The History of Java, v. 1-2

CHAPTER IX.

It has already been stated, that the established religion of the country is that of Mahomed. The earliest allusion to this faith made in the Javan annals is in the twelfth century of the Javan era (A.D. 1250), when an unsuccessful attempt appears to have been made to convert some of the Súnda princes[203]. Towards the close of the fourteenth century, several missionaries established themselves in the eastern provinces; and according to the Javan annals, and the universal tradition of the country, it was in the first year of the fifteenth century of the Javan era, or about the year of our Lord 1475, that the Hindu empire of Majapáhit, then supreme on the island, was overthrown, and the Mahomedan religion became the established faith of the country. When the Portuguese first visited Java in 1511, they found a Hindu king in Bantam; and subsequently, they are said to have lost their footing in that province, in consequence of the arrival and establishment of a Mahomedan prince there; but with the exception of an inconsiderable number in some of the interior and mountainous tracts, the whole island appears to have been converted to Mahomedanism in the course of the sixteenth century, or at least at the period of the establishment of the Dutch at Batavia in 1620.

The natives are still devotedly attached to their ancient institutions, and though they have long ceased to respect the temples and idols of a former worship, they still retain a high respect for the laws, usages, and national observances which prevailed before the introduction of Mahomedanism. And although some few individuals among them may aspire to a higher sanctity and closer conformity to Mahomedanism than others, it may be fairly stated, that the Javans in general, while they believe in one supreme God, and that Mahomed was his Prophet, and observe some of the outward forms of the worship and observances, are little acquainted with the doctrines of that religion, and are the least bigoted of its followers. Few of the chiefs decline the use of wine, and if the common people abstain from inebriating liquors, it is not from any religious motive. Mahomedan institutions, however, are still gaining ground, and with a free trade a great accession of Arab teachers might be expected to arrive. Property usually descends according to the Mahomedan law; but in other cases, the Mahomedan code, as adopted by the Javans, is strangely blended with the more ancient institutions of the country[204].

Pilgrimages to Mecca are common. When the Dutch first established themselves on Java, it was not unusual for the chiefs of the highest rank to undertake the voyage, as will be seen in the course of the native history. As soon, however, as the Dutch obtained a supremacy, they did all they could to check this practice, as well as the admission of Arab missionaries, and by the operation of the system of commercial monopoly which they adopted, succeeded pretty effectually. It does not, however, appear that this arose from any desire to check the progress of Mahomedanism on Java, or that it was with any view to introduce the doctrines of Christianity, that they wished to cut off the communication with Mecca; their sole objects appear to have been the safety of their own power and the tranquillity of the country. Every Arab from Mecca, as well as every Javan who had returned from a pilgrimage thither, assumed on Java the character of a saint, and the credulity of the common people was such, that they too often attributed to such persons supernatural powers. Thus respected, it was not difficult for them to rouse the country to rebellion, and they became the most dangerous instruments in the hands of the native authorities opposed to the Dutch interests. The Mahomedan priests have almost invariably been found most active in every case of insurrection. Numbers of them, generally a mixed breed between the Arabs and the islanders, go about from state to state in the Eastern Islands, and it is generally by their intrigues and exhortations that the native chiefs are stirred up to attack or massacre the Europeans, as infidels and intruders.

The commercial monopoly of the Dutch, however injurious to the country in other respects, was in this highly advantageous to the character of the Javans, as it preserved them from the reception of many of the more intolerable and deteriorating tenets of the Kóran.

I have already mentioned, that every village has its priest, and that in every village of importance there is a mosque or building set apart adapted to religious worship. The usual Mahomedan service is performed; and the Panghúlu, or priest, consulted, and decides in all cases of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. He is bound also to remind the villagers of the proper season for the cultivation of the lands. He is remunerated by a tithe of the produce of the land, certain fees which are paid on circumcisions, marriages, divorces, and funerals, and presents which are usual at particular seasons and on particular occasions.

In every chief town there is a high priest, who with the assistance of several inferior priests, holds an ecclesiastical court, and superintends the priests who are appointed in the subordinate districts and villages. His emoluments consist of a share, which varies in different districts, of the zakát levied by the village priests, of fees of court, presents, &c. These chief priests are usually either Arabs, or descendants of Arabs, by women of the islands. Their number in some of the large towns is considerable; at Pakalóngan and Grésik they have amounted to some hundreds. The village priests are mostly Javans. On entering the profession, they adopt a dress different from that of the Javans in general, wearing a turban and long gown after the manner of the Arabs, and encouraging, as much as possible, the growth of a few hairs on the chin, as a beard. It is probable, that the total number of priests is not less than fifty thousand, which forms a ninetieth part of the whole population of the island.

In common with other Mahomedans, the Javans observe the ceremony of circumcision (sónat), which is performed at about eight years of age, and in a manner somewhat differing from that usual in other countries. The ceremony is usually attended with a feast and rejoicing. Girls, at the same age, suffer a slight operation, intended to be analogous, and called by the same name.

In their processions and rejoicings on religious festivals and other occasions, the Javans are free from that noisy clamour and uproar, which is usual with the Mahomedans of continental India. The ceremony of húsen hásen, which on the continent excites such a general noise throughout the country, here passes by almost without notice, and the processions of the Sepoys on this occasion, during the period of the British government on Java, excited the utmost astonishment among them, on account of their novelty, noise, and gaudy effect; but nobody seemed inclined to join in, or to imitate them: indeed the Javans have too chaste an ear to bear with pleasure the dissonant sounds and unharmonious uproar of the Indians[205].

