Artist: unknown
Title: The Great Stupa/Mount Meru at Borobudur, afternoon view from
the northwest
Material: volcanic rock
Site: Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia
Current Location: in situ
Period/Date: ca. end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century,
under the Shailendra Dynasty
Iconography/Iconology: It also must be considered that the Borobudur
monument was an expression of political power and wealth for the Shailendara
("kings of the mountain"), who ruled in 8th-9th century Java.
The fact that they wished to have nothing less than the heart of the Buddhist
world in their "back yard," and went to such great expense and
effort to produce it, is a sociological, political, and religious statement.
The message essentially reads, "we have enough wealth, and power to
make the monument as well as accrue merit and protection from it."
Whatever their purpose in building the Borobudur stupa, the Sailendras have
left the world of Buddhism its largest and one of its most spectacular structural
monuments.
Stylistic Comments:
