Research papers and other borobudur.tv website resources

The State of Mataram: A review of recent efforts to clarify its history
by Jeffrey Sundberg

The State of Mataram (this pdf file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Barabudur, Mendut and Pawon and their mutual relationship
by J.L. Moens (translated by Mark Long)

Available for the first time in English, this 100 page article from 1950 explores the rituals that may have originally joined the temples of Borobudur, Mendut and Pawon into a sacred unit during the era in which the Shailendra Buddhist dynasty had ruled over Central Java. "Presumably the said triad owes its existence as a sacred unity thanks to the circumstance that in the process of its enlargement and embellishment Barabudur — originally a modest stupa sanctuary on the mount — gradually was given the character of a dynastic temple."

Barabudur, Mendut and Pawon (this pdf file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Traveling The Silk Road
by Dr. Caesar Voûte

Vaisravana/Kuvera in the Sino-Japanese Tradition
by Dr. Lokesh Chandra

As regent of the north Vaisravana figures not only in the series of the Four Lokapalas but also in those of the Gods of the Eight Directions. He is often identified with Kubera, the Hindu god of riches. It is from Indra that Vaisravana receives, after the passing away of Buddha, the mission to protect Buddhism in the region of the north. "I became the king of yaksas for the benefit of beings, to those who dwell in the darkness of ignorance, I open their eyes with my hatchet of gold; and I save them from transmigrations, and elevate them to nirvana."

The Great Miracle at Cravasti
by A. Foucher

Buddhist Art In Java
by A. Foucher

English translations by L. A. and F. W. Thomas in Beginings of Buddhist Art (1914)