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In Praise of Candi Plaosan, Part II

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by Mark Long

Subsidiary Buildings of the Central-Group

Dispersed around the inner courtyard, these 174 subsidiary structures have been organized into three distinct ranks that contain 50, 58 and 66 structures, respectively (Fig. 4 ). The innermost rank contains of a total of 50 prasadas (Photo 23). The square basements of these buildings measure about 4.9 m. per side, not including the staircase, which projects outward by 75 cm. The staircase banisters features lion’s heads at the top and terminate downstairs in a simple upward-turning spiral motif. The prasada superstructure measures 3.4 m per side, not including a 47-cm projecting span of the raised ambulatory path and the square interior space within each of the prasadas measures 1.7 m per side.   

The entranceways for 19 prasadas of the first rank face the East, 17 face the West (two shrines were omitted on the West side to leave clearance for the entranceways), 7 face the North and 7 more face the South. Krom wrote that these particular buildings had originally contained images of Amitabha (W), Aksobhya (E), Ratnasambhava (S) and Amoghasiddhi (N), with each of the four Tathagatas of the cardinal directions assigned to his habitual point of the compass.  

The singular doorway on each of these structures is framed by the usual kala-makara art motif; on the other three sides of the superstructure, there is a centrally-located panel framed between pilasters and crowned by a kala-antefix. Within this framework stands a halo-adorned male figure. In some cases (Photo 24), the figure’s left hand holds the stem of a lotus next to the hip, while the other grasps the caste cord with the fingers of the upturned right hand, which is held at breast level. In other cases, the figure’s left hand, which is also placed on the hip, grips the stem of a lotus. The right arm is bent at the elbow with the outward-facing palm upraised to shoulder level, where it grips the stem of a second lotus. 

The second rank is comprised of 58 subsidiary buildings. Occupying the four corners are buildings of the previously described prasada-type; the two prasadas in the western half of the yard face the West while the two in the eastern half of the yard face the East; in the latter formerly sat images of Aksobhya, according to Krom. The remaining 54 structures in this rank consist of stupas with a square footer that measures about 4.95 m per side at ground level (Photo 25). On top of this footer is a square base that rises to a height of about 45 cm and measures about 3.95 m. per side. This base is surmounted in turn by the octagonal structure that forms the very bottom segment of the stupa proper. This octagon, which is recessed from the edge of its supporting base by about 12 cm, consists of segments that are about 1.48 m. in length. Krom suggested that the stupas may have been intended to accommodate the ashes of deceased monks or pious laymen. The third rank consists of 66 structures, out of which 62 are of the previously described stupa-type; the remaining 4 structures the four corners are once again of the prasada-type.

   The Raised Platform of the Northern Group

    The Northern construction-group at Plaosan Lor has its own central courtyard that is surrounded by a wall and with its entranceway in the West. This rectangular courtyard, which measures 41.5 m from East to West and 44.9 m from North to South, contains a raised platform (pendopo) at its center (Photo 26) that measures 21.62 m from North to South and 19.0 m from East to West, not including a staircase with seven steps, which projects outward from the West side by an additional 1.5 m.  A total of 24 quadrangular stone projections rise up from the floor along the outside perimeter of the platform. They appear to have originally served as the support for four-sided wooden columns. Twenty-two of these raised stones form squares that measure 49 cm per side, while two more in the center of the back side in the East are rectangles that measure 60 cm by 49 cm. Encompassed within the perimeter formed by these quadrangular column supports are 16 roughly-hewn stone protrusions that appear to be octagons, perhaps they had served as the supports for wooden columns featuring eight sides. 
     In the eastern half of the pendopo are three rectangular structures: a central altar oriented North to South (Photo 27), flanked to either side by altars with their long sides running from East to West. The dimensions of the central altar are 1.5 m. x 17.5 m x 78 cm (W x L x H), whereas the two side altars measure 1.28 m. x 7.0 m. x 78 cm. Together, the three altars collectively currently support a total of 21 sacred images: 11 on the center platform, plus 5 on each of the side platforms.  In IJzerman’s time, however, 22 images of Dhyani-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas had resided on this terrace.  
     Unfortunately, the surviving images have all suffered considerably from exposure to the elements, making their identification somewhat problematic. Still, it is possible to reach some conclusions that may be significant with respect to arriving at an interpretation of the entire monument. Firstly, the 11 images on the centrally placed altar may be differentiated from those that appear to either side. All 11 images may be rightly identified as Buddhas from various elements that range from the way that the folds of their monk’s garments are folded to the mudras that they display. It is even possible to conclusively identify several of these images, despite the fact that they are missing heads, hands and other body components. By contrast, the 10 images that reside on the flanking altars are either Bodhisattvas or some other well-known Buddhist deity. This is apparent from the design of their garments, their seating postures, ritual hand gestures and other salient factors. The images in residence are numbered from 1 to 21 in the Table below, beginning with the first image on the flanking altar in the North. Their respective locations are shown in Fig. 5 .


