Ruins of Buddhistic Temples
IN
Prågå-Valley.
Tyanḍis Båråbudur, Mĕndut and Pawon
BY
Dr. I. GRONEMAN,
translated from the dutch by J. H.
Druk van H. A. BENJAMINS,
Semarang,
1912.
Preface.
When in 1896 I was obliged to retire from practice, on account ofsickness, I shortly after took up my residence at Jogyåkartå again in orderto devote myself to the antiquarian and ethnological studies dear to me,and to which purpose I had to establish myself in the neighbourhood ofthe principal Hindu ruins in Java, that is, in the plain of Parambanan, andin the valley of Prågå whereas I could not rely on being assisted by theDutch Government or whomsoever; I had grown too old under a systemof Government who even refuse a professor septuagenarian to follow hisprofession.
As for the Indian antiquities however, there are still many things to belearned, not only because many a sculpture and symbolical ornament ofbuilding has not yet been explained or, so to say, insufficiently interpreted,but also because some of these images have been wrongly understoodand expounded. I therefore thought it my duty to have my knowledge ofthem increased by a continued study of the antiquities themselves, andby consulting such writings as I could dispose of with my limited means.
I also would comply with other people’s wishes by giving a simple descriptionof the most interesting ruin in the village of Mĕndut situated bythe way-side to the Båråbudur, and mention the small tyanḍi Pawon lyingin its neighbourhood.
And so I gathered all data for an up-to-date fifth edition in behalf of thecontinually increasing number of visitors who come to visit these incomparabletemples, which, in spite of expensive but insufficient restoration,seem doomed to decay.
G.
Jogyårkartå 1906.
Having succeeded at last in finding a person from whose hand boththe editor and myself express a wish to see a good English translationof this little book, I consequently completed and rewrote the former text(1906-1907.).
CONTENTS.
- Page.
- Preface 3
- Buddhistic temples in Prågå-valley 5
- Tyanḍi Mĕndut 13
- Tyanḍi Pawon 23
- Tyanḍi Båråbudur 26
- Concluding word 90
- Errata 92
Ruins of Buddhistic temples in Prågå-valley.
I.
The Buddhists believe their community, their worship, their church,or whatever one may be inclined to call this, to have been founded24 centuries ago by the wise and humane king’s son of Kapilavastu,called Gautama, the Shâkja muni or wise Shâkja, Buddha or theEnlightened. All that which the later legends related either of Buddhahimself or of his former lives, they consider historically