D.)

About this period the Saiva kings, who had been ousted from Central Java and who had made East Java their home during the domination of Central Java by the Sailendras of Srivijaya, won their lost territory from the governors of the Sailendras. Prambanam (Brahmavanam?)¹ became their seat as well as the seat of a great building activity, and monuments arose as if to rival the Borobudur.

Of numerous small temples of this "short but brilliant restoration period" (860-915 A. D.) mention may be made of the Hindu Chandi Asu and the Buddhist Chandi Plaosan. The former is now in utter ruins and the latter is a fine Buddhist temple proving, that Buddhism continued to flourish side by side with Saivism at Prambanam. Strictly speaking, Chandi Plaosan is a "Buddhist establishment" consisting of a temple, a complex shrine as Gangoly calls it, associated with a monastery and surrounded by numerous smaller shrines. The main shrine reveals beautiful sculpturing on its walls which at once recalls that of Chandis Mendut and Sari. The architecture of the shrines is described by Gangoly as follows: - "The delicate tracery of the basement is divided by slender pilasters (false pillars) and the frieze beneath the symmetric cornice is richly festooned. Bodhisattvas, standing between, furnish the principal decorations of the panels bordered by pendant prayer bells"² In one of the shrines can be seen a series of Buddhist images "large in size and finely chiselled, in chaste restraint and dignity, notwithstanding a profusion of details and ornaments."

A typical specimen of the Plaosan sculpture is a graceful Padmapani which is figured by Gangoly.³ Two characteristic specimens of the imagery of the same place, luckily figured by the same author,⁴ are an image of Tara with a "prabha-mandala" or aureole and a head of Maitreya Bodhisattva which Gangoly justly acclaims as "a masterpiece of exquisite serenity and repose" attesting to a very high level of Buddhist sculpture. Here, as in any other monument of Java, no architectural pillars can be seen. And while one speaks of Javanese architecture one cannot help remarking that no pier or column is found in any Javanese temple and no mortar was ever employed.

Before taking up the description of the greatest Hindu monument of the restoration period, viz., Chandi Loro Jongrang, we shall try to define the art of this period, as it occupies a peculiar position in the history of the evolution of "Hindu-Javanese" art. It is, as Gangoly aptly puts it, "a continuation of the art of Borobudur in a somewhat novel form and application" and is still in the classic style of Central Java. "Somewhat lacking in restraint, in comparison with the Borobudur reliefs, its exuberance is due to a conscious endeavour to rival the magnificence of the great Buddhist monument. There is also an inclination to acclimatise the classic style of Indian art to local conditions. It foreshadows rather than initiates the coming change in the style when transferred to East Java in the next following epoch." ⁵

The vast plain of Prambanam, which extends southward from the foot of the Merapi, one of Java's most active volcanoes, is studded with a group of temples held in great veneration by the population. The most important monument here is again a group of Hindu temples known as Chandi Loro Jongrang, comparable in scale with the Borobudur, and Chandi Sewu. "Loro" designates a lady of high birth, say a princess. The princess Loro Jongrang is well-known in Javanese folklore. It is said that to win her hand the Chandi Sewu or "the 1000 temples," in the vicinity of Prambanam, was built in a night by a suitor in a wager; but this unhappy suitor was however frustrated in his task by an unusually early dawn.⁶

The complex (i.e. the whole group) consists of eight temples built on a walled square terrace in the center, surrounded by two outer walls and a group of 156 smaller shrines spread over the walls in three rows. The three largest of the inner temples are dedicated respectively to Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. These shrines are now in an advanced state of decay, the main temples alone having resisted better the ravages of time. The group is said to have been built by a prince of the name of Daksha about the second half of the ninth century. The largest is the central temple of Siva; "in principle it resembles the prangs of Cambodia and the supposed original design of Borobudur, i.e., it consists of a temple occupying the summit of a steep truncated terraced pyramid, square in plan, with stairways in the middle of each of its three sides, leading respectively to the main entrance and to those of the side chapels. The temple itself, raised above the upper terrace by a richly decorated plinth, contains a standing image of Siva. The terrace below is surrounded by an even more richly sculptured balustrade, the continuous series of reliefs on the inner side illustrating the earlier part of the Ramayana, of which the continuation was probably to be found on the corresponding terrace of the now ruined Brahma shrine on the right; the reliefs of the Vishnu temple illustrate the Krishna cycle."7