The Mahomedan religion, as it at present exists on Java, seems only to have penetrated the surface, and to have taken but little root in the heart of the Javans. Some there are who are enthusiastic, and all consider it a point of honour to support and respect its doctrines: but as a nation, the Javans by no means feel hatred towards Europeans as infidels; and this perhaps may be given as the best proof that they are very imperfect Mahomedans. As another example of the very slight hold which Mahomedanism has of them, may be adduced the conduct of the reigning prince (the Susúnan) in the recent conspiracy among the Sepoys serving on Java. The intimacy between this prince and the Sepoys first commenced from his attending the ceremonies of their religious worship, which was Hindu, and assisting them with several idols of that worship which had been preserved in his family. The conspirators availing themselves of this predilection of the prince for the religion of his ancestors, flattered him by addressing him as a descendant of the great Ráma, and a deliberate plan was formed, the object of which was to place the European provinces once more under a Hindu power. Had this plan been attended with success, it would probably have been followed by the almost immediate and general re-conversion of the Javans themselves to the Hindu faith[206].

Whatever of their more ancient faith may remain in the institutions, habits, and affections of the Javans, the island abounds in less perishable memorials of it. The antiquities of Java consist of ruins of edifices, and in particular of temples sacred to the former worship; images of deities found within them, and scattered throughout the country, either sculptured in stone or cast in metal; inscriptions on stone and copper in ancient characters, and ancient coins.

The antiquities of Java have not, till lately, excited much notice; nor have they yet been sufficiently explored. The narrow policy of the Dutch denied to other nations facilities of research; and their own devotion to the pursuits of commerce was too exclusive to allow of their being much interested by the subject. The numerous and interesting remains of former art and grandeur, which exist in the ruins of temples and other edifices; the abundant treasures of sculpture and statuary with which some parts of the island are covered; and the evidences of a former state of religious belief and national improvement, which are presented in images, devices, and inscriptions, either lay entirely buried under rubbish, or were but partially examined. Nothing, therefore, of the ancient history of the people, of their institutions prior to the introduction of Mahomedanism, of their magnificence and power before the distraction of internal war and the division of the country into petty contending sovereignties, or of their relations either to adjacent or distant tribes, in their origin, language, and religion, could be accurately known or fully relied on. The grandeur of their ancestors sounds like a fable in the mouth of the degenerate Javan; and it is only when it can be traced in monuments, which cannot be falsified, that we are led to give credit to their traditions concerning it. Of these monuments, existing in great profusion in several places, and forming, if I may so express myself, the most interesting part of the annals of the people, none are so striking as those found at Brambánan in Matárem, near the middle of the island, at Bóro Bódo in Kédu, on Gúnung Práhu and its vicinity, in Kedírí, and at Sing'a Sári in the district of Málang, in the eastern part of the island.

In addition to their claims on the consideration of the antiquarian, the ruins at two of these places, Brambánan and Bóro Bódo, are admirable as majestic works of art. The great extent of the masses of building covered in some parts with the luxuriant vegetation of the climate, the beauty and delicate execution of the separate portions, the symmetry and regularity of the whole, the great number and interesting character of the statues and bas-reliefs, with which they are ornamented, excite our wonder that they were not earlier examined, sketched, and described.

With respect to the ruins at Brámbanan, we find, upon the authority of a Dutch engineer, who in 1797 went to construct a fort at Kláten, on the highway between the two native capitals, and not far from the site of the temples, that no description of its antiquities existed at that period. He found great difficulty in clearing away the rubbish and plants, so as to obtain a view of the ruins and to be enabled to sketch them. The indifference of the natives had been as great as that of their conquerors, and had led them to neglect the works of their ancestors which they could not imitate. They had allowed a powerful vegetation, not only to cover the surface of the buildings, but to dislocate and almost to overthrow them. They still viewed with veneration, however, the most conspicuous statue in the ruins, and in spite of their Mahomedan principles, addressed it with superstitious reverence. The temples themselves they conceived to have been the work of a divinity, and to have been constructed in one night; but unfortunately this belief did not restrain the neighbouring peasants from carrying off the stones of which they were constructed, and applying them to their own purposes. Enough, however, still remains, to shew the style of architecture that was followed in their construction, the state of sculpture at the period of their erection, and the nature of the religion which then prevailed.

In the beginning of the year 1812, Colonel Colin Mackenzie[207], so well acquainted with the antiquities of Western India, visited Brambánan, took an accurate survey of the ruins, and sketched the fragments of the building, the architectural ornaments, and the statues found there. His journal, accompanied with much ingenious and interesting speculation on the nature and origin of the worship indicated by them, he kindly permitted me to publish in the seventh volume of the transactions of the Batavian Society.

Considering it as a matter of importance, that a more extensive and detailed survey should be made while we had the best opportunity of doing so, I availed myself of the services of Captain George Baker of the Bengal establishment, employed in the provinces of the native princes, to survey, measure, and take draughts of all the buildings, images, and inscriptions, which this magnificent mass of ruins presented. The following is an abstract of his report on the subject.

