Relief Stories of Borobudur
Welcome to Chandi Borobudur, which is one of the sacred buildings of Buddhism as a World Cultural Heritage site. Borobudur and its area have a noble and historical meaning for the Indonesian people, so that all eyes are amazed by the splendor and beauty of this monument. Chandi Borobudur and its area have attracted extraordinary enthusiasm from tourists, to travel and visit this building more closely.
The government has designated Chandi Borobudur as a cultural heritage that has its own historical and aesthetic value as a tourist attraction, as well as being a priority tourist destination for domestic and foreign tourists. Enjoying Borobudur thematic tourism is a form of appreciation and participation in maintaining and preserving the ancestral cultural heritage of Chandi Borobudur.
The friendly Pamong Carita will accompany and guide you to provide explanations and narratives about Borobudur and its surroundings. Introducing 'Upanat', namely special footwear worn when visiting the terraces through a corridor with a series of relief panel galleries, leading to the top of the circular upper terrace with a row of stupas at Borobudur Temple.
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Samudra Raksa ship The famous renderings of an 8th-century Southeast Asian double outrigger ship is Borobudur Ship Samudra Raksa, sailed from Indonesia to Africa. Source: Balai Konservasi Borobudur. Guidance Technique Candi Borobudur arisguide. photo arisguide. |
Reliefs of Borobudur
Chandi Borobudur is indeed special among Indonesian monuments, not only because of its extraordinary architecture, but also because it is rich in beautiful and amazing relief carvings. Even the relief sculptures that cover the walls and balustrades are artistic images that have extraordinary aesthetic value as sacred buildings for Buddhists.
Borobudur relief carvings can be divided into two types: narrative and decorative. The 1460 panels are narrative reliefs arranged in eleven lines, and all are carved into the rock and surround the monument with a total length of more than 3000 m. The 1212 decorative panels, although arranged in rows, are treated as individual reliefs.
Viewing the relief of the first series comes from 160 narrative panels which are in hidden legs and consequently cannot be seen. Fortunately, a complete set of photographs was made not long after the rediscovery, and they can be identified as illustrating the working of the law of karma according to the Mahakarmavibhangga text.
The other ten series of narrative reliefs are distributed through out the rupadhatu on the walls and balustrades of the four galleries. The first gallery is flanked by four series; the remaining three successively mounting galleries have only two series each. The wall of the first gallery, over 3.5 m high, has two superimposed series of reliefs, each consisting of 120 panels.
The upper row relates the biography of the Buddha according to the Latitavistara text. The lower row depicts his former lives, as told in the jatakas avadanas; these earlier incarnations before being born to become the historical Buddha are also narrated in the two superimposed rows of reliefs on the balustrade. The balustrade of the second gallery has another jatakas and avadanas series, but the wall panels take a new theme.
As there is only one row of them on the almost 3 m high wall, they are considerably larger than those on the wall of the first gallery. The 128 panel series deals with the tireless wanderings of Sudhana in search of the Ultimate Truth, as told in the Gandavyuha text. The walls and balustrades of the third and fourth galleries are devoted to the further wanderings of Sudhana, terminating with his attainment of the Highest Wisdom. There are in all 1460 panels.
The narrative reliefs on the walls read from right to left, those on the balustrades from left to right. This was done for the purposes of the pradaksina, the ritual circumambulation which the pilgrim makes, moving in a clockwise direction and keeping the sanctuary to his right. The narrative starts at the left and ends at the right of the eastern stairway, confirming that this stairway is the real entrance to the monument.
The reliefs on the ‘hidden foot’ are devoted to the inevitable law of karma. The 160 panels do not relate a continous story, but each provides one complete illustration of cause and effect. The first 117 panels show various actions producing one and the same result, while the remaining 43 demonstrate the many results that can follow from one kind of act. Blame worthy activities, from gossip to murder, with their corresponding purgatorial punishments, and praiseworthy activities, like charity and pilgrimages to sanctuaries, and their subsequent rewards, are both shown.
The pains of hell and the pleasures of heaven, and scenes of daily life are represented in a full panorama of samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death, the chain of all those forms of delusional existence from which Buddhism brings release.
Wall of Reliefs
Chandi Borobudur is constructed in such a way that it reveals various levels of relief sculptures on the walls, showing the intricate architecture that shows the reliefs from being heavily ornamented with bas-reliefs to being plain in Arupadhatu circular terraces.
Chandi Borobudur contains approximately 2,670 individual bas reliefs (1,460 narrative and 1,212 decorative panels), which cover the façades and balustrades. The total relief surface is 2, 500 square meters (27,000 sq. ft.), and they are distributed at the hidden foot (Kāmadhātu) and the five square platforms (Rupadhatu).