Obviously these reliefs were intended as Hindu parallels to those of Borobudur. They are "if anything superior to those of Borobudur and certainly more dramatically conceived, and the aspect of the shrines, despite their rich ornament, is more masculine. It is possible that the complex served as a royal mausoleum as well as a temple."⁸ Prambanam makes us think of Borobudur for comparison because Prambanam and Borobudur are "the twin flowers borne by the transplanted tree of Hindu art in Java; twins born within the same period of cultural awakening and self-realisation of the race; and as twins, they show agreements, but each has its peculiar individuality as well, and this has given rise to the contrast between them which irresistibly fixes our attention." ⁹ A correct estimate of the Prambanam art would be, in the words of Dr. S. K. Chatterji:¹⁰ "The divine serenity of the art of Borobudur is balanced by the most perfect human feeling of the reliefs at Prambanam–whether of the Krishna-legends round the shrine of Vishnu or of the Rama-legends around the central shrine of Siva, the Loro Jonggrang temple."

THE RAMAYANA IN JAVA

To understand the Ramayana reliefs of Prambanam it is necessary to take up here the fascinating study of "the Ramayana in Java," for these reliefs are best explained, as will be seen presently, by the much later Javanese Ramayanas (the Serat Kandas, etc.) and the Malay version based on them than by the earlier Javanese Ramayana called Kakavin, which follows Valmiki's pretty accurately.

There are several recensions–early, medieval and late–of the-Ramayana in Java both in verse and in prose. The Rama literature in the Malay Archipelago shows such marked divergences from the epic of Valmiki that scholars are led to think that the Javanese owe their Rama-legend to other Indian versions besides the epic of Valmiki. The Rama story had seized the mind of the Indonesian with an irresistible force, even as it did in the case of the Indian in the Motherland. It had followed in the wake of Indian colonising activities and had spread allover South-Eastern Asia–Burma, Cambodia, and Siam. The deeds of valour that Rama is credited with are represented in the puppet-shows of Burma, in Siam the king is supposed to be an incarnation of Rama, and the founder of the Siamese kingdom is said to be Rama Kamheng. Representations of scenes from the Ramayana worked in silver can be seen on the gates of the Vat Chetu Pon, the principal Buddhist temple of Bangkok. As for Cambodia, a sixth-century inscription of the country records that "with the Ramayana and the Purana he (the Brahman Somasarman) gave the complete Mahabharata and arranged for a daily recitation without interruption." Scenes from the Ramayana, such as the meeting of Rama and Lakshmana with Sugriva, the fight between Vali and Sugriva, Sita in the Asoka-vana handing the jewel to Hanuman, etc., can be seen on the walls of the Ba Puon, one of the best pyramidal temples of Cambodia, best known as the "hema-sringa-giri." The galleries of the Angkor Vat, a Vaishnava temple of the twelfth century, contain bas-reliefs also representing scenes from the Ramayana, such as the death of Maricha, the death of Kabandha, Sugriva-sakhya, Vali-vadha, Hanuman finding Sita in Lanka, fight with Ravana and the return of Rama and Sita in the pushpaka-vimana, etc. According to the old chronicles of Annam the people of Champa (South Ann am) are the descendants of monkeys; Tibetan works make mention of Hanuman, and the Tibetans are said to be, according to their own confession too, the descendants of monkeys and are said to have had for a long time tails.

The small deviations from the epic of Valmiki revealed by the Prambanam reliefs were believed to be just deformations of the text. But did similar divergences appear in India about the end of the ninth century, the period to which the Prambanam reliefs have to be assigned? This and other allied questions concerning the vicissitudes of the Rama-legend in the literatures of India, Farther India, and Indonesia have been studied by Drs. W. Stutterheim¹¹ and B. R. Chatterji, to mention a few, and the main conclusions of these scholars are as follows: -

"The account of Rama's career in the Mahabharata differs in some respects from the version of the Ramayana. The Mahabharata account does not concern itself with what happened after the return of Rama from Ceylon. There is also some difference in Ravana's genealogy in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata versions. Again in the Mahabharata there is nothing of Rama's journey to Mithila, breaking Hara's bow and Sita's svayamvara. . . . From other versions of Rama's life (e. g. Bhavabhuti's Mahavira-Charita, some of the Puranas, etc.,) sufficient divergences can be shown even in the classical period of Sanskrit literature.

