Borobudur

The Sailendras

In the eighth and ninth centuries central Java was ruled by two lines, the Buddhist Sailendras and the Shaiva kings of the Sanjaya line, whose relationship is debated: they may have been rival houses or branches of one dynasty. The Sailendras, who also had links with Srivijaya in Sumatra, were patrons of Mahayana Buddhism and built several great monuments on the Kedu plain, a fertile basin surrounded by volcanoes. Borobudur, the largest, was built over several decades around 800. Its original name is uncertain.

The monument

Borobudur is built over a natural hill, which was encased in stone. It has no interior. A pilgrim climbs it by walking round each terrace clockwise before ascending to the next. The lower six terraces are square in plan, with galleries whose walls and balustrades carry about 1,460 narrative relief panels and many more decorative ones. The reliefs follow a sequence of texts: the life of the Buddha according to the Lalitavistara, the jataka and avadana stories of his previous lives, and the Gandavyuha, the story of the pilgrim Sudhana's search for enlightenment. The upper three terraces are circular and open. They hold seventy-two bell-shaped stupas of pierced stone, each with a seated Buddha inside, round the central stupa at the summit.

The original base carries 160 reliefs illustrating the workings of karma, the Karmavibhanga. They were covered soon after construction by a broad stone platform, perhaps to stabilise the structure, and were rediscovered in 1885. Some are now exposed at one corner.

The monument has been read as a mandala in stone and as a representation of the Buddhist path, rising from the world of desire through the world of form to the formless.

Abandonment and restoration

Borobudur fell out of use after the centre of Javanese power moved east in the tenth century, and it was covered by volcanic ash and vegetation. It was brought to European attention in 1814 when Stamford Raffles, lieutenant-governor of Java under British rule, sent the engineer H. C. Cornelius to clear it. The Dutch engineer Theodoor van Erp restored it in 1907–11. A larger restoration by the Indonesian government and UNESCO from 1975 to 1982 dismantled and rebuilt the lower terraces on a new foundation with drainage.

In 1985 bombs damaged several stupas. The eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010 covered the monument in ash. It remains a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists at the festival of Vesak, and is Indonesia's most visited monument.