In the province of Matárem, and between the native capitals of Súra kerta and Yúgya kérta, lies the village of Brambánan, and at a distance of a mile from the high road, there are hills which run east and west, for about a mile and a half. On one of these, within about one hundred yards to the south-east of the Bándar's[208] house, stands

THE CHANDI KÓBON DÁLAM,

but so covered with trees and shrubs, that it is not visible till you are within two or three hundred yards of it. I could find no remains of the ancient enclosure, but the fields for some distance round have been enclosed in later days with the stones which have fallen from the temple. About forty yards westward of the temple, formerly stood two colossal images or réchas[209], both now overthrown, and one broken in two: these evidently faced each other inwards, as if to guard the approach. Each of these, including the pedestal, is of a single block, seven feet high; the head is two feet high; the square of the pedestal about three feet, and its height thirteen inches and a half: the stone block coarse grained, and apparently the same as the outer coating of the temple. The door-way is three feet and a half wide, and now ten feet long, so that allowing two feet for dilapidation, the thickness of the walls must have been more than twelve feet. This leads directly to an apartment twenty feet square, the terrace of which, or original floor, is now covered to an unknown depth with masses of stone fallen from the walls and roof. The present height of the interior of the building is about twenty-eight feet.

The roof is a square pyramid about fourteen feet high, formed of stones which overhang each other like inverted steps. The stone composing the interior of the apartment is whitish and close grained, and breaks in flakes something like flint. The whole is uniformly cut and neatly morticed together without cement. The interior is perfectly plain, the exterior could never have possessed more than the simplest architectural embellishment.

Excepting the two réchas, or porters, I saw no remains of statuary; but it is probable that images of Hindu deities lie buried in the rubbish. These porters or giants seem to have been posted as if to guard the approach to the sanctuaries of the gods. The hair of each is plaited and wound round his head, after the fashion of the mendicant priests of India. He wears large cylindrical ear-rings, like those of the Javan women, bracelets and necklace of beads. His waistband, which is very bulky and reaches almost to his knees, is confined by a chain of square links, and receives on the right side a small square-hilted dagger. Between his legs and under the waistband there passes a lungofa or kopina, the ends of which hang down before and behind. In his right hand he holds an octagonal club; in his left a snake, coiled and darting its tongue along the breast: small twisted snakes also form his armlets, and one passes over his left shoulder diagonally across the body, the head and tail forming a kind of knot. His head is broad; his forehead and chin short but wide; his eyes quite round, large, prominent, and staring; his lips thick; his mouth open, and shewing two very large dog teeth and four others of the upper jaw. Singular as the countenance is, it has generally an open good humoured expression. The Sepoy who attended me, and who had resided two years among the Bramins at Benares, and, of a corps of upwards of eight hundred Sepoys, was acknowledged to be the best acquainted with such subjects, informed me that similar figures were common guardians of the entrance to the temples of India, and seemed perfectly well acquainted with their history, purpose, and distinctive accompaniments; but he was lost in surprise at the number, magnitude, and superior execution of those at Brambánan, to which he said that India could in no respect furnish a parallel. Every thing here, he said, was manifestly the work of the gods, as no human power could have effected such things. The temples at Brambánan are entirely composed of plain hewn stone without the least mixture of brick, mortar, or rubbish of any kind, even in the most extensive solid masses, or to fill up the floors and basements of the largest structures. Large trees have made their way through many of them, and give an air of high antiquity.

Close by the road side at Brambánan, and in front of the bándar's house, there are several pieces of sculpture deserving of notice. One is a very well executed relievo on two small stones, of about eighteen inches by five, within the bándar's kámpung: it represents elephants completely caparisoned in the Hindu fashion. Another is a piece of sculpture representing the wide-extended mouth and erect curled proboscis of the elephant, having a figure (I believe of a Gôpie or inferior deity or demi-god) seated in an erect posture on the animal's tongue, surrounded with a formidable array of teeth. This is found on either side of the top or bottom of flights of steps, grand entrances, or portal of all the Brambánan buildings. There is also a more finished specimen of the same kind as the last, but having instead of a Gópia a lion, decorated with a necklace, to whose head descends from the lotos flowers which crown the elevated proboscis of the elephant, a very rich cluster of beads. Two stones are sculptured in relief with the figures of seven apes traversing a wood: they are each about two feet six inches high by two feet wide. These pieces are more damaged by time and weather than any others I met with, and perhaps more ancient. They appear to be entirely historical, and probably formed together the memorial of some legendary event, which the learning of my Brahmin did not reach: he seemed however positive that Hanumán was not of the number. The shield occurs twice, a reptile of the lizard kind led by a string once, and all the figures appear armed with sticks.

The only other piece of sculpture found here is of a headless naked figure, sitting on a double throne, surrounded with foliage, opposite the Bandáran at the corner of a field. The journal of Colonel Mackenzie, which had previously appeared in the Transactions of the Batavian Society, had so fully persuaded me that all these rude figures in a sitting cross-legged posture were Jain or Budhist, that I by accident only asked my companion if he knew what this was? To my astonishment he replied, that this, with all other similar images, were tupís wurri, or Hindus in the act of devotion, and that this figure was evidently a Brahmin (from the sacrificial or sacred string over his left shoulder) employed in tupísya. I asked him whether it might be Budh? to which he replied, No; that Budh held a very low rank in the estimation of the Brahmins, who, in consequence of the schism between Brahmins and Budhists, did not choose to make tupísya before him, or erect his likeness in their temples; and that, as all the temples at Brambánan were entirely Braminical, or had their origin from the same sect of which he himself was a member, it was not likely that any images of Budh should be found thereabouts. When we afterwards came to examine the temples at Lóro Jóngran and other places, where the same figure complete appears seated in the small temples, surrounding the great central one, I pointed out to him the long-extended ears, short curled head of hair, and other marks, which I had understood served to distinguish the Jain or Budh images from all others. He said he was only more convinced that they were all simple Hindu devotees in the act of making tupísya, in the presence of the principal deity enthroned in the grand temple in the midst of them; that this was frequently the case in India, and wherever practicable the Brahmins placed images of devotees, of exactly similar form and attitude, around the fanes of Brahma and their inferior gods; that what I called curled hair was nothing more than a peculiar kind of cap (topi he called it) worn by devotees when in the most sacred acts of tupísya, which caps are common, he said, throughout Bengal or Hindustan, and are made for the purpose, by a particular class of people. I found the lower part of two counterpart decorated stones, having the part of the body of Ganésa in the centre of each. They were extremely well executed and in good preservation.

