WELCOME
TO YOGYAKARTA
 The
western part of interior Central Java is the land of the Serayu,
the only large river in Java that empty southwards into the
Indian Ocean. Despite its apparently central location, this
fertile basin and the coastal plain to its south, formerly known
as Bagelen, has historically been isolated both from the north
coast pesisir and the royal lands to the east. Consequently,
this area has retained archaic cultural features that are no
longer found in other parts of Java; these include traditional
five-village federations and a unique oral imitation of gametan
music.
Near the
headwaters of the Serayu is the Dieng Plateau, a rich source
of historical monuments as well as one of Java's strangest and
most magical places. Dieng is a treeless moor at 2000 meters,
ringed by pine-clad mountains. Here, gentle sunlight can give
way to thick blankets of fog or chill rains in the blink of
an eye. The earth is equally moody; crystals glitter in pools
shining with kaleidoscopic colors; poisonous gas belches from
jagged fissures. In the dawn of Indic civilization in Central
Java, Hindu kings chose this elemental theater - the name means
"Abode of the Gods" - as the setting for their monuments,
many of which are still standing today. Apart from the maverick
Candi Bima, which features rows of staring heads (apparently
a unique imitation of an architectural style from Orissa), the
seven surviving temples have a restrained, austere aspect. All
of the temples are dedicated to Shiva; they date from the end
of the 7th century to around A.D. 780. At the east end of the
plateau is Goa Semar, a cave traditionally used as a place of
meditation. In 1974, Goa Semar was the unlikely scene of an
infamous private meeting between Suharto and the then Australian
prime minister Gough Whitlam, shortly before Indonesia invaded
East Timor.
Though
Dieng is site of the oldest temples, it was at Gedong Songo
that the "standard model" of the Javanese temple was
established, upon which later architecture would elaborate:
a cube-shaped central construction containing a shrine chamber,
set on a wider plinth, and capped by a tall roof which recedes
in steps, to give the impression that it is even taller. The
Gedung Songo temples lie 50 kilometers east of Dieng as the
crow flies; scattered over the summits of six mountains along
the southern flank of Mt. Ungaran. They all date from between
A.D. 730 and 780, and the main temple in each group is dedicated
to Shiva. Because of its exposed location, this is thought to
be the most dramatic temple site in Java. Nearby is the hill
station of Bandungan, mountain resort for wealthy citizens of
the north-coast city of Semarang, which is only an hour away.
For all
its spectacle, Mt. Ungaran is only a minor outlier of Java's
volcanic spine. To its southeast is the swampy basin of Lake
Rawapening and the town of Ambarawa, where train passengers
bound for Yogyakarta used to transfer to a remarkable Swiss-type
rack-and-pinion railway, to negotiate a long, steep incline.
Until the Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta line closed in 1977,
in the face of competition from road transport, Ambarawa was
a lively railway town. In 1978,
its train station became the national Museum Kereta Api (Railway
Museum), where one can see some 25 Dutch and German locomotives
of pre-1930s vintage. Some are still in working condition, including
Ambarawa's cogwheel train from 1902, which will, by prior arrangement,
haul visitors up the nine kilometer track to Bedono.
In the
fields two kilometers south of Ambarawa is a big Dutch fortress,
today known simply as Benteng Ambarawa (Ambarawa Fort). In the
mid-19th century, this was intended as the lynchpin of Java's
defense against invasion by a European enemy. No invasion came,
and the fort was declared obsolete in 1892, but with its squat
outlying blockhousesand staring gun ports it is still a formidable
sight. Still further south is Banyubiru, a notorious concentration
camp for Dutch civilians during the Japanese occupation, and
still a major jail.
The twin
volcanoes of Mt. Merbabu (3142 in) and Mt. Merapi (2914 in),
mid-way between the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean, dominate
Central Java at this point. Both offer rewarding panoramas:
Merbabu is best viewed from Kopeng, and Merapi from Kaliurang,
Yogyakarta's beautiful hill resort; Merapi can be climbed with
a guide, from Selo, which lies between the two mountains. Merbabu
is an extinct volcano that looks north towards Semarang. Merapi,
by contrast, is vigorously and dangerously active, and presides
over the living heart of the island, where the worldly glory
of Java began and where its cultural soul still lies.
BOROBUDUR
 Inner
Java begins at Borobudur; south of the cool, upland town of
Magelang, in the Progo river valley. It is the world's largest
Buddhist monument and arguably the most extraordinary and impressive
historic site in Indonesia.