In the old Javanese Ramayana Kakavin, the divergences are neither numerous nor important. Moreover the Kakavin is not complete. There is no definite information as to the date of this work. We can only judge from the language. Prof. Kern would ascribe it to the Kediri period which was the golden age of Kavi literature. The author probably did not know Sanskrit. It has a Vaishnava character and the Kediri dynasty was also Vaishnava. It was probably written about the same time as the Bharat Yuddha, i.e., about 1100 A. D. In the Serat Rama . . . a work much appreciated in Javanese literary circles, the early history of Ravana is found which is not given in the Kakavin. Here too, there are not many divergences and the book is free from the distortions introduced later on. . . . The Javanese Uttarakanda (the 7th canto of the Ramayana does not exist in the Kakavin) is a prose paraphrase of the Sanskrit Uttarakanda. This first group (consisting of the Kakavin, the Serat Rama and the Uttarakanda), without following Valmiki verbatim, gives on the whole the orthodox Indian version.

The second group is represented by the Rama King, the Serat Kandas and other less known works such as the Ramayana Sasak, Rama Nitis, etc., This group closely approaches the Malay version of the Ramayana. The Malay Hikayat Seri Rama is probably based on this second group. . . In popular dramas still staged, . . . it is this second group and not the first which serves as the basis. These pieces for the theatre have been worked up on episodes of the Javanese Ramayana, such as the birth of Dasamukha (Ravana), Dasamukha's abduction of a Vidyadhari (Indrajit is represented as the son of this Vidyadhari), Rama's marriage, etc. The old Javanese Ramayanas (the Kakavin, etc.) are sometimes quoted in these dramatical representations but nobody understands them. The influence of the first group has been superficial on the growth of the Rama tradition in Java.

The Serat Kandas begin with Adam in Mecca with his sons Abil and Kabil and Satan. We get then a curious association of Noah and Uma. We come next to the account of the births of Vishnu and Vasuki and Muslim figures then disappear. The genealogy of early Javanese kings is worked into the story…………..The difference between the conclusion of the Serat Kandas and Valmiki's Uttarakanda is so great that the former must be ascribed to a different source altogether...…..other versions besides that of Valmiki may have been the basis for these Javanese divergences. The fame of Valmiki has made us forget that there were also other (formerly well-known) accounts of the life of Rama.

In the Serat Kandas there is firstly a combination of Muhammadan tales and of the deeds of Rama. In the third canto, Siva is mentioned as a descendant of Adam. In the Malay version, . . . the Muslim element is more conspicuous. Secondly, in the Serat Kandas, the story of Rama forms an organic whole with early legends of Javanese dynasties. These Javanese texts of the second group may be taken as Javanese Puranas working up local legends, with the orthodox Indian traditions.

As regards the Malay Ramayana, Dr. Brandes believes that a great part of it consists of old native legends which have nothing to do with the story of Rama. . . . In the Malay version Dasaratha's first wife is found in a bamboo thicket, and according to the Serat Kandas, the second wife is also found in a bamboo grove. . . . The part which Balia Dari (Kaikeyi) plays is different from that which she plays in the Ramayana. She held up with her hand Dasaratha's litter when it is breaking. In the Adkyatma Ramayana there is also a mention of the breaking of the litter in addition to Kaikeyi's healing the wounds of Dasaratha….In the Malay version, Rama, when quite young, teases a hunch-ed woman (Manthara). In Kshemendra's Ramayana Katka Sarita Manjari, Rama's rough treatment of Manthara led to her action against him. . . . Again in the Malay version and in the Serat Kandas, Sita is apparently Ravana's daughter by Mandodari (really in both of these works she is the daughter of Dasaratha and Mandodari). . . . In the Siamese version also Sita is the daughter of Ravana. In a Ceylonese tale Sita is born of the blood of ascetics collected by Ravana. In the Uttarapurana of the Jainas, Sita is also the daughter of Ravana. . . . In the Malay version . . . we find Lakshmana leading an ascetic life (without sleeping or partaking of any food) for twelve years just as in the Bengali version of Krittivas. In the Malay version Lakshmana draws a line (a charmed circle) round Sita's dwelling place before he leaves to help Rama who is supposed to be in distress. Krittivas also describes the same procedure in his popular poem.