CHÁNDI LÓRO JÓNGRANG; or TEMPLES OF LÓRO JÓNGRAN.

These lie directly in front (north) of the village of Brambánan, and about two hundred and fifty yards from the road, whence they are visible, in the form of large hillocks of fallen masses of stone, surmounted, and in some instances covered, with a profusion of trees and herbage of all descriptions. In the present dilapidated state of these venerable buildings, I found it very difficult to obtain a correct plan or description of their original disposition, extent, or even of their number and figure. Those that remain, with any degree of their primary form or elevation, are ten, disposed in three lines, running north and south. Of those on the western line, which are far the largest and most lofty, that in the centre towers high above the rest, and its jutting fragments lie tumbled about over a large area. Nothing can exceed the air of desolation which this spot presents; and the feelings of every visitor are attuned, by the scene of surrounding devastation, to reflect, that while these noble monuments of the ancient splendour of religion and the arts are submitting, with sullen slowness, to the destructive hand of time and nature, the art which raised them has perished before them, and the faith which they were to honour has now no other honour in the land.

After repeated visits to the place, I am perfectly clear, that the temples of Jongrángan originally consisted of twenty separate buildings, besides the enclosures and gateway; that of these, six large and two small temples were within the second wall, and twelve small ones, exactly similar to each other, formed a kind of square about the exterior of the inner wall. The first temple that occurs on entering, is the small central one on the right hand of the present pathway; and though its roof is gone, a most beautiful terrace appears, which supported the building, and measures twenty-three feet six inches by twenty-two feet ten inches. At present the height of it is barely three feet and a half. The lower part contains five small niches on either side, profusely decorated and resting on small pilasters, each niche occupied by a lion, seated exactly similar to those described in the elephant's mouth. The intervals between the niches are very neatly filled with diminutive pilasters and other ornaments, displaying real taste and skill, which again support a double fillet projecting all round. One carved most beautifully, with a running festooned beading, with intermediate knots and pendents, each festoon filled with a lively representation of a parroquet with expanded wings, the other fillet with a fancy pattern more simple. On the opposite, or north side, was a building similar to this, but now a mound of stone.

The largest temple, apparently about ninety feet in height, is at present a mass of ruin, as well as the five others connected with it; but ascending to its northern face, over a vast heap of stones fallen from it and the third temple, at the height of about thirty feet, you reach the entrance: the whole is of hewn stones, fitted and morticed into each other, without rubbish or cement of any kind. Directly in front of the door-way stands the image of Lóro Jóngran. I had previously found a very similar, and I think a more beautiful representation of Dévi, as the Bramin called it, in the village of Kuwíran, about fifteen miles north-east from Brambánan. The image of Lóro Jóngran here has exactly the same attributes and accompaniments as that found at Kuwíran, but it is larger, not at all damaged, perfectly smooth, and with a polished surface: the buffalo is entirely recumbent; the character of the countenance, general figure, and attitudes, are very different, and the shape, attitude, and visage of the goddess, far less elegant and feminine. The figure at Brambánan is six feet three inches by three feet one inch in the widest part at the pedestal; that at Kuwíran is three feet nine inches high by twenty inches. The general description of this goddess, as read to me by the Bramin from a Sanscrit paper he copied at Benares, will serve to illustrate both these images, in the literal precise manner in which I took down his words.

"Bhawáni, Dévi, Soca, Juggudumba, Mahamya, Lutala, Phulmuttis, and Mata, are the designations of this powerful goddess, who resides at Shasi or Basini (Benares), at an angle of the sacred Ganges. Her adoration is called urchit with oblations of flowers, chundun, kundun, and mugt. In her hand she holds a tulwar, called khug: round her neck she has a mala of sumpurun, toolsi, or chundun. Her weight is very great, and wherever her effigy is placed the earth trembles and becomes much heavier. The name of her buffalo is Mahisa, and the Dewth who attempts to slay it is Ussoor. She sleeps upon a bed of flowers."

Thus much could I understand, and repeat verbatim of this goddess's power and attributes. For the rest, in her eight arms she holds, 1st. the buffalo's tail; 2d. the sword called khurg; 3d. the bhulla or janclin; 4th. the chukur or whut; 5th. the lune or conch shell; 6th. the dhat or shield; 7th. the jundah or flag; and 8th. the hair of the Dewth Mahikusor, or personification of vice, who, while attempting to slay her favourite, Mahisa is seized by the goddess in a rage. He raises a dhat or shield in his defence, and a sabre, or some offensive weapon, should be in his right hand.

The apartment in which this image and some other sculptured stones are placed, rises perfectly square and plain, to the height of ten feet, and there occurs a richly carved cornice of four fillets, a single stone to each. From this rises the roof in a square pyramid, perfectly plain or smooth, for ten feet more.

