Lake of Borobudur
Welcome to Borobudur, one of the sacred buildings of Buddhism as a World Cultural Heritage site. The splendor and beauty of Borobudur has its own historical value for Indonesian people. The Indonesian government has designated Chandi Borobudur as a major tourist attraction, and also a priority tourist destination for domestic and foreign visitors.
Chandi Borobudur attracts extraordinary enthusiasm to visit and explore several narrative sources in thematic tours, with the aim of getting to know more closely the history, architecture and fine arts of this building.
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. Explore history and admire the beauty of architectural art, as well as the origin of the name Chandi Borobudur.
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Welcome, nice to meet you on the Borobudur tour, You will step on now the terraces and visit the splendor of Chandi Borobudur which is one of the world's cultural heritage sites. The reopening of Borobudur sends an interesting opportunity to explore several narrative sources about the existence of the Borobudur in the insights of travel guides on to Borobudur.
It is mentioned in the history of Borobudur, that there is a relief panel carved on a hidden foot, based on the wall of Karmawibhangga text, panel number 150, about a pair of footwear offering named 'Upanat', which is dedicated to Brahmins.
The bas-relief of the foot wall is hidden in the Karmawibhangga text panel number 150, regarding the offering of footwear with the name 'Upanat', the footwear offered to Brahmins, in order to obtain rewards and prosperity in life.
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The bas-reliefs found on hidden foot, regarding footwear offerings with the name 'Upanat', a pair of footwear offered to Brahmins, regarding the offerings of the footwear named 'Upanat', given to get rewards and prosperity in life. Source: Borobudur Conservation Center. Guidance Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Foto a screenshot arisguide. |
The relief found on the hidden foot wall, in the Karmawibhangga text panel 150, concerns the offering of footwear with the name 'Upanat', a footwear offered to Brahmins, to obtain merit and prosperity in life. Introducing 'Upanat', a footwear used to visit the terraces of the Borobudur temple, with the aim of getting to know the monument better, learning history, doing thematic tours and admiring the splendor of Chandi Borobudur as a sacred temple for Buddhists. The trip will be part of an appreciation in learning, admiring, and participating in safeguarding and protecting the world cultural heritage site located at Borobudur Indonesia. It's fun going around the temple to get a source of explanation guided by a tour guide. Opportunity to find out the source, explanation of the written history of Chandi Borobudur and study about its monument surrounded by a lake, floated.
Step on BorobudurChandi Borobudur is one of a world cultural heritage site or World Heritage Site, a Buddhist temple located in Borobudur, belongs to Magelang regency and located in Central Java province. To reach the monument is approximately 96 kilometers from Semarang, the capital city of Central Java, and approximately 86 kilometers from the city of Surakarta, and about 40 kilometers from the city of Yogyakarta. Chandi Borobudur is located right above of a hill and is built in the middle of several mountains and hills. Looking to the west, there are Mount Sundoro and Sumbing. Looking at the east you can see Mount Merbabu and the active volcano, Merapi. Its viewed from the north, approximately 15 kilometers from Borobudur there is the Tidar hill, and to the south it is bounded by the Menoreh hills. Borobudur is located at the confluence of two rivers namely Progo and Elo which is just located at eastern of Chandi Borobudur and Chandi Pawon.
Lake of BorobudurPreviously, it was told in history that the island of Java was floating in the ocean, and had to be nailed to the center of the earth before it could be inhabited. The story of the big nail became a small hill, named Tidar, on the southern outskirts of the present city of Magelang. And only about fifteen kilometers south of the Tidar hill there is Chandi Borobudur located. Arrested by the slopes of the southern ridge of the plain the two rivers flow together, after which the Progo carries the waters to the ocean alongside the southward-bending Menoreh range. A considerable number of the Kedu plain monuments were founded here. Hindu and Buddhist sanctuaries were packed together within a radius of less than three kilometres from the point where the two Kedu rivers meet. From west to east, the main Buddhist monuments of the area are: Chandi Borobudur, Chandi Pawon, Chandi Mendut, and the Chandi Ngawe compound which consists of five structures. The first three sanctuaries are assumed to have formed one compound also; though standing at a considerable distance from each other, astraight line drawn from Chandi Borobudur to Chandi Mendut through Chandi Pawon suggests the unity of the triad. This kind of lay-out is not to be found at Borobudur. According to oral tradition the triad was once linked by a paved processional path, flanked by richly decorated balustrades. The exceptional composition of the triad has led to much speculation about the relation between Chandi Borobudur, Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut. The most plausible link is religious, if the denomination ‘compound’ is interpreted in a particular way; the three monuments can be taken as a whole to represent one religious conception. Chandi Borobudur has no inner space, no place where devotees could worship. Most likely it is a place of pilgrimage, where Buddhists can seek after the Highest Wisdom. The passages all around the edifice, successively mounting to the upper most terraces, are evidently meant for ritual circumambulations. Guided and instructed by the narrative reliefs, the pilgrim proceeds from one terrace to another in silent contemplation. Chandi Mendut is seemed a place of worship. The Buddha is represented by a formidable monolith, seated with hanging legs on a throne and flanked by the accompanying Boddhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Vajrapani. The depiction of the Buddha preaching the first sermon in the deer-park at Sarnath is apparently meant to recall right conduct in life to those who seek their refuge in the Compassionate Buddha.
The small Chandi Pawon also has an inner space, but it does not reveal what deity might have been the object of worship. It is impossible to say what was the function of the temple in relation to Chandi Mendut or to Chandi Borobudur?.
The pilgrim had to pass Chandi Pawon as his way from Chandi Mendut to Chandi Borobudur along the paved processional path might suggest that Chandi Pawon was a kind of station on the long journey; after being purified through the required ceremonies of worship at Chandi Mendut, Chandi Pawon allowed to pause and reflect before proceeding on the pilgrimage to Chandi Borobudur where attire some series of circumambulations awaited. Ancient lake sent to the popular belief in the existence of a processional path does not tally with the hypothesis, put forward by Nieuwenkamp in 1931, that the Kedu plain was once a huge lake. This idea was based on his discovery that the ground-plan of the monument depicted a lotus rosette and petal around a circular flower-bed, while its situation on top of a hill suggested a lotus floating in the air. Moreover, soundings and levellings indicated that villages in the area that had names commencing with the word tanjung (‘cape’) are all located just above a common elevation line, 235 m above sea-level. Nieuwenkamp came to the conclusion that the Kedu plain beneath the 235 m elevation line was once a lake on which the Borobudur monument, ‘floated’. Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut were situated on the banks of the lake. The identification of Chandi Borobudur with a lotus flower floating in the middle of a lake sounds fantastic, but there was in fact a lake near the monument. Fierce opposition to Nieuwenkamp’s hypothesis provoked further geological investigations in the area around the monument which produced some further evidence in favour of the hypothesis, though not in regard to the extent of the lake. In this final conclusion still awaits more extensive and specific research.
Source: Guide Book arisguide, Guiding Technique arisguide. Guidance Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. 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, beyond travel guide its more detail in UPANAT - Wisata di 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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