The archeologists discovered color pigments of blue, red, green, black, as well as bits of gold foil, and concluded that the monument— a dark gray mass of volcanic stone, lacking in color — was probably once coated with varjalepa white plaster and then painted with bright colors, serving perhaps as a beacon of Buddhist teaching. The same vajralepa plaster can also be found in Sari, Kalasan and Sewu temples. It is likely that the bas-reliefs of Borobudur were originally quite colorful, before centuries of torrential tropical rainfalls peeled-off the color pigments.
Narrative panels on the wall read from right to left, while those on the balustrade read from left to right. This conforms with pradaksina, the ritual of circumambulation performed by pilgrims who move in a clockwise direction while keeping the sanctuary to their right.
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| Borobudur wall and balustrade carvings Borobudur's reliefs and decorative patterns are in a naturalistic style with ideal proportions and a refined aesthetic taste. These reliefs are very beautiful, in fact they are considered the most elegant and graceful in the world of Buddhist art. Source: Guidance Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. photo arisguide. |
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The story of the relief panels in the wall of Borobudur.Borobudur wall and balustrade carvings. Borobudur's reliefs and decorative patterns are in a naturalistic style with ideal proportions and a refined aesthetic taste. These reliefs are very beautiful, in fact they are considered the most elegant and graceful in the world of Buddhist art. One of the beautiful carvings is on the walls of Borobudur. Source: Guidance Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. photo arisguide. |
The following summary shows how the various series of reliefs are arranged.
Wall of hidden foot -- Karmavibhangga - 160 panels.
First gallery--main wall: a) Lalitavistara -120 panels. b) Jataka/Avadana--120 panels. --balustrade : a) Jataka/Avadana -372 panels. b) Jataka/Avadana-128 panels.
Second gallery--main wall: Gandavyuha - 128 panels. -- balustrade: Jataka/Avadana - 100 panels.
Third gallery -- main wall : Gandavyuha - 88 panels. --balustrade : Gandavyuha - 88 panels.
Fourth gallery -- main wall : Gandavyuha - 84 panels. -- balustrade : Gandavyuha - 72 panels.
Total : 1460 panels
Karmavibhangga
The reliefs on the ‘hidden foot’ are devoted to the inevitable law of karma. The 160 panels do not relate a continuous story, but each provides one complete illustration of cause and effect.
The first 117 panels show various actions producing one and the same result, while the remaining 43 demonstrate the many results that can follow from one kind of act. Blame worthy activities, from gossip to murder, with their corresponding purgatorial punishments, and praise worthy activities, like charity and pilgrimages to sanctuaries, and their subsequent rewards, are both shown.
The pains of hell and the pleasures of heaven, and scenes of daily life are represented in a full panorama of samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death, the chain of all those forms of delusional existence from which Buddhism brings release.
The encasement base of the Borobudur temple was dissembled to reveal the hidden foot, and the reliefs were photographed by Casijan Chepas in 1890. During the restoration, the foot encasement was reinstalled, covering the Karmawibhangga reliefs. Today, only the southeast corner of the hidden foot is revealed for visitors.
Lalitavistara
The series does not provide a complete biography of the Buddha. It starts with the glorious descent of the Lord Buddha from the Tushita heaven, and ends with his first sermon in the Deer Park near Benares. Showing the birth of the Buddha as Prince Siddhartha, son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of Kapilavastu (in present-day Nepal), is the southern staircase.
The Lalitavistara is a fundamental text of Mahayana Buddhism, which the title of the Sutra means The Elaboration of the Buddha and refers to the idea that the Buddha‘s last incarnation was a performance intentionally given to enlighten mankind. The 120 panels which illustrate the Lalitavistara cover the upper half of the main wall around the first gallery, and are some of the best-preserved reliefs in a good preserve.
Jataka and Avadana
Jatakas are stories about the Buddha before he was born as Prince Siddhartha. They have for main theme the meritorious acts which distinguished the Bodhisattva from any other creature. The accumulation of virtue is the characteristic of the preparatory stages to the attainment of Buddhahood. The hundreds of times the Bodhisattva was born and reborn, either as an animal or in a human form.
Jatakas and avadanas are treated in one and the same series without any evident distinction in the reliefs of Chandi Borobudur. No particular system of alternation is evident. The lower row of reliefs on the wall of the first gallery, mostly depicts avadanas. Some jatakas are included by way of variation. The system in its upper row of the series on the balustrade is quite different. The reliefs are practically all jatakas, with just a few avadanas.