Proceeding over the ruins round to the west face of this building, you pass the intermediate angular projection, carved alternately in a running flower or foliage, which Colonel Mackenzie has called Arabesque, and with small human figures of various form and attitude in compartments, above representations of square pyramidal temples, exactly like those on so many of the entablatures of Bóro Bódo, and similar, I understand, to the Budh temples of Ava, &c. &c., the whole extremely rich and minute beyond description. The western door-way is equally plain with the former, and the entrance is still lower. The apartment is ten feet two inches square, apparently more filled up (that is, the floor raised higher than the other), but in all other respects exactly the same. In front is seated a complete Ganésa, of smooth or polished stone, seated on a throne: the whole a single block, five and a half feet high and three wide. In his hands he has a plantain, a circlet of beads, a flower, and a cup to which the end of his proboscis is applied: a hooded snake encircles his body diagonally over the left shoulder. His cap is high, with a death's head and horned moon in front, and as well as his necklaces, waistband, armlets, bracelets, anklets, and all his habiliments, is profusely decorated. The only damage he appears to have sustained, is in losing all but the roots of his tusks.

The Javans to this day continue to pay their devoirs to him and to Lóro Jóngran, as they are constantly covered with turmerick, flowers, ochre, &c. They distinguish Ganésa by the name of Raja Demáng, Singa Jáya, or Gana Singa Jáya. Going still round over heaps of fallen stone to the south face, you with some difficulty enter by the door-way (nearly closed up by the ruin) into the third apartment, where there is scarce light enough to see a prostrate Siva with his feet broken off and lost. What remains is four feet ten inches and a half long, and two feet two inches wide.

The whole of the apartment on the east side has fallen in, or is closed up by the dilapidation of that entire front.

From the elevated situation of the entrances to all the apartments first described, it is evident that there must formerly have been flights of steps to them. The plan of this temple, and as far as I could judge of the two adjoining ones, north and south, was a perfect cross, each of the four apartments first described occupying a limb or projection of the figure, and the small intermediate protruding angles between these limbs of the cross could only be to admit of a large apartment in the centre of the building, to which, however, no opening was practicable or visible. Moreover, as all the grand entrances to the interior of Hindu temples, where it is practicable, face the rising sun, I could have wished to ascertain from this (the largest and most important at Jongrángan) whether or not the main apartment was in existence, as I had made up my mind, that were I possessed of the means to clear away the stone, I should have found Brahma himself in possession of the place: the smaller rooms being occupied by such exalted deities as Bhawani, Siva, and Ganésa, scarce any other, indeed, than Brahma could be found presiding on the seat of honour and majesty.

The three large temples on the eastern line are in a state of utter ruin. They appear to have been very large and lofty, and perfectly square. The upper terraces, just under the supposed entrances, were visible in some places, at the height of about sixty feet.

CHÁNDI SÉWU, or THE THOUSAND TEMPLES.

In the whole course of my life I have never met with such stupendous and finished specimens of human labour, and of the science and taste of "ages long since forgot," crowded together in so small a compass as in this little spot; which, to use a military phrase, I deem to have been the head quarters of Hinduism in Java. These ruins are situated exactly eight hundred and thirty-five yards north-north-east from the northern extremity of those of Lóro Jóngran, and one thousand three hundred and forty-five yards from the high road opposite the bándar's house. Having had in view all the way one lofty pyramidal or conical ruin, covered with foliage, and surrounded by a multitude of much smaller ones, in every stage of humbled majesty and decay, you find yourself, on reaching the southern face, very suddenly between two gigantic figures in a kneeling posture, and of terrific forms, appearing to threaten you with their uplifted clubs; their bulk is so great, that the stranger does not readily comprehend their figure. These gigantic janitors are represented kneeling on the left knee, with a small cushion under the right ham, the left resting on the retired foot. The height of the pedestal is fifteen inches, of the figure, seven feet nine inches to the top of the curls; total, nine feet. The head twenty-six inches long: width across the shoulders, three feet ten inches. The pedestal just comprises the kneeling figure, and no more.

The character and expression of the face I have never met with elsewhere: it belongs neither to India nor to any of the eastern isles. The countenance is full, round, and expressive of good humour. The eyes are large, prominent, and circular; the nose is prominent and wide, and in profile seems pointed; the upper lip is covered with tremendous mustaches; the mouth is large and open, with a risible character, shewing two very large dog-teeth; the under lip thin, and the chin very strait and short; forehead the same; no neck visible; the breast broad and full, with a very prominent round belly; the lower limbs, as well as the arms, extremely short and stout. But the most extraordinary appendage of these porters, is a very large full-bottomed wig, in full curl all over, which, however, the Bramin assured me (and I really believe) is intended to represent the usual mode in which the Moonis are supposed to dress their natural hair; these gigantic genii, whose duty it is to guard the sanctuaries of the gods, requiring as formidable an appearance as possible. In other respects the images are in the Hindu costume. The lungota passes between the legs, the ends of it decorated, hanging down before and behind, over the waistband, and a curious square-linked chain, which encircles the waist. A snake entwines the body diagonally over the left shoulder, the tail and head twisted on the left breast. A small ornamented dagger is stuck in the girdle on the right loins. A pointed club of an octagonal form is held up in the right hand, and rests on the knee; the left hand, dropped down his side, grasps a circled snake, which seems to bite the fore-part of the left arm. The necklace is of fillagree-work (such as is called star); and the ears, which are large and long, are decorated with the immense ornamented cylindrical ear-rings worn by the Javan women of the present day. Round the two arms are twisted snakes, and round the wrist bracelets of beads. The waistband extends nearly to the knees. From the waist upwards the figure is naked.

The same description is applicable to the eight other pair of images, which guard the other approaches of Chándi Séwu; at twenty feet distance from the exterior line of temples, and facing inwards to each other about twelve feet apart. Each of these statues and its pedestal is of one piece of a species of pudding-stone, which must have required great care in working.

