Chapter IX (1)

_Religion--Introduction to Mahomedanism--How far its
Tenets and Doctrines are observed--Priests--How provided
for--How far the ancient Institutions of the Country
are superseded--Antiquities--Edifices--The Temples at
Brambánan--Bóro Bódo--Gúnung Práhu--Kedíri, Sing'a Sári, Súku,
&c.--Sculpture--Images in Stone--Casts in Metal--Inscriptions on
Stone and Copper--Coins--Ruins of the ancient Capitals at Médang
Kamúlan, Majapáhit, Pajajáran, &c.--Island of Báli--Conclusion._

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.