The first 20 panels in the lower series on the wall on the first gallery depict the Sudhanakumaravadana (The Saintly Deeds of Prince Sudhanakumara), derived from the Divyavadana. The story starts with the rivalry of two kingdoms: the prosperous kingdom of North Panchala, and the poverty stricken kingdom of South Panchala.
Gandavyuha
Gandavyuha is the story told in the final chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra about Sudhana's tireless wandering in search of the Highest Perfect Wisdom. It covers two galleries (third and fourth) and also half of the second gallery, comprising in total of 460 panels.
The principal figure, the youth Sudhana, son of an extremely rich merchant, appears on the 16th panel. The preceding 15 panels form a prologue to the story of the miracles during Buddha's samadhi in the Garden of Jeta at Sravasti.
During his search, Sudhana visited no fewer than thirty teachers meet the monk Megasri, where he was given the first doctrine. As his journey continues, Sudhana meets Supratisthita, the physician Megha (Spirit of Knowledge), the banker Muktaka, the monk Saradhvaja, the upasika Asa (Spirit of Supreme Enlightenment), Bhismottaranirghosa, the Brahmin Jayosmayatna, Princess Maitrayani, the monk Sudarsana, a boy called Indriyesvara, the upasika Prabhuta, the banker Ratnachuda, King Anala, the god Siva Mahadeva, Queen Maya, Bodhisattva Maitreya and then back to Manjusri. Each meeting has given Sudhana a specific doctrine, knowledge and wisdom. These meetings are shown in the third gallery.
The preceding fifteen reliefs form the miracles produced by the Buddha’s samadhi (deepest meditation) on the assembly of a hundred disciples in the Garden of Jeta at Sravasti. Upon his arrival at the sanctuary of Vichitrasaladhvaya the people of the town rush out in large numbers to hear the Bodhisattva describe the wonderful deeds performed by the Buddha. After a brief meeting with Manjusri, Sudhana proceeds to the residence of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (fourth gallery of Chandi Borobudur).
Source: Guidance Technique Candi Borobudur arisguide.
You may read:
Get more narration and materials about Chandi Borobudur in Barabudur atau Borobudur, Candi Buddha Pusaka Budaya Indonesia.
Reading is more fun exploring the thematic narratives in more detail in Selamat Datang di Kebudayaan Borobudur.
Reading in English is fun and also seems so interesting to translate into language that is easy and flexible, get readings in detail in Welcome to Borobudur Temple, the fabric of life in the Buddhist culture.
Explore, admire the beauty of art in pictures and photos by typing the detailed link in PHOTO IMAGE BOROBUDUR.
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View of Borobudur from Dagi hill The beauty of Borobudur view from Dagi Hill. Borobudur is a Buddhist temple built on a hill during the reign of Samaratungga around 824 AD. Chandi Borobudur or Barabudur is a Mahayana Buddhist temple built in the 9th century, consisting of nine terraced terraces, six square terraces and three circular terraces, topped by a central dome, surrounded by 72 stupas and decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. Chandi Borobudur or Barabudur is a 9th–century Mahayana Buddhist temple, which consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome, surrounded by 72 stupas and decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. Source: Guidance Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Foto arisguide. |
Read the complete narrative and material about Chandi Borobudur by visiting and make your tour even more enjoyable, explore in more detail the thematic narrative of Borobudur culture with Pamong Carita. Reading becomes more fun, digging into the narrative in more detail and reading in English is indeed fun and also seems very interesting to translate into easy and flexible language, get detailed reading at Travel Guide to Borobudur Temple with Pamong Carita. Explore, admire the beauty of fine art in images and photos at Insight into Borobudur.
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Chandi Borobudur World Cultural Heritage Site since 1991, one of the views of Borobudur from the northwest. Source: Guidance Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. photo arisguide. |
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| Borobudur Borobudur is a Mahayana Buddhist temple, built in the 9th century during the reign of the Sailendra Dynasty, this temple was designed in the form of Javanese Buddhist architecture, which combines native Indonesian culture, namely ancestor worship and the Buddhist concept of achieving Nirvana. Source: Chandi Borobudur Scouting Techniques arisguide. arisguide's photo. |
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| Stupas of Borobudur The largest main stupa is located in the center and crowns this building, surrounded by three circular rows of 72 perforated stupas in which there is a statue of Buddha sitting cross-legged in a perfect lotus position with the Dharmachakra mudra (turning the wheel of dharma). Source: Scouting Techniques Chandi Borobudur arisguide. arisguide's photo. |
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