Most of the divergences in the Javanese and Malay accounts of the Lanka Kanda can probably be deduced from Indian sources . . . . .In what relation do these variations (most of which can be traced to India) stand to Valmiki's epic? Some of these stories may be older than the epic itself and certainly they are cruder, e.g., in some of the earlier versions Sita is Ravana's real daughter. In the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama and the Serat Kandas she is only apparently Ravana's daughter. In Valmiki's epic there is no relationship between Ravana and Sita …………….

At first it was supposed by some of the Dutch scholars that the Tamil Ramayana might be the basis of the Javanese and Malay versions. But the Tamil Ramayana of Kambar follows Valmiki closely. The popular tales in the Indonesian (Javanese, Malay, etc.) versions approach closely some of those popular editions current in Gujrat, Punjab and Bengal. A tradition still existing in Java ascribes the colonisation of the island by emigrants from Gujrat. This was probably due to the fact that from the thirteenth century the Gujratis were in Java as merchants, mullahs and sailors. Epigraphical evidence does not support the tradition of any Gujrati influence in earlier times. Nor, as regards the divergences in the Indonesian Ramayanas, can any monopoly be attributed to the influence of the Gujrati versions……….. No single definite recension has as yet been found in India from which the Indonesian (Javanese and Malay) versions could have been derived. There has been a very mixed influence–principally of oral traditions some of which have come down from very ancient times. Valmiki's work, according to Dr. Stutterheim, represents a later and more refined civilisation. The Javanese and Malay versions, having preserved some of the more primitive traditions, should be more interesting from the anthropological point of view than the literary and polished Ramayana of the orthodox school.¹²

It will thus be seen, as already pointed out at the beginning of this paper (p. 3), that the Rama tradition is still a living force in Java Rama being a national hero like the Pandava brothers. Coming to the Prambanam Ramayana reliefs, a few important scenes and features are worth mentioning: -

The reliefs illustrate the story of Rama up to the bridging of the sea (Setu-bandha), in some 42 scenes. Excepting the small series at Deogarh and Aihole, a similar series illustrating a great cycle of legend, as it were, has not been noticed anywhere within India. These sculptures are inestimable documents of Indian literature and mythology breathing a refreshing spirit of what is called "romantic naturalism."

The first relief shows Vishnu reclining on the serpent couch in the heart of the ocean peopled with all kinds of aquatic animals. On his right is his vahana, Garuda offering a lotus to Vishnu. On the left four gods headed by a sage (a bearded person) are supplicating him to descend to the world and incarnate himself. This sage might be interpreted to be Brahma, or sage Bhrigu as Dr. Vogel explains. Dr. Vogel's remarks on this relief are: - "It is interesting that this . . . differs from the version both of the Sanskrit and the old Javanese Ramayana (the Kakavin), but agrees in a remarkable way with the corresponding passage in Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa. In the l0th canto of Raghuvamsa, the gods led by the rishi Bhrigu, invoke Vishnu in the midst of the waters of the ocean."

In the following reliefs are depicted Visvamitra's visit to King Dasaratha and his request for the services of Rama (pl. IV), Rama killing with arrows two rakshasis, one of them assuredly Tataka, meeting Janaka at Mithila, Sita's svayamvara, the breaking of the bow, Parasurama confronting Rama and Sita on their way to Ayodhya, Kaikeyi speaking to Dasaratha, an amazon dancing before two princes and Dasaratha with Kausalya behind them, exile of Rama with Sita and Lakshmana, a funeral ceremony, (most probably the sraddha ceremony after Dasaratha's death ?), Bharata receiving from Rama the latter's sandals, Rama killing Viradha and another rakshasa, the punishment of the crow (a demon in the form of a crow) for molesting Sita, the wooings of Surpanakha, Sita guarded by Lakshmana while Rama chases in the forest Maricha in the form of the golden deer and kills him, the abduction of Sita by Ravana disguised as a brahmin (pl. V), Ravana with ten heads and twenty hands carrying away Sita on an aerial chariot borne by a winged demon, while Jatayu attacks him and Sita gives her ring- to Jatayu when the latter is wounded by a lance-thrust inflicted by Ravana, Jatayu holding the ring in its beak and handing it over to Lakshmana, Rama being lost in thoughts and misery consequent on his separation from Sita, Rama shooting Kabandha through the belly, who has a head on his shoulders besides a second one in his belly, and Kabandha becoming a deva after death and going to heaven seated on a lotus, an unidentified relief showing a prince or king shooting a crocodile in a tank and a woman on the bank in an attitude of prayer, and the meeting with Hanuman.