Table 1: Surviving Images of the Northern-group

North Altar

(01) unidentified Bodhisattva;

(02) the flaming jewel (cintamani) identifies the images as either Sarvanivaranavishkambin or Ksitigarbha (Photo 28);

(03) Unidentified Bodhisattva;

(04) The stupa in the headdress and chakra on the lotus suggest Maitreya or perhaps Samantabhadra (Photo 29);

(05) Unidentified Bodhisattva displaying the vara-mudra;

East Altar

(06) Unidentified Buddha;

(07) dhayni-mudra identifies this image as Amitabha (Photo 30);

(08) vara-mudra identifies this image as Ratnasambhava (Photo 31);

(09) Unidentified Buddha image;

(10) dharmachakra-mudra identifies this image as the Buddha of the Zenith -- Vairochana (Photo 32);

(11) Among the mudras of the directional Tathagatas, the dharmachakra hand gesture of Vairochana (Photo 33) is the only one in which the left arm is raised;

(12) Once again the presence of the dharmachakra-mudra identifies this image as Vairochana (Photo 34);

(13) Unidentified Buddha;

(14) Unidentified Buddha;

(15) Unidentified Buddha;

(16) bhumisparsa-mudra identifies this image as the Buddha of the East -- Aksobhya (Photo 35);

South Altar

(17) Unidentified Bodhisattva;

(18) The large belly (Photo 36) and the moneybags on the bottom of the throne  (Photo 37) identifies this image as Jambhala;

(19) Crescent moon in the halo behind the neck suggests Manjusri (Photo 38);

(20) Book with three flowers on padma also suggests Manjusri;

(21) Lotus supporting a book with a small oval object on top.

The three Buddha-images in dharmachakra-mudra at the center of the centrally-placed altar remind one of the triad sometimes used to symbolize the “Great Miracle” (mahapratiharya) of Srasvasti, when Sakyamuni tried to convince the heterodox teachers of his miraculous power by filling the sky with a multiplicity of Buddha-images. “The oldest image of this triad in the Gandhara-style (1st to 2nd century) consisted of Brahma to the right of the preaching Buddha and Sakra (Indra) on his left. In his discussion of examples of the mahapratiharya, Foucher  presents pictures of the Sarnath steles in Gupta-style (4th to 6th century) and the Magadha examples in Pala-style (8th to 10th century), which all represent the same group of three showing Brahma as well as Indra in the form of a Buddha. The triad is then portrayed as three preaching Buddhas in dharmachakra-mudra ....” 6)
     In this respect, the fact that there are places in each vihara for 23 images may be significant. As Foucher has noted, the Great Miracle featured the multiplication of Buddha images all the way up to the Akanishtha Heaven, the highest sphere in the World of Form (Rupadhatu), which has 23 stories. 
     In IJzerman's time there had 22 images had resided on the pendopo of the Northern-group. It is therefore entirely possible that the original number there had also been 23. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that the eleven Buddhas on the pendopo's altar in the East  had features two sets of images of the Tathagatas of the cardinal directions to either side of the three Buddhas in dharmachakra-mudra. The proposed layout may even have a bearing on the placement of images on the altars and in the niches of both viharas of the Central-group.