The whole site or ground-plan of these temples forms a quadrangle of five hundred and forty feet by five hundred and ten, exactly facing the cardinal points. The greater extent is on the eastern and western sides, as there allowance has been made for wider avenues leading up to the grand central temples situated within, while on the north and south sides the spaces between the small exterior temples are all alike. There is no vestige of an exterior boundary wall of any kind. The outer quadrangle, which is the limit of the whole, and which encloses four others, consists of eighty-four small temples, twenty-two on each face: the second consists of seventy-six; the third of sixty-four; the fourth of forty-four; and the fifth, or inner parallelogram, of twenty-eight; in all two hundred and ninety-six small temples, disposed in five regular parallelograms. The whole of these are upon an uniform plan, eleven feet and a half square on the outside, with a small vestibule or porch, six feet two inches long, by four feet and a half externally. Within is an apartment exactly six feet square, with a door-way five feet nine inches high, by three feet four inches wide, directly opposite to which stands the seat or throne of the statue which occupied the temple. The walls inside rise square to the height of seven feet ten inches, and quite plain; thence the roof rises about five feet more in a plain pyramid, and above that a perpendicular square rises two feet more, where the roof is closed by a single stone. The interior dimensions of the porch or vestibule in front were three feet and a half by two and a half. The thickness of wall to each temple was about two feet nine inches, and of the vestibule one foot four inches. The exterior elevation of each must have been about eighteen feet, rising square to the cornices about eight or nine feet, according to the irregularities of ground, and the rest a fanciful superstructure of various forms, diminishing in size to the summit, which was crowned with a very massive circular stone, surmounted with another cylindrical one rounded off at the top. The whole of each superstructure thus formed a kind of irregular pyramid, composed of five or six retiring steps or parts, of which the three lowest appeared to me of the figure of a cross, with intermediate projecting angles to the two lower, and retired ones to the upper step, which varied in position also from the lower ones. Above that the summit appeared to rise in an octangular form, diminishing gradually to the stones above described. The same kind of stone appears also to have been placed on the four projecting angles of at least the lower part of the elevation above the body of the building. I saw none that were complete; but from the detached views I had of all, I think either nine or thirteen similar ones were disposed at the various points of the roof. Besides these, the roofs had little in the way of decorations to attract notice, beyond a profusion of plain cornices, bands, fillets, or ribands, forming a kind of capital to the crest of each stage of the superstructure, and on one of them small square pilasters cut in bas-relievo at intervals.

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.

REMAINS at DINÁNG'AN, or RÁNDU GÚNTING.

Taking the road from Brambánan to Yúgya kérta, a little beyond the seventh furlong, you arrive at an angle bearing nearly south-west. At this angle, about sixty yards off the road to the left, a very large statue is conspicuous, standing close to the corner of the village of Dináng'an, which is behind it. Searching about I found the broken scattered remains of five other images exactly similar to it. Twenty yards in the rear of the erect image, and just to the westward of the village, a very extensive heap of blocks of hewn stone (particularly large hollow cylinders intended to hold the water used in ablution in India) intermingled with earth, points out the site of what must once have been a spacious temple, long since prostrate. The principal image is called by the Javans Béga Mínda.

CHÁNDI KÁLI SÁRI, or TEMPLE of KÁLI SÁRI.

Returning to the angle of the road which I had left to inspect Béga Mínda and his maimed and headless brethren, and proceeding along the high-road, at a distance of little more than two furlongs further, I crossed the small stream now called Káli Béning, formerly Káli Búhus. A hundred and twenty yards beyond this, having the village of Káli Sári, which gives its name to the temple, close to the right hand, you turn up a path between two hedges in that direction, and at the south-western side of the village, about two hundred yards off the road, you come upon the south-east angle of a large and lofty quadrangular building, having much the appearance of a two-story house, or place of residence of a Hindu Raja. It resembles a temple in no point of view even externally. It is an oblong square, regularly divided into three floors, the ground-floor having in front a large door between two windows, and on the sides two windows corresponding to the others. The first floor appears to have three windows in front, and two in the depth, answering to the apertures below, and through the foliage which decorates and destroys this monument of grandeur, may be seen several small attic windows at intervals, seemingly on the slope of the roof: these, however, are false, as the structure has but the two floors and no other.

The external appearance of this edifice is really very striking and beautiful. The composition and execution of its outer surface evinces infinite taste and judgment, indefatigable patience and skill. Nothing can exceed the correctness and minute beauties of the sculpture throughout, which is not merely profuse, but laboured and worked up to a pitch of peculiar excellence, scarcely suitable to the exterior of any building, and hardly to be expected in much smaller subjects in the interior of the cabinet. It originally stood upon an elevated terrace of from four to six feet in height, of solid stone. The exterior dimensions of this building are fifty-seven feet and a half by thirty-three and a half, measured along the walls just above the terrace or line of the original basement, which is divided obviously enough into three parts, by the centre projecting nearly a foot, and the general correspondent composition or arrangement observable in each. The door in the centre is four feet eight inches and a half wide, surmounted with the wide-gaping, monstrous visage, before described at Chándi Séwu, from which runs round each side of the portal a spiral-fluted chord, ending near the bottom in a large sweep or flourish, inclosing each a caparisoned elephant in a rising posture; the space left over its hinder quarters being filled with the face of a munnook, or human being, all in the usual style of relief. At either side of the door the original coat of stone has fallen, as far as the extremities of the vestibule, which covered the whole central compartment of the east or front of the building. In the middle of each of the other divisions is an aperture or window, nearly a square of eighteen inches, having a very deep and projected double resemblance of a cornice beneath, resting on the upper fillet of the terrace, while the same single projection crowns the top of the window, surmounted with a more lofty and elegant device of two elephants' heads and trunks, embellished and joined in a most tasteful way, with a profusion of other devices. On either side of the windows is a small double pilaster, having a space between for the figure of a small garúda, an effigy well known by the Hindus, which is human down to the waist, and has the body, wings, and talons of an eagle. Beyond the second pilaster, on each side of the windows, is a large niche rising from the terrace to the cornice or division between the upper and lower story. The niche is sunk in the wall about four inches, and is formed by the adjoining pilasters rising straight to their capitals, whence the top of the niche is formed by a very beautiful series of curved lines, leaving the point clear in the centre, which I can hardly compare to any thing but rounded branches of laurel, or some such foliage. This is crowned with a square projecting fillet, which reaches the central cornice dividing the two floors. Beyond the last pilaster of the niches, a single stone brings you to the angle of the building, which is covered from top to bottom with the running arabesque border, most delicately executed. On entering the building, the mind of every one must be fully satisfied that it was never constructed for, or dedicated to, mere religious purposes. The arrangement is entirely adapted to the domestic residence of a great Hindu chieftain or raja.