The next relief contains an interesting episode not present in any of the Indian versions. Rama feels extremely thirsty while searching for Sita in the forest, and Lakshmana brings him water in his quiver which in the sculpture looks like a tube. Rama finds the taste of the water to be salty and Lakshmana discovers that the water he had collected was from a stream of tears issuing out of the eyes of Sugriva, who, seated on a tree was lamenting his sorrows. This leads to the discovery of Sugriva with whom Rama contracts friendship, with Lakshmana in attendance.

Then follow reliefs in which are vividly depicted Rama shooting an arrow through seven trees to exhibit his valour and thus assure Sugriva, the first duel between Vali and Sugriva when Sugriva could not be distinguished, the second fight and the death of Vali at the hands of Rama who shoots him with an arrow, Sugriva being distinguished this time by a garland of leaves round his waist (pl. VI), the marriage of Tara and Sugriva, monkeys attending, Rama, Sugriva and others in consultation, the monkey-chieftains being presented to Rama, Hanuman's flight to Lanka, Hanuman lying hidden in a bower in the Asoka-vana in Lanka and a rakshasi attendant with woolly hair who has discovered him calling the attention of Sita and Trijata to him, Hanuman speaking to Sita, Hanuman burning Lanka with his flaming tail, the city in flames and utter confusion with however a comic scene, wherein an ascetic is shown as removing treasures from a burning mansion, Hanuman from Lanka and narrating his experiences and his meeting with Sita to Rama attended by Lakshmana, Sugriva, Tara and other monkey attendants, Rama on the sea-shore, bow in hand, in an attitude of sorrow at his separation from Sita, and with the intention of chastising the God of the sea (Samudra-raja) for refusing him and his troops passage to Lanka, and the sea-god attended by the sea-monsters and fishes-rising from the waters to make obeisance to Rama, and the bridging of the sea and fishes swallowing up the stones, a detail found only in the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama.

Minor details where the Prambanam reliefs differ from Valmiki's epic are: - the introduction of a second rakshasa in the Viradha scene and a second rakshasi in the Tataka episode, the crow scene, Jatayu receiving a ring from Sita and handing it over to Lakshmana, Kabandha's two heads, the incident of the tears leading eventually to the friendship of Rama with Sugriva, Rama desisting from letting his arrow into the sea, fishes swallowing up the stones of the bridge, etc. These variations, as already stressed, have to be explained as due to the fact that the reliefs, instead of following the contemporary old Javanese Kakavin, approach more closely the later Javanese stories of Rama and the Malay version, in which probably some of the older Indian traditions have been preserved which do not find a place in the Kakavin that follows the literary and polished text of Valmiki.

Of single statues of Prambanam mention may be made of images of Brahma, Siva (9 feet high) and Durga¹³ the last of which is still the object of popular devotion that has given the shrine the name Loro Jongrang. Durga (Mahishasuramardini) is identified with the heroine of a local Javanese legend, "the maid with the beautiful lips"–Loro Jongrang. And even today when pasar, i.e., market falls on a Friday, crowds assemble to do honour to the virgin goddess, "when pledges are given, favours asked, sacrifices made and the image is festooned with flowers and besmeared with paste. Not only Javanese, but Chinese, half-castes, Musulmans and even Europeans offer incense and seek her goodwill." Another piece of decorative statuary found here is the "Three Graces" or apsaras arranged in a ‘graceful unity’ and employed as a decorative motif on the facade of the Siva temple. ¹⁴

These temples were no sooner built than they were deserted for some unknown reason. Inscriptions of the Buddhist Sailendra kings ceased to appear in Central Java after the middle of the ninth century, and after 915 A.D. we do not hear any more of Central Javanese rulers, the region being abandoned by then. About 915 A.D. Central Java was suddenly deserted evidently as a result of some natural catastrophe, probably a volcanic eruption as occurred in the case of the Bimo temple of the Dieng plateau, and we have to look for the later development of Hindu-Javanese art in East Java. This change or the ‘breach in continuity’ is essentially geographical, and not stylistic. The Prambanam art adheres to the principles established on the Dieng plateau, reveals "unity of plan and harmony of construction and ornament," and is so thoroughly advanced in its "conception of the inner relations of the fundamental elements," that any further development could only lead to what we find in the following epoch in East Java.