The first two terraces were built at the confluence of two rivers
- symbolizing the Ganges and Jumna to the architect in the middle
of the 8th century. Around A.D. 790, the new Buddhist Sailendra.
dynasty took over the huge project of finishing this temple.
A century later, Borobudur fell into disuse when the center
of power moved to East Java.
Borobudur
is a gold mine of symbols. Some of its messages have been deciphered,
others remain obscure. The overall form alone projects multiple
associations; in plan, it is a mandala, a geometric figure promoting
meditation; in profile, it is Meru, the Hindu cosmic mountain,
or perhaps a single giant stupa, emblem of the Buddha's enlightenment.
The monument
is a terraced pyramid of hewn volcanic rock (andesite) with
a base 110 meters across. Four of the five lower terraces form
square galleries around the periphery of the main structure.
Ancient Buddhist ritual demands that pilgrims circle a shrine
clockwise before approaching its center; to walk thus around
Borobudur's galleries is a stroll of more than five kilometers.
The more than 1300 illustrative reliefs on the walls, and some
of the 1200 purely decorative panels, once adorned with brightly-painted
stucco, were meant to boost the spirits of the perambulating
pilgrim.
The reliefs
in the first gallery depict historical episodes from the life
of Buddha, who died some 1200 years before Borobudur's cornerstone
was laid. Some 120 marvelous reliefs tell the story of the Indian
prince Gantama. who became "The Enlightened One;"
his mother Maya's miraculous conception; his birth; his first
steps; his marriage; his three journeys; his meditative life
as a solitary in the forest; his englihtenment under the bodhi
tree; the preachings of Benares; and his death after eating
rotten food.
Also in
the first gallery, is the beginning of a cycle of 720 reliefs,
continued in the second and third galleries, depicting Buddha's
500 previous lives. The fourth gallery, on the fifth terrace,
shows the son of the well-to-do merchant, Sudhana, on his quest
for wisdom and enlightenment, aided by various bodhisattvas.
In addition, the walls of the four galleries are perforated
with niches which contain no fewer than 368 Dhyani Buddhas,
arranged in the four cardinal directions. To the west, Buddha
Amitabha ("Immeasurable Light") sits in a gesture
of meditation. To the south sits Ratnasambhava ("Jewel-Born"),
in a gesture of wish-granting. To the east sits Akshobya ("The
Unshakeable"), in a gesture of invocation to the earth.
Finally, to the north sits Amoghasiddi ("Realizer of Goals"),
in a gesture of fearlessness. In the 64 niches of the fifth
gallery, one can see Buddha Samantabhadra ("All-Benevolent")
in gestures of giving and debating.
The three
upper terraces are round and have no walls. Here, within 72
miniature, perforated stupas, one can see meditating Adi-Buddhas
(the transcendental Over Buddha), moving the "Wheel of
Learning" with his hands. Reaching in to touch one of these
figures is supposed to bring good luck.
From here, the plan of the temple becomes increasingly abstract.
The simple form of the unadorned central stupa represents enlightenment.
What can't be seen are two small, sealed chambers within the
great stupa, containing Nothing; total emptiness; a void.
Apart from being a great religious monument, Borobudur is an
important source of historical information. In their pious friezes,
its makers gave us priceless stone pictures of their own lost
time; here are the houses, the ships, the clothes, the musical
instruments and dances not of Buddha's India, but of 9th-century
Java. Not until a thousand years later did Europe finally grasp
Borobudur's importance. The ubiquitous Raffles di it in 1814,
under a mountain of ash. In 1911, the Dutch completed the first
restoration. By 1968, the earthen core was rotten and the whole
structure in danger of collapse; a major UNESCO program was
launched to save it, and the work was completed in 1983.
Two smaller
Buddhist temples are also associated with Borobudur. The 8thcentury
Candi Mendut, three kilometers to the east, was once described
by a Dutch scholar as, "the jewel among the antiquities
of Central Java." Although its exterior has some fine detailed
reliefs, Mendut's fame is primarily based on the beautiful statuary
in its shrine chamber. Inside, a three meter-tall sitting Buddha
preaches the law of suffering. The smaller bodhisattva figure
seated on his left is Lokesvara, the Bodhisattva who refused
to become a Buddha until all men on earth were saved. Offerings
are still brought here on Waicak, the anniversary of the Buddha's
enlightenment. The figure on the right is the bodhisattva Vajrapani.
Candi Pawon is a miniature Mendut located halfway between Mendut
and Borobudur.
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