The whole building, within and without, was originally covered with a coat of very fine chunam, or lime, about one-sixth of an inch thick, of surprising tenacity.

CHÁNDI KÁLI BÉNING.

Pursuing the high-road from the spot at which you leave it to visit the palace of Báli Sári, at the distance of about three furlongs and a half, a lofty, massy pile is seen, about one hundred yards off the road to the left. This ruin is of the same general form and appearance as the larger temples at Chándi Séwu and Lóro Jóngran, but on a closer examination is found to be superior to the whole, in the delicate and minute correctness of execution of all its decorative parts. It is a cross, with the intermediate angles projected to give space to a large central apartment, which is entered from the east side only. The building is about seventy-two feet three inches in length and the same in breadth. The walls are about thirty-five feet high; and the roof, which appears to have fallen in to the extent of five feet, about thirty more. Only one front or vestibule is perfect.

On the south face is seen a small door, five feet seven inches high, and three feet five inches and a half wide, situated in a deep niche, which also receives in the recess above the door a small figure of Síta, (as the Sepoy called it) in a sitting posture. Beyond the door a small projection contains probably more various elaborate specimens of the best sculpture, than were to be found any where within a small compass, and on similar materials. A very large and well defined monster's head projects over the door, surrounded with innumerable devices of excellent workmanship. I know not how to describe them, nor the niche beneath, containing Síta, which, amongst other accompaniments is supported by two small pilasters, the capitals of which are upheld by the small naked figures before described, under the generic term of munnook. The central compartment of this southern limb (which is formed by the niche and door below, and the gorgon head above) terminates at the top in a point, by a gradual elliptical slope upwards on both sides. These sides of the slope are filled, on either hand, with a succession of small naked munnook figures, all seated on various postures on the steps formed for their reception, along the edges of this ellipse, and closed by a similar one above.

On either side of the door-way is a small niche, three feet high and six inches wide, supported by small pilasters, and filled with relievo figures of the fraternity of Gópias and their wives. That occupying the niche to the right, my Cicerone recognised to be Krésna. He was peculiarly happy to find Síta seated over the door, which he declared to be a decisive proof of the sense and devotional excellence of the founders of this superb temple, which he very justly extolled, as far excelling in sculptural beauty and decorations, any thing he had ever seen or heard of in India, or could possibly imagine had existence any where. This surprise and admiration at the superiority of the Javan architecture, sculpture, and statuary, over those of India, was manifest in every Sepoy who saw them. Nothing could equal the astonishment of the man who attended me throughout this survey at every thing he saw; nor did he fail to draw a very degrading and natural contrast between the ancient Javans, as Hindus and artists, and their degenerate sons, with scarce a remnant of arts, science, or of any religion at all.

The arch of all the niches is surmounted with a very lofty and magnificent representation, in bas-relievo, of a grand pyramidal temple, on a small scale, though superior in size, and far more so in execution, to those at Lóro Jóngran or at Bóro Bódo. Beyond these niches to the angles of the building, are a series of pilasters, rising to the cornice, which surmounts the whole face of each projecting vestibule. In the centre, just at the point of each niche, is a gorgon head of the usual aspect, which is surrounded by the lofty temples just described.

The exterior sides of the vestibules occupy an extent of eleven feet and a half, in the centre of which is a niche, much larger and deeper than those in the front, being about six feet high and two wide, and one deep in the clear, supported on either side by a real Hindu pilaster, already described, and the top of the niche surmounted with the gorgon head and pyramidal temple, equally well known by description. Each of these niches was formerly occupied with solid statues, I imagine of Gopia. On either side of these single niches are the same series of terminating pilasters (three in number), which occur also on the fronts of the vestibules, of which the centre one is a very magnificent running arabesque, from top to bottom; the two others are plain without any variation.

A very fine coat of stucco, of excellent quality, covers the whole exterior surface of the temple, and is made so to follow the most minute and laboured strokes of skill on the stone underneath it, as even considerably to add to their effect, particularly in concealing the junction of the stones. The walls are surmounted with a deep projecting double cornice. No principal image was found in the temple or vestibules.

REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT HALL OF AUDIENCE, &c. AT KÁLI BÉNING.