Before we take up the study of East Javanese art a passing reference must be made to a few specimens of bronze images that would fall within the restoration period itself. The Javanese bronzes show at the outset at least superficial similarities to Indian prototypes with which they are no doubt related. They have certain unique qualities and peculiar characteristics that at once distinguish them. Bronze-casting, which was probably carried from South India, was extensively practiced in Java and we have preserved for us a group of "masterpieces of great distinction in ideas and execution:" Such are for instance Umasahita¹⁵, Siva¹⁶, the Leiden Mahishasuramardini ¹⁷, to mention a few Hindu images, and Dhyani Buddhas and Bodhisattvas¹⁸ of the Mahayana pantheon recalling similar bronzes discovered at Nalanda and some old sites in Bengal. The recent find of Buddhist bronzes in Negapatam, in South India (p. 32) consists of several gods and goddesses of the Mahayana pantheon, closely related to the Nalanda style—a style which appears to have been transported into Negapatam by the Sailendras of Sumatra in the early part of the tenth century. The Sailendra connection with the Palas has been alluded to above (pp. 29-30). Metal-casting was also practised, as in India, in the case of religious utensils and objects of temple ritual and worship

such as lamps, incense burners, etc.¹⁹ Even a look at them is sufficient to prove that they are related to Indian prototypes especially from South India. Gangoly who studies this question carefully, concludes that possibly"many pieces of bronzes were actually taken from Southern India to Java." ²⁰

V

EAST JAVA

A student of Hindu-Javanese art has not much scope for his study in East Java, except by way of contrast, for he comes now to an era of national renaissance, evident as much in the monuments of East Java as in its literature, for all the classics and epics in the Javanese language, translated from Sanskrit into a national form, "Indonesian in essence and idiomatic in expression" belong to this period. A gradual unfolding of the native art, "Polynesian" as it is called, commences, resulting in an undermining of the influence of classic types, "followed by a complete submergence thereof by the indigenous Javanese forms and ideals." It is however in the later phase of East Java period that the native art of Java is clearly found, and it is a wonder that we do not find it nor even get glimpses of it in the earlier periods represented by the Indian Art of Central Java and the Indianesque Art of the early period of East Java. While it is possible that examples of native art existed in wood or other perishable materials, as in South India before the advent of the "Mahendra" style of architecture, we cannot help noting with regret the absence of stone monuments and the like in Java that could at least throw us straw-like clues to determine the character of Javanese art before the advent of Indian culture in the isle. The essence of Polynesian art that can be discerned in the monuments of Bali and in the Wayang figures²¹ is a primitive joy in an indulgence in fantastic decorations and riotous forms of illogical fancy."

The history of the various dynasties that ruled over East Java till the introduction of Islam in Java in the middle of the fifteenth century, is discussed at length by Dr. B. R. Chatterji²² and Gangoly²³. Some of the early eastern monuments are Gunung Gansir (977 A.D.), the Belahan gateways, Chandi Sumber Nanas and Chandi Sangariti which are of Central Javanese character. Chandi Lalatunda, tomb and bathing place, are ascribed to Udayana, the father of the great Erlanga (1010-1042 A.D.), to whom is assigned another bathing place near Belahan from where hails a portrait of Erlanga which represents him as Vishnu riding upon Garuda, in accordance with a practice common in Java and Cambodia of canonizing kings after their death, the king being regarded as an incarnation of the god on earth. Erlanga's reign was the most flourishing period of Kavi literature, some of the old Javanese poems having been composed about this time, e.g., Arjuna-vivaha by Kanva, in which the shadow-play is mentioned for the first time, and Bharat Yuddha by Sedah.