The Raised Platform of the Southern Group

At Candi Plaosan Kidul one also finds a square terrace platform in the middle of the yard. According to Krom, it was surrounded on the West side by two ranks of eight small temples (Photo 39), with four in each range on either side of the passage that ran from the terrace to the entrance in the surrounding  ring wall; the larger and more beautiful ones were reportedly placed in the second file beside the passage. All of these faced the West. Some images of the Tathagata Amitabha were also reportedly found here. On the [three] other sides of the centrally placed terrace were three ranks of stupas totaling 45. However, Krom lamented the fact that the most northern file that had been whole in 1885, had vanished prior to the publication of his Introduction to Hindu-Javanese Art in 1923. 

Krom also cited earlier reports than an 11-fold group of images had either resided on this terrace platform or in the small temples nearby. Manjusri was represented with his book; furthermore one found Avalokitesvara with the Amitabha-figurine in his head ornament and the thin book on the lotus, and Vajrapani with his vajra attribute on the utpala. Some female images were also present, among which three displayed a book on a lotus, above which lay a chain with round scales, possibly a rosary. Krom presumed that these latter characters were images of Prajnaparamita, the celebrated “Mother of all the Buddhas.” Stray images of this type are still available for viewing at the complex, but not at their original locations (Photo 40 ). Krom also draws our attention to the particularly large number of Manjusri-images that had been found, which he thought to be significant.   

Krom believed that the smooth, unadorned surfaces of the two terraces in the North and South ends of the complex would have looked completely different had a large construction work fallen into ruin at either location. Given the situation of the terrace during IJzerman’s visit in 1885, Krom rightly asks, by whom and for what reason had the terrace been given a complete evacuation and cleaning by that time?

The second possibility suggested by Krom was that the terraces could have been used for storing the usual canonical texts belonging to the monks if one adopts that a wooden superstructure had been used to make rooms on top of these platforms. But from the Dutch scholar's perspective, the uposathagara was more likely to have been located elsewhere, and if the number of monks was not very large, then the second story of the viharas might even have been designated for this aim.

Taking into account the fact that images had been installed on both terrace platforms, Krom saw the possibility of an agreement with similar terrace-forms raised in front of Indian sanggha-ramas, where devout donors set up images, small stupas and other religious offerings. However, he noted that the practice was typically Indian and therefore not necessarily in agreement with Javanese practice. 7)  Krom also thought it somewhat strange given that only the images had remained, without any trace whatsoever of any small stupas or other offerings. However, he suggested the possibility of a specific predilection on Java towards the proper dedication of images to make sense of the fact that nothing has been found to indicate that the two terraces had ever been used for anything other than the establishment of images.  

Back to Part I

FOOTNOTES:

(6) Moens, Borobudur, Pawon dan Mendut, p. 344.

(7) See Foucher. L’art greco-bouddhique du Gandhara I (1905) p. 177.

REFERENCES:

Blom, J. R. van. Tjandi Sadjiwan. Leiden, 1935. Blom's work is useful in that the author presents a number of points that he believed were common to the Plaosan and Sajiwan sites.

Foucher, Alfred. "The Great Miracle at Saravasti," English translation by L. A. and F. W. Thomas in Beginnings of Buddhist Art (1914).
IJzerman. Beschrijving der oudheden nabij de grens der residentie's Soerakarta en Djogdjakarta (Description of the antiquities close to the border of the residencies of Surakarta and Jogjakarta.) 1891. The measurements presented in this article, which vary at times from those given by IJzerman in 1891, have all been dervices from observations made on site in April of 2005. My thanks to Yohanes Darto for his kind assistance at the site.

Krom, N.J. "De Bodhisattwas van den Tjandi Mendut." Tijdschrift van het Bataviaash Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenscappen (T.B.G.) 1917.

Krom, N.J. Inleiding tot Het Hindoe-Javaansche Kunst (Introduction to Hindu-Javanese Art), Volume II. 1923. A considerable about of material has been presented above from Volume II, pp. 1-16 of Krom's masterful work, which has not been published in English, at least as far as I am aware. 

Moens, J.L. "Barabudur, Mendut dan Pawon." T.B.G. 1950. My thanks to Dr. Roy Jordaan for his help in translating the passages and references from this volume that have been cited above. The title to the present work is fully intended to parallel that of Jordaan's pioneering work on Candi Prambanan, which cites the work of a number of early Dutch scholars with the goal of shedding further light on Java's largest Hindu temple complex.

Moens, J.L. "De Tjandi Mendut." T.B.G. 1921.

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