The temple which I have just described stands close to the north side of the village of Káli Béning, east of which is the river of that name; and as I had never before heard of any thing further in this quarter, I fancied my work was over. I was, however, most agreeably surprised, on being told by my Javan guides that there was something more to be seen directly south of the village behind us. We accordingly passed through it, and barely one hundred and fifty yards from the temple, in a high sugar-cane and palma christi plantation, we came suddenly on two pair of very magnificent gigantic porters, all facing eastwards, each having stood about twelve feet from the others. The pedestals of all these statues are nearly covered, or rather entirely sunk into the ground. The height of each figure, from the top of the pedestal, is five feet one inch and a half, and breadth at the shoulders three feet six inches. They are generally much better executed, defined, and consequently more marked and striking in their appearance, than those I had seen. The countenance is much more marked and expressive, the nose more prominent and pointed, the eyebrows meeting in a formidable frown. The hair flows all round and down the back in large ringlets and curls, and on the ankles, instead of beads, are the small circular bells common in India, under the name of googoor. These figures are called Gopolo. Behind the second pair of porters, or west of them, is a heap of ruins of brick and mortar, which proved on examination to be the remains of an ancient hall of audience or state, originally standing on fourteen pillars, with a verandah all round it standing on twenty-two pillars. The porters guarded this building exactly in the centre of its eastern front: the nearest pair scarcely thirty feet distant from it. The greatest length of the building was east and west. The inner apartment over all gave forty-seven feet in length, including the pillars: the width of the hall was twenty-eight feet and a half in the same way. A verandah, of twelve feet and a half wide all round over the pillars, surrounded the hall.

It struck me forcibly, that the house at Káli Sári was formerly the residence of some great Hindu Raja of Java; the superb temple at Káli Béning, the place of his devotions and prayers; this hall, a little south of it, that of state or audience, perhaps also of recreation after his devotions. Other ruins of brick-work, without any mixture of stone, were close by, and perhaps served as out-houses.

BÓRO BÓDO.

In the district of Bóro, in the province of Kedú, and near to the confluence of the rivers Elo and Prága, crowning a small hill, stands the temple of Bóro Bódo[210], supposed by some to have been built in the sixth, and by others in the tenth century of the Javan era. It is a square stone building consisting of seven ranges of walls, each range decreasing as you ascend, till the building terminates in a kind of dome. It occupies the whole of the upper part of a conical hill, which appears to have been cut away so as to receive the walls, and to accommodate itself to the figure of the whole structure. At the centre, resting on the very apex of the hill, is the dome before mentioned, of about fifty feet diameter; and in its present ruinous state, the upper part having fallen in, only about twenty feet high. This is surrounded by a triple circle of towers, in number seventy-two, each occupied by an image looking outwards, and all connected by a stone casing of the hill, which externally has the appearance of a roof.

Descending from thence, you pass on each side of the building by steps through five handsome gateways, conducting to five successive terraces, which surround the hill on every side. The walls which support these terraces are covered with the richest sculpture on both sides, but more particularly on the side which forms an interior wall to the terrace below, and are raised so as to form a parapet on the other side. In the exterior of these parapets, at equal distances, are niches, each containing a naked figure sitting cross-legged, and considerably larger than life[211]; the total number of which is not far short of four hundred. Above each niche is a little spire, another above each of the sides of the niche, and another upon the parapet between the sides of the neighbouring niches. The design is regular; the architectural and sculptural ornaments are profuse. The bas-reliefs represent a variety of scenes, apparently mythological, and executed with considerable taste and skill. The whole area occupied by this noble building is about six hundred and twenty feet either way.

The exterior line of the ground-plan, though apparently a perfect square when viewed at a distance, is not exactly of that form, as the centre of each face, to a considerable extent, projects many feet, and so as to cover as much ground as the conical shape of the hill will admit: the same form is observed in each of the terraces.

The whole has the appearance of one solid building, and is about a hundred feet high, independently of the central spire of about twenty feet, which has fallen in. The interior consists almost entirely of the hill itself.[212]

Near the site of this majestic edifice was found a mutilated stone image of Brahma, and at no great distance, situated within a few yards of the confluence of the rivers Elo and Prága, are the remains of several very beautifully executed and interesting temples, in form and design corresponding with those in the neighbourhood of Brambánan. In niches and on the walls of these are designed in relief numerous figures with many arms, evidently of the Braminical order, most of them having their several attributes perfect. It is remarkable that at Bóro Bódo no figures of this description occur.

The image of the harpy (No. 1. of the annexed plate) was taken from the temple at Bóro Bódo and brought to England: it is of stone, in length about twenty inches, and exceedingly well executed. The other subjects in this plate were not found in this neighbourhood. No. 2 is a stone box about a foot square, containing a small golden lingam: it was recently dug up near Málang by a peasant, who was levelling the ground for a cooking place. No. 3 and 4 are representations of ornamental stone water-spouts, collected in the vicinity of Pakalung'an. No. 5 is an ornamental corner stone, now lying among the ruins of Majapáhit, the figure carved upon which is nearly as large as life.

Next to Bóro Bódo in importance, and perhaps still more interesting, are the extensive ruins which are found on Gúnung Díeng, the supposed residence of the gods and demigods of antiquity[213]. This mountain, from its resemblance to the hull of a vessel, is also called Gúnung Práhu. It is situated northward and westward of the mountain Sindóro, which forms the boundary between Kedú and Bányumas, and terminates a range of hills running east from the mountain of Tegál. There are no less than twenty-nine different peaks of this mountain, or rather cluster of mountains, each of which has its peculiar name, and is remarkable for some peculiar production or natural phenomenon.

On a table-land about six hundred feet higher than the surrounding country, which is some thousand feet above the level of the sea, are found the remains of various temples, idols, and other sculpture, too numerous to be described in this place. A subject in stone, having three faces, and another with four arms, having a ball or globe in one hand and a thunderbolt in another, were the most conspicuous.