No temple of the time of Erlanga or of the next century has survived and we are left to guess the style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries from the surviving remains of the thirteenth century, associated with two dynasties that ruled at Singasari (1280-1292 A. D.) and Majapahit (1294-1478 A. D.) The chief monuments of Singasari are Chandi Kidal (Saiva), with a heavy pyramidal roof and with conspicuous horizontal courses over the doorways mounted by kalamakara (kirtimukha) heads, practically overweighting the whole structure, Chandi Jago (1268 A. D.), a Buddhist temple with its wayang-reliefs illustrating the Javanese Krishnayana, rather strange in a Buddhist temple, and with separate sculptures and images of the Dhyani Buddhas and their Saktis, all inscribed in Devanagari character of the thirteenth century, and Chandi Singasari which has yielded many Saiva images, especially the well-known Durga-Mahishasuramardini²⁴, Ganesa of Leiden²⁵, a vigorous Tantric conception as indicated by its asana made of skulls, and Bhairava, a masterpiece of Brahmanic sculpture of this period. The Durga-Mahishasuramardini from Singasari is a novel conception and is a distinct evidence of the native art, though details of iconography are strictly from Indian models and the treatment of the whole is free from convention.

From another Singasari shrine comes the famous Leiden image of Prajnaparamita. (pl. VII), whose iconography I have discussed elsewhere.²⁶ It is the most attractive example of Indo-Javanese sculpture and is believed to represent the features of Queen Dedes, the wife of Ken Arok (1220-1227 A. D.). From the same shrine comes a vigorous image of Manjusri, dated 1343 A.D.²⁷. now in the Berlin Museum. A significant specimen of sculpture of this period is a Ganesa from Bara²⁸, dated 1239 A. D., which is demonstrably ‘a native Javanese version of an Indian conception.’ Saiva-Buddhist syncretism is illustrated in Chandi Jawi where the main cell has a Siva image with a Buddha above it. In another Chandi, Chandi Chupuwatu we find a stupa-linga. According to an old Javanese Mahayana text, Sang Hiang Kamahayanikan, Siva is identical with the Buddha.

Of the Majapahit period (1294-1478 A. D.) two temples deserve noticing here. Chandi Papoh (1300-1A. D.) is an elegant little shrine with a squat, cubical form that arrests attention. Another is Chandi Jabung (1359 A. D.) which is the finest example of East Javanese art. The shrine is circular, rather unique, standing on a terraced base, rather unusually high. Here the transition from a square base to a circular tower–gracefully broken by niches surmounted by kirtimukhas–is well managed.

Byfar the most important monument of the golden age of East Java which furnished the last phase of Eastern Javanese art, and after describing which we have to close our study of Hindu-Javanese art, is the Saiva temple complex of Panataran near Blitar, famous for the Ramayana and Krishnayana reliefs that adorn its terraces. The architecture is "more a degeneration than a development of the form which opened in the temple of Kidal" and indicates "a loss of balance between construction and ornament." The temple was completed about 1320 A. D. The basement, which alone remains, is square with recessed corners; the lower of the terraces is decorated with the reliefs illustrating the Ramayana according to the Kakavin, the upper with a continuous frieze illustrating the Krishnayana. These reliefs are designed in a grotesque wayang-like style, i. e., in the plastic dialect of native Indonesian art–a curious mixture of human and animal forms with long noses, grinning mouths and coarse fat trunks²⁹. Ornamentation is very rich; trees and clouds are worked into fantastic decorations in the manner of "Chinese" clouds and into forms of animals and faces aptly called "cloud-faces." The ground in these reliefs is full of conventional magical symbols, surely the survivals of old Polynesian traditions and superstitions; human faces are done badly but monkeys and demons are realistic enough.

The story is however told with almost primitive vigour, ‘in a language entirely different from the chaste diction of Central Java forms.’ The exploits of Hanuman according to the Lanka Kanda are represented here and the story continues till the fight with Ravana and the return of Rama. Some of the scenes worth noting are: - Hanuman's flight to Lanka, Ravana seated with two of his queens, Ravana in the Asoka-vana, Hanuman meeting Sita there, battle scenes between Hanuman and the demons, Ravana in court, Hanuman breaking Aksha's arm, Hanuman taking a sea-bath, Indrajit binding Hanuman with the naga-astra and leading him as a captive before Ravana, Hanuman releasing himself from the naga-pasa, his tail set fire to and Hanuman burning the city with it, Hanuman's second visit to Sita and return to Rama, the bridging of the sea, the monkey-army marching in the battle-field, the battle, Hanuman's part in the battle, death of Kumbhakarna, fight with Ravana and return of Rama, etc.

