Borobudur

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164_6445-4.JPGThis morning we ventured to nearby Borobudur to see the famous temple in the early morning light. We woke up too early and drove for about 45 minutes from our guesthouse in Jogja, arriving just as the sun was coming up. We hired a guide at the entrance and made our way up the hill on which the temple is situated. Our guide told us way more than I think almost anyone would care to know, but I’ll share some of what we learned throughout the post. The first thing is that the structure at Borobudur probably wasn’t a temple, as a temple implies an internal space or room for teaching/meditation. What we saw was more likely just a collection of stupas. The stupas were pretty interesting as there were dozens of smaller hollow ones w/ Buddhas inside encircled around a large solid central one; supposedly, it was designed to be a giant mandala. It was several stories with stairs connecting each individual level, and enclosed within a large square floorplan. I realize my architectural descriptions aren’t too good, so I’ll move on.

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Borobudur 

The building is pretty old, having been built in the 8th century by Buddhists, although it has many Hindu elements as well. It was discovered by Sir Thomas Raffles (of Singaporean fame), who had the entire hill excavated to uncover the ruins. Today, what we see is mostly restored. Besides sitting under a hill of dirt and trees for a millennium, earthquakes and eruptions from the nearby volcano occasionally cause damage, as did a bomb by an anti-Suhaerto group a couple decades ago. Interestingly, some panels depicting Kama Sutra scenes have been covered up by the ultra-conservative Indonesian government, who consider the reliefs pornographic. Most of the reliefs are pretty cool though, depicting everything from Indian people to Buddhist stories. Beyond the history though, the coolest thing about Borobudur was it aesthetics. Granted, its been restored to the tune of 25 million USD, but its still an awesome site. I think the hollow stupas are really cool, especially compared to the usual plain white mounds that most stupas are. And although most of the Buddhas are missing heads or arms, they are distinct from any others we’ve seen. Some of their hands are in interesting positions, while some are sitting in unusual postures. Additionally, the scale, age, and detailed reliefwork make Borobudur deserving of its World-Heritage site.

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Buddha inside a stupa

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reliefs 

On a sidenote, in our travels we’ve learned that Unesco/World Heritage designations don’t necessarily make something worth seeing. There’s a lot of things listed under these two categories and a lot of them are junk. But I’d say Borobudur was worth the visit, if not deserving of being the most-touristed place in Indonesia. One last tangent: guides and locals at Borobudur, like guides and locals at almost every touristy site we’ve seen claim that their attraction is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I’ve heard people say that everything from the Taj Mahal to Niagara Falls is one of the Seven Wonders. If we believed all the guides and touristy flyers, we must’ve seen at least 30 “Seven Wonders of the World” sites on this trip alone. I guess there’s all the new Seven Wonder lists that people have made up (Seven Natural Wonders, Seven Wonders of Asia, Seven Modern Wonders, etc, etc.), but its still a pet peeve when people claim their site “____________ is one of the seven wonders of the world.” Anyways, I don’t believe that Borobudur was on Ptolemy’s list of seven, but it was pretty cool to see.

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