It is the art of Panataran that leads to the Wayang (the puppet-shows of modern Java) and which still survives in the art of Bali today. In other words, Panataran art may be styled as wayang-art, which can be best understood by a brief study of the varieties of the wayang itself.

Wayang means the theatre and this theatre embraces a number of forms, of which the oldest is the Wayang Beber which is an exhibition of scroll paintings with spoken text, an equivalent of the old Indian Yamapata exhibition as described in the Mudrarakshasa. Other forms are the Wayang Purva, Wayang Gedog and Wayang Klitik which together, embracing Javanese history beginning with the Indian epics and ending with the last kings of Majapahit (1294-1478 A. D.) form the shadow-play. "The Javanese shadow figures are cut in leather and have moveable arms, but they are not translucent like those of China. Those of Burma and Siam on the other hand are combined with landscape in whole scenes and are not moveable." The Javanese figures are hundled with reverence, so much so that the shadow-play is not merely an amusement; it is a ceremony, a kind of ritual performed in honour of the ancestors of the race whose spirits are represented by the leather puppets. A true puppet play is Wayang Golek. In it the figures are also manipulated from below, unlike those of Burma which have moveable legs and arms. Finally we have also plays in which living actors take part–the Wayang Topeng or masked dance of high antiquity, in which it is said that the king took part on the occasion of a sraddha for the queen-mother,–and the regular theatrical performances in imitation of shadow-plays called Wayang Wong. This human theatre is mainly an eighteenth century creation of aristocratic origin, but the themes are invariably drawn from the ancient sources, and the noble costumes, absence of scenery, and traditional dances and gestures always reminiscent of Indian tradition, lend to the whole performance an air of antiquity. As Dr. Coomaraswamy, who has made a special study of the Wayang; ³⁰ observes "the Javanese theatre presents a living and emotionally convincing picture of a heroic and romantic past" and "embodies spiritual and cultural values of deep significance." Its popularity may be understood when we say that permanent troupes of actors are supported at the royal courts, that members of the royal family also take part in it, and that on great occasions hundreds of actors are trained for months in advance, no expense being spared.

We shall close our study by concluding that Indian art in the Archipelago is a continuation and a development of the Indian creative genius under colonial conditions, that the art of Java "really recovers to us one of the lost pages of Indian art" and that it is undoubtedly "one of the outlying frontiers of the civilization of a Greater India stretching itself to the shores beyond the ‘moving seas’".

1 Was it named after Brahma, who is enshrined in one of the three largest temples of the group? See also above, P: 24.

2 O. C. Gangoly, The Art of Java, pp. 32-3.

3 Loc. cit. pl. xxxi.

4 Ibid, pls. xxxii and xxxiii.

5 Ibid, p. 32.

6 For a slightly different account of this legend see Scheltema, Monumental Java, pp. 70-75.

7 Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, p. 206.

8 Ibid.

9 Rupam, 1928, p. 2.

10 Loc. cit. p. 3.

11 See Rama-legenden and Rama Reliefs in Indonesian.

12 B. R. Chatterji, Indian Culture in Java and Sumatra, pp. 30-35.

13O. C. Gangoly, The Art of Java; pls. xxiii-v.

14 Ibid, pl. xxvi.

15 O. C. Gangoly, South Indian Bronzes, pl. ii.

16 O. C. Gangoly, The Art of Java, pls. xxxiv-v.

17 Ibid, pl. xxxvi.

18 Ibid, pls. xxxvii-iii.

19 Loc. cit, pl. xxxix

20 Ibid, p. 34.

21 Ibid, pl. lxiv.

22 Indian Culture in Java and Sumatra, pp. 5-12.

23 The Art of Java, pp. 8-13.

24 Ibid, pl. xlix.

25 Ibid, pl. xlviii.

26 Triveni, vol. IV, No.6.

27 O. C. Gangoly, The Art of Java, pl. liii.

28 Ibid, pls. li-lii.

29 O. C. Gangoly, The Art of Java, pl. lvii.

30 See Rupam, 1921, No.7, p. 5.